Visual Perception Physiology, Psychology and Ecology

The new edition of this comprehensive text continues to provide a detailed and up-to-date account of research on visual perception, while maintaining the emphasis of earlier editions on the functional context of vision. Reflecting recent theoretical developments, the book is organised around the distinction between two broad functions of vision, to provide awareness and to control action.
In Part I, the account of visual processing in the brain has been extensively updated, and evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology has been integrated into a critical account of the 'two pathways' theory of visual cortex. The revision of chapters in Part II has given particular attention to recent advances in integrating psychophysical, physiological and computational approaches to problems such as the perception of surfaces and of motion. With the help of new illustrations, full introductions are provided to the key mathematical concepts used in these areas. In Part III, three new chapters draw on evidence from both animal and human behaviour to cover optic flow and locomotion, the timing of actions, and perception of the social world. The concluding chapter considers critically the wider theoretical implications of the distinction between awareness and action as separate functions of vision.
"Visual Perception, Fourth Edition will be an invaluable resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of psychology, biology, physiology and neuroscience, as well as researchers in the fields of visual neuroscience, visual perception and animal behaviour.

This comprehensively updated and expanded revision of the successful second edition continues to provide detailed coverage of the ever-growing range of research topics in vision. In Part I, the treatment of visual physiology has been extensively revised with an updated account of retinal processing, a new section explaining the principles of spatial and temporal filtering which underlie discussions in later chapters, and an up-to-date account of the primate visual pathway.Part II contains four largely new chapters which cover recent psychophysical evidence and computational model of early vision: edge detection, perceptual grouping, depth perception, and motion perception. The models discussed are extensively integrated with physiological evidence. All other chapters in Parts II, III, and IV have also been thoroughly updated.

Part I. The Physiological Basis of Visual Perception. Light and Eyes. The Neurophysiology of the Retina. Visual Pathways in the Brain. Part II. Processing Retinal Images. Approaches to the Psychology of Visual Perception. Images, Filters and Features: The Primal Sketch. Perceptual Organisation. Perceiving Depth. The Computation of Image Motion. Object Recognition. Connectionist Models of Visual Perception. Part III. Visual Information for the Control of Action. Introduction to the Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Visual Guidance Of Animal Locomotion. Visual Guidance of Human Action. Theories of the Control of Action. Event Perception. Perception of the Social World. Part IV. Conclusions. Contrasting Theories of Visual Perception.

Vicki Bruce, Mark A. Georgeson, Patrick R. Green