ABSTRACT
For many reasons, including basic survival, we continuously sense the environment around us. Light is perhaps the premier carrier of information about our environment. The signal it conveys is also the most complex to observe and interpret. It should therefore not come as a surprise that a significant portion of the human brain is dedicated to processing the light reaching our eyes (although there appear to be significant differences between individuals in terms of how much of the brain is devoted to the processing of visual stimuli [17]). Images-both still and moving-contain a wealth of information: a quick look through the nearest window is enough to tell us what the weather is like, whether we are in the countryside or the city, and what time of the day it might be. Movement in a scene might tell us of an approaching predator or that the bus is approaching, while color and texture may inform us about the state of ripeness of fruit or whether our loaf of bread has gone off again.
