Perceptual transformation is an aspect of the brain’s functioning that reveals the underlying structure of experience. It is the process whereby the mind maps an experience in terms of its more fundamental components, allows us to derive meaning from it and refine it further to make sense of its wider context. At the level of the brain, this process involves the simultaneous but independent contributions of the pattern-recognition functions of both hemispheres, with the left relying on its ‘what’ system to attend to details and the right engaging its ‘how’ system to attend to the whole. This creates a dynamic ‘back and forth’ exchange of information between the two hemispheres necessary for meaningful understanding.

See also: right hemisphere, left hemisphere, corpus callosum, split brain, optical illusion