4 Visual Cortex

Question 0

Action pathway

Answer 0

Dorsal pathway

Question 1

Ablation

Answer 1

Removal of an area of the brain. This is usually done experiments on animals, to determine the function of a particular area. Also call lesioning.

Question 2

Brain imaging

Answer 2

Procedures that make it possible to visualize areas of the human brain that are activated by different types of stimuli, test, or behaviors. The most common techniques used in perception researcher positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Question 3

Complex cells

Answer 3

Neuron individual cortex that responds best to moving bars with a particular orientation.

Question 4

Contralateral eye

Answer 4

Eye on the opposite side of the head from a particular structure.

Question 5

Contrast threshold

Answer 5

Intensity difference that can just barely be seen between two areas. This is often measured using gradings with alternating light and dark arts.

Question 6

Cortical magnification factor

Answer 6

Apportioning the small fovea with a large area on the cortex.

Question 7

Dissociation

Answer 7

Situation that occurs as a result of brain damage in which one function is present in another is absent.

Question 8

Dorsal pathway

Answer 8

Pathway that conducts signals from this try a quick text to the parietal lobe. This is also called the where, the how, or the action pathway to indicate its function.

Question 9

Double dissociation

Answer 9

In brain damage, when function a is present in function b is absent in one person, and function a is absent and function b present another. Presence of the double dissociation means that the two functions involve different mechanisms and operate independently of one another.

Question 10

End-stopped cells

Answer 10

Cortical neurons that responds best to lines of a specific length that are moving in a particular direction.

Question 11

Experience-dependent plasticity

Answer 11

A process by which neurons adapted to the specific environment within which a person or animal lives. This is achieved when neurons change their response properties so they become tuned to respond best to stimuli that have been repeatedly experienced in the environment.

Question 12

Extrastriate body area (EBA)

Answer 12

Area of the temporal lobe that is activated by pictures of bodies and parts of bodies.

Question 13

Feature detectors

Answer 13

Neuron that response like to play to a specific feature of the stimulus.

Question 14

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Answer 14

Brain imaging technique that indicates brain activity in awake, awake, behaving humans in response to perceptual stimuli.

Question 15

Fusiform face area (FFA)

Answer 15

Area in the human inferotemporal (IT) cortex that contains neurons specialized to respond to faces.

Question 16

Grating stimuli

Answer 16

Stimulus pattern consisting of alternating bars with different lightnesses and colors.

Question 17

How pathway

Answer 17

Dorsal pathway

Question 18

Hypercolumn

Answer 18

In the striate cortex, unit proposed by Hubel and Wiesel that combines location, orientation, and ocular dominance columns the survey specific area on the retina.

Question 19

Ipsilateral eye

Answer 19

Eye on the same side of the head as this structure to which the eye sends inputs.

Question 20

Landmark discrimination problem

Answer 20

Behavior test used in later in Ungerleider and Mushkin’s experiment in which they provided evidence for the dorsal, or where, visual processing stream. Monkeys were required to respond to a previously indicated location.

Question 21

Lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)

Answer 21

Nucleus in the thalamus that receives inputs from the optic nerve and, in turn, since fibers to the cortical receiving area for vision.

Question 22

Location column

Answer 22

Column in the visual cortex that contains neurons with the same except a few locations on the retina.

Question 23

Module

Answer 23

Structure that processes information about a specific behavior horse perceptual quality. Often identified as a structure that contains a large proportion of neurons that respond selectively to a particular quality.

Question 24

Neural plasticity

Answer 24

Capacity of the nervous system to change in response to experience. Examples are however visual experience can change the orientation selectivity of neurons in the visual cortex and how tactile experience can change the sizes of various and the cortex that represent different parts of the body.

Question 25

Neuropsychology

Answer 25

Study of the behavioral effects of brain damage in humans.

Question 26

Object discrimination problem

Answer 26

Behavioral task used in Ungerleider and Mishkin’s experiment in which they provided evidence for the eventual, or what, visual processing stream. Monkeys were required to respond to an object with a particular shape.

Question 27

Ocular dominance

Answer 27

Degree to which a neuron is influenced by stimulation of each eye. A neuron has a large amount of ocular dominance if it responds only to stimulation of one eye. There is no amount of dominance if the neuron responds equally to stimulation of both eyes.

Question 28

Ocular dominance column

Answer 28

Column in the visual cortex that contains neurons the respond best to stimulation of the same.

Question 29

Orientation tuning curve

Answer 29

Function relating the firing of a neuron to the orientation of the stimulus.

Question 30

Parahippocampal place area (PPA)

Answer 30

Area in the temporal lobe that is activated by pictures of indoor and outdoor scenes.

Question 31

Positron emission tomography (PET)

Answer 31

Brain mapping technique that is used in awake subjects to determine which brain areas are activated by various tasks.

Question 32

Primary visual receiving area

Answer 32

Areas of the cerebral cortex that first receive most of the signals initiated by the sense’s receptor. For example, the occipital cortex is the site of the primary receiving area for vision, the temporal lobe is the site of the primary receiving area for hearing.

Question 33

Prosopagnosia

Answer 33

Form of visual agnosia in which the person can’t recognize faces.

Question 34

Retinotopic map

Answer 34

Map on structure in the visual system, such as the lateral geniculate nucleus for the cortex, that indicates locations on the structure that correspond to locations on the retina. Interesting topic maps, locations adjacent to each other on the retina are usually represented by locations that are adjacent to each other on the structure.

Question 35

Rod and frame illusion

Answer 35

An illusion in which the perception of the orientation of a rod is affected by the orientation of surrounding frame.

Question 36

Selective adaptation

Answer 36

Procedure in which a person or animal is selectively exposed to one stimulus, and then the effect of this exposure is assessed by testing with a ride range of stimuli. Exposing a person to vertical bars and then testing a person’s sensitivity to bars of all orientations is an example of selective adaptation to orientation.

Question 37

Selective rearing

Answer 37

Procedure in which animals are reared in special environments. An example of selective rearing is the experiment in which kittens were reared in an environment of vertical stripes to determine the effect on orientation selected selectivity of cortical neurons.

Question 38

Simple cortical cell

Answer 38

Neuron in the visual cortex that response best to bars of a particular orientation.

Question 39

Single dissociation

Answer 39

When, as a result of brain damage, one function is present in another’s absence. Existence of a single dissociation indicates that the two functions involved different mechanisms but may not be totally independent of one another.

Question 40

Striate cortex

Answer 40

Visual receiving area of the cortex, located in the occipital lobe.

Question 41

Subtraction technique

Answer 41

Technique used to analyze the results of brain imaging experiments, and which brain activity elicited by a control condition is subtracted from the activity listed by experimental condition to determine the activity that can be attributed to the experimental condition alone.

Question 42

Superior colliculus

Answer 42

Area in the brain that is involved in controlling eye movements and other visual behaviors. This area receives about 10% of the ganglion cell fibers that leave the eye in the optic nerve.

Question 43

Theory of natural selection

Answer 43

Idea that genetically based characteristics that enhance an animal’s ability to survive, and therefore reproduce, will be passed on to future generations.

Question 44

Ventral pathway

Answer 44

Pathway that conducts signals from the striate cortex to the temporal lobe. Also called the what pathway because it is involved in recognizing objects.

Question 45

What pathway

Answer 45

Ventral pathway

Question 46

Where pathway

Answer 46

Dorsal pathway