Why We See What We Do: An Empirical Theory of Vision 1st Edition

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

2 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0878937523

ISBN-10: 0878937528

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Paperback

from $68.19

More Buying Choices

9 New from $76.62 12 Used from $68.19

21 used & new from $68.17

See All Buying Options

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

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. <P>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.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

David Marr

10

Paperback
$32.40

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Sinauer Associates; 1 edition (January 1, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0878937528
ISBN-13: 978-0878937523
Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 7 x 9.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,949,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #411 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Eye Problems
- #514 in Books > Textbooks > Medicine & Health Sciences > Medicine > Basic Sciences > Pathophysiology
- #757 in Books > Medical Books > Basic Sciences > Pathophysiology

Would you like to update product info, give feedback on images, or tell us about a lower price?

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars

5 star		100%
4 star		0%
3 star		0%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

See both customer reviews

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

Well worth a look

By David H. Peterzell PhD PhD on June 5, 2006

Format: 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.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

A Paradigm Shift!!

By Mark Dubin on August 15, 2007

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

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.

Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...

Thank you for your feedback. If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.

Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

See both customer reviews (newest first)

Write a customer review