3. From retina to cortex

Question 1

There is inherent ____ in the visual signals our eyes recieve

Answer 1

Ambiguity

Question 2

What is meant by bi-stable perception?
No d____ c____ leads to v____ a____

Answer 2

No depth cues leads to visual ambiguity

Question 3

What is the purpose of the following parts of the eye?
1. Pupil
2. Iris
3. Cornea and lens
4. Accommodation

Answer 3

1. Where light enters eye
2. Adjustable aperture, constricts in bright light to make pupil smaller
3. Focuses light on retina
4. Ciliary muscles change shape of lens to bring objects into focus at different distances

Question 4

Photoreceptors are c____ with l____ s____ p____ in o____ s____

Answer 4

Cells with light sensitive photopigments in outer segments

Question 5

What are Rods?
Contain r____, respond in d____ light, none in f____

Answer 5

Contain rhodopsin, respond in dim light, none in fovea

Question 6

What are Cones?
T____ types with p____ sensitive to different w____ (l____, m____, s____) - d____ vision

Answer 6

Three types with photopigments sensitive to different wavelengths (long, medium, short) - daytime vision

Question 7

What are the different types of cells in the last stage in retinal processing?
1. L____ p____ g____ cells
2. S____ m____ g____ cells
3. Cells have ‘r____ f____’ - the part of the r____ from which the g____ cell receives i____

Answer 7

• Large parasol ganglion cells
• Small midget ganglion cells
• Cells have ‘receptive fields’ - the part of the retina from which the ganglion cell receives input

Question 8

What are three properties of retinal ganglion processing?
1. Poor at spotting g____ c____
2. Good at picking out s____ e____
3. Filters the input for u____ i____

Answer 8

1. Poor at spotting gradual change
2. Good at picking out sharp edges
3. Filters the input for useful info

Question 9

Within the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) there are three types of cells. What are they and what do they detect?
1. M____c____ cells - m____ and f____
2. P____ c____ cells - c____ and d____
3. K____c____ cells - b____-y____

Answer 9

1. Magnocellular cells - movement and flicker
2. Parvocellular cells - colour and detail
3. Koniocellular cells - blue-yellow

Question 10

50% of the cortex is dedicated to what?

Answer 10

Vision

Question 11

Prevalence of neutron types is shaped by what early on?

Answer 11

Environmental experience

Question 12

What did Blakemore and Cooper (1970) find when they raised kitten in striped tubes from birth with vertical or horizontal stripes?

Answer 12

5 hours per day in tube
5 months later: no response to orientation not in tube
Recorded from cells in visual cortex: no neurons that respond to orientation absent in tube
Example of neural plasticity, but with a critical period - ‘use it or lose it’

Question 13

What do the following streams of processing process?
1. Dorsal - w____
2. Motor system - m____
3. Ventral - w____
4. Hippocampus - m____

Answer 13

1. Where
2. Movements
3. What
4. Memory

Question 14

Processing of some features (e.g. e____) begins at the r____ and gets more complex ‘h____’ in the visual processing stream

Answer 14

edges
retina
higher

Question 15

Cells in different parts of the visual stream are s____ to different features and take in information from a particular r____ f____

Answer 15

selective
receptive field

Question 16

Early levels of visual processing have r____t____ m____ where each part of the visual field is r____

Answer 16

retinotopic maps
represented