Sensation, Perception and Conception

In previous weeks I have discussed how we can create our own narrative in the way we share events and tell stories on Facebook. This week in our lecture the focus and concept was the use of Art and symbols and the way we use language to create a sense of place; to design a location that is alive, that expresses a situational emotion and creates its own sensation.

In this week’s reading, Tuan (1979) explains ‘Humans know the world through sensation, perception and conception.’ An image or photo creates an emotional sensation, which we, as humans perceive and subsequently design our own, or a common conception of the event. A perfect example of this is the descriptive exercise which our lecturer, Ariella (2013) asked we attempt at the start of this week’s lecture.

She asked us to describe an image of a beautiful coastline, without knowledge of the location’s history; many students’ answers were similar to my own: “I’m sitting on a beautifully serene rock ledge, looking into the crystal clear water at the edge of the ocean. A clash of sharp and smooth flowing shapes and sounds, the wind gushing past, the waves bashing against the rock barrier, and the chatter of the seagulls in the clear blue sky.”

This is a perfect example of Tuan’s statement and the description of our, as Human’s, way of knowing. In the same way that the image used in the descriptive task creates it’s very own emotion, the photo feature in Facebook allows users to emphasise an emotion by adding a photo with their status; such as a ‘terrific day at the beach’ group photo, or a ‘feeling lonely’ selfie. These allow us as humans to expand emotionally how we perceive, and conceive the event.

References

 Tuan, Y. (1979). Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach, 81(4), 684-696.

Image retrieved from: Here

Van luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 5: Stories and Places. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au