Observations
  • Home
  • Observations
  • Trendcasting
  • Odds 'n Ends
  • Science/Technology/Experiments
  • Mental Health

Vision, the Brain, and Anthropomorphism...

9/19/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
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...


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2021
    January 2021
    September 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    December 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    All
    Bird Feed
    B & W Photography
    Candle Soot
    Chipmunk
    Chipmunk And The Puzzle Box
    Clothespin
    Contact Lens
    Containers
    Daisy
    Detergents
    E. Coli
    Fda
    Fluorescence
    Gardening
    Habitrail
    Halloween
    Herbs And Spices
    Herb Update
    Honeysuckle
    Hunting
    Insect Trap
    Large Pest
    Last Crops
    Light Bulb
    Mirai Corn
    Neon
    Odds
    Oplalescent Eggs
    Opossum
    Ouija Board
    Patent #1
    Patent #4
    Privacy
    San Francisco Earthquake
    Spider Frame
    Squirrel Buster
    Tea
    Trolls
    Window Herbs
    Wpclipart
    Youth's Companion

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.