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Visual System

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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.
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Vision

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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.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 19, 2026

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Published on: June 13, 2019

The human visual system uses a global closure mechanism.

Peter Gerhardstein¹, James Tse, Kelly Dickerson

¹Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA. gerhard@binghamton.edu.

Vision Research

|September 4, 2012

Summary

Human vision uses a global closure mechanism to enhance contour perception, not just local cues like collinearity or proximity. This finding supports a higher-level visual processing system for shape understanding.

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Area of Science:

Visual perception
Computational neuroscience
Cognitive psychology

Background:

Previous research suggested global closure heuristics in visual contour integration.
This was challenged by arguments favoring low-level local mechanisms (collinearity, good continuation, proximity).

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether global closure or local mechanisms dominate contour integration.
To differentiate the effects of closure from contiguity and curvature.

Main Methods:

Three experiments compared the visibility of closed (circles, C-contours) versus open (S-contours) and enclosed versus non-enclosed arc pairs.
Stimuli were manipulated to control for contiguity, curvature, and gap size.
A Bayesian model of collinearity and proximity was applied.

Main Results:

Closed contours (circles) were more detectable than open contours (S-contours), especially with higher curvature.
Enclosed contour configurations showed enhanced visibility even after controlling for contiguity and curvature.
Local mechanisms (collinearity/proximity) alone could not explain the observed closure effects.

Conclusions:

Results support a global closure-driven mechanism enhancing contour visibility in human vision.
This challenges explanations solely based on low-level local processing for contour integration.