Understanding Visual Perception.

Visual perception can be thought of in two fundamentally different ways: (1) that what we see is determined by circuitry for detecting and representing object features and conditions in the physical world or (2) that what we see is determined empirically by neural associations based on the relative success of accumulated trial-and-error behavior. The evidence reviewed here indicates that the qualities we perceive are determined empirically. The reasons for this way of seeing are discussed.

Duke Scholars

Author Dale Purves Duke Institute for Brain Sciences