Visual Information Processing

Introduction

Increased evolution of visual information processing in human history has raised concern with looking for efficient ways of managing and organizing these vast volumes of information. The information processing of Hearing and vision senses are harnessed in the “cortical regions of the brain” .This paper seeks to provide a detailed presentation of in-depth understanding of the working principle of the human brain in a symbiotic association with the “visual information processing.” The paper will focus on the explanation of the structures and the specific processes of “visual information processing”. Besides, the “two conditions that impair visual information processing” will be discussed, regarding how they alter the likelihood of visual information processing. Eventually, a discussion on the “current trends in the research of visual information processing” as well as how they advance the “understanding of visual information processing” will be presented. The perception and visual ability of human beings are primarily dependent on the volumes of information that the brain process (Anderson, 2010). Hence, the foundation of understanding visual processes is the explanation of visual information processing.

Explanation of Visual Information Processing

Cognitive psychology explains processing of information by the human brain. The manipulation of information by the computer system, processing, and giving an output resembles the way information is processed by the brain because the information processing follows a specific route. In the brain, “processing of visual information” starts from the retina of the eye where information is collected. Processing of the information is then performed by “axons of the retinal ganglion cells,” which then proceeds to “midbrain and diencephalon” (Brain Res, 2008). According to Anderson (2010), visual processing has been based on the enhancement of the image that lands on the posterior part of the retina. The human brain try to provide a solution to problems like what is seen by visual processing. The human brain comprises of “efficient symbolic descriptions from images of the world” (Lal, Marr & Barlow, 1980, p.218). Nevertheless, one key crucial component of vision is still how multifaceted information can be represented in the “visual world.” A structural process is required to extract such images in an organized framework.

Structure and Specific Processes

The object’s shape that “can be extracted from the visual scene” (Anderson, 2010, p. 34) is contained in the old phases of visual perception‘s organization. Moreover, the current phase is centered on “shapes and object recognition,” basing on the fact that, as argued by Anderson (2010), “light passes through the lens and the vitreous humor and falls on the retina at the back of the eye” (p. 34). The “photoreceptor cells” in the retina that constitutes “light-sensitive molecules” undergo structural alterations when left open in the light. As rays of light falls on the vitreous humor, an impression or an icon is molded at the back of the retina. The picture does not perfectly represent the object. As maintained by Anderson (2010) early visual processing was primarily concerned with “perfect imagery.”

Light is separated into two forms by rods and cones of the eye as natural energy through a process called photochemical. Anderson (2010) maintains that the eyes’ cones comprises of “color vision and make high resolution and acuity” (p.35). The resolution of the rods is low because rods need a small light intensity. Eye cones are embedded in the “fovea” within the retina. This part of the eye usually detects finer details of an image. Other information such as movements is sensed by the “periphery,” which tends to accommodate a larger vision (Anderson, 2010).

Visual processing also takes place on the “receptor cells synapse” that link “the bipolar cell” and continues to “the ganglion cells.” The “axons of the ganglion cells” projects outside the human eye and make-up “the optic nerve.” Both optic nerves from the two eyes join at “the chiasma.” As explained by Anderson (2010), chiasma is the point where the eyes exchanges information, and the visual processing from the beginning. At this point, information from the “left eye” moves to the “right eye”, while that from “the right eye” moves to left. These cells are connected by the “optic nerve fibers synapse” at the “subcortical elements.” Besides, the visual cortex forms the junction where “geniculate nucleus” and “superior colliculus” meet. Anderson (2010) describes this joining process as “what-where distinction” (p.36). The brain then receives the information via “’what-where”