The ability to see deeply affects how human beings perceive and interpret the world around them. For most people, eyesight is part of everyday communication, social activities, educational and professional pursuits, the care of others, and the maintenance of personal health, independence, and mobility. Functioning eyes and vision system can reduce an adult's risk of chronic health conditions, death, falls and injuries, social isolation, depression, and other psychological problems. In children, properly maintained eye and vision health contributes to a child's social development, academic achievement, and better health across the lifespan. The public generally recognizes its reliance on sight and fears its loss, but emphasis on eye and vision health, in general, has not been integrated into daily life to the same extent as other health promotion activities, such as teeth brushing; hand washing; physical and mental exercise; and various injury prevention behaviors. A larger population health approach is needed to engage a wide range of stakeholders in coordinated efforts that can sustain the scope of behavior change. The shaping of socioeconomic environments can eventually lead to new social norms that promote eye and vision health. Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow proposes a new population-centered framework to guide action and coordination among various, and sometimes competing, stakeholders in pursuit of improved eye and vision health and health equity in the United States. Building on the momentum of previous public health efforts, this report also introduces a model for action that highlights different levels of prevention activities across a range of stakeholders and provides specific examples of how population health strategies can be translated into cohesive areas for action at federal, state, and local levels.

A Different Vision: African American Economic Thought brings together for the first time the ideas, philosophies and interpretations of North America's leading African American economists. Presented in two volumes, Volume 1 includes: * An in-depth discussion of the economics of race and gender * Assessments of the contribution and influence of major African American economists and economic philosophies * An examination of racism within the economics profession * An interdisciplinary approach which is largely free of technical jargon The volumes draw the inescapable conclusion that racial inequality has had an immense impact in every sphere of African American life.

This book covers all aspects of the visual system from sensory aspects to eye movements, attention, and visual memory in a brief format. Each chapter describes the psychology, followed by where in the brain that aspect is dealt with, the properties of the cells in that area, and what happens if a patient has a lesion or stroke in that area.

In The Vision Revolution: How the Latest Research Overturns Everything We Thought We Knew About Human Vision, Mark Changizi, prominent neuroscientist and vision expert, addresses four areas of human vision and provides explanations for why we have those particular abilities, complete with a number of full-color illustrations to demonstrate his conclusions and to engage the reader. Written for both the casual reader and the science buff hungry for new information, The Vision Revolution is a resource that dispels commonly believed perceptions about sight and offers answers drawn from the field's most recent research. Changizi focuses on four “why" questions: 1. Why do we see in color? 2. Why do our eyes face forward? 3. Why do we see illusions? 4. Why does reading come so naturally to us? Why Do We See in Color? It was commonly believed that color vision evolved to help our primitive ancestors identify ripe fruit. Changizi says we should look closer to home: ourselves. Human color vision evolved to give us greater insights into the mental states and health of other people. People who can see color changes in skin have an advantage over their color-blind counterparts; they can see when people are blushing with embarrassment, purple-faced with exertion or the reddening of rashes. Changizi's research reveals that the cones in our eyes that allow us to see color are exquisitely designed exactly for seeing color changes in the skin. And it's no coincidence that the primates with color vision are the ones with bare spots on their faces and other body parts; Changizi shows that the development of color vision in higher primates closely parallels the loss of facial hair, culminating in the near hairlessness and highly developed color vision of humans. Why Do Our Eyes Face Forward? Forward-facing eyes set us apart from most mammals, and there is much dispute as to why we have them. While some speculate that we evolved this feature to give us depth perception available through stereo vision, this type of vision only allows us to see short distances, and we already have other mechanisms that help us to estimate distance. Changizi's research shows that with two forward-facing eyes, primates and humans have an x-ray ability. Specifically, we're able to see through the cluttered leaves of the forest environment in which we evolved. This feature helps primates see their targets in a crowded, encroached environment. To see how this works, hold a finger in front of your eyes. You'll find that you're able to look “through" it, at what is beyond your finger. One of the most amazing feats of two forward-facing eyes? Our views aren't blocked by our noses, beaks, etc. Why Do We See Illusions? We evolved to see moving objects, not where they are, but where they are going to be. Without this ability, we couldn't catch a ball because the brain's ability to process visual information isn't fast enough to allow us to put our hands in the right place to intersect for a rapidly approaching baseball. “If our brains simply created a perception of the way the world was at the time light hit the eye, then by the time that perception was elicited—which takes about a tenth of a second for the brain to do—time would have marched on, and the perception would be of the recent past," Changizi explains. Simply put, illusions occur when our brain is tricked into thinking that a stationary two-dimensional picture has an element that is moving. Our brains project the “moving" element into the future and, as a result, we don't see what's on the page, but what our brain thinks will be the case a fraction of a second into the future. Why Does Reading Come So Naturally to Us? We can read faster than we can hear, which is odd, considering that reading is relatively recent,

All parts of the body need exercise for optimal health, and the eyes are no different. Vision for Life presents an approach to eye health for people with 20/20 vision who wish to maintain their perfect vision as well as people who see poorly and would like to improve their eyesight. Clients of the Meir Schneider Self-Healing Method experience their own capacity to bring about recovery, reversing the progress of a wide range of degenerative conditions including eye disease. Based in part on the established Bates Method of eyesight improvement and in part on his own professional and personal discoveries, Meir Schneider's pioneering approach has helped thousands of people successfully treat a host of eye problems, including near- and farsightedness, astigmatism, lazy eye, double vision, glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, retinal detachment, retinitis pigmentosa, and nystagmus. This revised edition includes a new chapter on children's eye health and new research and exercises for specific conditions, i.e., glaucoma and nystagmus, near- and farsightedness. Born blind to deaf parents, Schneider underwent a series of painful operations as a young child and was left with 99 percent scar tissue on the lenses of his eyes, resulting in his being declared incurably blind. At the age of seventeen, he discovered how to improve his vision from less than 1 percent to 55 percent of normal vision with the eye exercises presented in this book. Today Schneider drives a car, reads, and enjoys the benefits of full natural vision. He and his clients prove time and time again how much vision can improve with exercise. His contributions to the field of self-healing are recognized by alternative health practitioners and medical doctors alike. In Vision for Life, Schneider shares forty years of discoveries made on his personal and professional journey. The book details simple but effective techniques to gain great vision such as sunning and palming. Such exercises are not only strengthening but also restorative and deeply relaxing. The reader learns how to reverse developing issues before they cause damage or to remedy existing problems, including pathologies such as glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, retinal detachment, and optic nerve neuropathy.

This book revolutionizes how vision can be taught to undergraduate and graduate students in cognitive science, psychology, and optometry. It is the first comprehensive textbook on vision to reflect the integrated computational approach of modern research scientists. This new interdisciplinary approach, called "vision science," integrates psychological, computational, and neuroscientific perspectives. The book covers all major topics related to vision, from early neural processing of image structure in the retina to high-level visual attention, memory, imagery, and awareness. The presentation throughout is theoretically sophisticated yet requires minimal knowledge of mathematics. There is also an extensive glossary, as well as appendices on psychophysical methods, connectionist modeling, and color technology. The book will serve not only as a comprehensive textbook on vision, but also as a valuable reference for researchers in cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, optometry, and philosophy.

This book was first projected in 2004, when Author Hannah Fairbairn was teaching interpersonal skills at the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts. The experiences of her adult students—and her own experience of sight lost—convinced her that everyone losing vision needs access to good information about the process of adjustment to losing sight and practical ways to use assertive speech. When You Can’t Believe Your Eyes is intended for anyone going through vision loss, their friends, and families. It will inform readers how to get expert professional help, face the trauma of loss, and navigate the world using speech more than sight. Each of the twelve chapters in the book contain many short sections and bullet-point lists, intended to facilitate access to the right information. It begins where you begin—at the doctor’s office or the hospital. Since vision loss takes many forms, there are suggestions for questions you might ask to get a clear diagnosis and the best treatment. Part One also has a description of legal blindness and possible prevention, advice about your job, and tips for life at home. Part Two is about believing in yourself as you deal with the loss, the anger, and the fear before you come up for air and consider training. Parts Three and Four describe using assertive speech and action in all kinds of settings as your independence and confidence increase. Part Five gives detailed information about everything from dating, and caring for babies to senior living, volunteering, and retaining your job. It is hoped that by reading and trying out the suggestions, the reader will recover full confidence, become a positive, assertive communicator, and lead a satisfying life. Because vision loss happens mostly in older years, the book is written with seniors particularly in mind. Professionals will also find it to be a useful resource for their patients.

Steve Gallop, OD has been practicing optometry in Pennsylvania since 1990. His personal experience as a patient, along with his many years as an optometrist give him a unique perspective on the nuances of the evaluation and treatment of many types of vison problems, including myopia. Many people - professional and otherwise - are offering various options for dealing with myopia (nearsightedness). This book provides a more thorough perspective on what is available than what is typically provided by other sources. Unlike so many other books, this is in no way a how-to-do-it-yourself guide. Instead, it is meant to explain the complexities of myopia, how you might begin to understand your own situation, and how to go about finding the best people to work with to improve your vision.