The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 19 of the 20 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Ecological Approach to the Visual Perception of Pictures
Abstract
Having rejected the picture theory of natural perception we can make a start on picture perception. To see the environment is to extract information from the ambient array of light. What is it, then, to see a picture of something? The information in ambient light does not consist of forms and colors but of invariants. Is it implied that the information in a picture does not consist of forms and colors but of invariants? That sounds very odd, for we suppose that a picture is entirely composed of forms and colors. The kind of vision we get from pictures is harder to understand than the kind we get from ambient light, not easier. It should be considered at the end of a treatise on perception, not at the beginning. It cannot be omitted, for pictures are an essential part of human life as much as
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“Predicting affordance [10] from visual observations is an essential ability for robots to plan their actions for interacting with real-world objects.”
From Ditto in the House: Building Articulation Models of Indoor Scenes through Interactive Perception (2023) · cites this paper as [10]
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“Automated cueing (attention guidance) can lead operators to pay less attention to uncued areas of a display than is appropriate [61].”
From A model for types and levels of human interaction with automation (2000) · cites this paper as [61]
Citations
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Matewere, F., & Kaasbøll, J. (2025) · The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries · doi:10.1002/isd2.70000
“The concept of affordance was first introduced by Gibson, who described it as the “potential actions that an environment offers to an animal either for good or ill” (Gibson 1978).”
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Najafikhah, S. (2025) · Queensland University of Technology · doi:10.5204/thesis.eprints.256722
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Bao, H. (2025) · DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University) · doi:10.32657/10356/183350
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“Lastly, diverse object orientations emerging from different object affordances [5], for instance carrying a keyboard as opposed to typing on one, greatly expand the object pose search space.”
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“Gibson ’ s (1978) ecological approach to perception further underscores this dynamic, asserting that while photographs capture only certain invariant features of a scene (the internal narrative), viewers actively reconstruct meanings based on their goals, contextual understandings, and experiences…”
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“Ecological optics theory points out that vision is the core tool for directly perceiving the environment, emphasizing that vision provides rich dynamic information [2].”
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Untitled work
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Metadata
- Authors
- Gibson, J. J.
- Corresponding author
- Gibson, James J.
- Venue
- Leonardo
- Publisher
- JSTOR
- Published
- 1978
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 227
- ISSN
- 0024-094X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2324134362
- Cited by
- 456
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 137.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Leonardo (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Visual Arts and Performing Arts › Visual Culture and Art Theory
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Aesthetic Perception and Analysis
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- image perception, visual perception, ecological approach, invariants, visual information
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