The book emphasizes "experience-dependent" neural plasticity—the idea that the brain's visual circuits must be "tuned" by environmental stimuli during early development to function correctly.
The text follows the visual signal from the eye through the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) to the visual cortex. It pays specific attention to the columnar organization of the cortex, which is specialized for depth-related processing. Perceiving in Depth Volume 1 Basic Mechanisms
Howard details historical display systems like panoramas, peepshows, and the invention of the stereoscope, which first allowed humans to artificially simulate depth. and the invention of the stereoscope
A significant portion of the work is dedicated to the anatomy and physiology of the primate visual system. which is specialized for depth-related processing.
As the first entry in a three-volume series, it focuses exclusively on the sensory and physiological "building blocks" of depth perception, moving from historical discovery to the latest in neural plasticity.