The Cognitive Neuroscience of Vision

An introduction to the cognitive neuroscience of vision. The book introduces the reader to the anatomy of the eye and visual cortex and then proceeds to discuss image and representation, face recognition, printed word recognition, visual sematic memory and visual attention and perception. In this clear and engagingly written book, Martha Farah presents the first comprehensive overview of the cognitive neuroscience of vision. Beginning with the transformation of light images into neural images within the eye, Farah traces the processing of the visual signal throughout the brain, culminating in our conscious awareness of the objects and people we see. The perception of colour, motion, faces, printed words, and other important components of our visual world are explained, along with the related cognitive processes of visual attention and visual mental imagery. Each chapter brings together a fascinating array of clinical anecdotes and observations, data from physiological experiments, and the latest neuroimaging studies of the normal brain at work. The unprecedented integration of the different stages of visual perception and the different approaches to these stages will be of value to students and specialists alike. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Vision begins by introducing the reader to the anatomy of the eye and visual cortex and then proceeds to discuss image and representation, face recognition, printed word recognition, visual sematic memory and visual attention and perception.