Blanca Vazquez
Professor Jenna Thrasher-Sneathen
Critical Thinking-PHI 210
April 15, 2012
Three reasons for believing in the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory information is perception, interpretation, and knowledge. Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli (Bagley, 2004). Through the perceptual process, we gain information about properties and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival. Perception not only creates our experience of the world around us, and it also allows us to act within our environment. Interpretation is a communication process, designed to reveal meanings, and relationships of our cultural and natural heritage, through involvement with objects, artifacts, landscapes and sites. Interpretation is how we perceive certain situations through our own thoughts and beliefs. Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something, which can include facts, information, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject), and it can be more or less formal or systematic. The definitions of perception, interpretation, and knowledge are closely entwined when it comes to the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory information because people perceive all information differently. People have different interpretation of life and how they view certain topics. What may be true to you may not be true to me. Knowledge depends on the experience level of the person involved. Sensory data is your senses, which are seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, and feeling of motion, movement, and gravity. All this information from our senses is collected in the brain, then organized and used for all
References: Baddeley, A. (2004). Your memory: A user’s Guide. Richmond Hill, Canada: Firefly Books Kirby, G.R., & Goodpaster, J.R. (2007). Thinking (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice hall.