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.
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.