back to perception, or perception, as I see it

Nerve cells immediately behind our recptors in our eyes already start processing the signal. nerve cells decide whether there is a difference between the surrounding area and what that one receptor is viewing, or what that bunch of receptors are viewing (It depends on how close to the center of the visual field how detailed and how few receptors or how many and so on) and then these cells connect in bunches to the next neural cells. Each step looks for dramatic change for us to connect to perceive edges and lines.
My daughter, now 20, once told me before going into pre-school (4 yrs old, I'm guessing), "You know, everything is made up of lines, like the edge of that seat and the dashboard to the car and that door handle."
"That's really smart of you to notice that, but I'm going to argue that with you."
I tried to show her that the line at the edge of the seat was a ropelike edge and then, looking closely at it, it wasn't a line, but had a line on both sides of it. She held to her point. I was just amazed that she had noticed such a thing at that age and thought that I'd throw out another idea for her to think about. This is veering from the subject, but I will have to bring up how wonderful it was to have a young daughter who could carry on an intelligent conversation sometimes more perceptive than some from people I had seen make it to college.
So our minds delineate areas, fill in the color, and add the sharper details by scanning parts into our center of field of vision. Though our vision is made from color and light receptors we don't just record the spots of light and color and let the image make itself. We beat it to the processing punch by already defining the shapes and movements. Then, rather than starting all over the next instant with an entierly new construct, we can tell that we are essentially seeing the same thing and just fill in the differences.