Use of visual information is used to augment our knowledge, decide on our actions, and keep track of our environment. Even with eyes closed, people can remember visual and spatial representations, manipulate them, and make decisions about them. The chapters in Volume 42 of Psychology of Learning and Motivation discuss the ways cognition interacts with visual processes and visual representations, with coverage of figure-ground assignment, spatial and visual working memory, object identification and visual search, spatial navigation, and visual attention.

This volume constitutes the post-conference proceedings of the 4th International Cognitive Vision Workshop, ICVW 2008, held in Santorini, Greece, on May 12, 2008. The 11 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 17 submissions. They cover important aspects of cognitive vision like face recognition, activity interpretation, attention, memory maps and scene interpretation.

This volume is a post-event proceedings volume and contains selected papers based on the presentations given, and the lively discussions that ensued, during a seminar held in Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, in October 2003. Co-sponsored by ECVision, the cognitive vision network of excellence, it was organized to further strengthen cooperation between research groups from different countries working in the field of cognitive vision systems.

Learn how to apply cognitive principles to the problems of computer vision Computational Models for Cognitive Vision formulates the computational models for the cognitive principles found in biological vision, and applies those models to computer vision tasks. Such principles include perceptual grouping, attention, visual quality and aesthetics, knowledge-based interpretation and learning, to name a few. The author’s ultimate goal is to provide a framework for creation of a machine vision system with the capability and versatility of the human vision. Written by Dr. Hiranmay Ghosh, the book takes readers through the basic principles and the computational models for cognitive vision, Bayesian reasoning for perception and cognition, and other related topics, before establishing the relationship of cognitive vision with the multi-disciplinary field broadly referred to as “artificial intelligence”. The principles are illustrated with diverse application examples in computer vision, such as computational photography, digital heritage and social robots. The author concludes with suggestions for future research and salient observations about the state of the field of cognitive vision. Other topics covered in the book include: · knowledge representation techniques · evolution of cognitive architectures · deep learning approaches for visual cognition Undergraduate students, graduate students, engineers, and researchers interested in cognitive vision will consider this an indispensable and practical resource in the development and study of computer vision.

Why does the world look to us as it does? Generally speaking, this question has received two types of answers in the cognitive sciences in the past fifty or so years. According to the first, the world looks to us the way it does because we construct it to look as it does. According to the second, the world looks as it does primarily because of how the world is. In The Innocent Eye, Nico Orlandi defends a position that aligns with this second, world-centered tradition, but that also respects some of the insights of constructivism. Orlandi develops an embedded understanding of visual processing according to which, while visual percepts are representational states, the states and structures that precede the production of percepts are not representations. If we study the environmental contingencies in which vision occurs, and we properly distinguish functional states and features of the visual apparatus from representational states and features, we obtain an empirically more plausible, world-centered account. Orlandi shows that this account accords well with models of vision in perceptual psychology -- such as Natural Scene Statistics and Bayesian approaches to perception -- and outlines some of the ways in which it differs from recent 'enactive' approaches to vision. The main difference is that, although the embedded account recognizes the importance of movement for perception, it does not appeal to action to uncover the richness of visual stimulation. The upshot is that constructive models of vision ascribe mental representations too liberally, ultimately misunderstanding the notion. Orlandi offers a proposal for what mental representations are that, following insights from Brentano, James and a number of contemporary cognitive scientists, appeals to the notions of de-coupleability and absence to distinguish representations from mere tracking states.

Thompson provides an accessible review of the current scientific and philosophical discussions of colour vision and is vital reading for all cognitive scientists and philosophers whose interests touch upon this central area.Colour fascinates all of us, and scientists and philosophers have sought to understand the true nature of colour vision for many years. In recent times, investigations into colour vision have been one of the success stories of cognitive science, for each discipline within the field - neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, computer science and artificial intelligence, and philosophy - has contributed significantly to our understanding of colour. Evan Thompson's book is a major contribution to this interdisciplinary project.Colour Vision provides an accessible review of the current scientific and philosophical discussions of colour vision. Thompson steers a course between the subjective and objective positions on colour, arguing for a relational account. This account develops a novel 'ecological' approach to colour vision in cognitive science and the philosophy of perception. It is vital reading for all cognitive scientists and philosophers whose interests touch upon this central area.

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.