Vision is the best understood sensory system in mammalian brains. It is generally assumed that the purpose of the visual system is to create a detailed internal representation of three-dimensional visual scenes. Several experimental studies suggest instead that the goal of vision may be to create only a partial internal model of the scene in a representation suitable for guiding motor actions. This interactive view of vision will be illustrated with a new task in which the subject must find a hidden target — in the absence of an image.
