GIBSON,JAMES,J. - AN APPRECIATION

Gibson conceived of a perceptual psychology very different from that taken by mainstream research work in vision over the past 30 years. Placing psychology in a biological and physical context and avoiding traditional disciplinary definitions, Gibson outlined a physics relevant to animate life. From this flowed his theory of affordances, his preoccupation with surfaces, and his interest in animal locomotion. Visual motion played a decisive role in rounding out these views. His work here was prophetic, anticipating neurophysiological discoveries on motion sensitivity and directly inspiring more recent studies on higher order aspects of motion encoding. Gibson scrupulously avoided mention of internal representation. Yet, those researchers interested in such internal processes remain deeply indebted to his enduring contributions.