Perceptual Learning

Abstract Over a lifetime, our perceptual capacities undergo transformations that impact our ability to recognize and process complex perceptual information. The result is ‘perceptual plasticity’, the ability to adapt and reorganize one’s sensory processing mechanisms and perceptual abilities in response to changes in sensory input, experiences, or dispositions. Progress in our understanding of perceptual plasticity’s first-personal manifestations is made by drawing insights from the phenomenological repertoire. This chapter makes this case by drawing attention to one specific class of phenomena—perceptual learning, viz. long-lasting perceptual change that results from practice or experience—and shows how phenomenology can contribute to the discussion over its nature and scope. It begins by analysing Husserl’s genetic phenomenology and shows how perceptions are informed by the weight of our experiential history. Starting from Merleau-Ponty, the chapter then analyses the body-schematic changes perceivers undergo when they develop perceptual skills and habits in response to changing situations and conditions.