Foundations of Vision [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Brian A. Wandell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0878938532 | ISBN-13: 978-0878938537 | Publication Date: May 1995 | Edition: 1

Designed for students, scientists and engineers interested in learning about the core ideas of vision science, this volume brings together the broad range of data and theory accumulated in this field. The book consists of three sections and an appendix. The first section consists of an introduction and three chapters that describe image encoding. These chapters review optical image formation by the cornea and lens retinal sampling and wavelength-encoding by the photoreceptors. The text's second section consists of four chapters on image representation. The third section reviews how to interpret images in terms of objects. This section features two chapters that review computational and experimental studies of colour appearance, then motion and depth. These chapters are followed by a chapter with many demonstrations concerning object perception. Topics such as colour appearance, cortical colour-blindness, motion flow, motion appearance, motion physiology and visual illusions are also included in this part of the book. "Foundations of Science" is suitable for courses on vision science in psychology, neuroscience, engineering or computer science departments, and is suitable for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students. The text contains special study exercises at the end of most chapters. The questions aim to enrich the main material and point the way to additional material in the literature. Finally, the book has an appendix consisting of four parts: an introduction to linear systems methods; a discussion of monitor calibration; an introduction to Bayesian classifiers; and a discussion of optic flow computation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It has much to offer everyone who wonders how this most remarkable of all senses works. -- Karen K. De Valois, Science

Product Details

• Hardcover: 476 pages
• Publisher: Sinauer Associates Inc; 1 edition (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878938532
• ISBN-13: 978-0878938537
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent and very educational, September 6, 2000

By 

Fredo Durand (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foundations of Vision (Hardcover)

This book is an excellent introduction to human vision. It is aimed at students, or engineers who need to deal with human vision, but it can also be interesting for a motivated audience desiring to learn precisely how human vision works. The presentation is very educational, Wandell not only gives the current knowledge about vision, he also explains the method and evidences which lead to these conclusions. This book is a real pleasure to read, which is not always the case for textbooks.

It covers the early vision (optical properties, sampling, wavelength), the image representation (retina, cortex, pattern sensitivity, multiresolution) and interpretation (shape, motion, color, depth, illusions)

My only concern was that the book puts a lot of emphasis on the notion of linear system, and that this notion is unfortunately explained in a very fuzzy way for my mathematical mind. This comment should be ignored by non mathematician readers.