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All perception is neural activity.              Casagrande & Norton, 1991 , p. 42 You can observe a lot by watching.             Yogi Berra The illusion that perception is a simple process follows from the ease with which we perceive. The reality, however, is that perception is the outcome of an extraordinary process that is accomplished by mechanisms which, in their exquisite complexity, work so well that the outcome – our awareness of the environment and our ability to navigate through it – occurs effortlessly under most conditions. This Handbook is a record of the progress we have made towards uncovering the complexities of perception. This progress has been achieved by research that has approached the study of perception psychophysically (studying the relationship between the stimulus and perception) and physiologically (studying the relationship between physiological events and perception). The purpose of this chapter is to show that the psychophysical and physiological approaches not only make their individual contributions to understanding perception, but also that they often function in collaboration with one another. The message of this chapter is that this collaboration, or “cross-talk,” has been and will continue to be a crucial component of perceptual research. The basic relationships of perceptual research are diagramed in Figure 1.1 . The three relationships ... log in or subscribe to read full text