Christopher Tyler
Encyclopedia
Christopher W. Tyler is a visual psychophysicist
, creator of the autostereogram
(“Magic Eye
” pictures) and is the Head of the Smith-Kettlewell Brain Imaging Center
.
, a vision scientist, psychologist and MacArthur Fellow. Julesz, who is well known for his invention of the random dot stereogram
, used a computer to create a stereo pair of random-dot images that, when viewed under a stereoscope, caused the brain to see 3-dimensional shapes. This proved that depth perception is a neurological process. After leaving Bell Labs, Tyler took a position at Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Sciences, where he significantly advanced Julesz’s research (in 1979) when he invented the first “random-dot autostereogram” (also known as single-image random-dot stereogram). These images were later known as the “Magic Eye
” after they were popularized by several N.E. Thing Enterprises publications that spent a number of weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list. The invention of the autostereogram
made it possible for a person to see 3-dimensional shapes from a single 2-dimensional image without the aid of optical equipment. You can see one here
Tyler's scientific interests are in visual perception
and visual neuroscience
. His research has contributed to the study of form, symmetry
, flicker, motion, color
, and stereoscopic depth perception in adults and he has developed tests for the diagnosis of eye diseases in infants and of retinal and optic nerve diseases in adults. He has also studied visual processing and photoreceptor dynamics in other species such as butterflies and fish. His recent scientific work concerns theoretical, psychophysical and functional MRI studies of the structure of global processes such as structure from motion, symmetry
, figure/ground and stereoscopic depth perception.
Tyler's art investigation articles fall under various topics, including composition, perspective studies, the eye-cenetering controversy, David Hockney's
optical hypothesis, Leonardo
self-portraiture, Manet's
last painting ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
,’ Masolino's
genius, space in 20th century art, symmetry
: art and neuroscience, structure of consciousness, and computer art. He makes convincing arguments against the thesis supported by Hockney's book “Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Master
s” that optical projection techniques aided many artist's paintings beginning in the early 15th century, particularly beginning some time between 1420–1595, citing variously Fabriano
, Jan van Eyck
, Pisanello
, Mantegna
, Melozzo di Forli, Cranach
, Raphael
and Moroni
. Tyler indicates with well constructed arguments and computer reconstructions at his web site Art Optics that the art works under discussion are brilliant paintings by eye rather than those compatible with optical projections.
Psychophysics
Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they effect. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, more completely, as "the analysis of perceptual...
, creator of the autostereogram
Autostereogram
An autostereogram is a single-image stereogram , designed to create the visual illusion of a three-dimensional scene from a two-dimensional image in the human brain...
(“Magic Eye
Magic Eye
Magic Eye is a series of books published by N.E. Thing Enterprises . The books feature autostereograms , which allow people to see 3D images by focusing on 2D patterns. The viewer must diverge his or her eyes in order to see a hidden three-dimensional image within the pattern...
” pictures) and is the Head of the Smith-Kettlewell Brain Imaging Center
Smith-Kettlewell Institute
The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco was formed in 1959 by Arthur Jampolsky on the former campus of the Stanford Medical School.The current interim director of Smith-Kettlewell is Arthur Jampolsky.Major Work:...
.
Biography
Shortly after earning his PhD at the University of Keele (1970), Dr. Tyler became a Research Fellow at Bell Labs (in 1974-75), where he worked with Bela JuleszBéla Julesz
Béla Julesz was a visual neuroscientist and experimental psychologist in the fields of visual and auditory perception.Julesz was the originator of random dot stereograms which led to the creation of autostereograms...
, a vision scientist, psychologist and MacArthur Fellow. Julesz, who is well known for his invention of the random dot stereogram
Random dot stereogram
Random Dot Stereograms are pairs of images of random dots which when viewed with the aid of a stereoscope, or with the eyes focused on a point behind the images, produce a sensation of depth, with objects appearing to be in front of or behind the actual images....
, used a computer to create a stereo pair of random-dot images that, when viewed under a stereoscope, caused the brain to see 3-dimensional shapes. This proved that depth perception is a neurological process. After leaving Bell Labs, Tyler took a position at Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Sciences, where he significantly advanced Julesz’s research (in 1979) when he invented the first “random-dot autostereogram” (also known as single-image random-dot stereogram). These images were later known as the “Magic Eye
Magic Eye
Magic Eye is a series of books published by N.E. Thing Enterprises . The books feature autostereograms , which allow people to see 3D images by focusing on 2D patterns. The viewer must diverge his or her eyes in order to see a hidden three-dimensional image within the pattern...
” after they were popularized by several N.E. Thing Enterprises publications that spent a number of weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list. The invention of the autostereogram
Autostereogram
An autostereogram is a single-image stereogram , designed to create the visual illusion of a three-dimensional scene from a two-dimensional image in the human brain...
made it possible for a person to see 3-dimensional shapes from a single 2-dimensional image without the aid of optical equipment. You can see one here
Tyler's scientific interests are in visual perception
Visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision...
and visual neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
. His research has contributed to the study of form, symmetry
Symmetry
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
, flicker, motion, color
Color
Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
, and stereoscopic depth perception in adults and he has developed tests for the diagnosis of eye diseases in infants and of retinal and optic nerve diseases in adults. He has also studied visual processing and photoreceptor dynamics in other species such as butterflies and fish. His recent scientific work concerns theoretical, psychophysical and functional MRI studies of the structure of global processes such as structure from motion, symmetry
Symmetry
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
, figure/ground and stereoscopic depth perception.
Tyler's art investigation articles fall under various topics, including composition, perspective studies, the eye-cenetering controversy, David Hockney's
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
optical hypothesis, Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
self-portraiture, Manet's
Manet
-MANET as an abbreviation:*MANET is a mobile ad hoc network, a self-configuring mobile wireless network.*MANET database or Molecular Ancestry Network, bioinformatics database-People with the surname Manet:*Édouard Manet, a 19th-century French painter....
last painting ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère , painted and exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882, was the last major work by French painter Édouard Manet. It depicts a scene in the Folies Bergère nightclub in Paris...
,’ Masolino's
Masolino da Panicale
Masolino da Panicale was an Italian painter. His best known works are probably his collaborations with Masaccio: Madonna with Child and St. Anne and the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel .-Biography:Masolino was born in Panicale...
genius, space in 20th century art, symmetry
Symmetry
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
: art and neuroscience, structure of consciousness, and computer art. He makes convincing arguments against the thesis supported by Hockney's book “Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Master
Old Master
"Old Master" is a term for a European painter of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist. An "old master print" is an original print made by an artist in the same period...
s” that optical projection techniques aided many artist's paintings beginning in the early 15th century, particularly beginning some time between 1420–1595, citing variously Fabriano
Fabriano
Fabriano is a town and comune of Ancona province in the Italian region of the Marche, at 325 m above sea-level. It lies in the Esino valley 44 km upstream and SW of Jesi; and 15 km ENE of Fossato di Vico and 36 km east of Gubbio...
, Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
, Pisanello
Pisanello
Pisanello , known professionally as Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento...
, Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...
, Melozzo di Forli, Cranach
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder , was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving...
, Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
and Moroni
Giovanni Battista Moroni
Giovanni Battista Moroni was a North Italian painter of the Late Renaissance period. He is also called Giambattista Moroni...
. Tyler indicates with well constructed arguments and computer reconstructions at his web site Art Optics that the art works under discussion are brilliant paintings by eye rather than those compatible with optical projections.