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Theories of Visual Perception

• By Ian E. Gordon

• Price: $70.00 $63.00
• Binding: Hardback
• Pages: 288
• Published by: Psychology Press
• Publication Date: 30th September 2004
• ISBN: 978-1-84169-383-5

About the Book

Theories of Visual Perception 3rd Edition provides clear critical accounts of several of the major approaches to the challenge of explaining how we see the world. It explains why approaches to theories of visual perception differ so widely and places each theory into its historical and philosophical context. Coverage ranges from early theories by such influential writers as Helmholtz and the Gestalt School, to more recent work in the field of Artificial Intelligence. This fully revised and expanded edition contains new material on the Minimum Principle in perception, neural networks, and cognitive brain imaging.

Reviews

'What to include in a review of theories of visual perception is always a challenging decision... Ian Gordon makes the wise and interesting decision to discuss a few prominent theories in depth, rather than going over a lot of diverse material in, perhaps, a more superficial manner. ... The book is highly readable with delightful new insights on many seemingly familiar topics to even a seasoned vision researcher. ... Gordon has a gift for using simple analogies to elucidate abstract and complex ideas, so fresh insights await the reader on almost every page. So anyone with an interest in visual perception, even the most experienced and knowledgeable in our field, is sure to find much that is enlightening in Gordon's book. ... Never before in any text that I can remember have I read as clear and elegant an exposition of the ceaselessly exciting theories of J. J. Gibson. In his description of the concepts of invariants, Gordon's examples and descriptions even surpass those of Gibson himself! ... The book then ends with a very useful summary of what has gone before. ... This is an excellent volume with very well written and insightful discussion of many of the theories and approaches that have dominated our field. Theories of Visual Perception is, overall, highly recommended.' - Árni Kristjánsson, University of Iceland, Rekjavik. in Perception, vol. 35 no. 7, 2006

'There is no doubt in my mind that this is an outstanding book. It is extraordinarily readable, written in plain simple English, deeply scholarly in its critical appraisals and is marked throughout by enormous knowledge and authority.' - Ross Day, La Trobe University

Table of Contents

The Varied Calibre of Scientific Theories. Gestalt Psychology. Egon Brunswik. Neural Function. Empiricism. J.J. Gibson. David Marr. Final Summary and Conclusions.