Natural computation

Designed for the MIT course, "Natural Computation, this extensive book of readings combines mathematics, artificial intelligence, computer science, experimental psychology, and neurophysiology in studying perception. Mathematics is emphasized for making perceptual inferences and the spectrum of mathematical techniques used is very broad. While the more than thirty readings focus primarily on vision, they also encompass the study of sound perception and the interpretation and application of forces including movement.Each article is a self contained example of how a perceptual problem may be tackled and solved. For example, what makes wood look like wood not like stone, sand, or grass? How can we represent three dimensional shapes when the same shape is rarely seen in exactly the same way? Each of the five sections is preceded by an introduction and the book concludes with problem sets.Whitman A. Richards is Professor in the Brain and Cognitive Science Department at MIT. A Bradford Book.