Contrast Sensitivity - Hardcover

Shapley, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262193396 ISBN 13: 9780262193399

Publisher: Bradford Books, 1993

Synopsis

The eye, the retina, and the entire visual pathway are concerned with an organism's interaction with the world of light. A large fraction of that interaction is determined by contrast in the light signal. This book is the first to focus on the importance of image contrast to vision, including the neural basis for the extremely high sensitivity of human observers to contrast.

The seventeen contributions present current research in visual signal processing, in the retina and central pathways, and in the study of contrast sensitivity in humans. The field is surveyed from fundamental processes in receptor outer segments all the way to human perceptual processes that use information from visual contrast for reading and form discriminations. Possible clinical implications are taken up in the latter chapters of the book and theoretical implications are discussed throughout.

Robert Shapley is Spencer Professor of Science and Director of the Center for Neural Science at New York University. Dominic Man-Kit Lam is Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Professor of Biotechnology, Cell Biology, and Ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Sections and Contributors:
I. Retinal Processing of Visual Signals. G. L. Fain and M. Carter Cornwall. Peter MacLeish. David Copenhagen, Scott Mittman, W. Rowland Taylor, and Don R. Dixon. Malcolm Slaughter and Ning Tian. Ken-ichi Naka and Hiroko, Sakai.
II. Retinal Ganglion Cells. J. B. Troy. Robert Shapley, Ehud Kaplan, and Keith Purpura. R. W. Rodieck, R. K. Brening, and M. Watanabe. Christina Enroth-Cugell.
III. Central Visual Pathways. Ehud Kaplan, Pratik Mukherjee, and Robert Shapley. Peter Lennie. A. B. Bonds. Karen DeValois and Russell DeValois.
IV. Human Contrast Sensitivity and Clinical Applications. J. G. Robson. G. E. Legge. Robert F. Hess. D. M. Regan.

About this title

About the Author

Dominic Man-Kit Lam is Director of The Center for Biotechnology and Professor of Biotechnology, Cell Biology, and Ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Review

This volume, expertly edited by Shapley and Lam. has just the right mosaic of lively and profound chapters beautifully conveying the complete picture of past and state-of-the-art, basic and clinical studies of how we detect contrast and use it to see the world. Fascinating chapters cover the science history of contrast sensitivity, its processing stages and role in the exciting story of parallel visual pathways. Don't miss Shapley's scholarly introductions, sharp and controversial, as usual, putting it all in perspective.

(Professor Shaul Hochstein, Center for Neural Computation, Hebrew University)

Edition details

• Publisher: Bradford Books
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0262193396
• ISBN 13: 9780262193399
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 362
• Editor: Man-Kit Lam