Definition of visual perception

We are surrounded by images and everything that surrounds us is captured by our senses. The perception visual is the technical term to refer to the sense of sight.

The eye is the organ of vision. His functioning is similar to a photographic camera. Sunlight is assimilated by the pupil and then the lenses of the eye (the cornea and the lens) carry the image to the retina that connects to the brain through the optic nerve. We can say that the eye is the camera and the brain is the processor from image.

Human vision is our main source of information. 80% of the data we perceive is assimilated by sight. But sight works by the interaction between the eye and the brain. Understanding this binomial is essential to correct the defects of visual perception. Some problems are solvable and are corrected with glasses, contact lenses or simple operations (cataracts or strabismus). On the contrary, certain vision problems still cannot be cured (retinopathies or some anomalies in the optic nerve)

Visual perception has been studied since ancient times, since blindness was a very common ailment. There are documents and evidence attesting to the Egyptians' concern about eye problems.

The idea of ​​visual perception is present in many moments of science or technology. In fact, optics arises to understand the processes of light. Microscopes and telescopes are invented to expand visual perception. Braille is a system of reading for the blind who, logically, do not have visual perception. These examples show that the phenomenon of visual perception is present in many areas of knowledge. Anyway, it was at the beginning of the 20th century when a current of the psychology ( the Gestalt ) studied the laws that affect perception. According to this current, the human mind has mechanisms to order and understand images.

There are currently lines of investigation that point towards new solutions in the problems of visual perception. Chips that allow seeing are already in place and the laser corrects defects that until recently were a real problem. It is foreseeable that in the more or less near future ophthalmology and neurosciences will offer solutions where there are now limitations.