Visual Perception
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Visual Perception explores fundamental topics underlying the field of visual perception, including the perception of brightness and color, the physics of light, and the optics of the eye. Although the text leans heavily on physical and physiological concepts, explanations of the relevant physics and physiology are considered. This book is organized into 16 chapters and begins with an overview of the relationship between information assimilation and the physiology of the visual system based on data gathered both in physiological and perceptual experiments. More specifically, this text discusses the nature of the human perceptual system in terms of the kinds of information that are assimilated from the world, and how this selection of information is governed by the structure of receptors and the neural circuits that are connected to them. The relationships between symbols and their corresponding physical and physiological variables are also examined. Finally, the book addresses the presence of strong lateral inhibition in the visual system and how it fits the concept of evolution. This book is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, regardless of their academic backgrounds.
Table of Contents
Preface
I. Introduction
Information
II. The Experiment of Hecht, Schlaer, and Pirenne
The General Design of the Experiment
The State of the Subject — Dark Adaptation
Location of the Test Flash in the Visual Field
Size of the Test Flash — Spatial Summation
Duration of the Test Flash — Temporal Summation
Color of the Test Flash — The Spectral Sensitivity Curve
The Experiment Itself
The Interpretation of Results
Problems
III. The Physics of Light
A Definition of "Seeing"
Light Sources
Lenses and Refraction
The Intensity of an Image
Depth of Focus
The Stimulus in the Hecht Experiment
Collimated Light
Sources of Imperfection of the Retinal Image
Measurements of the Real Retinal Image
Problems
IV. Quantal Fluctuations
Quantal Fluctuations in the Stimulus
The Relationship between Quantal Fluctuation and the Subject's Variability
Sources of Subject Variability
Quantal Fluctuations at Suprathreshold Light Levels
Problems
V. The Action of Light on Rod Pigments
Changes in Rhodopsin Molecules in the Light and in Darkness
The Characteristics and Perceptual Correlates of State a
The Characteristics and Perceptual Correlates of States b, c, and d
Problem
VI. The Excitation of Rods
The Fundamentals of Neural Activity
The Excitation of Retinal Structures as a Consequence of the Absorption of Quanta
Dark Adaptation and Rod Excitation
The Early Stage of Dark Adaptation
VII. Cones and Cone Pigment
Histological Properties of Rods and Cones
Psychophysical Distinctions between Rods and Cones
Individual Differences
The Nature of Cone Pigments
The Kinetics of Cone Pigments
Problem
VIII. Color Vision I - Discriminations among Wavelength Mixtures
Color Names
Monochromacy
Dichromacy
Trichromacy
Color Blindness
Wavelength Mixture Space
Color Reproduction for the Dichromat
The Color Mixture Space of the Trichromat
A Cure for Color-Blindness
Problems
IX. Color Vision II - Retinal Color Systems
Possible Trichromatic Mechanisms
Measurements of the Mechanisms of Human Color Systems
Microspectrophotometry of the Human Retina
Classes of Cones in the Retina
Tetrachromacy
Evaluation of the Assumption That All Absorbed Quanta Produce Identical Effects
The Stability of Wavelength Mixture Matches
Problem
X. Color Vision III - The Perception of Color
The Relationship between Perceived Color and the Physical Stimulus
Differences between Hue, Saturation, and Brightness
Factors other Than Wavelength That Influence Hue
Stimulus Generalization
The Physiological Correlates of Perceived Colors
Logarithmic Transformations and Approximations to Them
Application of a Nonlinear Transformation to the Perception of Hue
Physiological Measures of Wavelength-Dependent Responses
XI. The Psychophysiology of Brightness - I Spatial Interaction in the Visual System
Demonstrations that Brightness Is Not a Simple Function of Intensity
Evidence Concerning the Physiological Nature of Spatial Interaction in the Visual System
Lateral Inhibition in the Retinas of Mammals
XII. Psychophysiology of Brightness - II Modulation Transfer Functions
Modulation Transfer Functions
Conditions Necessary for Correct Use of the MTF
Human Visual Modulation Transfer Functions
Perceptual Phenomena Related to the Transfer Function
Physiological Implications of the Modulation Transfer Function
XIII. Brightness and Color Constancy
Is All This Perception?
A Physiological Explanation of Brightness Constancy
The Limits of Brightness Constancy
Hue Contrast and Hue Constancy
XIV. Temporal Properties of the Visual Systems
Phase
The Temporal Modulation Transfer Function
Physiological Correlates of Temporal Events
XV. Stimulus Generalization
The Generalization of Visual Shapes
Physiological Evidence for Mammalian Generalization Mechanisms
XVI: Speculations on "Higher Processes"
Why Did Inhibition Evolve?
"Higher" Processes
Appendix I Visual Angle
Appendix II Filter Transmission Versus Density
Appendix III How to Build an Ophthalmoscope
Theory of Operation
Specific Construction Details
Appendix IV Demonstration of Color Contrast (Colored Shadows)
References
Suggested General Readings
Author Index
Subject Index
Product details
- No. of pages: 492
- Language: English
- Copyright: © Academic Press 1970
- Published: January 1, 1970
- Imprint: Academic Press
- eBook ISBN: 9780323148214