Simplicity in Vision
A Multidisciplinary Account of Perceptual Organization

A multidisciplinary account of human perceptual organization, with rigorous theoretical foundations, quantitative and qualitative models, and extensive empirical evidence.

Peter A. van der Helm (Author)

9781316502839, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 December 2015

430 pages, 115 b/w illus. 12 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.37 kg

'… the three parts of the book provide a coherent and deep underpinning of the role of simplicity in vision.' Johan Wagemans, Perception

Perceptual organization is the neuro-cognitive process that enables us to perceive scenes as structured wholes consisting of objects arranged in space. Simplicity in Vision explores the intriguing idea that these perceived wholes are given by the simplest organizations of the scenes. Peter A. van der Helm presents a truly multidisciplinary approach to answer fundamental questions such as: Are simplest organizations sufficiently reliable to guide our actions? What is the nature of the regularities that are exploited to arrive at simplest organizations? To account for the high combinatorial capacity and speed of the perceptual organization process, he proposes transparallel processing by hyperstrings. This special form of distributed processing not only gives classical computers the extraordinary computing power that seemed reserved for quantum computers, but also explains how neuronal synchronization relates to flexible self-organizing cognitive architecture in between the relatively rigid level of neurons and the still elusive level of consciousness.

Prologue: levels of vision, description, and evaluation
Part I. The Theoretical Cycle: 1. Visual information processing
2. Veridicality by simplicity
Part II. The Empirical Cycle: 3. Transparent holographic regularity
4. Symmetry perception
Part III. The Tractability Cycle: 5. Transparallel processing
6. Cognition by synchronization
Epilogue: towards a Gestalt of perceptual organization.

Subject Areas: Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR], Psychology [JM]