Why We See What We Do: An Empirical Theory of Vision [Paperback]

Dale Purves (Author), R.Beau Lotto (Author)

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Product details

Paperback: 265 pages
Publisher: Sinauer Associates Inc.,U.S.; illustrated edition edition (14 Feb 2003)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0878937528
ISBN-13: 978-0878937523
Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 17.8 x 1.8 cm
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 904,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

This text 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 the 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.

About the Author

DALE PURVES Duke University Medical Centre. - R. BEAU LOTTO University College London.

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Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a look, 6 Jun 2006

By David H. Peterzell "Ph.D., Ph.D." - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Why We See What We Do: An Empirical Theory of Vision (Paperback)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Paradigm Shift!!, 15 Aug 2007

By Mark Dubin - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Why We See What We Do: An Empirical Theory of Vision (Paperback)

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.

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