Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology

by Stephen E. Palmer

Overview

This book revolutionizes how vision can be taught to undergraduate and graduate students in cognitive science, psychology, and optometry. It is the first comprehensive textbook on vision to reflect the integrated computational approach of modern research scientists. This new interdisciplinary approach, called "vision science," integrates psychological, computational, and neuroscientific perspectives.

The book covers all major topics related to vision, from early neural processing of image structure in the retina to high-level visual attention, memory, imagery, and awareness. The presentation throughout is theoretically sophisticated yet requires minimal knowledge of mathematics. There is also an extensive glossary, as well as appendices on psychophysical methods, connectionist modeling, and color technology. The book will serve not only as a comprehensive textbook on vision, but also as a valuable reference for researchers in cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, optometry, and philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262161831
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	04/14/1999
Series:	A Bradford Book
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	832
Product dimensions:	8.77(w) x 10.34(h) x 1.78(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stephen E. Palmer is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute of Cognitive Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

I Foundations
1 An Introduction to Vision Science
1.1 Visual Perception
1.2 Optical Information
1.3 Visual Systems
2 Theoretical Approaches to Vision
2.1 Classical Theories of Vision
2.2 A Brief History of Information Processing
2.3 Information Processing Theory
2.4 Four Stages of Visual Perception
3 Color Vision: A Microcosm of Vision Science
3.1 The Computational Description of Color Perception
3.2 ImageBased Color Processing
3.3 SurfaceBased Color Processing
3.4 The CategoryBased Stage
II Spatial Vision
4 Processing Image Structure
4.1 Physiological Mechanisms
4.2 Psychological Channels
4.3 Computational Approaches
4.4 Visual Pathways
5 Perceiving Surfaces Oriented in Depth
5.1 The Problem of Depth Perception
5.2 Ocular Information
5.3 Stereoscopic Information
5.4 Dynamic Information
5.5 Pictorial Information
5.6 Development of Depth Perception
6 Organizing Objects and Scenes
6.1 Perceptual Grouping
6.2 Region Analysis
6.3 Figure/Ground Organization
6.4 Visual Interpolation
6.5 Multistability
6.6 Development of Perceptual Organization
7 Perceiving Object Properties and Parts
7.1 Size
7.2 Shape
7.3 Orientation
7.4 Position
7.5 Perceptual Adaptation
7.6 Parts
8 Representing Shape and Structure
8.1 Shape Equivalence
8.2 Theories of Shape Representation
8.3 Figural Goodness and Prägnanz
9 Perceiving Function and Category
9.1 The Perception of Function
9.2 Phenomena of Perceptual Categorization
9.3 Theories of Object Categorization
9.4 Identifying Letters and Words
III Visual Dynamics
10 Perceiving Motion and Events
10.1 ImageMotion
10.2 Object Motion
10.3 SelfMotion and Optic Flow
10.4 Understanding Events
11 Visual Selection: Eye Movements and Attention
11.1 Eye Movements
11.2 Visual Attention
12 Visual Memory and Imagery
12.1 Visual Memory
12.2 Visual Imagery
13 Visual Awareness
13.1 Philosophical Foundations
13.2 Neuropsychology of Visual Awareness
13.3 Visual Awareness in Normal Observers
13.4 Theories of Consciousness
AppendiX A: Psychophysical Methods
A.1 Measuring Thresholds
A.2 Signal Detection Theory
A.3 Difference Thresholds
A.4 Psychophysical Scaling
AppendiX B: Connectionist Modeling
B.1 Network Behavior
B.2 Connectionist Learning Algorithms
AppendiX C: Color Technology
C.1 Additive versus Subtractive Color MiXture
C.2 Color Television
C.3 Paints and Dyes
C.4 Color Photography
C.5 Color Printing
Glossary
References
Name IndeX
Subject IndeX

What People are Saying About This

V.S. Ramachandran

Palmer has written a superb book—encyclopedic in scope, yet eminently readable. Every chapter is liberally sprinkled with novel insights into human vision.

Jon Driver

This is a scholarly work, integrating evidence from numerous levels of analysis in the study of vision, including (but not restricted to) the very best from the 'cognitive' approach. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in perception.

Shimon Ullman

This is an excellent exposition of visual perception that lives up to the promise in its title: it covers the full range of visual perception, from image capture to visual cognition, in a comprehensive and lucid manner, providing insightful comments and criticism. It will be an invaluable source of information and insight to newcomers to the field, as well as to experts who wish to broaden their knowledge and understanding of visual perception.

Anne Treisman

This is a monumental work, covering a wide range of topics, both classical findings and recent approaches on the frontiers of research.

Endorsement

This is a monumental work, covering a wide range of topics, both classical findings and recent approaches on the frontiers of research.

—Anne Treisman, Princeton University

From the Publisher

Palmer has written a superb book—encyclopedic in scope, yet eminently readable. Every chapter is liberally sprinkled with novel insights into human vision.

—V.S. Ramachandran, Director, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego

This is an excellent exposition of visual perception that lives up to the promise in its title: it covers the full range of visual perception, from image capture to visual cognition, in a comprehensive and lucid manner, providing insightful comments and criticism. It will be an invaluable source of information and insight to newcomers to the field, as well as to experts who wish to broaden their knowledge and understanding of visual perception.

—Shimon Ullman, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

This is a scholarly work, integrating evidence from numerous levels of analysis in the study of vision, including (but not restricted to) the very best from the 'cognitive' approach. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in perception.

—Jon Driver, Professor of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London

This is a monumental work, covering a wide range of topics, both classical findings and recent approaches on the frontiers of research.

—Anne Treisman, Princeton University

Editorial Reviews

This is an impressive, well-produced and easy-to-read textbook of visual science, even though it is quite technical in places. It is enlivened with historical asides and has underlying philosophical themes, although its main thrust is to present the current experimental understanding of how we see.
— Nature

Richard Gregory