Perception beyond Inference The Information Content of Visual Processes

This book brings together a multidisciplinary group of authors who offer proposals for a clearer and more coherent effort to understand the information content of perception. Their arguments arise from a dissatisfaction with the current research paradigms for studying the mind. These traditional approaches, based on standard information theory and digital computation, now seem unsuited for dealing with the levels of complexity inherent in understanding the full scope of mental processes. The contributors counter the widely held assumption of "perception as inference"--the idea that preception is a process of reconstructing or recognizing objective information already constituted in the external environment. Instead, they propose the opposite: that perception involves the creation of information, that the mind intentionally perceives, actively generating a meaningful reality. The book considers the relationships among stimuli, neuronal elaboration, and visual experience, suggesting that intrinsic qualitative and anticipatory aspects have to be accounted for in an ontology of natural perception that does not reduce to neural correlates or stimulus descriptions. After considering the essentials of an perception-centric theory of the mind, the book treats time and dynamics; color, shape, and space; language and perception; and perception, art, and design.

Liliana Albertazzi is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Cognitive Science at Trento University, Italy.

Gert J. van Tonder is Professor of Vision Research and Adjunct Professor at the Laboratory of Visual Psychology, Department of Architecture and Design, at Kyoto Institute of Technology.

Dhanraj Vishwanath is RCUK (Research Councils UK) Academic Fellow in the School of Psychology at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

Liliana Albertazzi is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Cognitive Science at Trento University, Italy.

Gert J. van Tonder is Professor of Vision Research and Adjunct Professor at the Laboratory of Visual Psychology, Department of Architecture and Design, at Kyoto Institute of Technology.

Dhanraj Vishwanath is RCUK (Research Councils UK) Academic Fellow in the School of Psychology at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

Jan Koenderink was Professor of Physics at Utrecht University for many years. He is currently a Research Fellow at Delft University of Technology and Visiting Professor at MIT and École National Supérieure Paris. He is the author of Solid Shape (MIT Press, 1990).

Gert J. van Tonder is Professor of Vision Research and Adjunct Professor at the Laboratory of Visual Psychology, Department of Architecture and Design, at Kyoto Institute of Technology.

Dhanraj Vishwanath is RCUK (Research Councils UK) Academic Fellow in the School of Psychology at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

Liliana Albertazzi is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Cognitive Science at Trento University, Italy.

Liliana Albertazzi is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Cognitive Science at Trento University, Italy.

Ernest Edmonds is an artist who has pioneered the use of computers and computational ideas in his art. He has exhibited in the US, UK, Australia, Russia, China, and many other countries. He is the author of The Art of Interaction: What HCI Can Learn from Interactive Art, and other books. He was awarded the 2017 ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art.