E-Book Overview
Primates evolved binocular vision (both eyes facing forward) so that they can see in three dimensions, critical as they jumped from branch to branch. Higher primates developed color vision to better hunt out ripe fruit. Optical illusions succeed because they exploit the limitations of our visual processing. Wrong! All of these beliefs are false, as groundbreaking research by evolutionary scientist and neurobiologist Mark Changizi now reveals. Changizi's research centers on the "why" of human vision. Why do we have binocular vision? Why do we see in color the way we do? Why do optical illusions work? And why are we able to absorb information by reading?a very new invention from an evolutionary perspective?more readily than by hearing, which we've evolved to do over hundreds of thousands of years? The Vision Revolution answers these questions, and proves, with the detailed results of Changizi's fieldwork, that the answers are very different than traditionally believed. A radically new perspective of human vision is now emerging. The Vision Revolution is upon us.
E-Book Content
A RADICALLY NEW PERSPECTIVE ON HUMAN VISION IS EMERGING. Why do our eyes face forward? Why do we see in color? Why do optical illusions trick us? Why does reading come so naturally to us? The new answers to these questions—revealed by Changizi’s research—are surprising and radically different than previously believed.
“Throughout the book, Changizi peppers his explanations with quick, fascinating visual exercises that help to drive his points home…. Although Changizi’s ideas sound radical—they are—he bolsters his arguments with evidence from many disciplines, among them neuroscience, evolutionary biology, medicine, and linguistics.” Scientific American Mind
M A R K C H A N G I Z I is an assistant professor of cognitive science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Changizi’s research has been written up in more than 75 media outlets worldwide, including Time magazine, Newsweek, USA Today, Discover, New Scientist, Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, Scientific American, The Times of London, Natural History magazine, ABC News, MSNBC, and Fox News.
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THE VISION REVOLUTION
“The author of The Vision Revolution … is indeed a man who asks why, and lucky for us: His ideas about the brain and mind are fascinating, and his explanations for our habits of seeing are … persuasive.” The Wall Street Journal
MARK CHANGIZI
SCIENCE
THE
VISION REVOLUTION How the Latest Research Overturns E v e r y t h i n g We T h o u g h t We K n e w A b o u t Human Vision
MARK CHANGIZI
“The mere facts that we see things, that [vision is] a sort of remote sensing, and that it is brought about mostly subconsciously but that we experience the outcome consciously—all these core facts of perception are fascinating and often beyond our imagination. As his long-term mentor/collaborator, I can guarantee that Mark Changizi is ‘a pencil-neck square, stick-in-the-mud scientist’ who is most imaginative, creative, and entertaining in his writing. This book will no doubt offer a revolutionary view on our daily experience of visual perception. A superb reading for young students, scientists, businessmen, and others desperately seeking signs of incredible mental powers in themselves.”
— Shinsuke Shimojo, Professor of Biology/Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology
“Changizi’s pioneering research shows that evolutionary theory can help explain many of the great puzzles of vision. In this remarkable book, he fleshes out his findings and provides a fresh take on many key issues in perception. Psychologists a