How do animals get about by vision? Visually controlled locomotion and orientation after 50 years.

James Gibson’s 1958 paper, “Visually controlled locomotion and visual orientation in animals,” was a milepost in his development of a theory of perception that would do justice to ordinary behavior in natural environments. In particular, it provided the first statement of an information-based approach to perception and action, which continues to influence much contemporary work in humans, animals, and robots. In this comment, I discuss the context for Gibson’s evolving ideas about perception and offer a brief status report on his theory of visual control.

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