Re: [photo-3d] Learning to See

["John A. Rupkalvis" <stereoscope@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Seeing is believing.   Sure.

JR

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray Zone" <r3dzone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 10:33 AM
Subject: [photo-3d] Learning to See


>
> Herbert Maxey wrote:
>
> > I would like to know where the data comes from. Please point me in a
> > direction. I still maintain that the ability to view 3D is one of
natures
> > miracles and I would go so far as to say that NOT being able to see 3D
is
> > extremely rare.
>
> Ray Zone responds:
>
> Gabriel is correct.  Vision, perception and stereopsis are learned.  They
> are a form of visual literacy which like speech, writing and walking
itself
> are acquired skills. Binocular freevision is a great example of a learned
> perceptual "skill."  And there is an abundance of literature, clinical,
> philosophical and otherwise on this subject.  I refer you to just a few
with
> the following.  All of them indicate that stereopsis, because of its
linking
> of the eyes and brain, is something that we learn as we acquire a
repertoire
> of experience that is both sensory and cerebral, at one with consciousness
> itself.
>
> from "Pediatric Ophthalmology" by L. Byerly Holt (Lea & Febiger: 1964):
>
> "The following procedures are more specific methods of determining the
stage
> of visual development in pre-ambulatory infants. The basis of these tests
is
> optically elicited movement, the movement of the eyes toward a
peripherally
> appearing object, which is dependent upon some development of central
> vision.  With considerable patience on the part of the examiner, such a
> response may be observed in the 2 to 4 week old infant; the eyes turn
toward
> a flashlight or large object as if to fixate it.  By 5 to 6 weeks of age
the
> infant may seem to follow the object with a jerking motion of the eyes; by
4
> to 6 months, this following movement appears smoother and better
> coordinated."
>
> from "Light and Vision" by Conrad G. Mueller, Mae Rudolph and the Editors
of
> LIFE (Time, Incorporated: 1966):
>
> "For hundreds of years it has been clear that man's vision takes place,
not
> in his eyes, but in his brain."
>
> from "Visual Thinking" by Rudolf Arnheim (Faber and Faber Limited: 1969):
>
> "One might say that even physiologically vision imposes a conceptual order
> on the material it records."
>
> from "The Object Stares Back" by James Elkins (Simon & Schuster: 1996):
>
> "It is difficult to break through the wall of usual seeing and begin to
> discover how many other things there are to see.  It requires practice and
> special information--you have to know what you're looking for--and it also
> requires energy, since it involves special concentration."
>
> A 1999 film titled "At First Sight" starring Val Kilmer provides a
beautiful
> example of visual learning.  Kilmer plays a man who has been blind from
> birth.  An experimental procedure restores his sight to him but he is
> overwhelmed because he has no perceptual vocabulary to understand what he
is
> seeing or to interpret the signals of the visual field.  The film shows
> Kilmer learning spatial vision, slowly grasping the meaning and perception
> of depth which his brain must organize from the chaotic array of visual
> stimuli.  Kilmer goes to a cognitive psychologist played by Nathan Lane
who
> teaches him to "see" even though his eyes, at this point, are fully
> functional.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>