The Use of Iambic Pentameter in the

interpretations of perceptual scenes that are constructed of the ambiguous retinal pieces.
So how does the ambiguous local information that our retinal receptors detect become the
global scenes that we perceive?
To construct global scenes, humans must rely on visual processing, which
integrates the visual information that the retinal receptors detect with prior knowledge
about the spatial environment and a variety of assumptions. In what follows, these
integrated components of the visual process are examined individually. Bottom-up, top-
down and assumption based visual processing will be discussed. Specific emphasis will
be placed on Gestalt grouping assumptions due to their central role in the proposed
research.
Bottom-up processing. Bottom-up image processing begins when a patterned
array of light from the environment strikes a complex network of cells that covers the
inside back of the eye. This network of cells is called the retina and includes receptors
that fire electrical signals in response to light (Goldstein, 1999). Retinal receptor cells
fire in various configurations, depending on the configuration of the patterned array of
light striking the eye. When the retinal receptor cells generate electrical signals in
response to an image, the visual system receives its first piece of information.
Initial pieces of visual information are sent from retinal receptors to ganglion cells
that form optic nerves. The optic nerves transmit the information to the lateral geniculate
nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus. The LGN then sends the electrical message to the
cortical receiving area of vision, in the occipital lobe of the brain for further processing
(Goldstein, 1999).
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