For everyday vision, the resolution of noise is a critical task, for instance when guiding a vehicle through rain or fog. This approach can be a helpful tool to study a number of processing mechanisms such as basic motion detection, attentional modulation or perceptual learning. Speed perception . The perceived speed of moving patterns depends on a number of stimulus parameters other than physical speed, such as contrast or size. I studied how velocity can be encoded in correlation-type motion detectors independent of spatial frequency.
Illusions are an excellent tool to investigate the mechanisms and limitations of visal processing.
Orientation maps in the human cortex. From electrophysiological studies in primates it is apparent that in the retinotopic map of the visual field on the early cortex is organized in small modules called 'hypercolumns'. The preferred orientation of neurones in the primary visual cortex are arranged in a characteristic 'pinwheel' structure around centres with negligible orientation sensitivity. Gestalt psychology collected manifold evidence that the human visual system shows preferences for 'good shapes'. Visual ecology .