Visual Perception Part 1
Fundamentals of Vision: Low and Mid-Level Processes in Perception

A comprehensive look at the field of Visual Perception today.

Susana Martinez-Conde (Edited by), S. Macknik (Edited by), Maria M. Martinez (Edited by), Jose-Manuel Alonso (Edited by), Peter U. Tse (Edited by)

9780444529664, Elsevier Science

Hardback, published 5 October 2006

340 pages
26.2 x 19.2 x 2.4 cm, 1.09 kg

This book presents a collection of articles reflecting state-of-the-art research in visual perception, specifically concentrating on neural correlates of perception. Each section addresses one of the main topics in vision research today. Volume 1 Fundamentals of Vision: Low and Mid-Level Processes in Perception covers topics from receptive field analyses to shape perception and eye movements. A variety of methodological approaches are represented, including single-neuron recordings, fMRI and optical imaging, psychophysics, eye movement characterization and computational modelling. The contributions will provide the reader with a valuable perspective on the current status of vision research, and more importantly, with critical insight into future research directions and the discoveries yet to come.

I. Visual Circuits and Perception since Ramon Y Cajal.
Retinogeniculate connections: a balancing act between connection specificity and receptive field diversity.
Double bouquet cells in the monkey and human cerebral cortex with special reference to areas 17 and 18.
Covert attention increases contrast sesitivity: psychophysical, neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies.

II. Recent Discoveries on Receptive Field Structure.
The generation of receptive field structure in cat primary visual cortex.
The contribution of feedforward, lateral and feedback connections to the classical receptive field center and extra-classical receptive field surround of primate V1 neurons.
Cortical cartography revisited: a frequence perspective on the functional architecture of visual cortex.
The sensitivity of primate STS neurons to walking sequences and the degree of articulation in static images.

III. Eye Movements and Perception during Visual Fixation.
Fixational eye movements in normal and pathological vision.
Microsaccades: a microcosm for research on oculomotor control, attention, and visual perception.
Fixational eye movements and motion perception.
A cholinergic mechanism underlies persistent neural activity necessary for eye fixation.

IV. Perceptual Completion.
Perceptual filling-in: more than the eye can see.
The visual phantom illusion: a perceptual product of surface completion depending on brightness and contrast.

V. Form Object and Shape Perception.
Bayesian inference of form and shape.
Contour discontinuities subserve two types of form analysis that underlie motion processing.
Neural basis of shape representation in the primate brain.
The role of familiarity in the recognition of static and dynamic objects.

Subject Areas: Neurosciences [PSAN], Neurology & clinical neurophysiology [MJN], Physiological & neuro-psychology, biopsychology [JMM]