Eye Anatomy
These photoreceptors are highly sensitive to light and dominate night vision.
What are rods?
The basic electrical signal used by neurons to transmit information.
What is an action potential?
The region of space where a stimulus can influence a neuron’s firing.
What is a receptive field?
These two scientists discovered orientation-selective cells in visual cortex.
Who are Hubel & Wiesel?
These principles describe how visual elements group together perceptually.
What are Gestalt grouping laws?
These photoreceptors are responsible for color vision and high acuity.
What are cones?
These excitatory signals increase the likelihood that a neuron will fire.
What are EPSPs (excitatory postsynaptic potentials)?
These retinal cells have receptive fields that often show center–surround organization.
What are ganglion cells?
These cells respond best to oriented bars or edges at specific positions.
What are simple cells?
This process fills in hidden portions of objects behind occluders.
What is amodal completion?
This part of the retina contains the highest density of cones.
What is the fovea?
These inhibitory signals decrease the likelihood that a neuron will fire.
What are IPSPs (inhibitory postsynaptic potentials)?
This type of receptive field responds best when the center is stimulated but the surround is not.
What is an on-center receptive field?
These cells respond to oriented bars but are less sensitive to precise position.
What are complex cells?
This perceptual decision determines which object is foreground and which is background.
What is figure-ground?
This region of the retina lacks photoreceptors and creates a gap in vision.
What is the blind spot?
These two processes balance each other to determine spike frequency in neurons.
What are excitation and inhibition?
This visual illusion is explained partly by center–surround receptive fields.
What is the Hermann Grid?
These cells respond best to lines of a particular length or corners.
What are endstopped (hypercomplex) cells?
This property refers to which object “owns” a contour between two surfaces.
What is border ownership?
Signals from the retina leave the eye through this structure.
What is the optic nerve?
Scientists measure neural activity using this device inserted near neurons.
What is recording from neurons with an electrode?
This brain structure receives input from retinal ganglion cells before cortex.
What is the LGN (lateral geniculate nucleus)?
This graph shows how strongly a neuron responds to different orientations.
What is a tuning curve for orientation?
These cues help the brain interpret ambiguous visual input based on expectations.
What is top-down knowledge?