... sense is the stage prior to the process of perception, sensation being the early awareness (of a stimulus) & perception being the recognition, processing, & understanding (of a stimulus), usually with respect to that which is held in memory. More specifically, sensation requires a stimulus that is powerful enough to set off a reaction in the nervous system, as a nerve fires at a specific rate according to its threshold. The sense organ/receptor, in this case the eye, detects the stimulus & changes it into an electrical signal, which is conducted to the visual cortex within the brain via the optic nerve. Once the signal arrives in the visual cortex it initiates its own unique firing pattern, the recognition of which brings about the perception of a specific sensory stimulus. There are various theories of perception & generally it is made plainly obvious that sensation & perception are very different: "Perception ...

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