No one doubts that the cognitive
system is triggered by the physical
data or stimulus, and that it identifies
patterns on the basis of the features
of that stimulus. Nonetheless, top
down processes may be playing a
role as well. Few often identify a
pattern that is quite literally not in
original stimulus at all, such as the
“the” in the last clause.
Of course, sometimes our conceptual
knowledge leads us to misremember the
the words we read in another way.
Sometimes words are omitted in our perceptions.