Human Visual Perception

Abstract

The following chapter outlines the properties of the human visual system as optical system as well as the processing stages taking place between the capturing of light in the retina and generation of a mental scene representation in the visual cortex. Therefore, the visual pathway is followed from the neuronal cascade triggered by electromagnetic stimulation of the retina, which routes through the visual preprocessor (lateral geniculate nucleus) and terminates in the visual cortex where the neuronal signal is reassembled to a mental reflection of the viewed scene. Furthermore, a closer look on the subconscious processing of depth and motion cues as well as on visual search-and-find is taken. Especially the role of lower level neuronal processing stages in the retina and the lateral geniculate nucleus and their sensitivity to pictorial cues is analyzed. Based on these findings new rendering techniques may manipulate the output of low level neuronal processing stages by utilizing pictorial cues to induce or enhance the perception of distance, velocity, or saliency.