Abstract
In this paper I will argue that medical specialists interpret and diagnose through technological mediations like X-ray and fMRI images, and by actualizing embodied skills tacitly they are determining the identity of objects in the perceptual field. The initial phase of human interpretation of visual objects takes place during the moments of visual perception before we are consciously aware of the perceived. What facilitate this innate ability to interpret are experiences, learning and training that become humanly embodied skills. These embodied skills are actualized during the moments of visual perception. My argument is that biology, society and instruments constitute unique individual ontologies influencing specialist readings of the technological output, in other words, putting limits on the “truth-to-nature” relation, which is so much sought for in science.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baars BJ (1988) A cognitive theory of consciousness. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Barry AMS (1997) Visual intelligence: perception, image, and manipulation in visual communication. State University of New York Press, Albany
Chua HF, Boland JE, Nisbett RE (2005) Cultural variation in eye movements during scene perception. PNAS 102(35):12629–12633
Daston L, Galison P (2007) Objectivity. ZONE Books, NewYork
Friis JKBO (2011a) Perception: embodiment and beyond. Found Sci 17(4):363–367
Friis JKBO (2011b) Interpreting the visual. Philos Technol 25(2):249–270
Friis JKBO (2015) Towards a hermeneutics of unveiling. In: Rosenberger R, Verbeek P-P (eds) Postphenomenological investigations: essays on human-technology relations. Lexington Books/Rowman Littlefield Press, NewYork
Goldstein EB (1989) Sensation and perception. Wadsworth, Pacific Grove
Gregory RL (1970) The intelligent eye. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London
Heidegger M (1998) Till tänkandets sak. Svensk oversættelse af Zur Sache des Denkens ved Daniel Birnbaum & Sven-Olov Wallenstein. Bokförlaget Thales, Stockholm
Ihde D (1998) Expanding hermeneutics: visualism in science. Northwestern University Press, Evanston
Ihde D (2009) Postphenomenology and technoscience: the Peking University Lectures. Suny Press, Albany
Ingarden R (1970) Innføring i edmund husserls fenomenologi: 10 Oslo forelesninger. J.G. Tanum, Oslo
Kevles BH (1997) Naked to the bone: medical imaging in the twentieth century. The sloan technology series. Basic Books, NewYork
Konstantinou N et al (2012) Visual short-term memory load reduces retinotopic cortex response to contrast. J Cogn Sci 24(11):2199–2210
Koontz NA, Gunderman RB (2008) Gestalt theory: implications for radiology education. AJR Am J Roentgenol 190(5):1156–1160
Kuhn T (1996) The structure of scientific revolutions, vol 3. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Kundel HL (2006) History of research in medical image perception. J Am Coll Radiol 2006(3):402–408
Leape LL (1994) Error in medicine. JAMA 272(23):1851–1857
Libet B (2006) Reflections on the interaction of the mind and brain. Prog Neurobiol 78:322–326
Marr D (2001) The philosophy and the approach. In: Yantis S (ed) Key readings in cognition: visual perception. Psychology Press, New York
Nesbitt RE (2003) The geography of thought. The Free Press, NewYork
Noë A (2002) Is the world a grand illusion? J Conscious Stud 9:5–6
Noë A (2004) Action in perception. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Palmer SE (1999) Vision science: photons to phenomenology. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Phelps EA, Ling S, Carrasco M (2006) Emotion facilitates perception and potentiates the perceptual benefits of attention. Psychol Sci 17:4
Radder H (2006) The world observed/the world conceived. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh
Rasmussen J, Jensen A (1974) Mental procedures in real-life tasks: a case study of electronic trouble shooting. Ergonomics 17(3):293–307
Sabih D, Sabih A, Sabih Q, Khan AN (2011) Image perception and interpretation of abnormalities; can we believe our eyes? Can we do something about it? Insights Imaging 2(1):47–55
Tripathi AK (2015) Culture of sedimentation in the human–technology interaction. AI Soc. doi:10.1007/s00146-015-0581-z
Varela FJ, Thompson E, Rosch E (1993) The embodied mind. Cognitive science and human experience. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Verbeek P-P (2003) Material hermeneutics. Techné 6(3), Spring 2003. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v6n3/verbeek.html
Zadra JR, Clore GL (2011) Emotion and perception: the role of affective information. WIREs Cogn Sci 2(6):676–685
Zeelenberg R, Wagenmakers EJ, Rottveel M (2006) The impact of emotion on perception—bias or enhanced processing? Psychol Sci 17:4
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Friis, J.K.B.O. Gestalt descriptions embodiments and medical image interpretation. AI & Soc 32, 209–218 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-015-0615-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-015-0615-6