ABSTRACT
David Lee’s article on “The Functions of Vision”, published in 1978 but based
on workshops held in 1974 and 1975, appears in a volume edited by Herbert
Pick and Elliot Saltzman. In their introduction, the editors contrast the
traditional empiricist view of perception as learning and problem-solving
behavior with the “more productive ties between perception and cognition
[which] have evolved from the impact of cybernetics, information theory,
communications and artificial intelligence” (Pick & Saltzman, 1978, p. vii). The
last of these, artificial intelligence (AI), has had a rough ride over the last
quarter-century, but a defining characteristic has remained the belief of its
practitioners that the study of human and animal perception on the one hand, and
the engineering of computer perception on the other, can best progress - perhaps
only progress - by mutual exchange of ideas. I moved from Lee’s laboratory to a
lectureship in AI in 1985, so my interest here is to consider how the ideas in his
article have contributed to this synergy.
