I have been interested for a long time in how the brain processes vision and allows us to navigate a visually complex world. While it seems simple to explain because we just "do it", it is an incredibly complicated process. I thought I might interest some readers to pursue it further with a brief introduction using anthropomorphism, the attribution of human traits, to inanimate objects. It is sometimes called personification, but the desire to make things look human has been a staple of the advertising and marketing industry for years.
When we look at the cover photo our attention is initially drawn to the eyes, and then the mouth, and then the fact that it is celery and therefore, not, human. We quickly conclude that the celery on the right is a representation of a cyclops, and then our attention moves on. The brain makes no attempt to decide if it is cute, funny, or just an attempt to make a point. As a complete aside, it seems that cyclops is both singular and plural. I wanted to refer to my celery on the right as a cyclop. Who says that we have a difficult language?
The point that I wanted to make is twofold; The first is that when we see something, we do not process the entire incoming image from the retina, optic nerve, and visual cortex. The brain uses a "lookup table" to compare the image that is coming in with past images and tells us what the item is. It either interpolates (fills in data points already in the file), or extrapolates, (make a best guess based on available information). So, we are using only a portion of the processing power of the brain and not dedicating it to vision alone. Remember that we also have other senses that are working in concert with vision. The second consideration is that when we look at other humans, the eyes are the first thing that we look at. There is a helpful article on the eyes in Science Daily, here. There are also some additional links to read more about cognitive processes. I hope that I have either interested you in reading more about cognitive processes , or maybe buying celery...
When we look at the cover photo our attention is initially drawn to the eyes, and then the mouth, and then the fact that it is celery and therefore, not, human. We quickly conclude that the celery on the right is a representation of a cyclops, and then our attention moves on. The brain makes no attempt to decide if it is cute, funny, or just an attempt to make a point. As a complete aside, it seems that cyclops is both singular and plural. I wanted to refer to my celery on the right as a cyclop. Who says that we have a difficult language?
The point that I wanted to make is twofold; The first is that when we see something, we do not process the entire incoming image from the retina, optic nerve, and visual cortex. The brain uses a "lookup table" to compare the image that is coming in with past images and tells us what the item is. It either interpolates (fills in data points already in the file), or extrapolates, (make a best guess based on available information). So, we are using only a portion of the processing power of the brain and not dedicating it to vision alone. Remember that we also have other senses that are working in concert with vision. The second consideration is that when we look at other humans, the eyes are the first thing that we look at. There is a helpful article on the eyes in Science Daily, here. There are also some additional links to read more about cognitive processes. I hope that I have either interested you in reading more about cognitive processes , or maybe buying celery...
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