On reflection.

Abstract

Do any of us have perfect vision? The answer is ‘No’. Our reflections, visually and occasionally intellectually, may not be realistic. You may think that when you look into a mirror you see yourself but if the left arm is raised the person in the mirror raises their right arm. The explanation is twofold. Firstly, you cannot look into a mirror (you can only look at the image created by the mirror) and, secondly, and I am sorry about this, what you see is not a real person. Thus the unreal reflection image cannot have their own right or left orientation although the reflection does bear a relation to the rest of the world in that their/its ‘north, south, east, west’ are the same. Our conscious vision comprises a mental imaging of our visible surroundings and recognition of what is seemingly seen is founded upon whether what we are seeing matches with our prior visual experiences and resultant knowledge, in which case it is recognized. If it cannot be matched, then this new element has to be learned. Things seen for the first time may not be recognized. Thus, everyone’s appreciation of what they envision is related to their own prior personal experiences and is unique to them. Strikingly, whilst glancing at stacks of CDs or books, individual CDs or books of interest leap into consciousness because the attentional visual system is primed by prior knowledge. How many CDs or books of interest are missed is uncertain.