The Amazing Gift of Vision

In the early days of printers and the internet, ASCII code was tediously used to draw pictures, such as these cats. Our brains take the visual stimulation and recognize what pictures mean. This is called skeletal recognition, probably because of the "bare bones" approach. It is different from shape recognition.

Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net / Renjith Krishnan

We see a shape or have a glimpse of something and often recognize it, just as with the examples mentioned previously. It helps if we have reference points, such as having seen animals or objects so we can make the association. (Mayhaps that is why people are afraid when they see something completely alien to them.) We also make these connections exceptionally fast. Researchers praise Darwin, blessed be! But the intricacies of human vision testify of the work of the Master Engineer, not foolish faith in random chance processes.

Human vision is incredible. The human eye and brain are adept at recognizing objects, often even when they are not fully visible or oriented at different angles than usual. For example, by seeing just a silhouette of a cat, even small children can identify what the animal is. Making out the faintest trace of a streetlamp in fog, our eyes instantly relay to our brains the identity of the object. Seeing a bird in the sky with wings on the downstroke or upstroke does not confuse us; we can clearly recognize the shape as a bird. On average, the time it takes for this process of perception and recognition is within 70 milliseconds, or about half the time of an eye blink. Although we often think of our eyes as what we see with, we really “see” with our brains. Except for the lens and cornea, the rest of the eye is really part of the brain.

To read the rest, click on "Human Vision: Amazing Uniqueness of Human Eyesight".

 For the lyrics to this 1984 song by Prodigal, click on "Electric Eye".

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