How Objects Are Visually Recognised

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How objects are visually recognised Word Count: 2506 Through one's eyes a multitude of familiar and novel objects are recognised, even if their colour, shape or texture has undergone a change, which could be argued is the most important sense humans have. However, due to injury or illness it is extremely hard to comprehend how some people can live without such a crucial part of everyday life. In this essay I will start with discussing the history of visual recognition, to determine how the structure of the eye and brain recognises an object. I will then go onto discuss, how recognition occurs at two levels: perceptual and semantic, and how these can be affected using neuropsychological evidence. I will also look at how perceptual recognition can compute object constancy due to the formation of viewpoint-independent representation. Next I will look at how an object is viewed, using the main axis, which includes the generalised cone theory and the simple shape geon theory. I will also discuss how theories have proposed that some objects, such as faces, may rely on viewpoint-dependent representations. I will finish with neuropsychological evidence to show how an individual may recognise a face if they have suffered from brain damage. It is important to mention, that recorded theories of visual recognition date back to the 17th century, which were based on conjecture and observations only. For instance, although Aristotle (1734), observed the retina, his theory was based on Joanna Hinckley's (1717) earlier work which showed, how with the assistance of the lens and humors, the retina was responsible for light detection. (Zeki, 1993). Therefore, it was not until the 18th century that visual recognition theories gained scientific validity with the help of René Descartes (1867) research. For example, by surgically removing an ox's eye, he was able to

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