Kevin O'Regan presents Why the outside world looks perfect despite defects of our perceptual systems

On 2022-10-04 11:00:00 at G205, Karlovo náměstí 13, Praha 2
Dear colleagues,
let me invite you to this in-depth seminar by our collaborator (and past ERC
Advanced Grant holder) Kevin O'Regan.

Full title: Why the outside world looks perfect with objects located in 3D
space
despite horrendous defects of our perceptual systems

Abstract:
Our perceptual systems seem to be atrocious pieces of apparatus. The retina has
a gigantic hole in it (the blind spot), it samples the world non-uniformly, has
inadequate optical qualities and horrible distortions. Outside physical space,
that appears to us as a vessel in which objects are localized, is nowhere
represented as such inside the brain. So how can we see the world as perfect?
I suggest that to understand these things, we need to consider perception as an
active engagement with the environment, instead of as a means to create an
internal representation. There is no need to correct defects of the visual
system if we consider the eye as a tool to actively probe the outside world,
considered as a kind of “outside memory”. I also show how such a system, by
measuring coincidences in neural activity, can deduce the 3D group structure of
outside physical space and understand the notions of object, path, and
shortcut.
Za obsah zodpovídá: Petr Pošík