Visual Object Processing

Book excerpt: Originally published in 1987, this book, attempted to bring together work by researchers concerned with the functional and neurological mechanisms underlying visual object processing, and the ways in which such mechanisms can be neurologically impaired. The editors termed it a ‘Cognitive Neuropsychological’ approach, because they believed it tried to relate evidence from neurological impairments of visual object processing to models of normal performance in a new and important way. Two broad aims are apparent. One is to test models of normal performance by evaluating how well the models account for the patterns of impairment and preservation of abilities that can occur following brain damage. The other is to use models of normal performance to further their understanding of acquired disorders of visual object processing. These aims distinguish the approach from neuropsychological work whose primary aim is to relate acquired deficits to the sites of damage, and from work in the field of cognitive psychology which attempts only to develop models of normal performance.