Final answer:
Hermann von Helmholtz realized that the image on the retina is inverted and reversed. Gestalt psychology elaborates on perception by saying that our brains organize sensory information in complex ways. Edwin Land's retinex theory of color vision posits that our perception of color is the result of internal comparisons within the visual system.
Step-by-step explanation:
One of Helmholtz's contributions to perception was his recognition that the image on the retina is inverted and reversed. This is fundamental to understanding how visual information is processed. When light passes through the lenses of the eyes, it projects onto the retinal surface, creating an image that is topographically inverted and reversed compared to the actual visual field. However, our brain is able to interpret this image correctly.
The Gestalt psychology further examines how our perception is more complex than the sum of sensory inputs. It proposes that our brain follows certain principles to organize sensory information, creating perceptions that may not always reflect the physical reality accurately. This includes factors such as visual hypotheses and perceptual sets, which are influenced by our experiences and expectations.
Moreover, Edwin Land's retinex theory explained color vision as a comparison of different images formed by each type of cone in our eyes. This theory suggests that our perception of color is a result of how our brain compares these images, which can explain why color vision is subtler than it initially appears. Land's experiments illustrated this, challenging the straightforward theories of color vision.