perception

n. sense, feeling, intuition; comprehension, understanding

In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. It is a task far more complex than was imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was proclaimed that building perceiving machines would take about a decade, but, needless to say, that is still very far from reality. The word perception comes from the Latin perception-, percepio, , meaning "receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses." --OED.com. Methods of studying perception range from essentially  biological or physiological approaches, through psychological approaches through the philosophy of mind and in empiricist epistemology, such as that of David Hume, John Locke, George Berkeley, or as in Merleau Ponty's affirmation of perception as the basis of all science and knowledge.
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Perception /per·cep·tion/ the conscious mental registration of a sensory stimulus.percep´tive per·cep·tion n. 1. [more]Perception - Community and Resources

Noun
1. the representation of what is perceived; basic component in the formation of a concept
(synonym) percept, perceptual experience
(hypernym) representation, mental representation, internal representation
(hyponym) figure
(part-meronym) form, shape, pattern
2. a way of conceiving something; "Luther had a new perception of the Bible"
(hypernym) conceptualization, conceptualisation, conceptuality
3. the process of perceiving
(hypernym) basic cognitive process
(hyponym) constancy
(derivation) perceive
4. knowledge gained by perceiving; "a man admired for the depth of his perception"
(hypernym) cognition, knowledge, noesis
(hyponym) discernment, perceptiveness
5. becoming aware of something via the senses
(synonym) sensing
(hypernym) sensory activity
(hyponym) look, looking, looking at
(derivation) perceive, comprehend

n. perception; collection