Can you discuss the difference between bottom up and top down processing? I mix them up
Bottom-up is based on your sensation, so it’s understanding something through how it looks, tastes, feels, smells, etc. Babies tend to look at the world through bottom-up processing because they don’t have the experience to form perceptions about the world. Once you do that, you use top-down processing. That is where you process something based on your past experiences. So if a baby could speak, they would be pretty garbage at identifying figures in the clouds because they will look at it via bottom-up processing.
What is the difference between sensory adaptation and sensory habituation?
Thank you!
Bottom-up processing occurs when your brain relies on information from the senses to form its interpretation of the world around you. Imagine hearing a new song for the first time. You are relying on your sense of hearing to help you understand how the song sounds!
Top-Down processing occurs when your brain relies on previous experience(s) and “jumps to conclusions” before information from the senses reaches the brain. Have you ever come to realize that the lyrics you sang for a song you liked were the wrong lyrics? Top-Down processing probably deserves a little of the blame- your brain was “interrupting” your sense of hearing, telling it the words before your sense of hearing could actually inform the brain of the true lyrics.
Bonus tip! Can you explain how motor neurons, interneurons, and sensory neurons are involved in these processes?
