ABSTRACT
The eye is not a camera. Although optical images are focused onto a light-sensitive
surface at the back of the eye, these images are not what we perceive. In a series of
transformations carried out first in the retina itself (the light-sensitive cells) and then in
stages through to the visual cortex of the brain, the information is changed: the balance of
brightness and colour is altered; attention is concentrated on small zones while large areas
are unnoticed; images of the present scene are replaced by earlier images from memory.
