Question

1. Define bottom-up and top-down processing. Provide an example for each, with a clear explanation of how it’s an example of that type of processing.

Answer 1

Top down processing is the processing of information based on prior knowledge or schemata in the interpreting of a stimuli.

Example. When reading, we ignore lot of spelling mistakes and typographical errors, because it does not matter if there are errors, as the knowledge about the context and the sentence is enough for us to understand what it means.

Bottoms up processing is the processing of information which is data driven, as it should accurately reflect events in the outside world.

Example. When a child sees an animal for the first time, it has to process its individual parts such as four legs etc, as he has no previous knowledge of an animal.