In 2000, I edited a book entitled Visual Perception: Essential Readings (Psychology Press). In preparation for that project,I asked CVNet users for suggestions of readings that every advanced student in visual perception should know, articles that intoduced a key idea or reported a crucial finding. The articles are not always the first to do so (although many of them are) or the best of their kind (although most are), but in almost every case these articles greatly influenced the science that followed.
The following list was compiled from the suggestions I received. For the most part, I have included only articles that were mentioned more than once and I have omitted books.
Thanks to everyone who contributed. If you have suggestions to add, let me know.
First, some other collections of classics:
Yury Petrov's list of top 100 papers in Vision Science
Beardslee, D.C. & Wertheimer, M. (Eds.) (1958). Readings in perception. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc.
Cohn, T. E. (Ed.) (1993). Visual Detection (Collected Works in Optics, Vol. III). Washington, DC: Optical Society of America.
Ellis, W. D. (Ed.) (1939). A source book of Gestalt psychology. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
Haber, R. N. (Ed.) (1968). Contemporary theory and research in visual perception. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Recent books on biological vision [post-1970; includes several classics]
Adelson E. H. & Bergen, J. (1985). Spatio-temporal energy models for the perception of motion. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 2, 284-299.
Adelson, E. H., & Movshon, J. A. (1982). Phenomenal coherence of moving visual patterns. Nature, 300, 523-525.
Alpern, M. (1953). Metacontrast. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 43, 648-657.
Barlow, H. B. (1972). Single units and sensation: A neuron doctrine for perceptual psychology? Perception, 1, 371-394.
Barlow, H. B., Blakemore, C., & Pettigrew, J. D. (1967). The neural mechanism of binocular depth discrimination. Journal of Physiology (Lond), 193, 327-342.
Barrow, H. G., and Tenenbaum, J. M. (1981). Interpreting Line Drawings as Three-Dimensional Surfaces. Artificial Intelligence, 17, 75-116
Beck, J. (1967). Perceptual grouping produced by line figures. Perception & Psychophysics, 2, 491-495.
Berkeley, G. (1709/1901). An essay towards a new theory of vision. In A. C. Fraser (Ed. The works of George Berkeley, D.D., formerly Bishop of Cloyne, including his posthumous works. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Biederman, I. (1987). Recognition-by-components: A theory of human image understanding. Psychological Review, 94, 115-147.
Bisiach, E., & Luzzatti, C. (1978). Unilateral neglect of representational space. Cortex, 14, 129-133.
Blakemore, C. & Campbell, F. W. (1969). On the existence of neurons in the human visual system selectively responsive to the orientation and size of retinal images. Journal of Physiology, 203, 237-260.
Campbell, F. W., & Robson, J. G. (1968). Application of Fourier analysis to the visibility of gratings. Journal of Physiology, 197, 551-566.
Cornsweet, T. (1970). Visual Perception. New York: Academic Press. Chapter II: The Experiment of Hecht, Schlaer, and Pirenne.
Di Lollo, V. (1980). Temporal integration in visual memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 109, 75-97.
Gibson, J. J. (1961). Ecological optics. Vision Research, 1, 253-262.
Gibson, J. J. et al. (1955). Parallax and perspective during aircraft landings. American Journal of Psychology, 68, 372-385.
Glass, L., & Switkes, E. (1976). Pattern recognition in humans: Correlations which cannot be perceived. Perception, 5, 62-72.
Goodale, M. A., & Milner, A. D. (1992). Separate visual pathways for perception and action. Trends in Neurosciences, 15, 20-25.
Holway, A. F., & Boring, E. G. (1941). Determinants of apparent visual size with distance variant. American Journal of Psychology, 54, 21-37.
Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. Journal of Physiology, 160, 106-154.
Hubel, D. H., & Weisel, T. N. (1968). Receptive fields and functional architecture of monkey striate cortex. Journal of Physiology, 195, 215-243.
Hurvich, L., & Jameson, D. (1957). An opponent-process theory of color vision. Psychological Review, 64, 384-404.
Johansson, G. (1973). Visual perception of biological motion and a model for its analysis. Perception & Psychophysics, 14, 201-211.
Julesz, B. (1961). Binocular depth perception of computer-generated patterns. Bell System Technical Journal, 39, 1125-1162.
Kanizsa, G. (1976). Subjective contours. Scientific American, 234, 48-52.
Kaufman, L., & Rock, I. (1962). The moon illusion. Scientific American, 207, 120-132.
Kilpartick, F.P. & Ittleson, W. H. (1953). The size-distance invariance hypothesis. Psychological Review, 60, 223-231.
Koenderink, J.J. (1986). Optic flow. Vision Research, 26, 161-180.
Kuffler, S.W. (1953). Discharge patterns and functional organization of mammalian retina. Journal of Neurophysiology, 16, 37-68.
Land, E. H. (1977). The retinex theory of color vision. Scientific American, 237(6), 108-128.
Lettvin, J.Y., Maturana, H.R., McCulloch, W.S., & Pitts, W.H. (1959). What the frog's eye tells the frog's brain. Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, 47, 1940-1951.
Lissauer, H. (1890). Ein Fall vol Seelenblindheit nebst einem Beitrag zur Theorie derselben [A case of visual agnosia with a contribution to theory]. Archiv fur Psychiatrie, 21, 222-270. Translated in Shallice, T., & Jackson, M. (1988). Lissauer on agnosia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 5, 153-192.]
Marr, D. & Hildreth, E. (1980). Theory of edge detection. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 207B, 187-217.
Marr, D., & Nishihara, H. K. (1978). Representation and recognition of the spatial organization of three-dimensional shapes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 200, 269-294.
Marr, D., & Poggio, T. (1976). Cooperative computation of stereo disparity. Science, 194, 283-287.
McCollough, C. (1965). Color adaptation of edge-detectors in the human visual system. Science, 149, 1115-1116.
Mishkin, M., Ungerleider, L. G., & Macko, K. A. (1982). Object vision and spatial vision: Two cortical pathways. Trends in Neurosciences, 6, 414-417.
Moran, J., & Desimone, R. (1985). Selective attention gates visual processing in the extrastriate cortex. Science, 229, 782-784.
Navon, D. (1977). Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9, 353-383.
Newsome, W.T., Britten, K.H., & Movshon, J.A. (1989). Neuronal correlates of a perceptual decision. Nature, 341, 52-54.
Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 3-25.
Rashbass, C. (1970). The visibility of transient changes of luminance. Journal of Physiology, 210, 165-186.
Ratliff, F., & Hartline, H. K. (1959). The responses of limulus optic nerve fibers to patterns of illumination on the receptor mosaic. Journal of General Physiology, 42, 1241-1255.
Reichardt, W. (1961). Autocorrelation, a principle for the evaluation of sensory information by the central nervous system. In W. A. Rosenblith (Ed.), Sensory Communication, pp. 303-317. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Riggs, L. A., Merton, P. A., & Merton, H. B. (1974). Suppression of visual phosphenes during saccadic eye movements. Vision Research, 14, 997-1011.
Robson, J.G. (1966). Spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity function of the visual system. Journal of the Optical Society America, 56, 1141-1142.
Rock, I. (1974). The perception of disoriented figures. Scientific American, 230, 78-85.
Rock, I., & Brosgole, L. (1964). Grouping based on phenomenal proximity. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67, 531-538.
Rubin, E. (1921). Visuell wahrgenommene Figuren. Copenhagen: Gyldendalske. [exerpts translated and reprinted in D. C. Beardslee & M. Wertheimer (Eds.), Readings in perception (pp. 194-203). Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc.]
Runeson, S. (1977). On the possibility of ``smart'' perceptual mechanisms. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 18, 172-179.
Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science,171, 701-703.
Sperling, G. (1960). The information available in brief visual presentations. Psychological Monographs, 74 (whole no. 498), 1-29.
Stiles, W.S. (1939) The directional sensitivity of the retina and the spectral sensitivities of the rods and cones. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 127, 64-105.
Tanner, W. P., & Swets, J. A. (1954). A decision-making theory of visual detection. Psychological Review, 61, 401-409.
Teller, D.Y. (1984). Linking propositions. Vision Research, 24, 1233-1246.
Treisman, A. M., & Gelade, G. (1980). A feature integration theory of attention. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97-136.
Ullman, S. (1984). Visual Routines. Cognition, 18, 97-159.
Wallach, H. (1948). Brightness constancy and the nature of achromatic colors. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 310-324.
Wallach, H., & O'Connell, D. N. (1953). The kinetic depth effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 45, 205-217.
Weiskrantz, L., Warrington, E. K., Sanders, M. D., & Marshall, J. (1974). Visual capacity in the hemianopic field following a restricted occipital ablation. Brain, 97, 709-728.
Wertheimer, M. (1912). Experimentelle Studien uber das Sehen von Bewegung. Zeitschrift fur Psychologie, 61, 161-265.
Wertheimer, M. (1923). Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt, II [Laws of organization in perceptual forms]. Psycholoche Forschung, 4, 301-350. Exerpts translated and reprinted in W. D. Ellis (Ed.), A source book of Gestalt psychology (pp. 71-88). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1939.
Westheimer, G. (1981). Visual hyperacuity. Progress in sensory physiology (pp. 1-30). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Wheatstone, C. (1838). Contributions to the physiology of vision.--Part the First. On some remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, phaenomena of binocular vision. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, part ii.
Wohlgemuth, A. (1911). On the after-effect of seen movement. British Journal of Psychology Monograph Supplement, , 1-117.
Zeki, SP. (1980). The representation of colours in the cerebral cortex. Nature, 284, 412-418.
W. Makous' list of classics, compiled about 1980:
Agular, M., & Stiles, W. S. (1954).
Saturation of the rod mechanism of the retina at high levels of stimulation.
Opt Acta, 1 ?, 59-65.
Alpern, M., & Pugh, E.N., Jr. (1974). The density and photosensitivity of
human rhodopsin in the living retina. J Physiol, 237, 341-370.
Barlow, H. B. (1953). Summation and inhibition in the frog's retina. J Physiol,
119, 69-88.
Barlow, H. B. (1972). Single units and sensation: A neuron doctrine for perceptual
psychology? Perception, 1, 371-394.
Barlow, H. B., Fitzhugh, R., & Kuffler, S. W. (1957). Change of organization
in the receptive fields of the cat's retina during dark adaptation. J Physiol,
137, 338-354.
Baylor, D. A., Fuortes, M. G. F., & O'Bryan, P. M. (1971). Receptive fields
of cones in the retina of the turtle. J Physiol, 214, 265-294.
Baylor, D. A., Hodgkin, A. L., & Lamb, T. D. (1974). Reconstruction of the
electrical responses of turtle cones to flashes and steps of light. J Physiol,
242, 759-791.
Baylor, D. A., Lamb, T. D., & Yau, K. W. (1979). The membrane current of
single rod outer segments. J Physiol, 288, 589-611.
Baylor, D. A., Lamb, T. D., & Yau, K. W. (1979). Responses of retinal rods
to single photons. J Physiol, 288, 613-634.
Blackwell, H. R. (1946). Contrast thresholds of the human eye. J Optical Soc
Amer, 36(11), 624-643.
Blakemore, C., & Campbell, F. W. (1969). On the existence of neurones in
the human visual system selectively sensitive to the orientation and size of
retinal images. J Physiol, 203, 237-260.
Blakemore, C., & Sutton, P. (1969). Size adaptation: a new aftereffect.
Science, 166, 245-247.
Boycott, B. B., & Wäässle, H. (1974). The morphological types
of ganglion cells of the domestic cat's retina. J Physiol, 240, 397-419.
Campbell, F. W., & Green, D. G. (1965). Optical and retinal factors affecting
visual resolution. J Physiol, 181, 576-593.
Campbell, F. W., & Gubisch, R. W. (1966). Optical quality of the human eye.
J Physiol, 186, 558-578.
Campbell, F. W., & Robson, J. G. (1968). Application of fourier analysis
to the visibility of gratings. J Physiol, 197, 551-566.
Crawford, B. H. (1949). The scotopic visibility function. Proc Royal Soc (London)
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Crawford., B. H. (1947). Visual adaptation in relation to brief conditioning
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Dowling, J. E. (1960). Chemistry of visual adaptation in the rat. Nature, 188,
114-118.
Easter, S. S., Jr. (1968). Adaptation in the goldfish retina. J Physiol, 195,
273-281.
Enoch, J. M. (1961). Visualization of wave-guide modes in retinal receptors.
Am J Ophthal, 51, 1107-1118.
Enroth-Cugell, C., & Robson, J. G. (1966). The contrast sensitivity of retinal
ganglion cells of the cat. J Physiol, 187, 517-552.
Fain, G. L. (1975). Quantum sensitivity of rods in the toad retina. Science,
187, 838-841.
Famiglietti, E. V. J., & Kolb, H. (1976). Structural basis for ON- and OFF-
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Flamant, F., & Stiles, W. S. (1948). The directional and spectral sensitivities
of the retinal rods to adapting fields of different wave-lengths. J Physiol,
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Fuortes, M. G. F., & Hodgkin, A. L. (1964). Changes in time scale and sensitivity
in the ommatidia of Limulus. J Physiol, 172, 239-263.
Graham, N. (1977). Visual detection of aperiodic spatial stimuli by probability
summation among narrowband channels. Vis Res, 17, 637-652.
Graham, N., & Nachmias, J. (1971). Detection of grating patterns containing
two spatial frequencies: A comparison of single-channel and multiple channel
models. Vision Research, 11, 251-259.
Hartline, H. K. (1940). The effects of spatial summation in the retina on the
excitation of the fibers of the optic nerve. Am J Physiol, 130, 700-711.
Hecht, S., Shlaer, S., & Pirenne, M. H. (1942). Energy, Quanta, and Vision.
J Gen Physiol, 25, 819-840.
Henning, G. B., Hertz, B. G., & Broadbent, D. E. (1975). Some experiments
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Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction
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Hubel, D. H., & Wiesel, T. N. (1968). Receptive fields and functional architecture
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Hurvich, L. M., & Jameson, D. (1957). An opponent-process theory of color
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Krauskopf, J., & Srebro, R. (1965). Spectral sensitivity of color mechanisms:
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Kuffler, S. W. (1953). Discharge pattterns and functional organization of mammalian
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Marks, W. B., Dobelle, W. H., & E.F. MacNichol, J. (1964). Visual pigments
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McCollough, C. (1965). Color adaptation of edge-detectors in the human visual
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Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits
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Pantle, A., & Sekuler, R. (1968). Size-detecting mechanisms in human vision.
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Penn, R. D., & Hagins, W. A. (1969). Signal Transmission along retinal rods
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Pettigrew, J. D. (1974). The effect of visual experience on the development
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last revised 06/04/04