The document discusses how our brains create what we see from visual inputs. It notes that [1] our perception is constructed by the brain on the fly, [2] some of this processing is learned and some instinctual, and [3] different animals and some humans see the world differently. The document then provides examples of visual illusions and neurological conditions that provide insight into how the visual mind works by showing what happens when things go wrong.

1. Visual Intelligence
How we create what we see.
Brett Jackson

2. Reference
This is mainly from a great book called
Visual Intelligence by Donald Hoffman
that I first encountered about 8 years ago.

3. the Visual Brain
• What you see is created on the fly by your brain
• Some of this processing is learned and some is instinctual
• Many animals and some humans see the world very differently
• Visual processes are the fastest processes of the brain

4. some exercises

5. you create shapes that don’t exist

11. If 3 or more curves intersect at a
common point, assume they
intersect at a common point in
space

16. you create colours that don’t exist

29. you create forms that don’t exist

30. The eye aligns the depth of
proximate objects

31. In defining a shape, the eye favours
greater curvature

32. Assume parallel lines exist on the plane.
Assume 3 or more intersecting lines meet
at one point in space.

39. When things go wrong

40. A number of visual neuropsychological conditions give us
insight into what the visual mind is doing,
by showing what happens when things don’t work
properly....

41. • Visual Form Agnosia - the inability to create form out of visual input. These people cannot
create form from visual input. they see perfectly well but cannot construct objects.
• Charles Bonnet Syndrome - The inability to control the creation of objects - some are real
and some are false. Whole streets of non existent buildings and traffic can be created in
some cases. Imagine your whole life was like Inception.
• Bathosmigia - a reversal or scrambling of pictorial depth perception. Train tracks appear to
get closer together as the are nearer. These people actively construct parts of objects that
are hidden behind others as their visual mind reorders the relative distance of a range of
objects
• Hemi - Akinetopsia - the inability to process motion. These people see movement as a
series of still images. Their world is like a motor drive camera. Some are only affected in
one hemisphere and can perceive motion in one side of their field of vision only.
• Colour Blindness & Hetrochromatopsic - the inability to see colour & the perception of
colour where there is none. There is speculation that Van Gogh suffered from this.

42. Why it’s important

43. • The visual brain is processing all the time to make sense of visual inputs.
Don’t overwork it or it will fatigue and in the extreme it can be overloaded.
This is called Spiralepsy
• Explore the rules and ways the visual brain works so when you know when to
use them and when to flaunt them.
• Small incorrect details can amplify over time. Sometimes this works in a
quirky way to build character, sometimes it will distract and disconcert the
player.
• Consider both the close up and far away view of your visuals.
Elements that look great up close can be ambiguous or
misleading at a distance.

44. Thanks