CH 6-Vision Flashcards
cornea
- transparent outer covering of eye where light first enters
- 15% of outer eye
- works w lens to bend light onto retina
sclera
opaque, white part of outer eye
-makes up 85% of outer eye
pupil
- hole in middle of iris that regulates amount of light entering
- uses sphincter muscles to constrict in bright light for better acuity, sharpness and depth of focus, though decreased sensitivity
- uses dilator muscles to let in more light in dim conditions; decreased acuity but increased sensitivity
lens
- layer of transparent cells just behind pupil that focus light onto retina
- for near objects, ciliary muscles contract, releasing the tension on lens ligaments to hold it in a flat shape
- for far objects, ciliary muscles relax to increase tension on ligaments which flattens lens
- adjustments are reflexive
retina
- located at back of eye, site of visual transduction
- 5 different cell layers (photoreceptors, horizontal, bipolar, amacrine, retinal ganglion (RGC))
- signals travel through vertical pathway back to front
- horizontal and amacrine cells allow for lateral communication
photoreceptors
- rods and cones
- first retinal layer, located at the back of the retina
horizontal cells
- second retinal layer
- responsible for lateral communication
bipolar cells
- third retinal layer
- connect photoreceptors to RGC
amacrine cells
- fourth retinal layer
- responsible for lateral communication
retinal ganglion cells
- fifth and final retinal layer
- axons gather at and exit at optic disk ad the optic nerve, creating a blind spot
(visual) temporal integration
-add together foveal images from preceding fixations and ensures blinks do not disrupt vision
an overview of the pathway from retina to V1 (retinal geniculate striate pathway)
retina
optic nerve
lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)
striate visual cortex (in V1, primary visual cortex)
LGN (lateral geniculate nucleus)
- 6 layers
- receive input from contralateral visual field (3 layers for the visual field area of each eye)
- fovea has disproportionately large representation in striate cortex (25% of the cortex to be exact) due to high convergence of cones
retinotopic organization
- top visual field is processed in bottom portion of striate and vice-versa
- 2 stimuli at adjacent areas of the retinal will activate adjacent neurons in LGN or V1
M channel
magnocellular layers: bottom 2 in LGN
- big cell bodies
- respond to movement
- primarily receive input from rods
- project to top part of striate 4 neurons
P channel
- parvocellular layers: top 4 in LGN
- small cell bodies
- respond to colour, slow moving/stationary objects, fine detail
- primarily receive input from cones
- project to bottom of striate 4 neurons
mach bands
- non-existent stripes of brightness and darkness
- run adjacent to edges of real stripes
- enhance contrast at each edge to make edges easier to see
- our perception of an edge is better than the real thing
- contrast enhancement
visual edge
- perception of contrast btw 2 adjacent areas of visual field
- informative feature (defines position of objects, perception of edge gives perception of contrast, is common across all species)