How did Helmholtz explain perception? Include in your answer a discussion of unconscious inference.
Helmholtz believed that the body consists of physiological parameters that provide the mechanisms for sensory information. He also suggested that the observer’s past experience has the ability to convert a sensation into a perception in a modified manner. A sensation refers to the raw elements of conscious experience and a perception refers to the little sensations that are altered by one’s own past experiences.
In accordance with the transformation of sensations into perceptions, Helmholtz relies on the concept of unconscious inference. According to Helmholtz, when we saw pictures as moving due to major events of experience that creates series of images across the retina, then the perception of depth arises that causes little differences on the retinal image of an object. Thus, this retinal display results in the concept of unconscious inference of depth that suggested the information of mysterious processes.
Helmholtz supported his advance theory of perception by seeking observation that individuals who are blind at birth acquire large need to learn to perceive all the sensations that are furnished by the availability of visual apparatus. His classic experiments provided further evidence by distorting the vision with the help of lenses.