Eyes to See

Eyes to See
Author: Michael Land
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2018-11-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0191064866

Vision is the sense by which we and other animals obtain most of our information about the world around us. Darwin appreciated that at first sight it seems absurd that the human eye could have evolved by natural selection. But we now know far more about vision, the many times it has independently evolved in nature, and the astonishing variety of ways to see. The human eye, with a lens forming an image on a sensitive retina, represents just one. Scallops, shrimps, and lobsters all use mirrors in different ways. Jumping spiders scan with their front-facing eyes to check whether the object in front is an insect to eat, another spider to mate with, or a predator to avoid. Mantis shrimps can even measure the polarization of light. Animal eyes are amazing structures, often involving precision optics and impressive information processing, mainly using wet protein - not the substance an engineer would choose for such tasks. In Eyes to See, Michael Land, one of the leading world experts on vision, explores the varied ways in which sight has evolved and is used in the natural world, and describes some of the ingenious experiments researchers have used to uncover its secrets. He also discusses human vision, including his experiments on how our eye movements help us to do everyday tasks, as well as skilled ones such as sight-reading music or driving. He ends by considering the fascinating problem of how the constantly shifting images from our eyes are converted in the brain into the steady and integrated conscious view of the world we experience.

The Eye

The Eye
Author: Simon Ings
Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008
Genre: Evolution (Biology)
ISBN: 9780747592860

We spend about one-tenth of our waking hours completely blind - only one percent of what we see is in focus at any one time. You don't need eyes to see - blind volunteers have been taught to see through their chests. Through a spellbinding mix of scientific research, mathematics, philosophy, history, myth, anecdote and language theory, Simon Ings brilliantly unravels the never-ending puzzle of how and why we see in the way that we do. With the help of a beguiling mix of illustrated visual conundrums and enigmas, Ings triumphs with a compelling dissection of the eye's age-old mysteries that is both seriously interesting and interestingly fun.

Animal Eyes

Animal Eyes
Author: Michael F. Land
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2012-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0199581134

This book covers the way that all known types of eyes work, from their optics to the behaviour they guide. The ways that eyes sample the world in space and time are considered, and the evolutionary origins of eyes are discussed. This new edition incorporates discoveries made since the first edition published in 2001.

The Evolution of the Eye

The Evolution of the Eye
Author: Georg Glaeser
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-10-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9783319371023

With fascinating, spectacularly beautiful images, the book piques readers’ curiosity about the diversity of visual organs. This book is the result of a dual approach – scientific as well as aesthetic. The compelling images are accompanied by an easy-to-read, understandable text, aimed at both scientists and the educated public, and generally anyone interested in the beauty of nature. Thanks to this combination, the book presents the staggering diversity of eyes in the animal kingdom and provides countless insights into the intriguing mechanisms at work – from simple pigment cups to independently flexible, telescopic, facet and lens eyes. Educational, exciting, entertaining till the last page, this is a book for anyone who is interested in evolution, nature and the miracle of life.

Interaction of Color

Interaction of Color
Author: Josef Albers
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2013-06-28
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0300179359

An experimental approach to the study and teaching of color is comprised of exercises in seeing color action and feeling color relatedness before arriving at color theory.

On Vision and Colors; Color Sphere

On Vision and Colors; Color Sphere
Author: Arthur Schopenhauer
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2012-03-20
Genre: Design
ISBN: 1616890053

During the first two decades of the nineteenth century, two of the most significant theoretical works on color since Leonardo da Vinci's Trattato della Pittura were written and published in Germany: Arthur Schopenhauer's On Vision and Colors and Philipp Otto Runge's Color Sphere. For Schopenhauer, vision is wholly subjective in nature and characterized by processes that cross over into the territory of philosophy. Runge's Color Sphere and essay "The Duality of Color" contained one of the first attempts to depict a comprehensive and harmonious color system in three dimensions. Runge intended his color sphere to be understood not as a product of art, but rather as a "mathematical figure of various philosophical reflections." By bringing these two visionary color theories together within a broad theoretical context—philosophy, art, architecture, and design—this volume uncovers their enduring influence on our own perception of color and the visual world around us.

Colour

Colour
Author: Hazel Rossotti
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 1985-07-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0691023867

Uses the scientific basics of matter, energy, and eye structure to discuss the colors of the natural world; the mechanics of color vision; color technology like ceramics and television; the uses of color for camouflage, signalling, symbolism, and conveying mood in art and language; refraction; rainbows; chlorophyll; color blindness; and more.

Handbook of Color Psychology

Handbook of Color Psychology
Author: Andrew J. Elliot
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1737
Release: 2015-12-17
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1316395332

We perceive color everywhere and on everything that we encounter in daily life. Color science has progressed to the point where a great deal is known about the mechanics, evolution, and development of color vision, but less is known about the relation between color vision and psychology. However, color psychology is now a burgeoning, exciting area and this Handbook provides comprehensive coverage of emerging theory and research. Top scholars in the field provide rigorous overviews of work on color categorization, color symbolism and association, color preference, reciprocal relations between color perception and psychological functioning, and variations and deficiencies in color perception. The Handbook of Color Psychology seeks to facilitate cross-fertilization among researchers, both within and across disciplines and areas of research, and is an essential resource for anyone interested in color psychology in both theoretical and applied areas of study.

The Vision Revolution

The Vision Revolution
Author: Mark Changizi
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2010-06-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 193525121X

In The Vision Revolution: How the Latest Research Overturns Everything We Thought We Knew About Human Vision, Mark Changizi, prominent neuroscientist and vision expert, addresses four areas of human vision and provides explanations for why we have those particular abilities, complete with a number of full-color illustrations to demonstrate his conclusions and to engage the reader. Written for both the casual reader and the science buff hungry for new information, The Vision Revolution is a resource that dispels commonly believed perceptions about sight and offers answers drawn from the field's most recent research. Changizi focuses on four “why" questions: 1. Why do we see in color? 2. Why do our eyes face forward? 3. Why do we see illusions? 4. Why does reading come so naturally to us? Why Do We See in Color? It was commonly believed that color vision evolved to help our primitive ancestors identify ripe fruit. Changizi says we should look closer to home: ourselves. Human color vision evolved to give us greater insights into the mental states and health of other people. People who can see color changes in skin have an advantage over their color-blind counterparts; they can see when people are blushing with embarrassment, purple-faced with exertion or the reddening of rashes. Changizi's research reveals that the cones in our eyes that allow us to see color are exquisitely designed exactly for seeing color changes in the skin. And it's no coincidence that the primates with color vision are the ones with bare spots on their faces and other body parts; Changizi shows that the development of color vision in higher primates closely parallels the loss of facial hair, culminating in the near hairlessness and highly developed color vision of humans. Why Do Our Eyes Face Forward? Forward-facing eyes set us apart from most mammals, and there is much dispute as to why we have them. While some speculate that we evolved this feature to give us depth perception available through stereo vision, this type of vision only allows us to see short distances, and we already have other mechanisms that help us to estimate distance. Changizi's research shows that with two forward-facing eyes, primates and humans have an x-ray ability. Specifically, we're able to see through the cluttered leaves of the forest environment in which we evolved. This feature helps primates see their targets in a crowded, encroached environment. To see how this works, hold a finger in front of your eyes. You'll find that you're able to look “through" it, at what is beyond your finger. One of the most amazing feats of two forward-facing eyes? Our views aren't blocked by our noses, beaks, etc. Why Do We See Illusions? We evolved to see moving objects, not where they are, but where they are going to be. Without this ability, we couldn't catch a ball because the brain's ability to process visual information isn't fast enough to allow us to put our hands in the right place to intersect for a rapidly approaching baseball. “If our brains simply created a perception of the way the world was at the time light hit the eye, then by the time that perception was elicited—which takes about a tenth of a second for the brain to do—time would have marched on, and the perception would be of the recent past," Changizi explains. Simply put, illusions occur when our brain is tricked into thinking that a stationary two-dimensional picture has an element that is moving. Our brains project the “moving" element into the future and, as a result, we don't see what's on the page, but what our brain thinks will be the case a fraction of a second into the future. Why Does Reading Come So Naturally to Us? We can read faster than we can hear, which is odd, considering that reading is relatively recent,