Why visual systems process sketches

Abstract

Why do people interpret sketches, cartoons, etc. so easily? A theory is outlined which accounts for the relation between ordinary visual perception and picture interpretation. Animals and versatile robots need fast, generally reliable and gracefully degrading visual systems. This can be achieved by a highly-parallel organisation, in which different domains of structure are processed concurrently, and decisions made on the basis of incomplete analysis. Attendant risks are diminished in a cognitively friendly world (CFW). Since high levels of such a system process inherently impoverished and abstract representations, it is ideally suited to the interpretation of pictures.