Involves human sensory (or sense-perceptory) systems and the brain in order to form representations known as percepts. Perception consists of three stages: (1) sensation; (2) perceptual organization; and (3) identification and recognition.

Sensation concerns the way in which external energy, such as light, heat or (sound) vibrations, are converted into the neural codes which the brain recognizes.

Perceptual organisation concerns the way in which this sensory information is organised and formed into a perceptual object, a percept. Identification and recognition relates to the stage in the process whereby past experiences and conceptual knowledge is brought to bear in order to interpret the percept. For instance, a spherical object might be identified and recognised as a football or a coin or a wheel or some other object. That is, this stage involves meaning, which is to say understanding the nature, function and significance of the percept. As such, a previously formed concept is employed in order to identify and categories the percept.