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Related Concept Videos

Visual System01:26

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...
Vision01:24

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways01:22

Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways

At the molecular level, visual signals trigger transformations in photopigment molecules, resulting in changes in the photoreceptor cell's membrane potential. The photon's energy level is denoted by its wavelength, with each specific wavelength of visible light associated with a distinct color. The spectral range of visible light, classified as electromagnetic radiation, spans from 380 to 720 nm. Electromagnetic radiation wavelengths exceeding 720 nm fall under the infrared category, whereas...
Color Vision01:24

Color Vision

Color perception begins in the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. Two main theories explain how colors are seen: the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory. The trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and extended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, suggests that color vision is based on three types of cone receptors in the retina. These cones are sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths corresponding to red, blue, and green.
Anatomy of the Eyeball01:20

Anatomy of the Eyeball

The eye is a spherical, hollow structure composed of three tissue layers. The outer layer — the fibrous tunic, comprises the sclera — a white structure — and the cornea, which is transparent. The sclera encompasses some of the ocular surface, most of which is not visible. However, the 'white of the eye' is distinctively visible in humans compared to other species. The cornea, a clear covering at the front of the eye, enables light penetration. The eye's middle layer, the vascular tunic,...
The Retina01:32

The Retina

The retina is a layer of nervous tissue at the back of the eye that transduces light into neural signals. This process, called phototransduction, is carried out by rod and cone photoreceptor cells in the back of the retina.

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Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision
05:07

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Published on: June 13, 2019

The human visual system's assumption that light comes from above is weak.

Yaniv Morgenstern1, Richard F Murray, Laurence R Harris

  • 1Department of Psychology and Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|July 13, 2011
PubMed
Summary

Human vision combines the light-from-above prior with visual lighting cues. The visual system prioritizes lighting cues over this prior, demonstrating a flexible approach to 3D shape perception.

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Area of Science:

  • Visual perception
  • Computational neuroscience
  • Computer vision

Background:

  • Visual systems face ambiguity in interpreting 2D images as 3D scenes.
  • The light-from-above prior is a common assumption in 3D shape from shading.
  • Contradictory lighting cues challenge the reliance on this prior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how the human visual system resolves 3D shape perception when visual cues contradict the light-from-above prior.
  • To determine the weighting and influence of the light-from-above prior versus visual lighting cues.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a maximum-likelihood estimation framework to model the integration of prior assumptions and visual cues.
  • Assessed the visual system's response to varying degrees of contradictory lighting information.
  • Quantified the influence of the light-from-above prior and explicit lighting cues on 3D shape perception.

Main Results:

  • The visual system efficiently combines the light-from-above prior with visual lighting cues.
  • The light-from-above prior is assigned minimal weight and can be overridden by subtle lighting cues.
  • Perception of 3D shape relies more heavily on visual lighting cues than the overhead prior.

Conclusions:

  • The light-from-above prior plays a limited role in human 3D shape perception.
  • Human vision prioritizes explicit lighting cues, even when barely perceptible, to infer 3D shape.
  • The visual system employs an efficient strategy to integrate prior knowledge with sensory evidence for robust 3D reconstruction.