The integration of learning into perception involves complex neuroplastic changes within the cortico-cortical feedback loops. Top-down processing utilizes higher-order cortical areas—such as the prefrontal cortex and inferior temporal cortex—to modulate early sensory processing in primary visual (V1) and auditory cortices. Perceptual Learning, extensively studied by Eleanor Gibson and later by Dov Sagi and Takeo Watanabe, refers to the long-term improvement in sensory discrimination abilities resulting from practice and exposure.
Empirical paradigms such as perceptual priming, sensory deprivation experiments (e.g., Riesen's kitten rearing studies), and cross-cultural illusions (e.g., Müller-Lyer illusion susceptibility varying among carpentered-world vs. non-carpentered-world cultures by Segall, Campbell, and Herskovits, 1963) conclusively prove that carpentered environments shape perceptual habits.