The Future of Perception Technology

Why this matters

A student swiping through an AR filter or talking about a VR headset is already living inside this topic, they just don't have the words for it. Milgram and Kishino's case study gives them that vocabulary, drawing the line between augmented and virtual reality instead of letting the two blur together.

That distinction matters once the reading moves into sensory augmentation, where a cochlear implant or a bionic eye comes with real ethical stakes attached, not just a technical description. Students who cannot separate AR from VR tend to flatten sensory augmentation into the same category and miss why those ethical stakes matter.

From one teacher to another

I use this reading when we cover how technology intersects with perception, since most of my students have already used AR filters or heard of VR headsets without knowing the psychology terms for them. My students match terms like augmented reality and sensory augmentation to their definitions, then read the Milgram and Kishino case study excerpt to explain how their definition of AR differs from VR. The short-answer questions push them to weigh the benefits and risks of devices like cochlear implants and bionic eyes.