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Cited by 76Embodied and Extended CognitionVisual perception and processing mechanismsPhilosophy and Theoretical Science

Information Is Where You Find It: Perception as an Ecologically Well-Posed Problem

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Warren, William H.·2021·i-Perception
DOI 10.1177/20416695211000366PMC PMC7995459
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Abstract

Texts on visual perception typically begin with the following premise: Vision is an ill-posed problem, and perception is underdetermined by the available information. If this were really the case, however, it is hard to see how vision could ever get off the ground. James Gibson’s signal contribution was his hypothesis that for every perceivable property of the environment, however subtle, there must be a higher order variable of information, however complex, that specifies it—if only we are clever enough to find them. Such variables are informative about behaviorally relevant properties within the physical and ecological constraints of a species’ niche. Sensory ecology is replete with instructive examples, including weakly electric fish, the narwal’s tusk, and insect flight control. In particular, I elaborate the case of passing through gaps. Optic flow is sufficient to control locomotion around obstacles and through openings. The affordances of the environment, such as gap passability, are specified by action-scaled information. Logically ill-posed problems may thus, on closer inspection, be ecologically well-posed.

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  • Perception is not a problem of interpretation under uncertainty but a continuous process of attunement to ecological information.

    “Perception, then, is not a problem of interpretation under uncertainty but a continuous process of attunement to ecological information.”

    From The myth of the Bayesian brain (2025) · cites this paper as Warren 2021

  • Perception is fundamentally action-oriented, relational, and environment-coupled, grounded in real-time interaction rather than mediated by internal representations or probabilistic inference.

    “It is fundamentally action-oriented, relational, and environment-coupled, grounded in real-time interaction rather than mediated by internal representations or probabilistic inference (Michaels and Carello 1981; Warren 2021).”

    From The myth of the Bayesian brain (2025) · cites this paper as Warren 2021

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Authors
Warren, W. H.
Affiliations
Brown University (US)
Corresponding author
Warren, William H.
ORCID
Warren, William H.
Venue
i-Perception
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2021-03
Volume
12
Issue
2
Pages
20416695211000366-20416695211000366
ISSN
2041-6695 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1177/20416695211000366
PMC
PMC7995459
OpenAlex
W3136749922
Cited by
76
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 10
FWCI
7.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • i-Perception (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (BCS-1849446)
  • National Eye Institute (R01EY029745)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Keywords
ecological perception, ill-posed problems, James Gibson, affordances, optical flow, weakly electric fish, insect flight control, sensory ecology

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