Discuss and illustrate the limitations of the analogy of eye and camera.

Guidance

For general guidance about what is expected in your essays for this module, see the general criteria.

What Key Features Do I Look For? Familiarity with relevant texts Evidence - the stronger the better Argument - coherent and balanced Theoretical discussion - relation to relevant theories Understanding of relevant concepts Reflexivity - reflections on methodology Examples - insightfully analysed Style - readability and effective presentation

Please remember to avoid footnotes and to include an alphabetical list of 'References' which have been cited in the text (not a Bibliography of anything you have read for the essay). This list should include author's names, date, book titles (in italics), place of publication and publisher. Within the text always cite author's surname, date and page number. Double-space your text and number your pages. For more detailed notes on writing essays in this department, click here.

Advice for this particular assignment: Note that the question focuses on the limitations of the analogy of the eye with a camera. Whilst you may find superficial similarities, you are expected to criticise this analogy in specific ways. Include a discussion of perceptual constancy. Note also that this is an assignment for which the inclusion of relevant pictorial illustrations is likely to be an advantage.

Some suggested reading

• Barlow, Horace, Colin Blakemore & Miranda Weston-Smith (Eds.) (1990) Images and Understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Barry, Ann Marie Seward (1997) Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image and Manipulation in Visual Communication. New York: State University of New York Press (especially pp. 30ff)
• Berger, John (2013) Understanding a Photograph. London: Penguin
• Bruce, Vicki & Patrick R. Green (1990) Visual Perception. Hove: Erlbaum
  
• Coren, Stanley, Lawrence M. Ward & James T. Emms (1994) Sensation and Perception. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace
  
• Deregowski, J B (1980) Illusions, Patterns and Pictures: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. London: Academic Press
• Feininger, Andreas (1974) Photographic Seeing. London: Thames & Hudson; extract 'Differences in 'Seeing' Between Eye and Lens' [WWW document] URL http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Modules/MC10220/feininger.html
• Gregory, Richard L. (1970) The Intelligent Eye. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  
• Gregory, Richard L. (1972) Eye and Brain. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  
• Gregory, Richard L. (1974) Concepts and Mechanisms of Perception. London: Duckworth
  
• Kreech, David & Richard S Crutchfield (1971): 'Perceiving the World'. In Wilbur Schramm and Donald F. Roberts (Eds.) The Process and Effects of Mass Communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, pp. 235-264 [Excellent]. A version of this paper can also be found in David Krech, Richard S Crutchfield & Egerton L Ballachey (1962) Individual in Society: A Textbook of Social Psychology, Chapter 2 ('Cognition'). New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 17-67
  
• Messaris, Paul (1994) Visual 'Literacy': Image, Mind and Reality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press
• Sekuler, Robert & Randolph Blake (1994) Perception (3rd Edn.) New York: McGraw-Hill
  
• Vernon, M. D. (1970) Perception Through Experience. London: Methuen
• Vernon, M. D. (1971) The Psychology of Perception. Harmondsworth: Penguin