A Creative Genius for VisionVisual IntelligenceDonald D. Hoffman Chapter One

The Genius of Vision Everything you see, you

construct Our visual prowess is a

genius that often goes unrecognized

Yet, we construct scenes that contradict reality

Is our vision or our hand erroneous?

Can there be elements in the picture causing the problem?

More Evidence The “Magic Square” Brighter inside is

a vision or photometer error?

Ironically, the boundary increase makes the construction of the square difficult

More Evidence Vision can do more

than fabricate a structure, as it goes against reality

We build a triangle, even though this could be a structure photographed at a specific angle

The Devil’s Triangle

“What you see” There are elegant principles being applied when

constructing an image Phenomenal sense – The way things appear to us,

objects we construct regardless of reality constraints

Relational sense – what you interact with when you see, things must exist to be seen

The phenomenal sense applies to our “visual genius”

Visual experiences serve as user-friendly computer icon interface with those things we relationally see

Vision Comes Naturally Unlike the ability to walk or talk,

humans can see upon birth It is also an ability that we share with

animals alike Gold fish have four color receptors Honeybees see ultraviolet light Is our vision the correct vision?

A Child’s Visual Development One month – infants blink if something moves

toward their eyes 3 months – infants use visual motion to

construct boundaries of objects 4 months – use motion and stereovision to

construct 3D shapes of objects 7 months – use shading, perspective, and

interposition to construct depth and shape One year – visual geniuses that begin to learn

the name of objects

Visual Construction in Nature For some species,

their visual construction displays less genius

But no different than humans, this leaves room for visual errors

Blackbird Nestlings

Visual Construction in NatureView of Chickens and Ducks

The Common Toad

Brief History Ptolemy (2nd century AD)

– recognized in Optics is a dictate of logic

Alhazen (965-1039) – visual properties due to unconscious inference

Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) – visual inferences came God

A Brief History Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-

1894) – described vision as a process of unconscious inference

David Marr (1946-1981) – compared visual construction to information processing in computers

Ernst Hans Gombrich(1909) – unconscious and automatic processes are “projections”, while those that are more labored for are “inference” or “knowledge”

Fundamental Problem of Vision The image at the eye has countless

interpretations How can we know that we all see the same

thing? Innate rules which grant visual mastery and

lead to consensus in the visual constructions despite ambiguity

Everyone constructs the same vision (with or without the same interpretation)

The rules, which work quickly and effectively are the key