Figure 1.

Overview of the links between behavior, perception, and sensory information. The sensory abilities of horses are linked with their perception and therefore their behavior. Sensory receptors related to vision, hearing, olfaction, taste, and touch receive and process information from the surroundings, and this input is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced, which is what is referred to as perception. Perception comprises both bottom-up and top-down processes, where bottom-up refers to the processing of sensory input into perceptions, and top-down processing refers to perception that arises from cognition i.e. influenced by knowledge and experiences.