harnad@psycho (Stevan Harnad) (02/05/91)
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Below is the abstract of a forthcoming target article to appear in
Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary
journal that provides Open Peer Commentary on important and
controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive
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____________________________________________________________________
WAYS OF COLORING
Comparative color vision as a case study for cognitive science
Evan Thompson
Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University, Medford, MA. 02155
E-mail: ethompso@pearl.tufts.edu
Adrian Palacios
Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT. 06511
Institut des Neurosciences (CNRS- Paris VI), 9 Quai St. Bernard, 75005 Paris
E-mail: apalac@yalevm.bitnet
Francisco J. Varela
Institut des Neurosciences (CNRS- Paris VI), 9 Quai St. Bernard, 75005 Paris
CREA, Ecole Polytechnique, 1 rue Descartes, 75005 Paris
E-mail: fv@frunip62.bitnet
ABSTRACT: Different explanations of color vision favor different
philosophical positions: Computational vision is more compatible with
objectivism (the color is in the object), psychophysics and
neurophysiology with subjectivism (the color is in the head).
Comparative research suggests that an explanation of color must be both
experientialist (unlike objectivism) and ecological (unlike
subjectivism). Computational vision's emphasis on optimally
"recovering" prespecified features of the environment (i.e., distal
properties, independent of the sensory-motor capacities of the animal)
is unsatisfactory. Conceiving of visual perception instead as the
visual guidance of activity in an environment that is determined
largely by that very activity suggests new directions for research.
Keywords: adaptation, color vision, comparative vision, computation,
evolution, ecological optics, objectivism, ontology, qualia, sensory
physiology, subjectivism.
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according to the instructions below. The filename is thompson.bbs
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