The eye is a complex and temperamental organ. By the end of this article, designers will have a better understanding of how the eye works with the brain, how it deconstructs images that the brain stitches back up again, and how the two organs work hard to pick and choose what to very quickly ignore, “see”, guess, and attend.

眼睛是一个复杂而气质的器官。 到本文结束时，设计人员将更好地理解眼睛如何与大脑一起工作，如何解构大脑再次缝合的图像，以及两个器官如何努力工作以及如何选择要快速忽略的内容，“看”，猜和参加。

With any luck, you’ll walk away from this article feeling much like Neo felt after Morpheus said, “You think that’s air you’re breathing now?”

运气好的话，您会从这篇文章中走出来，就像在Morpheus说：“您认为现在正在呼吸的空气吗？”之后Neo的感觉一样。

眼睛用于感知视觉，而大脑则用于感知视觉。 (The eye is for sensing vision and the brain is for perceiving it.)

There is a gigantic difference between sensing and perceiving. So much so that they are different areas of study in both neuro and cognitive psychology.

感知和感知之间存在巨大差异。 如此之多，以至于它们成为神经心理学和认知心理学的不同研究领域。

We have 7 senses. Yep, 7! We are very familiar with the first five: smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing. The other two are less known but just as important: vestibular (balance) and proprioception (close your eyes, touch your nose. There, that’s it. A sense of your body in space).

我们有7种感官 。 是的，七！ 我们对前五个非常熟悉：气味，触觉，味道，视觉和听觉。 其他两个人鲜为人知，但同样重要：前庭(平衡)和本体感觉(闭上眼睛，触摸鼻子。就这样，对空间的感觉)。

Our senses are responsible for noticing changes in light, sound, pressure, etc., and then converting that energy to a form that the brain can process. At this point, the brain is ready to perceive or interpret the signal.

我们的感官负责注意到光线，声音，压力等的变化，然后将这种能量转换为大脑可以处理的形式。 此时，大脑已准备好感知或解释信号。

我们所感知的并不总是我们所感知的。 (What we perceive is not always what we sense.)

Take a look at this image of Einstein. It’s a mask. It’s hollow (concave), not convex. It’s a mold for casting a statue or coin. When a material is poured into the mold, a convex shape is formed. As we look at this image, however, we know that from our vantage point, the nose is the farthest part away from us. And yet, our brain will not let us “see” what’s really there.

看一下爱因斯坦的这张照片。 这是一个面具。 它是空心的(凹面)，而不是凸面。 这是用于铸造雕像或硬币的模具。 当将材料倒入模具中时，形成凸形。 但是，当我们查看此图像时，我们知道从有利的角度来看，鼻子是离我们最远的部分。 但是，我们的大脑不会让我们“看到”真正存在的内容。

Look at it again. Does your brain let you see the “real” image? Probably not. It’s because the eye and the brain are in cahoots with one another to trick us.

再看一遍。 您的大脑能让您看到“真实”的图像吗？ 可能不是。 这是因为眼睛和大脑相互迷惑来欺骗我们。

The reason for this is because the brain knows faces are not naturally hollow. The brain rejects the notion of a concave face and perceives what makes the most sense to it. This is a powerful, fast, and uncontrollable force. Try to see what’s really there and tell me with all honesty that you can see a concave image.

这样做的原因是因为大脑知道面Kong自然不是空心的。 大脑拒绝凹脸的概念，并感知最有意义的地方。 这是强大，快速且不可控制的力量。 试着看看那里到底有什么，并诚实地告诉我您可以看到凹面图像。

Play the video below; it’s astonishing. And even after you “get it” your brain might still not let you “see” the real image.

播放下面的视频； 太神奇了 甚至在您“理解”之后，您的大脑仍可能不会让您“看到”真实的图像。

Similarly, read these items out loud from left to right.

同样，从左到右大声朗读这些项目。

Now, read these from top to bottom.

现在，从上至下阅读这些内容。

What you read in the middle changes from one example to the next, right? Now, look at them together.

您在中间阅读的内容从一个示例变为另一个示例，对吗？ 现在，一起看它们。

The middle item is either a “13” or a “B” depending on what comes before and what comes after. How in the world do we see something different in the two examples when the form is 100% exactly the same? The eye and the brain are tricking us, that’s how.

中间的项是“ 13”或“ B”，具体取决于之前和之后。 当表单100％完全相同时，我们如何在两个示例中看到一些不同？ 眼睛和大脑在欺骗我们，就是这样。

The context in which the item appears gives what we see meaning (perception). Nuts, right? Ok, two more just for fun.

项目出现的上下文给出了我们所看到的含义(感知)。 坚果对不对 好的，还有两个只是为了好玩。

What do you see? A person wearing glasses? Or can you read the word, “Liar”?

你看到了什么？ 一个戴眼镜的人？ 还是您可以阅读“说谎者”一词？

光子的旅程：第1部分-感知视觉 (The photon’s journey: part 1 — sensing vision)

When a photon darts into your eye, it goes on a magical journey.

当光子射入您的眼睛时，它会经历神奇的旅程。

The ability to see started over 100 million years ago. Human eyes have evolved over time, from seeing only black and white (as many other animals still do) to the ability to see red, green, and blue light.

视力开始于一亿多年前。 人类的眼睛已经随着时间的流逝而发展，从只看到黑白(就像许多其他动物一样)到看到红，绿和蓝光的能力。

Color wavelengths entering the eye are received by millions of light-sensitive cells, cones, and rods. Once photons collide with the photoreceptors in the retina (cones and rods), the light energy is converted to chemical energy through a process called transduction.

数以百万计的感光细胞，视锥细胞和视杆接收进入眼睛的色波长。 一旦光子与视网膜(视锥细胞和视杆)中的感光器碰撞，光能就会通过称为转导的过程转换为化学能。

In a gross generalization, the sensory information is filtered by ganglion cells to boost contrast and definition before it makes it to the optic nerve and is finally delivered to the visual cortex found in the brain’s occipital lobe.

总的来说，感觉信息由神经节细胞过滤以增强对比度和清晰度，然后将其传递到视神经，最后传递到大脑枕叶中的视觉皮层。

光子的旅程：第2部分-感知视觉 (The photon’s journey: Part 2 — perceiving vision)

The visual cortex (V1) processes the horizontal and vertical information, and then adds depth back in (V2) since the eye can only see in 2D.

视觉皮层(V1)处理水平和垂直信息，然后将深度加回到(V2)中，因为眼睛只能以2D形式看到。

Some of you might have already known this, but I am blown away every single time I am reminded that the eye can only sense two dimensions. And the brain stitches vertical and horizontal information collected by both eyes to recreate the third dimension; depth — on the fly. Our ability to perceive 3D is constructed.

你们中的某些人可能已经知道了这一点，但是每次我都被震撼了，使我想起眼睛只能感知二维。 大脑缝合两只眼睛收集的垂直和水平信息，以重建第三维。 深度-动态。 我们感知3D的能力得以构建。

Processing speed is critical. It could be the difference between becoming lion snack or not — or more likely, roadkill or not. In order to process information very quickly, the brain “fills in” what it thinks it should be seeing by drawing from past experiences and expectations. Does this sound familiar? Gestalt principles? Closure?

处理速度至关重要。 不管是不是变成零食，或更可能是道路杀伤，两者之间可能是有区别的。 为了非常快速地处理信息，大脑会根据过去的经验和期望来“填充”它认为应该看到的内容。 这听起来很熟悉吗？ 格式塔原理？ 关闭？

In fact, the Gestal Principles of grouping (similarity, proximity, continuity, and closure) are central to our understanding of how perception works because they all help us make better and faster guesses about what we think we see.

实际上，分组的基本原则(相似性，邻近性，连续性和封闭性)对于我们理解感知的工作原理至关重要，因为它们都能帮助我们更好，更快地猜测我们所看到的东西。

“This characteristic extends to color and form perception in V3 and V4, to face and object recognition in the inferior temporal lobe, and to motion and spatial awareness in the parietal lobe.”

“ 此特征扩展到V3和V4中的颜色和形式感知，下颞叶的面部和物体识别以及顶叶的运动和空间感知。”

While the sensory receptors are continuously gathering information from the world, in the end, it is how we interpret the perceived information that dictates how we interact with the world.

当感觉感受器不断从世界收集信息时，最终，我们如何解释感知到的信息便决定了我们如何与世界互动。

Sensory information is organized, interpreted, and experienced. There is both bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing means that perception is stitched together from sensory input, while top-down processing is how we interpret sensation — which is guided by our knowledge, experience, and thoughts.

感官信息的组织，解释和体验 。 有自下而上和自上而下的处理。 自下而上的处理意味着将感觉与感觉输入缝合在一起，而自上而下的处理则是我们解释感觉的方式，这是由我们的知识，经验和思想所指导的。

That’s right, our history — what we know and don’t know — has a major role to play in how we interpret the signals delivered by our senses — how we perceive sensation. This explains why two people looking at the same thing can perceive completely different things.

没错，我们的历史-我们所知道和不知道的-在我们如何解释感官传递的信号-我们如何感知感方面起着重要作用。 这解释了为什么两个人看着同一件事可以感知完全不同的事物。

Perceptions are built from sensation but not all sensations result in perception. For example, the mind doesn’t perceive sustained stimuli. Think of ticking clocks or pressure. This is known as sensory adaptation.

感知是建立在感觉之上的，但并非所有的感觉都会导致感知。 例如，头脑不会感知到持续的刺激。 想想时钟或压力。 这就是感觉适应。

Sensory adaptation can explain why some users can’t “see” the link, headline, or button needed to complete a task.

感觉适应可以解释为什么某些用户无法“看到”完成任务所需的链接，标题或按钮。

如果我们对同一件事有不同的看法，那应该如何改变我们的设计实践？ (If we see the same thing differently, how should that change our design practice?)

By now, you know that if you put two people in front of something, they’re likely to perceive what they see differently.

到现在为止，您知道如果将两个人放在某个事物的前面，他们很可能会感知到他们看到的事物有所不同。

We’ve covered the cognitive and some of the physiological reasons why this happens. But there’s more. There’s always more.

我们已经介绍了发生这种情况的认知原因和一些生理原因。 但是还有更多。 总有更多。

At the back of the eye, at the retina, there are rods (for color vision) and cones (for black and white vision). There, we can find another physiological reason why we see differently. Folks that are color deficient (some people call this color blindness but it is not) see plenty of colors, just not all of ’em.

在眼睛的后部，在视网膜上，有视杆(用于彩色视觉)和视锥(用于黑色和白色视觉)。 在这里，我们可以找到另一个生理原因，使我们看到不同的事物。 颜色不足的人(有些人称其为色盲，但并非如此)会看到很多颜色，而并非全部。

Even people who have typical photoreceptors can see the same thing differently. About 60% of men have a type of red cones. This means that more than half of men perceive the color red differently than the other half. Meanwhile, most women have both types of red receptor cones and are able to sense a richer image — not just for red but also for all the colors that red interacts with.

即使是具有典型感光器的人，对同一事物的看法也会有所不同。 大约60％的男人有一种红色的锥体 。 这意味着一半以上的男人对红色的感觉与另一半不同。 同时，大多数女性同时拥有两种类型的红色受体锥，并且能够感知到更丰富的图像-不仅是红色的，而且还有红色与之相互作用的所有颜色的图像。

After reading this article, seasoned and responsible designers won’t likely have much to change about their practice. After all, they are already designing high contrast, properly sized interfaces that are GWAC 2.1 AA compliant, right?

阅读本文后，经验丰富且负责任的设计师在实践中将不会有太大变化。 毕竟，他们已经在设计符合GWAC 2.1 AA标准的高对比度，尺寸合适的接口，对吗？

But perhaps we pay more attention to our end-users and their backstory. If we know our users don’t have much of a backstory, such as kids, then perhaps we design with more intention. This can help them be more successful with our interfaces and help them begin to form the conceptual models that add to their backstory, to their context, to their body of knowledge.

但是，也许我们会更加关注最终用户及其背景故事。 如果我们知道用户没有太多的背景知识(例如孩子)，那么我们可能会更有意向地进行设计。 这可以帮助他们通过我们的界面获得更大的成功，并帮助他们开始形成概念模型，这些模型会增加他们的背景知识，他们的上下文以及他们的知识体系。

Similarly, if we know our users are savvy and have richer backstories, then we can take some creative freedoms and rely more heavily on Gestalt Principles.

同样，如果我们知道用户精通并且具有丰富的背景知识，则我们可以享有一些创作自由，并更加依赖格式塔原则。

More than anything, I think, we can stop sweating exactly what colors we use. Men and women see color differently and even among men, what they sense (red and the millions of other colors that interact with red) is all over the place.

我认为，最重要的是，我们可以完全不出汗使用什么颜色。 男人和女人对颜色的看法不同，甚至男人之间，他们的感觉(红色以及与红色互动的数百万种其他颜色)无处不在。

I am not saying to abandon making gorgeous designs. What I am saying is that since people sense and perceive things differently, maybe our designs should have an equal emphasis on function — as it does on form.

我并不是说要放弃做出华丽的设计。 我的意思是，既然人们对事物的感知和感知有所不同，那么也许我们的设计应该同样重视功能-就像形式一样。