Visual perception

In psychology, visual perception is the ability to interpret visible light information reaching the eyes which is then made available for planning and action.

The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight or vision. The components that are necessary for vision are known as the visual system.

Study of visual perception

The major problem in visual perception is that what people see is not simply a translation of the image on the retina. Therefore it was difficult to explain what visual processing does to create what we actually see.

History

The breakthrough came with Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen), the "father of optics". In his Book of Optics in the 1000s he argued that vision occurs in the brain, rather than the eyes. He pointed out that personal experience has an effect on what people see and how they see, and that vision and perception are subjective. He explained possible errors in vision in detail, and as an example, describes how a small child with less experience may have more difficulty interpreting what he/she sees. He also gives an example of an adult that can make mistakes in vision because of how one's experience suggests that he/she is seeing one thing, when he/she is really seeing something else.

Ibn al-Haytham's investigations and experiments on visual perception also included sensation, variations in sensitivity, sensation of touch, perception of colours, perception of darkness, the psychological explanation of the moon illusion, and binocular vision.

Disorders/Dysfunctions

• Color blindness
• Achromatopsia
• Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome

Related Disciplines

• Neuroscience
• Ophthalmology

Other websites

• Visual Perception 3 - Cultural and Environmental Factors
• Gestalt Laws
• Summary of Kosslyn et al.'s theory of high-level vision
• The Organization of the Retina and Visual System
• Dr Trippy's Sensorium A website dedicated to the study of the human sensorium and organisational behaviour