Ch. 1
Intro to Perception
Intro to Perception
Perception happens only, when necessary, true or false?
False.
What is the process of converting environmental energy into neural signals?
Transduction.
What is the function of the cornea and lens?
The cornea, which is fixed, accounts for about 80% of focusing.
The lens, which adjusts shape for object distance, accounts for the other 20%.
What brain lobe is primarily responsible for vision and what is the primary visual receiving area?
The occipital lobe, located at the back of the brain, is primarily responsible for vision. The primary visual receiving area is the primary visual cortex (V1), found within the occipital lobe.
Gestalt psychology claimed “the whole is ____.”
The whole is different from the sum of its parts.
What’s the difference between distal and proximal stimuli?
Distal - Objects and events that are perceived.
Proximal - The physical phenomena that is produced
List the three main parts of a neuron.
Dendrites, Cell Body, Axon.
Which receptor type is best for color vision and detail?
Cones - Color, Detail, Fovea: All 3 receptors.
What’s the main pathway from the retina to the brain?
Signals from the retina travel through the optic nerve to the: Lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Primary visual receiving area in the occipital lobe (the striate cortex or area V1). Then through two pathways to the temporal lobe and the parietal lobe. Finally, arriving at the frontal lobe.
What is figure–ground segregation?
The way our visual system separates objects from their surroundings so we can focus on what’s important in a scene.
Which psychophysical method presents stimuli in ascending/descending order?
Method of Limits.
What ion flows into the neuron during the start of an action potential?
Positive sodium ions (Na+).
Which condition is also known as nearsightedness?
Myopia.
What are ocular dominance columns?
Neurons prefer input from one eye over the other.
What is the inverse projection problem?
One major reason is that the stimulus on the receptors is ambiguous. An image on the retina could have been caused by an infinite number of different objects. On top of that, objects can often be hidden or blurred, and occlusions are common in the environment. Despite these challenges, our brains solve these problems quickly and seamlessly.
The only way to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel what you want to experience is by activating
Sensory Receptors.
What’s the difference between specificity coding and population coding?
Specificity Coding - One neuron responds to a very specific stimulus. "Grandmother Cells."
Population Coding - Representation by patterns of activity across many neurons.
What is the Purkinje shift?
Enhanced sensitivity to short wavelengths during dark adaptation when the shift from cone to rod vision occurs.
It occurs when reds appear brighter than blues in well-lit conditions, but blues appear brighter than reds in dim conditions.
What happened to kittens raised in only horizontal-line environments?
Neurons that respond to these stimuli will become more predominate due to neural plasticity.
What is Perceptual Organization?
Perceptions are created by combining elements called sensations. In the late 1800s, Wundt proposed structuralism, the idea that perceptions are created by combining basic sensations. However, this approach couldn’t explain phenomena like apparent movement.
Give an example of a reaction time task and what it measures.
Whack-A-Mole. Measures reaction time.
What is the mind-body problem, and how does it relate to perception?
The question of how physiologic processes cause our experiences is known as the mind-body problem.
Electrical signals link the environment to perception.
What is the blind spot, and why don’t we notice it in everyday vision?
A small area on your retina where the optic nerve connects to the eye. No light sensitive cells are present, so this part of your retina cannot see. Your brain doesn't fill it with "nothing" instead it creates a perception that matches the surrounding pattern.
Which brain lobe removal made monkeys unable to recognize objects?
Removal of temporal lobe tissue resulted in problems with the object discrimination task: What pathway.
Why do computers often fail at object recognition compared to humans?
The stimulus on the receptors is ambiguous. Objects can be hidden or blurred. Objects look different from different viewpoints.
Viewpoint invariance: the ability to recognize an object regardless of the viewpoint. Computers cannot do this.