Visual Perception and Processing of Textures

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The overall purpose of Dr. Cook's research is to understand how different kinds of pattern recognition systems perceive and process visual information. This project contributes to that important purpose by studying visual perception in pigeons. Birds are ideal for comparative visual studies because flight requires accurate and rapid visual perception. This requirement, combined with the need to minimize body weight, has produced in birds a small, compact visual system that is structurally different from that of mammals. Dr. Cook's research investigates how pigeons discriminate different kinds of computer-generated visual stimuli. He is using a new type of visual discrimination task, which specifically allows the direct comparison of visual perception in pigeons and humans. The results of these experiments will reveal whether the mechanisms proposed for vision in humans are present in pigeons, or whether the birds use an entirely different set of mechanisms for producing their extraordinarily keen vision. Thus, the project will supply evidence on the type, number, range and generality of specific visual information-processing principles and mechanisms. Such information will lead to a better understanding of vision in humans and aid in the implementation of visual pattern recognition in computers. This information will also be useful for developing diagnostic and remedial procedures for visual-related health problems in humans, such as computerized visual prostheses or substitutes for the blind.