... (Cited in Eysenck & Keane, 2000). Such findings cannot be explained by any direct processing theories, which are usually driven by bottom-up processing but only by indirect constructivist theories like that of Gregory's hypothesis testing (1973). The constructivist approach to perception is concerned with how perceptions are constructed by the mind. Any approach to perception that is concerned with perceptual processing is included within the constructivist approach (Goldstein, 1999). Constructivist processing theories are mainly dependent on internal processes and driven by both top-down and bottom-up processes. It was Hermann Von Helmholtz (1821-1894) who formed the early roots of the constructivist approach. He thought of visual perceptions as 'unconscious inferences' which add meaning to sensory information and believed these inferences to be conscious as one is not commonly aware that inferences are being made while perceiving (cited in Eysenck & Keane, 2000). Helmholtz (1894) proposed the 'likelihood principle', which assumes that ...

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