Visual Space as Physical Geometry

Abstract

The geometrical incongruence between patterns in visual space and structures and patterns of activity in the visual cortex, long known to investigators, serves as a criterion for evaluating physical theories of visual space. The problem of determining the geometry of the visual world (visual geometry) is compared with that of determining the geometry of the physical world (physical geometry). Theories as to the possible physical locus of visual space, whether in the brain or elsewhere, are reviewed, analyzed, and criticized accordingly. It is concluded that on the basis of congruence alone it would be predicted that visual space is not to be found in the brain, even though it is seemingly linked to it causally, as experimental neurology and neurophysiology demonstrate. Alternative theories as to the nature of visual space are considered, but are also found to be inadequate in explaining visual space in terms acceptable to contemporary science.