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Is there a subjective difference between perception and imagination?
According to Dijkstra's article, there is not a substantial subjective difference. What we imagine can obscure what we perceive when it is more vivid, but imagination can also make perception more real, i.e. a modified Perky effect.
Hume wrote, in 1739, in Book I of his Treatise of Human Nature: “The idea [imagination] of red which we form in the dark, differs only in degrees of intensity, not in nature, from the impression [perception] of red that strikes our eyes in sunshine.” When the things that we imagine are not really there, nor anything that looks like it, signals are unlikely to be strong enough to lead us to believe they reflect reality. However, when, for some reason, internally generated signals are strong enough, they will be indistinguishable from reality.
As it turns out, reality and imagination are completely intermixed in our brain which means that the separation between our inner world and the outside world is not as clear as we might like to think. If our imagination is vivid enough, we will think it is real and we use our imagination to create our perception of reality, which means, “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are."
The Fine Line Between Reality and Imaginary - Issue 104: Harmony - Nautilus
Mental Imagery > The Perky Experiment (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
What is PERKY EFFECT? definition of PERKY EFFECT (Psychology Dictionary)
According to Dijkstra's article, there is not a substantial subjective difference. What we imagine can obscure what we perceive when it is more vivid, but imagination can also make perception more real, i.e. a modified Perky effect.
Hume wrote, in 1739, in Book I of his Treatise of Human Nature: “The idea [imagination] of red which we form in the dark, differs only in degrees of intensity, not in nature, from the impression [perception] of red that strikes our eyes in sunshine.” When the things that we imagine are not really there, nor anything that looks like it, signals are unlikely to be strong enough to lead us to believe they reflect reality. However, when, for some reason, internally generated signals are strong enough, they will be indistinguishable from reality.
As it turns out, reality and imagination are completely intermixed in our brain which means that the separation between our inner world and the outside world is not as clear as we might like to think. If our imagination is vivid enough, we will think it is real and we use our imagination to create our perception of reality, which means, “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are."
The Fine Line Between Reality and Imaginary - Issue 104: Harmony - Nautilus
Mental Imagery > The Perky Experiment (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
What is PERKY EFFECT? definition of PERKY EFFECT (Psychology Dictionary)