Trends Cogn Sci. 1997 Sep;1(6):217-22. doi: 10.1016/S1364-6613(97)01067-X.
The visual world exists all around us, yet this information must be gleaned through a succession of eye fixations in which high visual acuity is limited to the small foveal region of each retina. In spite of these physiological constraints, we experience a richly detailed and continuous visual world. Research on transsaccadic memory, perception, picture memory and imagination of scenes will be reviewed. Converging evidence suggests that the representation of visual scenes is much more schematic and abstract than our immediate experience would indicate. The visual system may have evolved to maximize comprehension of discrete views at the expense of representing unnecessary detail, but through the action of attention it allows the viewer to access detail when the need arises. This capability helps to maintain the 'illusion' of seeing a rich and detailed visual world at every glance.
视觉世界存在于我们周围，但这些信息必须通过一系列的眼动注视来获取，而在这些注视中，高视觉敏锐度仅限于每个视网膜的小中央凹区域。尽管存在这些生理限制，我们仍然体验到丰富而详细的视觉世界。本文将回顾关于眼跳间记忆、知觉、图片记忆和场景想象的研究。越来越多的证据表明，视觉场景的表示比我们的直接体验所表明的更加图式化和抽象。视觉系统可能已经进化到以最大程度地理解离散视图为代价，来表示不必要的细节，但通过注意力的作用，它允许观察者在需要时访问细节。这种能力有助于维持“每看一眼就能看到丰富而详细的视觉世界”的错觉。
