Abstract
In our environment we see a large number of three-dimensional objects. These can be described as moving or stationary, or having a particular spatial arrangement. They may differ in brightness, color, size, shape or movement. Visually perceived objects can have special significance to us or they may be irrelevant; they can make an emotional impression or elicit no subjective response at all. Physiologists have become accustomed to saying that visual perception occurs because an image of the environment is cast onto the retina. This image gives rise to certain signal-detection and processing events in the receptors and the higher-order nerve cells, which eventually — at the level of “consciousness” — result in perception (cf. p. 5). But everyone is aware from his dreams that visual perception can occur in the absence of retinal images. On the other hand, it is a common experience that when “daydreaming” one does not see much, even with eyes open. In seeing, as in any form of perception, the direction of attention (i. e., a central nervous selection process) plays an important role.
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© 1986 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg
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Grüsser, OJ., Grüsser-Cornehls, U. (1986). Physiology of Vision. In: Schmidt, R.F. (eds) Fundamentals of Sensory Physiology. Springer Study Edition. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82598-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82598-9_5
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