Zaira Cattaneo and Tomaso Vecchi
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262015035
- eISBN:
- 9780262295819
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262015035.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Vision
Can a blind person see? The very idea seems paradoxical. And yet, if we conceive of “seeing” as the ability to generate internal mental representations that may contain visual details, the idea of ...
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Can a blind person see? The very idea seems paradoxical. And yet, if we conceive of “seeing” as the ability to generate internal mental representations that may contain visual details, the idea of blind vision becomes a concept worth investigating. This book examines the effects of blindness and other types of visual deficits on the development and functioning of the human cognitive system. Drawing on behavioral and neurophysiological data, it analyzes research on mental imagery, spatial cognition, and compensatory mechanisms at the sensorial, cognitive, and cortical levels in individuals with complete or profound visual impairment. The authors find that the brain does not need eyes to “see.” They address critical questions of broad importance: The relationship of visual perception to imagery and working memory and the extent to which mental imagery depends on normal vision; the functional and neural relationships between vision and the other senses; the specific aspects of the visual experience which are crucial to cognitive development or specific cognitive mechanisms; and the extraordinary plasticity of the brain—as illustrated by the way that, in the blind, the visual cortex may be reorganized to support other perceptual or cognitive functions. In the absence of vision, the other senses work as functional substitutes and are often improved—pointing to the importance of the other senses in cognition.Less
Can a blind person see? The very idea seems paradoxical. And yet, if we conceive of “seeing” as the ability to generate internal mental representations that may contain visual details, the idea of blind vision becomes a concept worth investigating. This book examines the effects of blindness and other types of visual deficits on the development and functioning of the human cognitive system. Drawing on behavioral and neurophysiological data, it analyzes research on mental imagery, spatial cognition, and compensatory mechanisms at the sensorial, cognitive, and cortical levels in individuals with complete or profound visual impairment. The authors find that the brain does not need eyes to “see.” They address critical questions of broad importance: The relationship of visual perception to imagery and working memory and the extent to which mental imagery depends on normal vision; the functional and neural relationships between vision and the other senses; the specific aspects of the visual experience which are crucial to cognitive development or specific cognitive mechanisms; and the extraordinary plasticity of the brain—as illustrated by the way that, in the blind, the visual cortex may be reorganized to support other perceptual or cognitive functions. In the absence of vision, the other senses work as functional substitutes and are often improved—pointing to the importance of the other senses in cognition.
Rainer Mausfeld and Dieter Heyer (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198505006
- eISBN:
- 9780191686764
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198505006.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Vision
Colour has long been a source of fascination to both scientists and philosophers. In one sense, colours are in the mind of the beholder, in another sense they belong to the external world. Colours ...
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Colour has long been a source of fascination to both scientists and philosophers. In one sense, colours are in the mind of the beholder, in another sense they belong to the external world. Colours appear to lie on the boundary where we have divided the world into ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ events. They represent, more than any other attribute of our visual experience, a place where both physical and mental properties are interwoven in an intimate and enigmatic way. The last few decades have brought fascinating changes in the way that we think about ‘colour’ and the role ‘colour’ plays in our perceptual architecture. This book provides an overview of the contemporary developments in our understanding of colours and of the relationship between the ‘mental’ and the ‘physical’. With each chapter followed by critical commentaries, the volume presents a lively and accessible picture of the intellectual traditions which have shaped research into colour perception.Less
Colour has long been a source of fascination to both scientists and philosophers. In one sense, colours are in the mind of the beholder, in another sense they belong to the external world. Colours appear to lie on the boundary where we have divided the world into ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ events. They represent, more than any other attribute of our visual experience, a place where both physical and mental properties are interwoven in an intimate and enigmatic way. The last few decades have brought fascinating changes in the way that we think about ‘colour’ and the role ‘colour’ plays in our perceptual architecture. This book provides an overview of the contemporary developments in our understanding of colours and of the relationship between the ‘mental’ and the ‘physical’. With each chapter followed by critical commentaries, the volume presents a lively and accessible picture of the intellectual traditions which have shaped research into colour perception.
Edmund Rolls and Gustavo Deco
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198524885
- eISBN:
- 9780191689277
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198524885.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Vision
This book presents the highly complex subject of vision, focusing on the visual information processing and computational operations in the visual system that lead to representations of objects in the ...
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This book presents the highly complex subject of vision, focusing on the visual information processing and computational operations in the visual system that lead to representations of objects in the brain. In addition to visual processing, it also considers how visual inputs reach and are involved in the computations underlying a wide range of behaviour, thus providing a foundation for understanding the operation of a number of different brain systems.Less
This book presents the highly complex subject of vision, focusing on the visual information processing and computational operations in the visual system that lead to representations of objects in the brain. In addition to visual processing, it also considers how visual inputs reach and are involved in the computations underlying a wide range of behaviour, thus providing a foundation for understanding the operation of a number of different brain systems.
John K. Tsotsos
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262015417
- eISBN:
- 9780262295420
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262015417.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Vision
Although William James declared in 1890, “Everyone knows what attention is,” today, there are many different and sometimes opposing views on the subject. This fragmented theoretical landscape may ...
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Although William James declared in 1890, “Everyone knows what attention is,” today, there are many different and sometimes opposing views on the subject. This fragmented theoretical landscape may exist because most of the theories and models of attention offer explanations in natural language or in a pictorial manner rather than providing a quantitative and unambiguous statement of the theory, and focus on the manifestations of attention instead of its rationale. This book develops a formal model of visual attention with the goal of providing a theoretical explanation for why humans (and animals) must have the capacity to attend, and uses the full breadth of the language of computation—rather than simply the language of mathematics—as the formal means of description. The result, the Selective Tuning model of vision and attention, explains attentive behavior in humans and provides a foundation for building computer systems that see with human-like characteristics. The overarching conclusion is that human vision is based on a general purpose processor which can be dynamically tuned to the task and the scene viewed on a moment-by-moment basis. The book offers an overview of attention theories and models, and a description of the Selective Tuning model, confining the formal elements to two chapters and two appendixes. The text is accompanied by more than 100 illustrations in black and white and color; additional color illustrations and movies are available on the book’s website.Less
Although William James declared in 1890, “Everyone knows what attention is,” today, there are many different and sometimes opposing views on the subject. This fragmented theoretical landscape may exist because most of the theories and models of attention offer explanations in natural language or in a pictorial manner rather than providing a quantitative and unambiguous statement of the theory, and focus on the manifestations of attention instead of its rationale. This book develops a formal model of visual attention with the goal of providing a theoretical explanation for why humans (and animals) must have the capacity to attend, and uses the full breadth of the language of computation—rather than simply the language of mathematics—as the formal means of description. The result, the Selective Tuning model of vision and attention, explains attentive behavior in humans and provides a foundation for building computer systems that see with human-like characteristics. The overarching conclusion is that human vision is based on a general purpose processor which can be dynamically tuned to the task and the scene viewed on a moment-by-moment basis. The book offers an overview of attention theories and models, and a description of the Selective Tuning model, confining the formal elements to two chapters and two appendixes. The text is accompanied by more than 100 illustrations in black and white and color; additional color illustrations and movies are available on the book’s website.
Cristobal Curio, Heinrich H. Bulthoff, and Martin A. Giese (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014533
- eISBN:
- 9780262289313
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014533.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Vision
The recognition of faces is a fundamental visual function that is important for social interaction and communication. Scientific interest in facial recognition has increased dramatically over the ...
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The recognition of faces is a fundamental visual function that is important for social interaction and communication. Scientific interest in facial recognition has increased dramatically over the last decade. Researchers in such fields as psychology, neurophysiology, and functional imaging have published more than 10,000 studies on face processing. Almost all of these studies focus on the processing of static pictures of faces; however, little attention has been paid to the recognition of dynamic faces, faces as they change over time—a topic in neuroscience that is also relevant to a variety of technical applications, including robotics, animation, and human–computer interfaces. This book offers an interdisciplinary overview of recent work on dynamic faces from the biological and computational perspectives. The chapters cover a range of topics, including the psychophysics of dynamic face perception, results from electrophysiology and imaging, clinical deficits in patients with impairments of dynamic face processing, and computational models that provide insights about the brain mechanisms for the processing of dynamic faces. The book offers neuroscientists and biologists a reference for designing experiments and provides computer scientists with knowledge that will help them improve technical systems for the recognition, processing, synthesizing, and animating of dynamic faces.Less
The recognition of faces is a fundamental visual function that is important for social interaction and communication. Scientific interest in facial recognition has increased dramatically over the last decade. Researchers in such fields as psychology, neurophysiology, and functional imaging have published more than 10,000 studies on face processing. Almost all of these studies focus on the processing of static pictures of faces; however, little attention has been paid to the recognition of dynamic faces, faces as they change over time—a topic in neuroscience that is also relevant to a variety of technical applications, including robotics, animation, and human–computer interfaces. This book offers an interdisciplinary overview of recent work on dynamic faces from the biological and computational perspectives. The chapters cover a range of topics, including the psychophysics of dynamic face perception, results from electrophysiology and imaging, clinical deficits in patients with impairments of dynamic face processing, and computational models that provide insights about the brain mechanisms for the processing of dynamic faces. The book offers neuroscientists and biologists a reference for designing experiments and provides computer scientists with knowledge that will help them improve technical systems for the recognition, processing, synthesizing, and animating of dynamic faces.
Marco Piccolino and Nicholas J. Wade
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199554355
- eISBN:
- 9780191766978
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199554355.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Vision
The central aim of this book is to analyse the scientific and philosophical work of Galileo Galilei from the particular viewpoint of his approach to the senses (and especially vision) as a way for ...
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The central aim of this book is to analyse the scientific and philosophical work of Galileo Galilei from the particular viewpoint of his approach to the senses (and especially vision) as a way for acquiring trustworthy knowledge about the constitution of the world. For Galileo the senses are potentially ambiguous. Accordingly, reliable information capable of penetrating the complexity of reality can only be obtained by interpreting the sensory data critically. The philosophical background of Galileo’s attitude to the senses is his awareness that nature has not developed a specific language aimed at communicating with senses generally and human senses in particular. The culture of his age was based mainly on a mechanist approach to the world. In this context, Galileo’s analysis of the senses corresponds closely to a fundamental tenet of modern sensory physiology and psychophysics—the absence in the world of specific sensory signals like sounds, colours, tastes, and odours.Less
The central aim of this book is to analyse the scientific and philosophical work of Galileo Galilei from the particular viewpoint of his approach to the senses (and especially vision) as a way for acquiring trustworthy knowledge about the constitution of the world. For Galileo the senses are potentially ambiguous. Accordingly, reliable information capable of penetrating the complexity of reality can only be obtained by interpreting the sensory data critically. The philosophical background of Galileo’s attitude to the senses is his awareness that nature has not developed a specific language aimed at communicating with senses generally and human senses in particular. The culture of his age was based mainly on a mechanist approach to the world. In this context, Galileo’s analysis of the senses corresponds closely to a fundamental tenet of modern sensory physiology and psychophysics—the absence in the world of specific sensory signals like sounds, colours, tastes, and odours.
Lisa Oakes, Cara Cashon, Marianella Casasola, and David Rakison (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195366709
- eISBN:
- 9780199863969
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195366709.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Vision
The cognitive revolution in the 1950s and 1960s led researchers to view the human mind like a computer—an information-processing system that encodes, represents, and stores information and is ...
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The cognitive revolution in the 1950s and 1960s led researchers to view the human mind like a computer—an information-processing system that encodes, represents, and stores information and is constrained by limits on hardware (the brain) and software (learning strategies and rules). The emergence of new behavioral, computational, and neuroscience methodologies, has deeply expanded psychologists' understanding of the workings of the infant, child, and adult mind. One result is that research has focused on the mechanisms of change, over developmental time, in the information-processing mind. This book brings together the recent findings and theories about the origins and early development of the information-processing mind, and provides insight into the future directions in the study of infant perception and cognition. The contributions represent a wide-range of research area in the study of infant perception and cognition, which emphasize the use of diverse methodological techniques to address key questions about development. The chapters demonstrate how the combination of historical perspectives on the information-processing approach to cognition and recent advances in behavioral, computational, and neuroscience approaches to cognition has contributed to our understanding of how abilities ranging from visual attention to face processing to object categorization have developed during infancy. Across this broad range of topics, it is clear that much of our modern understanding of infant perceptual and cognitive development emerges from the foundation of classic information-processing models of development, such as that of Leslie B. Cohen (1991). The recent advances illustrated in this book show how researchers have built on this foundation to uncover the mechanisms that drive developmental change.Less
The cognitive revolution in the 1950s and 1960s led researchers to view the human mind like a computer—an information-processing system that encodes, represents, and stores information and is constrained by limits on hardware (the brain) and software (learning strategies and rules). The emergence of new behavioral, computational, and neuroscience methodologies, has deeply expanded psychologists' understanding of the workings of the infant, child, and adult mind. One result is that research has focused on the mechanisms of change, over developmental time, in the information-processing mind. This book brings together the recent findings and theories about the origins and early development of the information-processing mind, and provides insight into the future directions in the study of infant perception and cognition. The contributions represent a wide-range of research area in the study of infant perception and cognition, which emphasize the use of diverse methodological techniques to address key questions about development. The chapters demonstrate how the combination of historical perspectives on the information-processing approach to cognition and recent advances in behavioral, computational, and neuroscience approaches to cognition has contributed to our understanding of how abilities ranging from visual attention to face processing to object categorization have developed during infancy. Across this broad range of topics, it is clear that much of our modern understanding of infant perceptual and cognitive development emerges from the foundation of classic information-processing models of development, such as that of Leslie B. Cohen (1991). The recent advances illustrated in this book show how researchers have built on this foundation to uncover the mechanisms that drive developmental change.
Zygmunt Pizlo, Yunfeng Li, Tadamasa Sawada, and Robert M. Steinman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199922543
- eISBN:
- 9780190228385
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199922543.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Vision
This book explains why and how our visual perceptions are veridical; how they can provide us with an accurate representation of the world “out there.” It explains how this computationally difficult ...
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This book explains why and how our visual perceptions are veridical; how they can provide us with an accurate representation of the world “out there.” It explains how this computationally difficult problem was solved by describing how the authors built a machine (a computational model) that sees very much as we do. This has never been done before and nothing remotely like it is available anywhere else. Doing it required a “paradigm shift,” an entirely new way of thinking about visual perception, one that is quite unlike any that has been considered up to now. The book, despite its scientific sophistication, is accessible to a very wide audience because each issue covered in the text is discussed twice, once for the “intuitive” reader and once for the “technical” reader. No equations are included in this book, but technical readers can find them in the authors’ published papers. The book, which contains many helpful demos, tells the story of how the machine was developed and what drove the ideas needed to make it work. This makes it an interesting, even gripping, read. The machine, explained clearly in this book, could have enormous practical and scientific, as well as social/artistic consequences. This book combines a new computational theory of shape perception with an account of the history of the theory's discovery. It tells this story together with all relevant background information including criticisms of it and of opposing theories. This mixture is an unusual way to present a major scientific achievement, but it not only works, it also makes for an exciting read.Less
This book explains why and how our visual perceptions are veridical; how they can provide us with an accurate representation of the world “out there.” It explains how this computationally difficult problem was solved by describing how the authors built a machine (a computational model) that sees very much as we do. This has never been done before and nothing remotely like it is available anywhere else. Doing it required a “paradigm shift,” an entirely new way of thinking about visual perception, one that is quite unlike any that has been considered up to now. The book, despite its scientific sophistication, is accessible to a very wide audience because each issue covered in the text is discussed twice, once for the “intuitive” reader and once for the “technical” reader. No equations are included in this book, but technical readers can find them in the authors’ published papers. The book, which contains many helpful demos, tells the story of how the machine was developed and what drove the ideas needed to make it work. This makes it an interesting, even gripping, read. The machine, explained clearly in this book, could have enormous practical and scientific, as well as social/artistic consequences. This book combines a new computational theory of shape perception with an account of the history of the theory's discovery. It tells this story together with all relevant background information including criticisms of it and of opposing theories. This mixture is an unusual way to present a major scientific achievement, but it not only works, it also makes for an exciting read.
Arthur G. Shapiro and Dejan Todorovic (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199794607
- eISBN:
- 9780190654795
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794607.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Vision
Visual illusions cut across academic divides and popular interests: on the one hand, illusions provide entertainment as curious tricks of the eye; on the other hand, scientific research related to ...
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Visual illusions cut across academic divides and popular interests: on the one hand, illusions provide entertainment as curious tricks of the eye; on the other hand, scientific research related to illusory phenomena has given generations of scientists and artists deep insights into the brain and principles of mind and consciousness. Numerous thinkers (including Aristotle, Descartes, Da Vinci, Escher, Goethe, Galileo, Helmholtz, Maxwell, Newton, and Wittgenstein) have been lured by the apparent simplicity of illusions and the promise that illusory phenomena can elucidate the puzzling relationship between the physical world and perceptual reality. Over the past thirty years, advances in imaging and electrophysiology have dramatically expanded the range of illusions and enabled new forms of analysis, thereby creating new and exciting ways to consider how the brain constructs the perceptual world. The Oxford Compendium of Visual Illusions is a collection of over one hundred chapters about illusions, displayed and discussed by the researchers who invented and conducted research on the illusions. Chapters include full-color images, associated videos, and extensive references. The book is divided into eleven sections: first, a presentation of general history and viewpoints on illusions, followed by sections on geometric, color, motion, space, faces, and cross-category illusions. The book will be of interest to vision scientists, neuroscientists, psychologists, physicists, philosophers, artists, designers, advertisers, and educators curious about applied aspects of visual perception and the brain.Less
Visual illusions cut across academic divides and popular interests: on the one hand, illusions provide entertainment as curious tricks of the eye; on the other hand, scientific research related to illusory phenomena has given generations of scientists and artists deep insights into the brain and principles of mind and consciousness. Numerous thinkers (including Aristotle, Descartes, Da Vinci, Escher, Goethe, Galileo, Helmholtz, Maxwell, Newton, and Wittgenstein) have been lured by the apparent simplicity of illusions and the promise that illusory phenomena can elucidate the puzzling relationship between the physical world and perceptual reality. Over the past thirty years, advances in imaging and electrophysiology have dramatically expanded the range of illusions and enabled new forms of analysis, thereby creating new and exciting ways to consider how the brain constructs the perceptual world. The Oxford Compendium of Visual Illusions is a collection of over one hundred chapters about illusions, displayed and discussed by the researchers who invented and conducted research on the illusions. Chapters include full-color images, associated videos, and extensive references. The book is divided into eleven sections: first, a presentation of general history and viewpoints on illusions, followed by sections on geometric, color, motion, space, faces, and cross-category illusions. The book will be of interest to vision scientists, neuroscientists, psychologists, physicists, philosophers, artists, designers, advertisers, and educators curious about applied aspects of visual perception and the brain.
Ian P. Howard
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199764143
- eISBN:
- 9780199949359
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199764143.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Vision, Cognitive Psychology
These three volumes provide the only detailed review of all aspects of perceiving the three-dimensional world. They deal with all the senses involved in depth perception, although the visual system ...
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These three volumes provide the only detailed review of all aspects of perceiving the three-dimensional world. They deal with all the senses involved in depth perception, although the visual system receives the most extensive treatment. Volume 1 deals with basic mechanisms underlying depth perception. It starts with an outline of the history of visual science from the Greeks to the early 20th century. Psychophysical methods, analytic procedures, and sensory coding and the physiology of the primate visual system are reviewed. An account of the evolution of visual systems is followed by an account of the development of the neural mechanisms of the visual system, with emphasis on development of mechanisms of depth perception. A description of the normal development of sensory and motor functions in humans is followed by an account of how these functions, especially depth perception, are disrupted by visual deprivation in early infancy. The two final chapters provide accounts of visual optics, accommodation, and vergence eye movements.Less
These three volumes provide the only detailed review of all aspects of perceiving the three-dimensional world. They deal with all the senses involved in depth perception, although the visual system receives the most extensive treatment. Volume 1 deals with basic mechanisms underlying depth perception. It starts with an outline of the history of visual science from the Greeks to the early 20th century. Psychophysical methods, analytic procedures, and sensory coding and the physiology of the primate visual system are reviewed. An account of the evolution of visual systems is followed by an account of the development of the neural mechanisms of the visual system, with emphasis on development of mechanisms of depth perception. A description of the normal development of sensory and motor functions in humans is followed by an account of how these functions, especially depth perception, are disrupted by visual deprivation in early infancy. The two final chapters provide accounts of visual optics, accommodation, and vergence eye movements.
