Limits in Perception: Essays in Honour of Maarten A. Bouman

Summary

This book presents an analysis of limits in perception from the vantage point of the physicist, the engineer, the psychophysicist, the psychologist and the theorist. Limits in perception find their causal explanation at many logically and/or physically different levels. Some of the most fundamental bottlenecks are due to the quantum mechanical and atomistic structure of the microworld. Other simple constraints are due to the material constitution of sensory organs. For instance, the fact that the eye is predominantly composed of water limits both the optical quality and the available spectral window. The engineer uses knowledge on such limits to design equipment that optimizes human performance in daily life. Examples include room acoustics and visual displays. Psychophysicists and psychologists deal with limits on a quite different logical level. These limits constrain much of our perceptually guided behaviour. The book includes chapters on such topics as movement perception, binocular vision, illusory phenomena, language and perception, the perception of time. A few concluding chapters on fundamental limits imposed by information theoretical constraints on the coding and representation of sensed structure are included. Limits in Perception will be important reading material for scientists and/or engineers in the following fields: perception, experimental psychology, sensory biology, physics, neuroscience, human engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics, ophthalmology, audiology, psychonomics and ergonomics, remote sensing.

Table of Contents

List of contributors Preface: Maarten Bouman and the limits of perception List of publications by M.A. Bouman List of doctoral dissertations supervised by M.A. Bouman PART 1: A PHYSICIST'S APPROACH TO THE LIMITS IN PERCEPTION Development and present status of the quantum concept in visual psychophysics Peter Zuidema The physical constraints of color vision Johannes J. Vos and Pieter L. Walraven Limits of the visual spectrum Johannes J. Vos and Dirk van Norren Limits of the eye-optics Aart van Meeteren and Johannes J. Vos PART 2: AN ENGINEER'S APPROACH TO THE LIMITS IN PERCEPTION The modulation transfer function in audition Reinier Plomp, Tammo Houtgast and Herman J.M. Steeneken Interchangeability of space and time in perception Gerjan van der Wildt Perceptual limits in man-machine communication Floris L. van Nes PART 3: PSYCHOPHYSICAL APPROACHES TO THE LIMITS IN PERCEPTION Limits in spatio-temporal correlation and the perception of visual movement Andrea J. van Doorn, Jan J. Koenderink and Wim A. van de Grind Limits in vision with two eyes Charles M.M. de Weert On the hierarchy of sensory processes Gert van den Brink PART 4: PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE LIMITS IN PERCEPTION Some perceptual limitations on talking about space Willem J.M. Levelt The functional visual field revisited Andries F. Sanders and Tilly J.M. Houtmans Concatenation of short time intervals John A. Michon, Annie Bruinsma and Wim J. Riedel PART 5: THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE LIMITS IN PERCEPTION Visual adaptation and response saturation Jan Walravan and J. Mathé Valeton Decomposition and neuroreduction of visual perception Wim A. van de Grind The concept of local sign Jan J. Koenderink Subject index