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A Defense of a Non-Computational, Interactive Model of Visual Observation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2023

Bonnie Tamarkin Paller
Bonnie Tamarkin Paller*
Affiliation:
California State University-Northridge
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In a recent paper1 I argued that observation can be thought of as the result of a properly composed and functioning observation system. In brief, such a system must be composed of a source object and one or more devices which interact with a receptor. If we think of observation as the result of interaction among components are differing functions, we can approach the problem of describing human sense perception as that of describing one type of observation, differentiated from other types by the organic and species specific nature of the receptor devices. Receptor devices are typed by their specific range of sensitivity, which is best thought of as a limit on the type of devices with which the receiver can interact. One consequence of this view is that observation can be achieved in all sorts of ways by all sorts of organic and non-organic systems as long as they satisfy functional conditions.

Type
Part V. Perception and Psychology
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1988 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1988 , 1988 , pp. 134 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1988

References

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Gibson, J.J. (1979). An Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
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