All of your knowledge of the world—its sights, sounds, and smells; its people, places, and things—comes to you through your perceptual systems. In this chapter, you have seen how perceptual systems bring you this information and have learned about the biological tools they use to do it.

What can you do with information once you perceive it? You can use it in the future, if you remember it, thanks to your powers of memory. If the information you perceive serves as the basis for acquiring new skills, you experience learning. Some of the information you perceive (the sight of someone waving happily at you) stirs your emotions. Other perceptions (the smell of a fresh-baked pie) increase your motivation (to eat). Babies need perception for psychological development. Adults need it to navigate the social world. For everyone, perception and sensation comprise much of one’s conscious experience. Throughout this book—particularly in chapters on memory, learning, emotion, motivation, development, social psychology, and consciousness—we encounter phenomena whose foundation lies in the wondrous abilities of our perceptual systems.

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Chapter Review Now that you have completed this chapter, be sure to turn to Appendix B, where you will find a Chapter Summary that is useful for reviewing what you have learned about sensation and perception.