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Biophysics and Neurophysiology of the Sixth Sense pp 13–26Cite as

Neurophysiology of Visual Perception

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Abstract

As the richest sensory modality in human beings, vision and visual perception have always been the center of attention for numerous studies. In this chapter, we aim to put together the scattered literature on human visual perception and investigate the magnificent act of transforming a two-dimensional optical input into a three-dimensional reconstruction of the world outside. Herein, the literature is reviewed regarding various aspects of this perceptual phenomenon, starting with a brief introduction toward the neuroanatomical properties of the visual system and proceeding to central regions and pathways in charge of modifying and directing the visual input to pass through the three-dimensional perceptual operations. We move forward by investigating various aspects of object recognition including the perception of form, space, and motion. Moreover, important processes of adaption and gaze control are discussed in the section regarding the role of eye movement in forming perception. Considering the high evolutionary value of face perception, a separate section is dedicated to studying this aspect. After an overall evaluation of neural coding and the constructive nature of visual perception, we conclude with a section on computer vision and future directions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Students’ Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mahsa Mayeli

  2. NeuroImaging Network (NIN), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran

    Mahsa Mayeli

  3. MetaCognition Interest Group (MCIG), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran

    Mahsa Mayeli

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  1. Mahsa Mayeli
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Children’s Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Nima Rezaei

  2. Molecular Immunology Research Center, Children’s Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Amene Saghazadeh

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Mayeli, M. (2019). Neurophysiology of Visual Perception. In: Rezaei, N., Saghazadeh, A. (eds) Biophysics and Neurophysiology of the Sixth Sense. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10620-1_2

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