The Cognitive Penetrability of Perceptual Experience

Abstract

In this chapter, I present the cognitive penetrability hypothesis in full detail. In Sect. 3.1, I offer an historical contextualization of the discussion of top-down effects of cognition on perception, of which cognitive penetrability is a special case. I discuss some of the most relevant objections to the occurrence of such effects and elucidate why the issue of whether cognitive penetrability occurs is considered a very pressing one in cognitive science. In Sect. 3.2, I present the recent developments of the cognitive penetrability debate. I narrow down four definitions of cognitive penetrability that are traceable to the most recent literature and reflect different aspects of the phenomenon that should not be conflated. In Sect. 3.3, I present some of the evidence that has been proposed to support the cognitive penetrability hypothesis.