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Related Concept Videos

Vision01:24

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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Color Vision01:24

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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.
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Visual System01:26

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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Depth Perception and Spatial Vision01:15

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Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.
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Gestalt Principles of Perception01:21

Gestalt Principles of Perception

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Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...
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Anatomy of the Eyeball01:20

Anatomy of the Eyeball

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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...
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Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language
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Will understanding vision require a wholly empirical paradigm?

Dale Purves1, Yaniv Morgenstern2, William T Wojtach3

  • 1Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University , Durham, NC, USA ; Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders Program, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore , Singapore, Singapore ; Department of Neurobiology, Duke University , Durham, NC, USA.

Frontiers in Psychology
|August 19, 2015
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Summary

Vision does not recover world features but empirically assigns perceptual qualities. This strategy, based on survival and reproductive success, associates stimulus patterns with useful responses.

Keywords:
empirical theoryevolutionfeature detectionimagesreflexvision

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Vision Science

Background:

  • The prevailing view suggests the visual system reconstructs the external world from retinal images.
  • This model fails to explain discrepancies between perception and physical reality or successful navigation.
  • An alternative framework is proposed to address these limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe an alternative strategy for vision.
  • To present evidence supporting this empirical approach to visual perception.

Main Methods:

  • The study reviews existing electrophysiological and anatomical data.
  • It contrasts the feature-recovery model with an empirical association strategy.
  • Evidence is drawn from principles of survival and reproductive success.

Main Results:

  • Visual perception is proposed to be an empirical assignment of qualities to stimuli.
  • This assignment is based on frequently associated stimulus patterns and adaptive responses.
  • This strategy is linked to evolutionary success.

Conclusions:

  • Vision operates not by recovering objective features but by creating empirically useful perceptions.
  • This alternative model offers a more robust explanation for visual perception and behavior.
  • The evolutionary basis of vision is highlighted as a key driver of perceptual assignment.