Abstract: Over the course of our lifetime, our perceiving skills and capacities undergo all kinds of transformations and alterations. Some are due to physiological factors (such as genetics, growth, maturation, but also injuries, illnesses, aging, etc.), while others are shaped in experience by motivational processes (of learning, adaptation, compensation, integration, etc.). Either way, both sets of changes show that our perceptual skills are constantly shifting, thereby modifying the scope and the quality of what we perceive. The phenomenon whereby perceivers modify and reorganize (voluntarily or involuntarily, consciously or unconsciously, etc.) their perceptual abilities corresponds to what I refer to as ‘perceptual plasticity.’ In the presentation, I will explore this topic from one specific angle, namely through the prism of perceptual learning. I want to argue that norms (cultural, social, aesthetic, or whatever) play a dual role in the shaping of perception via learning. On the one hand, they act as constraints: Norms may limit and direct perceptual focus by establishing what is relevant, appropriate, or valuable in a given context. On the other hand, norms are also facilitators: they enable perceivers to develop specific skills, expanding their ability to notice, differentiate, and attend to various aspects of the world. As a result, then, it appears that norms shape in significant ways how we perceptually engage with the world and establish what and how we are disposed to perceive.
Uhrzeit: 7.Nov. 2025 04:00 PM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rom, Stockholm, Wien
uni-graz.zoom.us/j/64284613790
Meeting-ID: 642 8461 3790
Kenncode: 894522