Hypochondria, a mental illness, is characterized by "a belief that real or imagined symptoms are signs of a serious illness, despite medical reassurance and other evidence to the contrary". Often, hypochondriasis can manifest itself as somatofom pain disorder where the sufferer will feel chronic pain where the imagined injury or illness is supposedly occurring. This self-actualization cycle served as inspiration for this project. The ways in which one perceives his circumstances plays an essential role in one's experience of, and relationship with, the outside world. As with hypochondriacs, the belief that they are sick can trigger real pain and sickness. Taking precedence from this mental occurrence, the purpose of Percept is to push the boundaries of this symbiotic link between one's physical environment, how elements within the environment are perceived, and the resulting interaction one has with the environment.

In exploring the relationship between the real and the perceived, the key emotion the Percept system targets is fear. Fear was chosen for several reasons. It is an interesting emotion in that "[one] cannot will [oneself] to be afraid". Instead humans must "organize [the] environment - or invoke mental images of such an environment - which then triggers the emotion." Analyzing fear from a neurobiological perspective, a study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry have suggested that humans' fear and anxiety levels rise upon the sight of others' frightened faces. Seeing other people's frightened faces would suggest there to be something physical to be scared of, thus altering one's perception of whether there is something to fear. In this regard, seeing other people's frightened faces indirectly feed back into the relationship between the real and the perceived.

To better observe the dynamic relationship between what is perceived and how experience is lived out through perception, Percept aims to push and further the users' thresholds for fear and anxiety. In British designers Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby's project S.O.C.D (Sexual Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), a user can watch a pornographic DVD while being measured for the level of arousal. The more aroused the user becomes, the more pixelated the DVD images become. In order to see the images clearly again, the user much de-arousal himself. In S.O.C.D, the designers push the boundaries of one's sexual arousal tolerance by constantly engaging the user in a state of non-rest. The user must realize the control of the DVD imagery lies with his own arousal. Percept examines and treats the user's fear and anxiety level in much the same way Dunne and Raby had done with sexual arousal. The imagery and audio becomes increasingly more frightening until the system senses extreme discomfort within the user. The system would respond by displaying less frightening images and sounds. If the system detects relative-calmness within the user, the environment will once more increase in visual and aural impact. In this manner, an intricate push-and-pull is established between environment and user. Ultimately, if the user controls his fear, the environment would becomes increasingly frightening. Although it would not matter anymore for the user as his fear is contained. Conversely, if the user remains frightened, he will continue to be scared regardless of the environment's relative calmness.