Boynton Lecture: Michael Webster: Adaptation and visual experience

Processes of adaptation continuously regulate the responses characteristics of the visual system to match the ambient visual environment. These adjustments occur throughout the visual stream, and normalize neural coding both for properties of the observer and their environment. They thus profoundly affect the nature and content of visual awareness. I will illustrate how adaptation promotes shared perceptual experiences among observers despite optical and physiological differences, while leading to divergent percepts in observers immersed in different stimulus contexts. I will also explore the implications of adaptation for what the visual system can "know" about the world.