<p>There is a <strong>LOT</strong> more to "your eye doesn't 'see' images, your brain reconstructs them" then what is shown in that picture.  After the image is flipped and distorted, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Receptive_field#Retinal_ganglion_cells" rel="nofollow">contrast information</a> at various scales is extracted and pretty much everything else is thrown away.  Here is a simulation of that:</p>

<p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Red_on_centre_green_off_centre.png" alt="Edge Detection simulation"></p>

<p>This information is then used to build up <a href="http://serre-lab.clps.brown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Serre-encyclopedia_revised.pdf" rel="nofollow">progressively more complex</a> and abstract representations of the visual scene.</p>

<p>I found a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io6Ckvyjo5w" rel="nofollow">video</a> showing a simulation of how this edge detection works, but it doesn't appear to include the distortion and receptive field sizes.  I haven't been able to find a video that combined everything.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-06T02:03:25.643Z
2016-08-06T02:10:21.640Z
2016-08-06T02:10:21.640Z
TheBlackCat
<p>There's a recent article on decoding retinal signals from primates (macaque monkeys)</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/jOqoF.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/jOqoF.jpg" alt="" /></a>
<a href="https://direct.mit.edu/neco/article/33/7/1719/100579/Nonlinear-Decoding-of-Natural-Images-From-Large" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://direct.mit.edu/neco/article/33/7/1719/100579/Nonlinear-Decoding-of-Natural-Images-From-Large</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-15T11:46:18.597Z
2022-06-15T11:46:18.597Z
skygate
<p><a href="http://ilab.usc.edu/retina/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Professor Laurent Itti's videos are here</a>: <a href="http://ilab.usc.edu/retina/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://ilab.usc.edu/retina/</a></p>
<p>The photo in the original post <a href="https://ttps://techlongreads.com/photography/eye-vs-image-sensor/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">can be found here, in its own context</a>: <a href="https://techlongreads.com/photography/eye-vs-image-sensor/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://techlongreads.com/photography/eye-vs-image-sensor/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-06T14:21:20.177Z
2023-06-06T14:21:20.177Z
user1823664
<p>I was recently at the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception, where I saw a keynote on visual attention. The speaker (<a href="http://ilab.usc.edu/itti/" rel="noreferrer">Laurent Itti</a>) showed an animation that blew my mind. It showed a video of fish swimming in the ocean, and next to it, the same video as "seen" by the retina. The latter was upside down and distorted beyond recognition except at the fovea, which darted around to salient locations in the video. I had heard it explained before that "your eye doesn't 'see' images, your brain reconstructs them," but I had never before seen it illustrated so well.</p>

<p>I want to find a similar animation to show friends and students, but I'm having trouble finding anything. Searches yield mostly diagrams of light passing through the eye or something similar. The only thing I've found that shows what an image actually looks like when it reaches the retina is this picture.
<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Retinal_Image.png/1024px-Retinal_Image.png" alt="blurry, upside-down view of face as seen by retina">
It's a nice start, but I'd really like an animation, like a video or GIF, to show how the brain stitches together the retinal images at each fixation into what seems like a coherent image/video.</p>

<p>Can you help me find such an animation? Something that shows what a raw visual feed actually looks like?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-06T17:33:52.683Z
Not exactly what you are looking for, but worthwhile showing students IMHO: Scroll down for the video.
https://www.maxplanckflorida.org/news-and-media/news/from-retina-to-cortex-an-unexpected-division-of-labor/
noumenal
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-07T18:18:49.560Z
Why not email the keynote speaker? If you explain you like it so much, and you wish to use it in classes, the person may be willing to share.
AliceD
<perception><vision><teaching-of-psychology>
What does the visual feed from the retina look like before it is processed by the visual cortex?
user1419802
# What does the visual feed from the retina look like before it is processed by the visual cortex?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-05)

I was recently at the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception, where I saw a keynote on visual attention. The speaker ([Laurent Itti](http://ilab.usc.edu/itti/)) showed an animation that blew my mind. It showed a video of fish swimming in the ocean, and next to it, the same video as "seen" by the retina. The latter was upside down and distorted beyond recognition except at the fovea, which darted around to salient locations in the video. I had heard it explained before that "your eye doesn't 'see' images, your brain reconstructs them," but I had never before seen it illustrated so well.

I want to find a similar animation to show friends and students, but I'm having trouble finding anything. Searches yield mostly diagrams of light passing through the eye or something similar. The only thing I've found that shows what an image actually looks like when it reaches the retina is this picture.
![blurry, upside-down view of face as seen by retina](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Retinal_Image.png/1024px-Retinal_Image.png)
It's a nice start, but I'd really like an animation, like a video or GIF, to show how the brain stitches together the retinal images at each fixation into what seems like a coherent image/video.

Can you help me find such an animation? Something that shows what a raw visual feed actually looks like?

**Tags:** perception, vision, teaching-of-psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Not exactly what you are looking for, but worthwhile showing students IMHO: Scroll down for the video. https://www.maxplanckflorida.org/news-and-media/news/from-retina-to-cortex-an-unexpected-division-of-labor/  
> **username_2**: Why not email the keynote speaker? If you explain you like it so much, and you wish to use it in classes, the person may be willing to share.  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-08-06. Score: 3

There is a **LOT** more to "your eye doesn't 'see' images, your brain reconstructs them" then what is shown in that picture. After the image is flipped and distorted, [contrast information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Receptive_field#Retinal_ganglion_cells) at various scales is extracted and pretty much everything else is thrown away. Here is a simulation of that:

![Edge Detection simulation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Red_on_centre_green_off_centre.png)

This information is then used to build up [progressively more complex](http://serre-lab.clps.brown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Serre-encyclopedia_revised.pdf) and abstract representations of the visual scene.

I found a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io6Ckvyjo5w) showing a simulation of how this edge detection works, but it doesn't appear to include the distortion and receptive field sizes. I haven't been able to find a video that combined everything.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2022-06-15. Score: 0

There's a recent article on decoding retinal signals from primates (macaque monkeys)

[![](https://i.sstatic.net/jOqoF.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/jOqoF.jpg)
<https://direct.mit.edu/neco/article/33/7/1719/100579/Nonlinear-Decoding-of-Natural-Images-From-Large>


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### Answer by username_5 on 2023-06-06. Score: 0

[Professor Laurent Itti's videos are here](http://ilab.usc.edu/retina/): <http://ilab.usc.edu/retina/>

The photo in the original post [can be found here, in its own context](https://ttps://techlongreads.com/photography/eye-vs-image-sensor/): <https://techlongreads.com/photography/eye-vs-image-sensor/>


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