bottom up and top down processing essay

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Bottom-Up and Top-down Processing

Perception refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced and involves both bottom-up and top-down processing.

While our sensory receptors are constantly collecting information from the environment, it is ultimately how we interpret that information that affects how we interact with the world.  Perception  refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. Perception involves both bottom-up and top-down processing.  Bottom-up processing refers to the fact that perceptions are built from sensory input. Bottom up processing is when sensory receptors pick up signals for the brain to integrate and process. An example of this is stubbing your toe on a chair, the pain receptors detect pain and send this information to the brain where it is processed. On the other hand, how we interpret those sensations is influenced by our available knowledge, our experiences, and our thoughts. This is called top-down processing . An example of this is if you see the chair you have stubbed your toe on before and you avoid it to make sure it does not happen again.

In top-down processing, there is always bias of environmental factors on a personal perception of the stimulus, this is known as context effect. Where cognitive psychology of a person’s environment affects their stimulus processing.

Look at the shape in Figure 1 below. Seen alone, your brain engages in bottom-up processing. There are two thick vertical lines and three thin horizontal lines. There is no context to give it a specific meaning, so there is no top-down processing involved.

Now, look at the same shape in two different contexts. Surrounded by sequential letters, your brain expects the shape to be a letter and to complete the sequence. In that context, you perceive the lines to form the shape of the letter “B.”

Surrounded by numbers, the same shape now looks like the number “13.”

When given a context, your perception is driven by your cognitive expectations. Now you are processing the shape in a top-down fashion.

One way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical process, whereas perception is psychological. For example, upon walking into a kitchen and smelling the scent of baking cinnamon rolls, the  sensation  is the scent receptors detecting the odor of cinnamon, but the  perception  may be “Mmm, this smells like the bread Grandma used to bake when the family gathered for holidays.”

Although our perceptions are built from sensations, not all sensations result in perception. In fact, we often don’t perceive stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time. This is known as sensory adaptation. Imagine entering a classroom with an old analog clock. Upon first entering the room, you can hear the ticking of the clock; as you begin to engage in conversation with classmates or listen to your professor greet the class, you are no longer aware of the ticking. The clock is still ticking, and that information is still affecting sensory receptors of the auditory system. The fact that you no longer perceive the sound demonstrates sensory adaptation and shows that while closely associated, sensation and perception are different.

Practice Questions

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MCAT Official Prep (AAMC)

Section Bank P/S Section Passage 4 Question 29

• Perception refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. Perception involves both bottom-up and top-down processing. One way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical process (bottom-up processing), whereas perception is psychological (top-down processing).

• Bottom-up processing refers to the fact that perceptions are built from sensory input. On the other hand, how we interpret those sensations is influenced by our available knowledge, our experiences, and our thoughts.

• Top-down processing refers to how we interpret sensations due to influences from our available knowledge, our experiences, and our thoughts.

• Although our perceptions are built from sensations, not all sensations result in perception. Due to sensory adaption, we often don’t perceive stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time.

perception : the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information

bottom-up processing : refers to the fact that perceptions are built from sensory input

top-down processing : refers to how we interpret sensations due to influences from our available knowledge, our experiences, and our thoughts

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Bottom-Up Processing: Complete Guide for Students

Bottom-up processing refers to a cognitive process of processing information from the basic elements to the more complex structures.

In this approach, contrasted to top-down processing, our brains use the most fundamental pieces of sensory information to build a more comprehensive understanding of our surroundings (Kauffman et al., 2017).

We engage in this type of processing when we begin perception-building from the most basic or smallest pieces of sensory input, and then work our way up to the grand concepts.

This approach excels in detail analysis. We focus extensively on each sensory input for meaning-making, rather than trying to form a generalized understanding based on past experiences.

For example, consider proofreading a text in a foreign language you’ve recently learned (Gracia, 2010). Rather than skimming for meaning, you’ll need to attentively read each word and letter to understand the meaning correctly. Here, you need to use bottom-up processing because you don’t have enough built-up skills in the language to rely on prior knowledge to scan for meaning .

While this is useful for meaning-making, it means there’s a higher chance of missing the broader context or theme, since your attention is narrowed down to every detail. 

Definitions of Bottom-Up Processing

Bottom-up processing occurs when an individual constructs a comprehensive perception from individual pieces of sensory data, without utilizing previous knowledge to form expectations.

It is contrasted to top-down processing , where you would endeavor to interpret a stimulus using your previous knowledge and assumptions, which could potentially influence your understanding.

Here are some scholarly definitions of bottom-up processing:

• “[bottom-up processing] is defined as processing, where input from the environment is used to build a more significant perception or understanding” (Macmillan, 2012).
• “[bottom-up processing] directly engages stimuli for analysis, often in an ascending order starting with features and building up to complex concepts” (Ellis & Hunt, 2014).

To provide contrast, a definition of top-down processing is instructive:

• “[top-down processing] depends on the context and higher level knowledge, in addition to relying on the input of sensory stimuli” (Macmillan, 2012).

From these definitions, let’s dive into a dissection of the strengths and weaknesses of bottom-up versus top-down approaches.

Bottom-Up Processing vs Top-Down Processing

Bottom-up processing and top-down processing represent two approaches to understanding perception and how we interpret sensory information.

Here are their key differences:

Bottom-Up Processing Theories and Concepts

The following theories tend to presuppose that bottom-up processing is a central means by which humans receive and interpret stimuli.

(Note that these theories are challenged by theories such as the constructivist theory , schema theory , conceptual priming, and gestalt psychology, which each tend to embrace a top-down conception of processing.)

1. Information Processing Theory

Central to this theory is the idea that human cognition is a lot like a computer, processing information received from the environment logically and methodically (Cooper, 2013).

The theory proposes that we process information in a linear way – starting from sensory input, information is encoded, transformed, stored, retrieved, and eventually responded to.

This systematic, sequential order aligns closely with bottom-up processing, where the brain begins with basic sensory data, constructs small units of understanding, and sequentially integrates these units to form more complex structures of understanding.

The small units refer to the raw sensory inputs received from the environment, mirroring the step-by-step process of interpreting data in Information Processing Theory.

2. Direct Perception (Gibsonian Theory)

This is a perception theory proposed by psychologist James Gibson, emphasizing that the environment offers all the information necessary for perception, and there’s no need for higher cognitive processes to interpret it (Gibson, 2014).

As per the theory, people directly perceive affordances (possibilities for action) in the environment.

This is reminiscent of bottom-up processing in the sense that the processing of stimuli and formation of perception are done without the influence of prior cognitive knowledge or expectations.

Both Gibson’s theory and bottom-up processing emphasize the role of the immediate environment in formulating an understanding.

3. Feature Detection Theory (Hubel and Wiesel)

In the Feature Detection Theory, the brain is seen to break down visual images into their simplest forms, such as lines, colors, or angles, before further processing them for recognition (Hubel & Wiesel, 2012).

This aligns with bottom-up processing as Feature Detection Theory advocates for initially processing the simplest sensory units and gradually combining them to form a more complex understanding.

Recognition results from this detailed analysis of features and integration of these elementary pieces of information into a larger structure, identical to the procedure followed in bottom-up processing. (See related: Signal Detection Theory ).

Real-Life Applications of Bottom-Up Processing

Here are some examples of bottom-up processin g in real life:

• Play a musical instrument: When first picking up an instrument, a person uses a bottom-up processing approach. They must painstakingly learn the individual notes, scales, and chords before they can progress to understanding and playing entire musical pieces (Poldrack et al., 2005). Over time, these separate pieces of information form complex structures in their understanding, laying the foundation for future progression and mastery.
• Detective Work: The detective can’t afford to make assumptions but must rely on concrete evidence to construct a hypothesis. They diligently collect and immerse themselves in every piece of information, from fingerprints to strand of hair, in order to build an understanding of the incident from the ground up (Kassin et al., 2010). This approach allows them to create a tangible and nuanced picture of the crime based on hard facts alone.
• Birdwatching: A birder trying to identify a rare bird species needs to pay close attention to distinct markers such as beak shape, feather colors, or bird call. They meticulously assemble their understanding from these individual traits, forgoing any sort of preconceived notions about the bird. Precisely, in this bottom-up fashion, birders can accurately identify bird species even if they have never seen or heard about them before.
• Learning to read: Learning to read is another practical application deeply embedded in the bottom-up processing approach (Szwed et al., 2011). When children first begin learning to read, they are introduced to individual letters and the sounds they each represent. Then, they gradually learn how these single letters combine to form syllables, words, and eventually sentences. Through this meticulous bottom-up process, children are able to comprehend complex pieces of written information, starting from the simplest sensory inputs – individual letters.

Bottom-Up Processing Strengths and Weaknesses

Bottom-up processing plays a crucial role in how we perceive and interact with the world. It has many benefits, but also some drawbacks.

1. Benefits of Bottom-Up Processing

• Detail Oriented: The bottom-up approach pays meticulous attention to details, considering every individual piece of sensory data (Kauffman et al., 2017). This means that even minute aspects are observed and processed. It’s particularly helpful in situations where every detail matters, such as during forensic investigations, learning a new script, or proofreading a complex document. The information processed through this method tends to be raw and uninfluenced by pre-existing knowledge or biases.
• Avoids Confirmation Bias: Since bottom-up processing begins with the most basic sensory input, it significantly cuts down on the influence of pre-established knowledge and expectations (Macmillan, 2012). This form of processing is based purely on the information available from the sensory input, reducing the likelihood of individual or cultural biases skewing perception. For example, in areas such as scientific research or crime scene investigation, using a bottom-up approach can contribute to more accurate and objective results.
• Provides Nuanced Understanding of Concepts: Bottom-up processing often leads to a nuanced understanding of the stimulus (Ellis & Hunt, 2014). By focusing attention on individual elements before integrating them into a structured whole, this method facilitates an in-depth comprehension of each component. This can be particularly beneficial in activities requiring a deep understanding like learning a musical instrument or appreciating the flavor profile in wine tasting.
• It’s Competence Building for Learners: Bottom-up processing lays a solid foundation for learning new skills as it focuses on mastering smaller units before moving onto larger, more complex structures (Szwed et al., 2014). This methodical approach aids in the development of competence and confidence over time in newly acquired skills, such as reading or learning a foreign language. As each element is understood, the learnin g process moves forward, often yielding more durable and transferable skills.

2. Drawbacks of Bottom-Up Processing

• Time-Consuming: The careful consideration of each individual piece of sensory data in the bottom-up approach makes it a time-extensive process (Macmillan, 2012). This method often necessitates a more prolonged processing time, particularly when the stimulus is complex or unfamiliar. For instance, learning to read or recognizing a bird species through the bottom-up process may take relatively more time than employing a top-down approach.
• Misses the Forest for the Trees: Bottom-up processing, by its nature, may sometimes falter in capturing the overarching theme or context of a stimulus (Kauffman et al., 2017). As the focus remains mostly on the details, the ‘big picture’ could potentially be missed or misunderstood. For example, while proofreading, a person could get too absorbed in correcting grammar and punctuation that they may overlook errors in the overall structure or coherence of the text .
• Prior Knowledge is Neglected: The bottom-up processing method doesn’t make much use of prior knowledge or experiences (Ellis & Hunt, 2014). While this can lead to unbiased perceptions, it may also limit the understanding of complex stimuli which could have been enhanced with the use of prior knowledge. Take the case of a wine taster, who might miss the nuanced flavors in a wine if they only rely on the current sensory experience, overlooking their previous encounters with similar vintages.
• Overwhelm During Detailed Analysis: The detailed analysis demanded by bottom-up processing can sometimes overwhelm individuals, especially in high-pressure situations (Szwed et al., 2014). If every single detail needs careful scrutiny, the process can become tedious and stressful. In a situation like learning a new script or musical piece, the learner might get disheartened if they are unable to keep up with the intense focus levels required for bottom-up processes.

Understanding these benefits and drawbacks can help us decide when to pivot to a top-down processing approach, make smarter decisions, and overall mitigate the blindspots and potential negative consequences of bottom-up processing.

Bottom-up processing is one of the essential ways in which we make sense of the world. Generally, it involves focusing on the details so we don’t make mistakes, interpreting information based on sensory input rather then biases and preconceptions, and allowing the raw data to inform our perceptions and understandings. However, we need to be aware of when not to use this strategy, because only then can we successfully switch between bottom-up and top-down methods (or, use a mix, often called parallel processing), in order to both achieve a thorough and open-minded interpretation of the data before our eyes, and make sense using context and background knowledge.

Angosto, A., Sánchez, P., Álvarez, M., Cuevas, I., & León, J. A. (2013). Evidence for top-down processing in reading comprehension of children. Psicología Educativa , 19 (2), 83-88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1135-755X(13)70014-9

Bekaryan, L. (2016). Developing Learners’ Top-Down Processing Skills in Listening. Armenian Folia Anglistika , 12 (15), 74-82. Doi: https://doi.org/10.46991/AFA/2016.12.1.074

Cooper, G. (2013). Cognitive load theory as an aid for instructional design. In Adult learning theory and instructional design: A perspective, 142 , 143.

Ellis, H. C., & Hunt, R. R. (2014). Fundamentals of cognitive psychology . Sage Publications.

Eysenck, M. W., & Keane, M. T. (2005). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook . New York: Taylor & Francis.

Gibson, J.J. (2014). The ecological approach to visual perception: Classic edition . Psychology Press.

Gracia, L. (2010). Learning a foreign language: Bottom-up vs. top-down approaches . European

Groome, D. (2013). An introduction to cognitive psychology: Processes and disorders . London: Psychology Press.

Heitz, R. P. (2014). The speed-accuracy tradeoff: history, physiology, methodology, and behavior. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8 , 150.

Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (2012). Brain mechanisms of vision . Scientific American.

Kassin, S. M., Dror, I. E., & Kukucka, J. (2013). The forensic confirmation bias: Problems, perspectives, and proposed solutions. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 2 (1), 42-52.

Kauffman, T., Theoret, H., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2017). Variability of motor evoked potentials in healthy subjects. Scientifica , 2017.

Lawless, H. T., & Heymann, H. (2010). Sensory evaluation of food: principles and practices. Springer Science & Business Media.

List, A., Du, H., & Lee, H. Y. (2021). How do students integrate multiple texts? An investigation of top-down processing. European Journal of Psychology of Education , 36 , 599-626. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-020-00497-y

Macmillan, N. A. (2012 ). Detection theory: A user’s guide . Cambridge University Press.

Poldrack, R. A., Clark, J., Paré-Blagoev, E. J., Shohamy, D., Creso Moyano, J., Myers, C., & Gluck, M. A. (2001). Interactive memory systems in the human brain. Nature, 414 (6863), 546-550. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/35107080

Szwed, M., Qiao, E., Jobert, A., Dehaene, S., & Cohen, L. (2014). Effects of literacy in early visual and occipitotemporal areas of Chinese and French readers. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 26 (3), 459-475. doi : https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00499

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Top-Down Processing Examples in Psychology

Victoria Rousay

Master's Student at Harvard University

B.A., Psychology, Texas A&M University

Victoria Rousay is a current student in the Master of Liberal Arts, Anthropology, and Archeology degree program at Harvard University.

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Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

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On This Page:

Take-home Messages

• Top-down processing is perceiving the world around us by drawing from what we already know to interpret new information (Gregory, 1970).
• Top-down theories are hypotheses-driven and stress the importance of higher mental processes such as expectations, beliefs, values, and social influences.
• Throughout our lifetime, we construct schemas, which consist of past experiences, prior knowledge, emotions, and expectations, and then use these schemas to form hypotheses upon the arrival of new information.
• Gregory’s theory argues that because of the ceaseless stream of stimuli that we are required to process every day, equally attending to each sensation would be entirely too demanding and overwhelm us as individuals.
• In other words, using our senses to perceive incoming information is not enough, and using prior knowledge and experiences is necessary to hypothesize the meanings of new information.

What is Top-Down Processing?

Top-down processing in psychology refers to perception guided by prior knowledge, experiences, and expectations, influencing the interpretation of sensory information.

Top-down processing involves the brain “sending down” stored information to the sensory system as it receives information from the stimulus, enabling a plausible hypothesis to be made without the need to analyze every feature of the stimulus.

Thus, top-down processing uses the contextual information of things that we already know or have already experienced in combination with our senses to perceive new information.

In top-down information processing , perceptions are interpreted from individual frameworks that help us perceive and interpret information.

These frameworks, also known as schemas, are constructed from past experiences, prior knowledge, emotions, and expectations (Piaget, 1953).

Why we use Top-Down Processing

British psychologist Richard Gregory (1970) proposed that the process of perception is constructive and is dependent upon top-down processing in order to interpret new information.

He argued that the use of sensory information alone is an insufficient form of perceptual processing as the majority of information (over 90%) is lost between the time new stimuli reach the eye and arrive in the brain, requiring the use of contextual information from prior knowledge and experiences to perceive information properly.

Gregory’s Theory states that we use our existing knowledge and recollection of past experiences in order to form specific hypotheses about the meanings of new information.

Instead of exhausting vast amounts of energy to perceive each sensation individually, Gregory’s theory argues that we combine using our senses to interpret new incoming stimuli with previous knowledge and past experiences to find meaning.

According to Gregory (1970) different factors can influence top-down processing such as expectations, emotion, motivation and culture. This is known as perceptual set theory .

Context / Experience / Culture

The context or situation in which we have previously perceived information can influence future expectations when receiving new information under similar circumstances.

To no surprise, previous experiences undoubtedly influence how new information is perceived, as we, as humans, use the knowledge that we gained from prior events to construct expectations for perceiving new information.

The external world shapes our brains, and through context and experience, our perception is also shaped by the external world.

For this reason, the influence of culture on shaping our perceptions cannot be ignored, as culture creates differences in contexts and experiences that individuals draw from when perceiving new information (Deregowski, 1972).

Motivation can also influence top-down processing as you may be more motivated to perceive things depending on your needs and desires (Swets, 1964).

For example, let’s say you are waiting for a phone call that determines whether or not you were chosen for a recent position that you have interviewed for, and you hear the phone ring when you are taking a shower when in fact, the phone never rang.

This is a perfect example of how motivation can influence perception because your need and desire for the phone to ring with that very important call are so strong that you imagine hearing the phone ring when it is not, in fact, ringing at all.

You can understand how top-down processing works by considering examples of this phenomenon in action.

The human mind does not read every letter individually but rather words collectively. As long as the first and last letters of the word are in the same spot, we can identify the correct word, despite the typo.

Goldstein (2018) argues that our ability to make sense of typos and misspellings is another example of top-down processing because we actively apply our previous experiences, knowledge, and expectations to identify misspelled words correctly!

Stroop Effect

The Stroop effect , named after the American psychologist John Ridley Stroop (1935), conveys how interference affects reaction time.

For example, imagine that you are given a list of colors, but the word and the color of the words presented on the list do not match. After studying the list of colors, you are asked to say the color of the words on the list but not the color of the word itself.

Although this seemed easy at first, Stroop discovered that participants could easily identify the color of the presented word if it matched its semantic meaning.

When the color did not match the word’s semantic meaning, it required participants to pay more attention to the task at hand.

Visual Illusions

The Necker Cube is a visual illusion of an ambiguous figure created by Louis Albert Necker (1832). The cube maintains perceptual ambiguity through its wireframe design, allowing its viewer to interpret it as having two different front squares: an upper-right square or a lower-left square.

According to Gregory, viewers can easily change between the two orientations because the brain has created two separate hypotheses, both having an equal possibility of being true.

Because of their equal plausibility, the brain cannot decide which hypothesis is true and is able to flip between visual orientations of the cube continually.

This is an example of top-down processing because the sensory input of information has not changed since the viewer initially saw the cube. What has changed is their perception of the cube, concluding that the perception of information is flowing from top to bottom, not bottom to top.

Auditory Illusions

Phonemic Restoration is an auditory illusion that occurs when we hear parts of words that are not really there.

The term for this phenomenon was coined by Richard Warren (1970), where he sought to explain how background noises that seemingly cover particular phonemes within a verbal conversation, humanity is still able to understand individual phonemes.

To put it simply, Warren sought to discover how people could understand verbal communication in spite of noises that covered up parts of the words being communicated.

Imagine you are asked to listen to a sentence and then write what you heard verbatim. However, during the sentence, the speaker coughs at the beginning of one of the words, eliminating some phonemes.

The illusion of Phonemic Restoration argues that despite the speaker’s cough, the listener would be able to write down the missing phonemes.

For example, Warren found that when he presented the sentence, “It was found that the wheel was on the axle.”, and replaced the phonemes wh- with a cough, every participant still wrote down the word wheel, despite the missing wh- phonemes.

This is an example of top-down processing as participants use previous knowledge, experiences, and expectations to identify the word despite its missing phonemes correctly.

Bayesian Approach

By now, it is clear that human perception does not function in isolation. One cannot rely solely on one’s senses or previous knowledge and experiences to accurately interpret new stimuli.

Rather, Kersten et al. (2004) argue that human perception is a combination of using both our senses and previous knowledge and experiences to interpret new stimuli.

The combination of top-down and bottom-up processing is referred to as the Bayesian Approach. Bayesian’s Theory states that interpreting the ambiguity of the external world requires an optimal decision strategy that allows us with the most feasible state of the world.

This approach argues that this perceptual decision is a careful balance of the reliability of current sensory stimuli and the likelihood of prior stimuli.

We can see the Bayesian Approach in action when we create scenes and objects that are within our visual field. According to the Bayesian Approach, our environment consists of probable structures, and scene properties such as an object’s shape, light, and illumination are no more than statistical regularities (Kersten et al., 2004).

This statistical regularity allows the brain to perceive more than just the current sensory input but in addition to prior information to create scenes and objects within our visual field.

For example, when our brain attempts to distinguish shapes from shading patterns, our prior knowledge corrects this ambiguity in structure.

Simply put, the Bayesian Approach states that we can take ambiguous shaded patterns and interpret them as shapes because we have seen a shape similar to the one in front of us before.

Our visual systems use the statistical regularities of an object’s shape, light, and illumination to interpret probable conclusions from new information (Kersten et al., 2004).

We combine probabilities of prior experience with current sensory stimuli to make sense of what we perceive.

Deregowski, J. B., Muldrow, E. S. & Muldrow, W. F. (1972). Pictorial recognition in a remote Ethiopian population. Perception , 1, 417-425.

Goldstein, E. B. (2018). Cognitive psychology . Mason OH: Cengage.

Gregory, R. (1970). The intelligent eye . London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Kersten, D., Mamassian, P., & Yuille, A. (2004). Object perception as Bayesian inference . Annu. Rev. Psychol., 55 , 271-304.

Necker, L. (1832). LXI. Observations on some remarkable optical phenomena seen in Switzerland; and on an optical phenomenon which occurs on viewing a figure of a crystal or geometrical solid . The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 1 (5), 329-337.

Piaget, J. (1953). The origin of intelligence in the child (International library of psychology, philosophy, and scientific method) . London: Routledge & Paul.

Stroop, J.R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18 , 643–662.

Swets, J. (1964). Signal detection and recognition by human observers; contemporary readings . New York: Wiley.

Warren, R. M. (1970). Perceptual Restoration of Missing Speech Sounds . Science, 167(3917) , 392-393.

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How Bottom-Up Processing Works

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• Bottom vs. Top
• How It Works

Bottom-up processing is an explanation for perceptions that start with an incoming stimulus and work upward until a representation of the object is formed in our minds. This process suggests that our perceptual experience is based entirely on the sensory stimuli that we piece together using only data that is available from our senses.

In order to make sense of the world, we must take in energy from the environment and convert it to neural signals, a process known as sensation. It is in the next step of the process, known as perception , that our brains interpret these sensory signals.

Bottom-Up Processing vs. Top-Down Processing

How exactly do people process perceptual information from the world around them? There are two basic approaches to understanding how this sensation and perception take place. One of these is known as bottom-up processing and the other is known as top-down processing.

Data driven

Focuses on incoming sensory data

Takes place in real time

Info is interpreted using contextual clues

Uses previous experiences and expectations

Bottom-up processing can be defined as sensory analysis that begins at the entry level—with what our senses can detect. This form of processing begins with sensory data and goes up to the brain's integration of this sensory information. Information is carried in one direction, starting with the retina and proceeding to the visual cortex.

This process suggests that processing begins with a perception of the stimuli and is fueled by basic mechanisms developed through evolution. Unlike top-down processing, bottom-up processing is purely data-driven and requires no previous knowledge or learning. Bottom-up processing takes place as it happens.

For example, if you see an image of an individual letter on your screen, your eyes transmit the information to your brain, and your brain puts all of this information together.

The theory of bottom-up processing was introduced by psychologist E. J. Gibson, who took a direct approach to the understanding of perception. Rather than being dependent upon learning and context, Gibson felt that perception was a “what you see is what you get” process. He argued that sensation and perception are the same things.

Because Gibson’s theory suggests that processing can be understood solely in terms of environmental stimuli, it is referred to as the ecological theory of perception.

Bottom-up processing works like this:

• We experience sensory information about the world around us, such as light levels from our environment.
• These signals are brought to the retina. Transduction transforms these signals into electrical impulses that can then be transmitted.
• Electrical impulses travel along visual pathways to the brain, where they enter the visual cortex and are processed to form our visual experience.

This approach to understanding perception is an example of reductionism. Rather than looking at perception more holistically , including how sensory information, visual processes, and expectations contribute to how we see the world, bottom-up processing breaks the process down into its most basic elements.

Example of Bottom-Up Processing

You can compare bottom-up processing to top-down processing by considering an example that looks at each. As one example, imagine that you see a somewhat obscure shape. If you saw the shape on its own, using bottom-up processing, you might immediately perceive it as a capital letter B.

Now, if someone were to place that image next to other context clues, such as next to the numbers 12 and 14, you might then perceive it as the number 13 rather than a capital B. In this case, you use top-down processing to interpret the visual information in light of surrounding visual cues.

Is Reading an Example of Bottom-Up Processing?

Some researchers consider reading an example of bottom-up processing, stating that we decode text by starting with the smallest linguistic units, then moving to larger ones. Others argue that reading is a top-down process in that we don't read every word but, instead, guess what the words and phrases mean based on previous experience.

Bottom-Up Processing's Impact on Perception

You have probably seen a number of visual illusions where random ink blobs initially look like ambiguous shapes but, after a moment, they begin to look like a face. If we used only bottom-up processing, these ink blobs would continue to look like random shapes on paper.

However, because our brains are predisposed to perceive faces, and because of top-down processes, we are likely to begin to see a human face in these ambiguous shapes.

The experience of visual illusions can illustrate how bottom-up and top-down processes influence how we experience the world.

Prosopagnosia , also known as face blindness, is a neurological disorder in which people are unable to recognize familiar faces, including their own. While other aspects of visual processing and cognitive functioning remain unaffected, people experience functional sensation but incomplete perception. Patients are able to perceive familiar faces, but are not able to recognize them.

In this case, bottom-up processing remains functional, but a lack of top-down processing makes them unable to relate what they are seeing to stored knowledge. This demonstrates how important both processes are in shaping our perceptual experiences.

A Word From Verywell

Bottom-up processing can be extremely useful for understanding certain elements of how perception occurs. However, research has also shown that other factors including expectation and motivation (elements of top-down processing) can have an impact on how we perceive things around us.

Costall A. 1966 and all that: James Gibson and bottom-down theory . Ecological Psychology. 2017 Jul 3;29(3):221-30.

Gilakjani AP, Sabouri NB. How can students improve their reading comprehension skill? J Studies Educ . 2016;6(2):229-240. doi:10.5296/jse.v6i2.9201

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Prosopagnosia Information Page .

Stokes, D & Matthen, M. Perception and Its Modalities. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2015. 

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Top Down Processing (Definition + 7 Examples)

There are a lot of stimuli to take in at any given moment. It can seem utterly exhausting to break down every sight, sound, and feeling we experience and analyze them to build our perception of the world. After all, we have gathered so much data and built up so many schemas over the years that we could recreate the things we know best by thinking of them.

Some experts believe that we process information based on direct sensory input. In contrast, others subscribe to the theory of top-down processing.

Top Down Processing is the idea that our brains form an idea of a big picture first from previous knowledge and then break it down into more specific information. We perceive the world around us by pulling from our perceptual set: past experiences, expectations, and emotions. Then, we form opinions.

In other words, top-down processing occurs when we predict what we will see or experience before actually seeing or experiencing it.

This cognitive process plays a major role in everyday life, including language comprehension and reading. For example, if you are given a sentence to read, such as “The dog ran around the corner,” you would use your prior knowledge to anticipate that there will be something else behind the corner (e.g., another dog). You already know that dogs chase each other, so your brain predicts what might happen next to help you understand the sentence fully.

In addition to helping with language comprehension, top-down processing assists with problem-solving tasks by providing clues about potential solutions even before any evidence has been collected or analyzed. This involves using past experiences, background knowledge, and context clues to generate possible answers for a given problem before researching further information on it.

Examples of Top Down Processing

Have you ever seen the image of a vase and two faces? This image doesn’t change, but we are more likely to see one image or the other at first glance. Only after training our brain to see the other image, or someone tells us to see this image, does it appear.

Top Down Processing can help us make sense of a confusing situation or figure out hidden meanings within something. Examples of top-down processing include:

• Making assumptions based on prior knowledge
• Concluding limited data
• Interpreting what someone says based on context clues
• Using predictions to fill in missing information

Consider the 1961 study involving an ambiguous image that can be perceived as either a rat or a man. When participants were primed with the context, their perception of the image shifted accordingly. If they were asked to identify the man in the image, most recognized the man’s face promptly.

Conversely, if prompted to find the rat , their perception shifted to discern the rat. This study demonstrates how our expectations and prior knowledge (the "top" in top-down processing) can influence and guide our perception of sensory information. It's a classic example that supports the idea of top-down processing.

If you have done some research into these theories, you know that top-down processing is a theory that opposes bottom-up processing, which James J. Gibson proposed .

The theory of top-down process was developed just a few years later and is often explained side by side with bottom-up processing to round out the overarching theories on visual perception.

This approach to visual perception is more holistic because it considers the sensory inputs we receive and our prior knowledge, expectations, and context in which we perceive them. Instead of solely relying on the immediate visual data, top-down processing integrates broader cognitive factors to construct a more comprehensive understanding of what we see.

We start by perceiving the whole object. In the Rat-Man example, we start our analysis by seeing the rat or the man based on the context of the situation or our expectations. Then, we break down the visual stimuli and see that this could be a rat, a man, or a different drawing altogether.

Gregory’s Theory

British psychologist Richard Gregory is the man responsible for developing this take on visual perception theory. Gregory did not coin “top-down processing” or create this idea from scratch. His theory was mainly realized as a response to Gibson, and he credits Hermann von Helmholtz as the father of this theory.

Gregory proposed that while the eye does take in a lot of stimuli, most of it is lost by the time it reaches the brain. So we can’t possibly construct our entire perception of what’s in front of us in the direct way that Gibson proposed.

To “fill in the blanks,” the brain uses hypotheses based on what it expects and what it already knows about the world. Of course, hypotheses are not always true. We discover that our initial hypotheses aren't true as we gather more details and focus more on different elements of what we see. Hence, we realize the rat isn’t just a rat, or the man isn’t just the man.

Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Processing

The idea of top-down processing is quite different from bottom-up processing. In my article about Bottom Up Processing , I used an example of how top-down processing worked vs. bottom-up processing. I’ll repeat the example to refresh your memory, but I’ll start by explaining how this example works using top-down processing.

Example 1: B vs. 13

Let’s say you are reading a piece of paper. You see the number 11, the number 12, and then what appears to be the number 13. Or, at least, that’s what your brain says when you encounter it. After a closer look, you realize you are looking at a capital B, but your brain chose a number first due to the context of what you were seeing.

How is this significant? If you were using bottom-up processing, you probably wouldn’t have made the mistake of seeing the 13 first. You would have taken in the stimuli for what it was and then analyzed whether or not it was a B, a 13, another symbol, etc. With bottom-up processing, you are not making assumptions based on context, patterns, or past experiences. Bottom-up processing takes place in real-time, and we take in each stimulus as it is before we assign it a larger context.

Of course, this doesn't happen all the time. Most of the time, we can look at a list that says "11 12 13 14" and assume what number comes next. So we use top-down processing to speed up how we assign meaning to what we're seeing, hearing, or taking in through other senses.

More Examples of Top-Down Processing in Everyday Life

The following are only examples of top-down processing.

Example 2: Jumbled Letters Still Make Sense

Have you ever seen a passage where every word is spelled incorrectly, but the first and last letters are correct? Most likely, you can read the whole passage without struggling. The individual words themselves make no sense, but reading the word as a whole and within the context of the larger sentence is a breeze.

While this passage was not written to support top-down processing, it could serve as evidence to prove that we can process words as a whole rather than letting the stimuli themselves lead the way in reading and understanding a piece of text.

Example 3: Reading Misspelled Words or Bad Handwriting Is Easier When Reading a Whole Sentence

There’s a picture that floats around social media or falls into your email inbox now and again. It shows a paragraph made of misspelled words. The letters are rearranged to correct the first and last letters, but everything else is out of place. Somehow, you can still read the entire paragraph!

This is top-down processing in action. If you were to see any of the words in the paragraph separately, you would probably have a harder time understanding what the word is saying. But when it’s strung together in a sentence, your brain understands the context and easily comprehends the word.

Example 4: The Stroop Effect

You might have heard about this little challenge before. Let’s say you see a list of colors: red, black, etc. Each word is written in a different color that doesn’t match the word. “Red” might be written in black, etc. People may have a hard time when asked to identify the colors of the words rather than the word itself. It’s easy for the brain to read the word.

This is an example of top-down processing because we understand and process the concept of reading the words before us rather than identifying the color. We automatically process the word, causing the delay when trying to do a different task. You can learn more about the Stroop Effect Here .

Example 5: Phonemic Restoration

Top-down processing helps us “fill in the blanks” and gives our senses less. A majority of the things that we see and hear are “filled in.” Once we’ve grasped what we’re seeing, hearing, smelling, etc. , the brain does the rest.

This causes an exciting phenomenon called phonemic restoration. When speech signals are replaced with certain sounds, our brains can fill in the blanks and “hear” what is being said. White noise, for example, could disrupt small pieces of speech signals and would go completely unnoticed. You can hear examples of phonemic restoration online . As white or pink noise fills in the gaps between the person’s speech, it becomes more coherent.

Phonemic restoration is very useful for humans. Without it, we would have a hard time hearing everything and would require a quieter environment to chat.

Example 6: Seeing a Pile of Produce That Doesn’t Have Any Bruises

Top-down processing doesn’t allow us to fill in the blanks when listening to people. We also fill in the blanks with our eyes. This means that knowledge of top-down processing can be used to manipulate an image or idea.

Let’s say you are arranging fruit at a grocery store. Only one side of the fruit has some bruises, but you need to sell the fruit. What side do you have facing the customers?

You could arrange the produce so that the good-looking side faces the customers. When the customers see the fruit, they “fill in the blanks.” They don’t need to see the back of the fruit - they know it’s there. In this case, unfortunately, they won’t know that the back of the fruit is covered in bruises. Only if they pick it up and inspect it will they know what’s on the other side.

While it appears that top-down and bottom-up processing are two different ways to view the world, many argue that we use a combination of both to see, hear, and understand what is happening around us. Top-down processing allows us to apply patterns and past knowledge to understand what is happening faster. But taking in smaller details allows us to refine what we see and possibly see things in new ways.

Is Top-Down Processing Automatic?

Psychologists who have studied top-down processing have distinguished it from "voluntary" forms of perception. So this can be considered an automatic process!

That being said, sometimes it can lead us to make mistakes. If we see a "13," that should be a B, we may have to go back and correct what we assumed. Taking "shortcuts" like this can also cause us to miss things right before us. Have you ever heard of change blindness? Our minds may miss changes in our environment because we have already assumed what we will see in front of us. When we make assumptions about what the world looks like, we can accept those assumptions without seeing what is in front of us.

Role of Context

Context plays an important role in top-down processing. Top-down processing is a cognitive strategy that uses prior knowledge and expectations to interpret stimuli. This means that, when presented with a stimulus, individuals will draw upon existing contextual factors to make sense of it. For instance, if an individual is presented with a word, they may consider context clues such as the surrounding words or sentences to determine its meaning.

In addition, contextual information can also be used to help resolve ambiguities within a given stimulus. Suppose a sentence contains two possible interpretations based on one particular word. In that case, an individual might consider their current context to decide which interpretation makes more sense given the situation.

The ability of individuals to successfully employ top-down processing largely depends on having access to appropriate contexts. Without sufficient contextual information, it becomes much more difficult for them to make accurate predictions about what kind of stimuli they will likely encounter next and, therefore, less able to utilize top-down strategies effectively.

Research On Information Processing

Top-down information processing is a type of cognitive processing that relies on stored knowledge to interpret and analyze incoming sensory information. It involves using existing mental schemas, or frameworks, to process new data. This contrasts with bottom-up processing, which relies more heavily on the direct analysis of sensory data without relying on past experiences or prior expectations.

Research into top-down information processing has revealed much about how we make decisions and reason through problems by combining our memories and existing knowledge base with new stimuli.

Studies have demonstrated that when given an ambiguous stimulus, people are more likely to interpret it based on their beliefs instead of objectively analyzing the raw data. As such, this form of information processing can be seen as an important component in problem-solving, decision-making processes, and general cognition.

Studies utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have also been conducted to investigate the neural mechanisms behind top-down effects during various tasks such as memory recall or perceptual identification experiments. This research has provided insight into how different brain regions interact during these processes and how they contribute to overall performance outcomes.

Learn More about Top Down Processing

Want to dive deeper into this subject? Check out this TED Talk that we found on r/psychology ! Enjoy learning more about optical illusions, top-down processing, and how we see the world.

Related posts:

• Bottom Up Processing (Definition + 23 Examples)
• The Psychology of Long Distance Relationships
• Operant Conditioning (Examples + Research)
• Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI Test)
• Variable Interval Reinforcement Schedule (Examples)

Reference this article:

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Perception:

The 5 Senses

Mirror Neurons

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What’s the Difference Between Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processing

As we know, even though our sensory receptors constantly gather information from our surroundings. Ultimately, it is how we interpret that collected information which determines how we interact with it. In terms of perception, it describes our ability to organise, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. Perception involves bottom-up processing and top-down processing .

But how can you understand the process of perception? The process of perception can be understood with these two  approaches: bottom-up processing and top-d own processing. Is there a difference between the two? Yes.

Top-down processing

It is classified as top-down processing when pattern recognition is developed through contextual information. As a result of this approach, one’s perception starts with the most general and gradually progresses to the most specific.

Our perceptions are largely influenced by the expectations we have and prior knowledge. In simple words, based on the knowledge we have, our brain fills in the blanks and anticipates what will come next. 

As an example, you are presented with a paragraph that is written in a illegible handwriting style. You will have an easier time understanding what the author  wants to say if you read the whole paragraph instead of reading the words separately. The brain may be able to comprehend the gist of a paragraph by using the context provided by the surrounding words.

Gregory’s Theory

According to renowned psychologist Richard Gregory,the perception process is a constructive one that relies on the top-down processing. 

Gregory explained that using prior experience and knowledge of a stimulus helps us draw inferences. For him, one’s perception is determined by their best guess or hypothesis regarding the world around them.

When it comes to visual perception, he argues that 90% of the visual information is lost before it reaches the brain. The stimulus is created based on memory and experience that is related to it. Consequently, a perceptual hypothesis is created about it as a result of this event.  

In Gregory’s view, incorrect hypotheses can be formed by the brain when faced with a visual illusion, such as the Necker tube, which may result in an inaccurate perception.

Bottom-up processing

As opposed to the top-down approach, in the bottom-up processing approach, the perception starts at the sensory input, the stimulus. Therefore, the word ‘data-driven’ can be used when describing perception.  

Suppose a football stands in the centre of a person’s field. The visuals of the football and all other information about the stimulus is transmitted to the visual cortex in the brain from the retina. There is only one direction in which the signal travels.

Gibson’s Theory

Gregory’s explanation was criticised by psychologist E.J. Gibson. It was regarding visual illusions. In his opinion, they serve simply as examples and are not images seen in a person’s normal visual surroundings.

Gibson, a strong supporter of the bottom-up approach to perception, argued that perception is not subject to hypotheses; rather, perception is a direct phenomenon. ( ‘What you see is what you get.’)

In his theory, he explained that the environment can provide sufficiently detailed information (e.g. shape, size, distance, etc.),about the stimulus. Thus, prior knowledge or past experiences may not affect the perception of the stimulus. 

This argument is supported by motion parallax. Whenever we are travelling on a fast-moving train, objects closer to us seem to pass by more quickly, while objects further away pass us comparatively slowly. Therefore, we can determine the distance between us and something passing us by observing the speed with which it moves.

• The process of gathering inputs from our environment to build perceptions by using the sensory information that we have received.
• Data-driven
• Sensory information is relied upon

Bottom-up processing does not require any prior learning, so perception is solely determined by stimuli received from one’s environment. The driving force behind perception in bottom-up processing is the stimulus one is currently experiencing in one’s external environment.

• The process of interpreting incoming information according to one’s prior knowledge, experiences, and expectations. (Gregory, 1970)
• Schema driven.
• Depends on experience and knowledge.

As clear by know that during top-down processing, experience, prior knowledge, and expectations are all crucial factors in creating the perception of new stimuli. Thus, previous knowledge, experience, and expectations are the driving forces behind top-down perception.

Robert Haynes did his degree in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He is interested in mental health and well-being.

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Background Essay: Draft LSA 3 Skills or Systems Skill: Listening Title:Helping Upper-Intermediate Learners Use Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processing Strategies to Understand Listening Texts

Cambridge Delta Module 2 LSA 3 Listening

Helping Upper-Intermediate Learners Use Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processing Strategies to Understand Listening Texts

Related Papers

Joseph Siegel

This paper argues for the incorporation of bottom-up activities for English as a foreign language (EFL) listening. It discusses theoretical concepts and pedagogic options for addressing bottom-up aural processing in the EFL classroom as well as how and why teachers may wish to include such activities in lessons. This discussion is augmented by a small-scale classroom-based research project that investigated six activities targeting learners’ bottom-up listening abilities. Learners studying at the lower-intermediate level of a compulsory EFL university course were divided into a treatment group (n = 21) and a contrast group (n = 32). Each group listened to the same audio material and completed listening activities from an assigned textbook. The treatment group also engaged in a set of six bottom-up listening activities using the same material. This quasi-experimental study used dictation and listening proficiency tests before and after the course. Between-group comparisons of t-test results of dictation and listening proficiency tests indicated that improvements for the treatment group were probably due to the BU intervention. In addition, results from a posttreatment survey suggested that learners value explicit bottom- up listening instruction.

DELTA LSA2-ESSAY (READING -SKILLS) LESSON PLAN - Helping upper intermediate learners improve their ability to read human-interest stories using the top-down and bottom-up processing

Mijail Sanchez Lagos

Introduction 2) Textual patterning 3) Processes and subskills 3.1 Top-down process 3.1.1 Context schemata (pics) 3.2 Bottom-up processing 3.2.1 Grammatical and lexical cohesion 3.2.2 Referencing 4) Problems and solutions: 4.1 Problems with lexical cohesion 4.2 Problems with referencing 4.3 Problems with the activation of previous knowledge 5) Conclusion 6) Bibliography

Armenian Folia Anglistika

Listening is the first receptive skill that we develop as human beings, and it helps us improve other skills and gain confidence as language learners. In the English language classroom, learners find listening tasks particularly frustrating and challenging for a range of reasons. The present research addresses ways of developing learners’ top-down processing skills, such as making predictions about the target text, guessing the context and using contextual clues to infer meaning.

Waheeb Khan

Cecilia L . Calub

English language learners often say that listening is the communication skill that is easiest to learn and they may be right to think that because listening is a receptive skill, not a production one. Listening is the most frequently used language skill in the classroom (Ferris, 1998; Murphy, 1991; Vogely, 1998), a primary medium of learning at all stages of education that can facilitate the emergence of the other language skills (Oxford, 1990). Thus, the key to acquire a language is to receive language input. Krashen, Terrell, Ehrman, & Herzog (1984) claim that acquisition takes place only when students absorb enough comprehensible input. The same claim was supported by Rost (1994) who confirmed that listening is vital in language classrooms because it provides input for learners. As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in students’ language development. Krashen (1985) argues that people acquire language by understanding the linguistic information they hear. Thus language acquisition is achieved mainly through receiving understandable input and listening ability is the critical component in achieving understandable language input. Without understanding inputs at the right level, any kind of learning simply cannot occur. Listening is a fundamental language skill, and as such it merits a critical priority among the four skill areas for language students. It is an important element in the step toward competent second language (L2) performance and is used more often than speaking, reading or writing during the course of a normal work day.（Van Duzer, 1997）Listening comprehension has become more central in the process of L２ learning. The shift toward emphasizing listening comprehension in the ESL/EFL classroom can be attributed to developments in L２ acquisition theory. Proponents of comprehension approaches recognize the primacy of listening in the processes of comprehension, retention of information in memory , and acquisition of second language competence.

Guangwei Hu

Less than two decades ago, Alderson and Bachman (2001, p. x) observed: " The assessment of listening abilities is one of the least understood, least developed and yet one of the most important areas of language testing and assessment. " The same was also true of research on listening in general and second language (L2) listening in particular. Because of this lack of understanding, listening was considered the Cinderella skill in L2 learning for many years (Nunan, 2002). Unlike the other three skills of speaking, writing, and reading, listening was not given a prominent place in the L2 curriculum. In recent years, however, research has provided sufficient empirical evidence that demonstrates the important role of auditory input in language acquisition. Research has also shown that systematic listening instruction can help improve students' ability to comprehend spoken language, which in turn can help enhance the acquisition process. The growing body of theoretical and empirical research on L2 listening has elevated the status of the language skill in and out of the classroom. Listening is now a key feature in most language programmes, where it is offered as a stand-alone course or integrated with a speaking course. Because of its central role in the L2 curriculum, listening is customarily included in high-stakes language tests and examinations (for example, university admission tests, standardized international tests such as TOEFL and IELTS). This collection provides a comprehensive overview of L2 listening and is divided up into four sections according to the predominant focus of each entry. The first section, Theorizing Listening, examines the theoretical construct of L2 listening and includes entries that discuss the linguistic, cognitive, affective, and social factors that influence L2 comprehension. Entries in this section also deal with the nature of L2 listening processes, different types of listening, macro-and micro-listening skills, the roles of metacognition and working memory in listening, and knowledge sources needed for successful comprehension. The second section, Researching Listening, provides a synthesis of findings from L2 listening research in varied learning contexts and on different aspects of

Adamantia Lambropoulou

English Language Teaching

Jayaron Jose

This conceptual study focuses on the importance of bottom-up processing (BUP) for enhancing EFL / ESL learners' decoding ability in listening skills. As observed by the researcher and reviewed in the literature, bottom-up processing for decoding is found to be an often-neglected area in the teaching of listening skills in the field of ELT. As a result of this, the foreign or second language learners of English are at risk in their competency in comprehending proficient speakers of English especially when they are exposed to ungraded realife spoken English outside their regular lessons. To address this issue effectively, learners and teachers of English should be made aware of the significance of BUP in terms of different listening issues faced by learners. Moreover, the stake holders (planners, teachers, and students) should have a clear plan of action to address these issues to the benefit of learners. Sufficient awareness of the concept of bottom-up processing for decoding in listening skills, issues faced by learners due to lack of it, and a well thought out action to deal with the issues, therefore, can help learners of English to improve their listening skills and comprehension contributing to their enhanced language proficiency. The paper, therefore, incorporates the methodology of reviewing relevant literarature based on the researcher's belief on the significance of bottom-up processing for teaching listening skills. Besides the analysis of the concept of BUP, the paper includes some learner issues, and it suggests some listening activities to remedy the issues.

English Language Education

George Jacobs

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