ABSTRACT
In his The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems (1966), J. J. Gibson proposed the idea that the optic array, rather than the retinal image, was the proper starting point in the investigation of visual perception. While acknowledging the existence of optic arrays in the physical sense, many psychologists maintain that the optic array is a redundant construct. On the grounds that information in the array necessarily ends up mapped onto a convex two–dimensional surface (e.g., retina or film) anyway, they argue: Why not simply begin with the pattern of light and dark and color on this surface? The reason may be that it is indeed difficult to visualize an optic array for what it is—a three–dimensional physical entity, a converging and passing through of rays of light at a point in space, existing independently, or prior to, the existence ot an eye or camera at that point.
