THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER's Books & More Shop: Books on Aging: Why We See What We Do: An Empirical Theory of Vision

Why We See What We Do: An Empirical Theory of Vision
enlarge	Authors: Dale Purves, R. Beau Lotto Publisher: Sinauer Associates Category: Book List Price: ~~$53.95~~ Buy New: $43.16 as of 11/21/2009 03:12 PST details You Save: $10.79 (20%) New (9) Used (9) from $36.26 Seller: Amazon.com Media: Paperback Edition: 1 Pages: 260 Number Of Items: 1 Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2 Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7 x 0.7 ISBN: 0878937528 Dewey Decimal Number: 152.14 EAN: 9780878937523 ASIN: 0878937528 Publication Date: January 2003 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours


Similar Items: Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See The Vision Revolution: How the Latest Research Overturns Everything We Thought We Knew About Human Vision Eye and Brain The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life The First Steps in Seeing


Editorial Reviews: Product Description This provocative book reviews a broad range of evidence leading to the conclusion that the visual system is not organized to generate a veridical representation of the physical world, but rather a statistical reflection of the visual history of the species and the individual observer. Thus, what humans actually see is a reflexive manifestation of past rather than a logical analysis of the present. The idea that the images we consciously entertain represent the historical significance of visual stimuli follows from the inability to decipher ambiguous retinal information analytically, and has far-reaching consequences not only for vision but brain function generally. The immediate benefit of this approach is that it provides a framework by which to understand a variety of fundamental visual illusions that are otherwise difficult, if not impossible, to explain. With its straightforward style, Why We See What We Do can be understood by individuals with little or no background in neuroscience or vision. It includes chapter introductions and summaries that make the overall argument easy to follow, over 400 bibliographic citations, and a complete glossary.

Customer Reviews: A Paradigm Shift!! August 15, 2007 Mark Dubin (Boulder, CO USA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful This book describes a fundamental shift in understanding how the visual system makes sense of what is seen. It is a must read for those interested in perception and in information processing by the brain. There has been much recent research supporting its hypotheses. The book signals a shift away from a mechanistic machine-like image reconstruction by the brain to a more intuitive and empirical model based on what we actually see. Well worth a look June 6, 2006 David H. Peterzell (San Diego, CA United States) 8 out of 8 found this review helpful The book's thesis is as follows: "The problem [of vision] is solved by having retinal stimuli trigger reflex responses... that have been determined purely by behavioral consequences of interactions with the environment over time. As a result, what observers actually experience in response to any visual stimulus is its accumulated statistical meaning... In short, the observer sees the probability distribution of the possible sources of the visual stimulus." There are two reviews of this book that are highly critical of its thesis. They are well worth reading. One is by Alan Gilchrist (Nature Neuroscience, 2003), and the other is by David Burr (J. Cognitive Neuroscience, 2005). I find myself agreeing with many of their criticisms of the central thesis, but... I gave the book 5 stars anyway. (1) Each chapter's discussion of the basic problems of vision is clear and concise. (2) The artwork, and what it demonstrates, is well worth the price of admission. For instance, the illustrations of color perception and reflective surfaces are beautiful and powerful. The illustrations are simply phenomenal. (3) Perhaps the authors are re-inventing the wheel or kicking dead horses, but I'm just not so sure... The authors have forced me to re-think some ideas about vision that I've held for a long time. And I think they do a nice job of taking some truly old and cartoonish ideas about vision and relegating them to the dust heap. Even if their "empirical" theory of vision seems flawed or incomplete, there's much about it that I find myself wanting to re-visit and mull over. And if I'm not mistaken, various recent findings regarding the statistics of natural images are, independently, providing considerable evidence for the authors' thesis.

CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.

Copyright 2009 White Hat Communications.
Disclaimer: The products referenced on this site are manufactured and sold by parties other than The New Social Worker/White Hat Communications. We make no representations regarding either the products or any information vendors offer about their products.

Visit our poster store for unique social issues posters.

Amazon.com Widgets