Visual stability

Abstract

Space constancy, the perception that the visual world remains stable despite the fact that all visual information arrives through retinas that are in continuous motion, has historically been explained by an 'efference copy' of eye innervation that is subtracted from retinal image shifts. Quantitative work has found the efference copy to be too small and too slow to offer full compensation. A newer conception is that little is carried over from one fixation to the next; we do not build a visual world by pasting together samples calibrated with efference copy, but use what is currently available, plus a gist and a few previously attended objects. The stable, rich visual world of our perception is more promise than physiological reality.