Definition of "prehension" [pre•hen•sion]

• The act of grasping or seizing. (noun)
• Apprehension by the senses. (noun)
• Understanding. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Alfred North Whitehead, in Process and Reality, introduces the notion of prehension, that interiority is fundamental all the way down to the most basic levels of the universe."
• "Most F5 neurons, irrespective of their category, also code the shape the hand has to adopt to execute the act in question, so we find neurons which become active when the monkey uses the precision grip (which is characterized by index – thumb opposition and is particularly useful for picking up small objects); others which discharge when the monkey uses all the fingers of its hand to grasp the object (this grip is normally used for medium-sized objects); finally others, which are rather rare, that fire during whole hand prehension, also known as prehension force, used for large objects."
• "Whitehead uses the term 'prehension' rather than 'perception,' because he doesn't think that entities like electrons are conscious, even though they do have a form of proto-perception, called 'prehension.'"