The New Orthodoxy in Visual Perception: I. Reassessing What Makes Environments Perceivable

Abstract

Recent progress has effectively produced a new orthodoxy in vision research. It recognizes three inter-related levels of theory. Physiological descriptions need to be elucidated in terms of the representations being formed and manipulated as neurones fire, and these representations must in turn be related to the problems inherent in getting information from light and to their possible solutions. Focussing on this last, ‘ecological’ level helps to unify modern developments. Underlying the old orthodoxy was the presumption that information from light must be combined with information from the body senses to overcome its inherent ambiguity. Now it is known that perceivers could trade on regularities which very generally characterize structures in terrestrial environments. This insight offers solutions to a complex of problems which beset the old orthodoxy.