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SUMMARY:Seeing in three dimensions: philosophical issues and empirical fin
 dings - Professor Brian Rogers\, Department of Experimental Psychology\, U
 niversity of Oxford
DTSTART:20121105T173000Z
DTEND:20121105T183000Z
UID:TALK38541@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Beverley Larner
DESCRIPTION:It is often thought that there is something special and perhap
 s more difficult about our ability to see the depth of 3-D objects and the
 ir spatial layout as compared with other aspects of perception such as col
 our\, form or motion.  This has often been attributed to the fact that our
  retinas are essentially flat\, 2-D surfaces (e.g. Irvin Rock’s book Per
 ception 1984).  The idea can be traced back to the philosopher\, George Be
 rkeley who wrote in his A New Theory of Vision (1709): “Distance of itse
 lf\, and immediately\, cannot be seen”.  More recently\, TV manufacturer
 s have tried to persuade us to purchase 3-D TVs with the clear implication
  that conventional TVs do not allow us to see the third dimension.  In thi
 s lecture\, I want to address what I believe is a philosophical misunderst
 anding about the nature and purpose of perception which is often thought o
 f as a process that provides an internal representation (image\, picture) 
 of the outside world.  Instead\, I shall consider the role of perception i
 n an ecological context based on the availability of information.  I also 
 want to discuss the concept of ‘illusion’ and whether it is possible t
 o make a meaningful distinction between those aspects of perception that a
 re correct (veridical) and those that are illusory.  To do this\, I will c
 onsider the information provided by binocular viewing (stereopsis)\, motio
 n parallax and geometric perspective in both art and normal viewing.
LOCATION:Bristol-Myers-Squibb Lecture theatre\, Department of Chemistry
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