No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

A great deal is known about the detailed psychophysics and physiology of mammalian visual systems, but there has been relatively little study of the ways local processes in the visual system work cooperatively to produce the global phenomena of perception. The Gestalt psychologists had beautiful demonstrations of perceptual organization, but were hindered in their theorizing by the primitive knowledge at that time of how the brain operates, and an inadequate model of cortical function. We show that recent discoveries in visual anatomy and physiology suggest that brain functions can be modelled in terms of one or more differentiate topological structures. We explain in general terms what these arc and how they can lead to insight into both local and global properties of the visual system. In the second half of the paper we apply this approach, which we call geometric psychology, to the explanation of the Gestalt properties of visual perception.RtsuME Nous possedons des informations dctaillccs sur la psychophysique et la physiologie du systeme visucl chcz Ic mammifcrc, mais relativement peu sur comment les proccssus locaux de ce systeme cooperent pour entrainer les phenomencs pcrccptifs globaux. Bien quc la psychologic gcstaltistc ait foumi de belles descriptions d'organisation perceptive, scs prises de positions theoriques demcurent limitees par lc nivcau des connaissanees du temps sur les operations du ccrveau, ainsi quc par un modclc inadequat du fonctionnement cortical. Dans cet article, nous montrons que des decouvcrtcs rcccntcs sur l'anatomic ct la physiologic du systeme visuel setnblent indiqucr quc les fonctions du cerveau peuvent Stre representees sous forme d'unc ou plusieurs structures topologiques mieux differenciccs. Nous expliquons en des termes gencraux cc qu'clles sont ct comment el les menent a comprendre a la fois les propricics locales et globales du systeme visuel. Dans la scconde partie de Particle, nous nous scrvons dc ccttc approchc -quc nous nommons psychologic geomctriquc -pour cxpliqucr les proprictcs gcstaltiqucs de la perception visucl Ic.

No abstract

It has been known for some 40 years that the perceived velocity of a moving object does not correspond to its physical velocity. It is also known that the perceived length and temporal duration of a moving objects is affected by its physical velocity. In this paper it is argued that such phenomenal distortions can be embedded in a model for motion perception that involves the concepts of moving frames, Lorentz transformations, perceived length contractions, and time dilations. Experimental results support this model and indicate that c, the maximum perceivable velocity of movement, plays a crucial role in determining motion effects.