Active Vision: The Psychology of Looking and Seeing(37 Oxford Psychology Series)

More than one third of the human brain is devoted to the processes of seeing - vision is after all the main way in which we gather information about the world. But human vision is a dynamic process during which the eyes continually sample the environment. Where most books on vision consider it as a passive activity, this book is unique in focusing on vision as an 'active' process. It goes beyond most accounts of vision where the focus is on seeing, to provide an integrated account of seeing AND looking. The book starts by pointing out the weaknesses in our traditional approaches to vision and the reason we need this new approach. It then gives a thorough description of basic details of the visual and oculomotor systems necessary to understand active vision. The book goes on to show how this approach can give a new perspective on visual attention, and how the approach has progressed in the areas of visual orienting, reading, visual search, scene perception and neuropsychology. Finally, the book summarises progress by showing how this approach sheds new light on the old problem of how we maintain perception of a stable visual world. Written by two leading vision scientists, this book will be valuable for vision researchers and psychology students, from undergraduate level upwards.

Table of Contents:
Passive Vision and Active Vision 1.1: Introduction 1.2: Passive vision 1.3: Visual attention 1.4: Active vision 1.5: Active vision and vision for action 1.6: Outline of the book Background to Active Vision 2.1: Introduction 2.2: The inhomogeneity of the visual projections 2.3: Parallel visual pathways 2.4: The oculomotor system 2.5: Saccadic eye movements 2.6: Summary Visual Selection, Covert Attention and Eye Movements 3.1: Covert and overt attention 3.2: Covert spatial attention 3.3: The relationship between covert and overt attention 3.4: Speed of attention 3.5: Neurophysiology of attention 3.6: Non-spatial attention 3.7: Active vision and attention 3.8: Summary Visual Orienting 4.1: Introduction 4.2: What determines the latency of orienting saccades? 4.3: Physiology of saccade initiation 4.4: What determines the landing position of orienting saccades? 4.5: Physiology of the WHERE system 4.6: The Findlay and Walker model 4.7: Development and plasticity Visual Sampling during Text Reading 5.1: Introduction 5.2: Basic patterns of visual sampling during reading 5.3: Perception during fixations in reading 5.4: Language processing 5.5: Control of fixation duration 5.6: Control of landing position 5.7: Theories of eye control during reading 5.8: Practical aspects of eye control in reading 5.9: Overview Visual Search 6.1: Visual search tasks 6.2: Theories of visual search 6.3: The need for eye movements in visual search 6.4: Eye movements in visual search 6.5: Ocular capture in visual search 6.6: Saccades in visual search: scanpaths 6.7: Physiology of visual search 6.8: Summary Natural Scenes and Activities 7.1: Introduction 7.2: Analytic studies of scene and object perception 7.3: Dynamic scenes and situations 7.4: Summary Human Neuropsychology 8.1: Blindsight 8.2: Neglect 8.3: Balint's syndrome and dorsal simultanagnosia 8.4: Frontal lobe damage 8.5: Orienting without eye movements 8.6: Summary Space Constancy and Trans-saccadic Integration 9.1: The traditional approach: 'compensatory taking into account' 9.2: Trans-saccadic integration 9.3: Resolution of the conflicting results 9.4: Conclusion: The Active Vision Cycle 9.5: Future directions

Review :
... Findlay and Gilchrist deliver a book that will function as a good map to any diver looking for hidden treasures in the field of eye movements, search, and attention. This map shows where the different groups of divers are located relative to each other, their working techniques, their goals. All of this is done without overwhelming beginner divers or putting experienced divers to sleep. Now, it is up to the divers themselves to make good use of the book and keep swimming away. Who knows, it might help us find the hidden treasure. If it does indeed exist at all! Perception, 33/8 ... a marvellous and bold book, which, as the authors state, attempts to initiate a paradigm shift. The type of research questions vision scientists ask in 20 years time will only then reveal whether the authors have succeeded. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18