I Robot, Who You?

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Who is This? (See Below)

The science and art of visual perception encompasses the workings of the eye, the brain and most importantly, the mind. Today, scientists using powerful new tools and supercomputers are discovering the inner workings of the eye, and how it performs its miraculous job of seeing. Researchers are unravelling the pathways in the brain that visual information takes, and which parts of the brain are involved in processing the various parts of that information.

For example, humans are experts at the complex task of facial recognition, even at a distance, or in low light. Completely out of focus photographs of celebrities are easy for the average person to identify. Likewise, artists are able to make simple black and white line drawings or caricatures of individuals which are also instantly identifiable. However, if the eyebrows are erased from a photograph of even a very well-known person, the recognition rate goes way…