Supernormal stimuli have been found for many species, and all such discoveries are evidence against the claim of the reconstruction theory that our perceptual categories estimate the statistical structure of the world; all are evidence for …31. Ramachandran, V.S. (1990). Interactions between motion, depth, color and form: The utilitarian theory of perception, in Vision: Coding and efficiency, ed. C. Blakemore (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
32. Roberts, M.E. and Gold…
Nikolaas Tinbergen
scientist · 2 mentions across 1 reading
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Tinbergen is an ethologist whose work on supernormal stimuli—artificial triggers that provoke stronger behavioral responses than natural ones—becomes crucial for arguments against the idea that perception simply mirrors statistical reality. His discoveries suggest instead that perception operates through species-specific interfaces and evolved heuristics rather than faithful reconstruction, a concept the readings use to question whether human visual and cognitive systems are optimized for truth or for adaptive function.
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