Misperceptioner

Misperceptioner is a term used across various fields to denote either a person who frequently misperceives sensory or social information, or a device, program, or experimental setup designed to induce, reveal, or study such misperceptions. It is not a standardized concept in psychology or neuroscience, and its meaning depends on context.

Etymology and usage: The word combines misperception with the agent-noun suffix -er. Because there is no canonical definition, scholars typically specify what they mean when using it, such as "a misperception-prone individual" or "a misperception-inducing system."

In psychology, a misperceptioner might refer to an experimental participant characterized by high susceptibility to perceptual errors, including illusions, ambiguous figures, or social cue misinterpretations. Researchers use such cases to study the boundaries between sensory input, prior expectations, and metacognitive awareness.

In technology and design, the term can describe tools or interfaces that deliberately alter perceptual input to study effects on judgment, or to train individuals to recognize distortions. Examples include motion or color-modulation in virtual reality, or controlled exposure to misaligned cues in safety training. In fiction, misperceptioner may appear as a character whose subjective reality diverges from objective facts.

Criticism and limitations: Because the term is informal and context-dependent, it can obscure precise concepts such as illusion, perceptual bias, or metacognition. Clear definitions are preferred to avoid conflating distinct phenomena.

See also: misperception, illusion, perceptual bias, cognitive psychology.