I'd say transformations are more important than rotations, as in a 3D world we'll almost never see an object from a perpendicular view point, but most of the time we'll see objects that are the right way up.
> in a 3D world we'll almost never see an object from a perpendicular view point
True, however transforms would be more useful as an umbrella term in this context for the subset of transforms that include perspective + orientation of a fixed geometry. Visual systems only need to care about this subset in almost all cases...
In which case it's conceivable that we infer geometry through a set of discrete transforms somewhat like rotations, translations and scaling, or perhaps there is a component that did happen to converge on something more unified resembling an arbitrary transform matrix. If only we could simply identify these pieces in biological systems.
True, however transforms would be more useful as an umbrella term in this context for the subset of transforms that include perspective + orientation of a fixed geometry. Visual systems only need to care about this subset in almost all cases...
In which case it's conceivable that we infer geometry through a set of discrete transforms somewhat like rotations, translations and scaling, or perhaps there is a component that did happen to converge on something more unified resembling an arbitrary transform matrix. If only we could simply identify these pieces in biological systems.