Chapter 2 - Perception Part 1 (Start - Perception & Action)

Question 1

What is the difference between perception and sensation?

Answer 1

Sensation refers to a PASSIVE process of bringing information from the outside world into the body and to the brain.

Perception is an ACTIVE process. Refers to the ACTIVE organization and interpretation of sensory information into something meaningful.

Question 2

What are the 2 different types of theories we use to recognise patterns?

Answer 2

Templates and Features.

Question 3

According to the template theory, what is a template?

Answer 3

Forms or patterns stored in long-term memory corresponding to each of the visual patterns we know.

Pattern is recognized when its template is matched to the stimulus input. -> provides closest match

Question 4

List some pros and cons of using the template theory to recognise patterns.

Answer 4

Pros:
- Common-sense; a rather intuitive method

Cons:

• Matching will fail even with minor differences between the template and the input.
• Ill-equipped to account for the flexibility shown by people when recognizing alphabetical and numerical symbols –> becomes obvious when the stimulus belongs to an ill-defined category where no single template will suffice (eg building)

Question 5

What are some assumptions you can make to improve template theories?

Answer 5

1) Assume that the visual stimulus undergoes a normalization process.
2) Assume that there is more than one template for each letter and digit.

Question 6

How does the assumption that visual stimulus undergoes normalization help in pattern recognition?

Answer 6

Helps you to produce an internal representation of the visual stimulus in a standard position.

Makes you search for a matching template.

Question 7

However, by assuming that visual stimulus undergoes normalization, are there any things you might be discounting?

Answer 7

You overlook the possibility that your visual stimulus might not always be consistent with your template.
Not possible for whatever stimulus you experience to always be consistent with your template.

Question 8

With this (cannot assume normalization) being said, what other assumption should you make to make template theories more effective?

Answer 8

Should assume that there is more than one template for each letter and digit.

Question 9

What are the advantages of assuming that there is more than one template for each letter and digit?

Answer 9

Permits accurate matching of stimulus and templates across a wider range of stimuli

Question 10

Does considering the fact that each digit and letter has more than one template makes the template theory more complicated?

Answer 10

Yes.

Question 11

What assumption is held by most feature theorists?

Answer 11

Pattern recognition first involves specific processing and is then followed by more global or general processing to integrate information from the features.

Question 12

How did Navon prove that global processing CAN precede more specific processing?

Answer 12

Presented observers with stimuli (a big S formed with small S or small H or big H formed with small H and small S) - 4 conditions.

Found that performance speed with the small letters was greatly slowed when the large letter differed from the small letters. In contrast, decision speed with the large letter was not influenced by the nature of the small latter. In this case, we often see the forest/global structure/big letter before the tree/specific structure/small letter.

Question 13

What did Neisser do that helped to lend support to the feature theory?

Answer 13

2 lists of non-words with a common target letter Z. For the first list, Z is beside unrounded alphabets that consisted of straight lines like Z itself, whereas in the second list, Z is beside unrounded alphabets.

Compared time taken to detect letter Z. Performance was faster in the latter condition because the distractors shared fewer features with target letter Z.

Question 14

What types of cells did Hubel and Wiesel study?

Answer 14

Cells in parts of the occipital cortex (at the back of the brain) associated with the early stages of visual processing.

Question 15

What did Hubel and Wiesel observe?

Answer 15

Some cells responded in 2 different ways to a spot of light depending on which part of the cell was affected.

• An “on” response with an increased rate of firing when the light was on.
• An “off” response with the light causing a decreased rate of firing.

Question 16

What did Hubel and Wiesel discover?

Answer 16

There are 2 types of neurons in the primary visual cortex: Simple cells and complex cells.

Question 17

What are the traits possessed by simple cells?

Answer 17

• Have “on” and “off” regions with each region being rectangular in shape.
• These stimuli respond most to dark bars in a light field, light bars in a dark field, or straight edges between areas of light and dark.
• Any given simple cell only responds strongly to stimuli in a particular orientation

Responses of these cells could be useful and relevant to feature detection.

Question 18

What are the traits possessed by complex cells?

Answer 18

• Responds to moving contours

- We have more of these than simple cells.

Question 19

The responsiveness of end-stopped cells depends on __________ and ___________.

Answer 19

stimulus length, orientation.

Question 20

Pattern recognition involves both top-down processes and bottom-up processes. True or false?

Answer 20

True.

Question 21

Use the word superiority effect to explain how pattern recognition involves top-down processes.

Answer 21

WSE: The finding that a target letter is detected faster when presented in words than in non-words. Suggests that information about the word presented can facilitate identification of its letters.

Top-down: Information about the word presented can facilitate identification of the letters.

Question 22

What is the pseudoword superiority effect?

Answer 22

Letters are easier to identify when presented in pseudowords than in nonwords.

Question 23

What patterns do you observe in medical diagnosis when it comes to pattern recognition?

Answer 23

Experts are more likely than non-experts to use implicit reasoning, whereas the non-experts made more use of analytic reasoning. However, other evidence indicates that medical experts often start with fast, automatic processes but cross-check their diagnoses with analytic ones.

Question 24

Explain interactive activation model and top-down activation.

Answer 24

Negative example: If it’s a non-word, there’s no top-down effect, and hence words won’t be activated first before letters are activated.

Question 25

What are some challenges one would face in object recognition?

Think:

• Number
• Camera lens and Facebook 360 function.
• Do all objects look the same?
• What did Gestalt psychologists come up with about perceptual segregation?

Answer 25

1) Numerous objects in the visual environment, many of which overlap, and are overlapped by other objects.
2) We recognize an object over a wide range of viewing distances and orientations.
3) Objects vary greatly in their visual properties.
4) Figure-ground segregation: You have to figure out which part of the visual field is the figure (more important), and which part is the ground (less important).

Question 26

What are the main law associated with figure-ground segregation, and what are some examples of this law?
Explain the main law and these examples.

recall PREGNANT.

Answer 26

Law of Pragnanz: The notion that the simplest possible organization of the visual environment is what is perceived.

1) Law of Proximity: VIsual elements tend to be grouped together if they are close to each other.
2) Law of Similarity: Elements will be grouped together perceptually if they are similar.
3) Law of Good Continuation: We group together those elements requiring the fewest changes or interruptions in straight or smoothly curving lines.
4) Law of Closure: Missing lines are filled in to complete the figure.

Question 27

Why is the figure more important than the ground?

Answer 27

The figure is perceived as having distinct form or shape, whereas the ground lacks form.
Figure is perceived in front of the ground, and the contour separating the figure from the ground belongs to the figure.

Question 28

Does figure-ground segregation require past experience (at least what the Gestalt psychologists suggested)?

Is there any evidence to show this?

Answer 28

No, depends very little on past experience and knowledge –> hence de-emphasized the role of past experience and knowledge.

When observers were presented with atypical shape contours that were hard to interpret, they showed rapid and flexible learning, which led to a rapid improvement in performance.

Question 29

What did the Gestalt psychologists assume about figure-ground segregation?

Hint: If little past experience is needed do you think it’s more innate or learned?

Answer 29

Occurs very early in visual processing and always precedes object recognition.

Question 30

What did Irving Biederman argue in his recognition-by-components theory? What did he also assume that was found to be incorrect?

Answer 30

Suggested that all objects consist of basic shapes called geons (geometric ions).

Approx 36 geons which can be arranged in limitless combinations.

Object recognition is viewpoint-invariant.

Question 31

While it can be said that we are most sensitive to those visual features of an object directly relevant to identifying its geons, is there any evidence to show that this isn’t always the case?

Answer 31

1) Himba: a seminomadic tribe in NW Namibia.
- Debunks the notion that we develop sensitivity to visual features of an object as these people have very little exposure to manufactured objects.
- However, they are still as sensitive to geon-relevant information as individuals living in the developed world.
- What seems to matter is exposure to a great variety of naturally-occurring objects in the world around us.

2) Intact figures with degraded line drawings either preserving or not preserving parts of the contour providing information about the concavities.
- Concavities in an object’s contour provide especially useful information.
- Object recognition was much harder to achieve when parts of the contour providing information about concavities were omitted than when other parts of the contour were deleted.

Question 32

Illustrate how object recognition involves both top-down processing and bottom-up processing.

Answer 32

BTU: Identify geons first, then you identify object –> strongly emphasised in object recognition

TD: Depends on factors such as expectation and knowledge are often important, especially when object recognition is difficult.

• Observers relied more on top-down processes if an animal picture is blurred as compared to when it is not blurred.
• Happened because there was less information for bottom-up processes to make use of with the blurred photographs.

Question 33

Having established that object recognition can be both viewpoint-variant and viewpoint-invariant, when are viewpoint-invariant mechanisms used?

Answer 33

When object recognition involves making easy discriminations.

Question 34

When will viewpoint-variant mechanisms be used?

Answer 34

When object recognition requires difficult within-category discriminations.

Question 35

What did Tarr et al obtain with regard to the point about object recognition being both viewpoint-invariant and viewpoint-variant?

Answer 35

Considered recognition of the same 3D objects under various conditions.

Performance was close to viewpoint-invariant when the object recognition task was easy (and detailed feedback was provided after each trial). However, it was viewpoint-variant when the object recognition task was difficult (no feedback given after the task).

Question 36

Which brain areas are activated during visual processing?

Answer 36

Visual processing proceeds through several areas in the occipital lobes at the back of the brain and finishes up in the inferotemporal cortex, which is of crucial importance in visual object recognition.

Question 37

What do neurons vary in?

Answer 37

Invariance or tolerance.

Question 38

What does it mean when a neuron possesses high tolerance, and what does it mean when a neuron possesses low tolerance?

Answer 38

High: Neurons responding almost equally strongly to a given object regardless of its orientation, size and so on.

Low: Neurons responding most strongly to an object in a specific orientation or size.

Question 39

Is there any link between a neuron’s tolerance and the invariance of viewpoints adopted during object recognition?

Answer 39

Inferotemporal neurons having high invariance or tolerance seem consistent with theories claiming that object recognition is viewpoint-invariant.
(High tolerance -> invariant)

Inferotemporal neurons having low invariance or tolerance seem consistent with theories claiming that object recognition is viewpoint-variant.
(Low tolerance -> variant)

Question 40

Can object recognition be both viewpoint-invariant and viewpoint-variant at the same time?

Answer 40

Yes.

Observers saw pairs of simple 3D objects formed from connected cylinders. Task was to decided whether the 2 images show the same object or different objects.

When 2 objects were different, they could differ in terms of a viewpoint-invariant feature and/or viewpoint-dependent features.

Key finding was that observers used both kinds of information. Suggests that we make use of all available information in object recognition rather than confining ourselves to only some of the information.

Question 41

What is agnosia?

Answer 41

When one cannot recognise objects despite information reaching the visual cortex.

These people have no problems with their eyesight and visual cortex, but they cannot recognise objects.

Question 42

What are the 2 kinds of agnosia?

Answer 42

Apperceptive agnosia: Object recognition is impaired due to deficits in perceptual processing.
(cannot perceive)

Associative agnosia: Perception is fine, but there is difficulty retrieving knowledge about objects from long-term memory. (cannot retrieve_

Apperceptive –> cannot perceive
Associative –> cannot retrieve.

Question 43

The problems with object recognition occur at a(n) ________ of processing in apperceptive agnosia than in associative agnosia.

earlier or later?

Answer 43

Earlier

maybe just think of it as you need to perceive before you retrieve. perceiving would thus be an earlier stage.

Question 44

How do we distinguish between apperceptive agnosia and associative agnosia?

Answer 44

1) Assess patients’ ability to copy objects they can’t recognise
- Can copy: Associative agnosia
- Cannot copy: Apperceptive agnosia

2) Gollin picture test: patients are presented with increasingly complete drawings of an object.
- Apperceptive agnosia patients would require more drawings than healthy individuals to identify the objects.

Question 45

While many patients with apperceptive agnosia have problems at early stages of perceptual processing, are there any exceptions which show that the distinction between apperceptive and associative agnosia is oversimplified?

Eg of early stage:
Studying a patient (SA), a hospital clerical worker with apperceptive agnosia.

• Had great difficulties in shape discrimination and in copying complex workings.

Answer 45

HJA: A male patient with apperceptive agnosia

• Had problems at a later stage of processing.
• Performed well on tasks involving shape discrimination and copying drawings, but found it very hard to integrate visual information
• Able to cope with recognizing many common objects, if they are standing alone.
• However, if they are placed together, he finds recognition more difficult.

Question 46

CH is a 63 y.o woman suffering from apperceptive agnosia. She had to decide whether a piece of fruit was present in photographs of everyday scenes, a task on which her performance was poor. Inspection of CH’s eye movements revealed that she failed to focus on areas most likely to contain a piece of fruit. What does this say about some patients with apperceptive agnosia?

Answer 46

They have severe problems with top-down processes based on knowledge. In this case, CH couldn’t use top-down knowledge of the structure of visual scenes to guide her eye movements.

Question 47

What are the stages of object recognition?

Answer 47

1) Form and shape processing
- Many apperceptive agnosics experience problems here.
2) Integrating or combining information about an object’s features
- Some apperceptive agnosics start experiencing problems here.
3) Observers gaining access to semantic knowledge about objects after they’ve gained a detailed structural description of those objects.
- Some patients with associative agnosia face problems here.

Question 48

How does face recognition differ from the recognition of other objects?

Answer 48

Faces, compared to objects, are processed more holistically. This is done because information about specific features of a face can be unreliable, and also because facial features can change.

Question 49

What is the part-whole effect? Use an example (Farah, 1994) to explain it.

Answer 49

Part-whole effect: Memory for a face part is more accurate when presented with its whole face rather than on its own.

• Participants were presented with drawings of faces or houses, and associated a name with each face and each house.
• After that, they were presented with whole faces and houses or with only a single feature.

Recognition performance for face parts was much better when the whole face was presented rather than only a single feature. In contrast, recognition performance for house features was very similar in whole and single-feature conditions.

Question 50

What is prosopagnosia?

Answer 50

Popularly known as “face blindness”

A condition mostly caused by brain damage in which there is a severe impairment in face recognition with little or no impairment in face recognition. Suggests that object and face recognition tap separate systems and brain areas.

Question 51

What are the possible reasons that prosopagnosics have poor face recognition but reasonable object recognition?

Answer 51

1) They have suffered damage to a part of the brain specialized for processing faces.
2) Face recognition is simply harder than object recognition.

Question 52

What are the possible reasons that prosopagnosics have poor face recognition but reasonable object recognition?

Answer 52

1) They have suffered damage to a part of the brain specialized for processing faces.
2) Face recognition is simply harder than object recognition. Face recognition involves distinguishing among members of the same category, whereas object recognition only involves identifying the relevant category.

Question 53

What is the brain area associated with face processing?

Answer 53

Fusiform face area. Located in the inferotemporal cortex.

Question 54

What did Bruce and Young propose in their face recognition theory?

Answer 54

When we look at a familiar face, we first access familiarity information followed by personal information (eg person’s job), followed by the person’s name.

Familiarity information -> personal information -> person’s name

Question 55

What did this modified theory propose about the face recognition theory?

Answer 55

1) Observers decide whether the stimulus they are looking at is a face (face detection)

2) It is then matched to a memory representation (face memory)
- Structural encoding of the face can also be used for recognition of facial expression and gender discrimination.

Question 56

Complete these sentences about some assumptions made in the face recognition theory.

a) _________ stage of processing involves deciding whether the stimulus at which we are looking at is a face or not.
b) _________ processing routes are involved in the processing of facial ______ and facial __________
c) We retrieve personal information about a person _____ we recall their name.

Answer 56

a) Initial
b) Separate, identity and expression.
c) before we recall their name

Question 57

Is it possible for an individual with face blindness to be good at facial identity and poor at identifying facial expression, and vice versa?

Answer 57

Yes. Supports 2nd assumption.

Question 58

Young et al (1985) asked people to keep a diary record of problems they experienced in facial recognition. There were 1008 incidents in total, but people never reported putting a name to a face while knowing nothing about the person. In contrast, there were about 190 instances where someone remembered a reasonable amount of information about a person but not their name.

What assumption does this piece of evidence support?

Answer 58

Supports the assumption that we retrieve personal information about a person before we recall their name.

Question 59

However, are there any instances whereby the 3rd assumption can be debunked?

Answer 59

Yes. 3rd assumption found to be too rigid. Frequent exposure to names of close colleagues will allow you to name them faster than you can retrieve personal information about them.

However, despite this, do take note that it is typically harder to retrieve someone’s name than to retrieve personal information about them.

Question 60

Genetic factors play no role in determining one’s recognition ability. True or false?

Answer 60

False.

Question 61

Visual perception relies on _________ processes whereas visual imagery relies on __________ processes.

Answer 61

Bottom-up; top-down.

Question 62

What is visual imagery?

Answer 62

Forming a mental representation of an object in the absence of the relevant stimulus in the environment.

Perception: rooted in real life.
Imagery: exists only in your mind.

so hallucination is visual imagery.

Question 63

While people often do not confuse visual perception with visual imagery, there are still individuals with eye disease who suffer from a condition whereby they form vivid and detailed visual hallucinations that are mistaken for visual perception. What is this condition?

Answer 63

Charles-Bonnet Syndrome

Question 64

What did Kosslyn propose and assume in his perceptual anticipation theory?

Answer 64

The mechanism used to generate images involve processes used to anticipate perceiving stimuli.

Hence, this statement assumes that there are close similarities between visual perception and visual imagery.

Question 65

VIsual images are like ________________; they are like pictures or drawings in that the objects and parts of objects contained in them are arranged in space. Information within an image is organized spatially in the _____ way as information within a percept.

Answer 65

depictive representations.

same.

Question 66

What is the “visual buffer”? Which areas are particularly important to it?

Answer 66

Refers to the brain areas in which the depictive representations are formed, among which Areas 17 and 18 are of special importance.

Question 67

Where are depictive representations created at?

Answer 67

Early visual cortex in occipital area at the back of the brain. Consists of the primary visual cortex (BA17) and seconday visual cotex (BA18).

Question 68

What are the differences in visual buffer processing between perception and imagery?

Answer 68

Perception: Visual buffer processing depend primarily on EXTERNAL STIMULATION.

Imagery: VIsual images in the visual buffer depend on non-pictorial, propositional information stored in long-term memory.

Question 69

Visual long-term memories of shape are stored in ___________, whereas __________ representations are stored in the posterior parietal cortex.

Answer 69

inferior temporal lobe, spatial

Question 70

What is the difference between Kosslyn’s perceptual anticipation theory and Pylyshyn’s propositional theory?

Answer 70

K: Mechanisms used to generate images are used to anticipate perceiving stimuli.

P: Performance on mental imagery tasks does not involve depictive or pictorial representations. Instead, what is involved in tacit knowledge (knowledge not generally accessible to conscious awareness)

Question 71

If visual perception and visual imagery involve similar processes, they should influence each other.

_________ effects if the content of perception and image is the same

_________ effects if the content of perception and image is different

Answer 71

Facilitative

Interferecnce

Question 72

What is binocular rivalry?

Answer 72

Binocular rivalry
When two different stimuli are presented one to each eye, only one is consciously perceived at any given moment.
If one stimuli is presented shortly beforehand, that increases the chances it will be perceived in the binocular rivalry situation.

Question 73

Are there any findings to support the presence of facilitative effect?

Answer 73

Observers initially perceived a green vertical grating or a red horizontal grating. They were then later subject to the binocular rivalry condition. The facilitation effect was obtained and was greatest when the orientation of the grating in both conditions were the same.
Even when initial single grating was imagined rather than perceived, a similar facilitation pattern was observed. Suggests that visual imagery involves similar processes to visual perception.

Question 74

Are there any findings to support the presence of interference effect?

Answer 74

Participants rated the vividness of visual or auditory images under control conditions (no additional task) or while performing another task involving visual/spatial processes (counting aloud repeatedly from 1 to 10).
The visual/spatial task reduced the vividness of visual imagery more than auditory imagery because some of the same mechanisms were involved on the visual/spatial task and visual imagery task.

Question 75

What are the 3 factors that influence whether early visual cortex was activated during visual imagery?

Answer 75

1) The nature of the task: Imagery tasks requiring participants to inspect fine details of their visual images were much more likely to be associated with activity in the early visual cortex than were other imagery tasks.

2) Sensitivity of brain-imaging technique
- More sensitive technique (eg fMRI) –> more evidence that early visual cortex was involved in visual imagery if such tools are used as compared to
- Less sensitive technique (eg PET)

3) Shape-based vs scanning tasks:
- Early visual cortex more likely to be activated during visual imagery when the task required processing of an object’s shape than when you’re simply asked to imagine an object in motion
- Can imply that spatial processing and visual processing involve different brain areas.

Question 76

Since activation in early visual cortex is associated with visual imagery, you can say that activation in early visual cortex is ESSENTIAL for visual imagery.
- True or false?

Answer 76

FALSE.

Question 77

However, what can be done to produce a causal relationship between activation in early visual cortex and visual imagery?

Recall: Kosslyn and lines

Answer 77

Participants memorized a stimulus containing 4 sets of stripes, after which they formed a visual image of it and compared the stripes in terms of their relative width.

Immediately before performing the task, some participants received rTMS applied to area 17. rTMS significantly impaired performance on the imagery task, thus showing that it is causally involved in imagery.

Question 78

Is there any evidence to show that the processes involved in visual imagery closely resemble those in visual perception?

Answer 78

Participants were presented with flickering black-and-white, bow-tie shaped stimuli with a horizontal or a vertical orientation in the perceptual condition. If you’re allocated to the imagery condition, all you have to imagine the bow tie in a horizontal orientation or a vertical orientation.

Found that for both conditions, there was more activation within early visual cortex in the vertical direction when the stimulus was in the vertical orientation. Same case for horizontal also.

Question 79

If you compare the patterns of activation across most of the brain in visual perception and imagery, you would find that there is extensive overlap in the brain areas associated with perception and imagery. However, which 2 brain areas are particularly pertinent in this aspect?

Answer 79

Frontal and parietal areas since the cognitive processes involved in both imagery and perception are similar.

Question 80

Which brain areas activated during imagery are also activated during perception?

Answer 80

Temporal and occipital regions.

Like let’s say event A is imagery, then event B is perception. A intersect B = temporal and occipital regions. –> visual imagery involves only some of the processes involved in visual perception.

Question 81

Which brain areas activated during imagery are also activated during perception?

Answer 81

Temporal and occipital regions.

Like let’s say event A is imagery, then event B is perception. A intersect B = temporal and occipital regions. –> visual imagery involves only some of the processes involved in visual perception.

Estimated that visual imagery tasks are associated with activation in about 2/3 of the brain areas activated during visual perception.

Question 82

Complete this sentence.

Perception necessarily involves more ___________ organization than imagery, and imagery relies more heavily on _____ and ________ processes.

Answer 82

low-level organisation
memory
top-down

Question 83

What did Kosslyn find when he asked participants to memorize a map of an island with 7 locations?

Answer 83

Time taken to move in mental map corresponds almost perfectly to the physical distance on the map.

Good correspondence between spatial processes in the real world and in mental imagery.

Question 84

When students were asked to imagine a cube balanced on one corner and then cut across the equator, what did the say the shape of the cube was, and what is its actual shape?

What does this suggest about imagery and perception?

Answer 84

Pyramid
Hexagon

Imagery does not resemble perception. Images often consist of simplified structural descriptions omitting important aspects of the object being imagined.

Question 85

There are patient with impaired visual imagery but intact visual perception. Why does this occur?

With that being said, what do such people do when asked to draw objects?

Answer 85

They suffer damage to the left temporal lobe.
Happens because much of our knowledge of concepts, including objects, are stored there.

Can draw the objects when you show them a picture of it. So if you show them a picture of an iPhone they can copy it.

But if you tell them “draw an iPhone for me” without showing them a picture of it, chances are that they cannot draw anything out. Poor at drawing objects from memory. Recall that visual imagery relies quite a fair bit on what’s in your long-term memory.

Question 86

Where are visual images generated from?

Answer 86

information stored in temporal lobes.

Question 87

What is Anton’s syndrome?

Answer 87

A condition in which blind patients mistakenly believe that visual imagery is actually visual perception.

Intact visual imagery but impaired visual perception.

Question 88

Which part of the brain is damaged in people with Anton’s syndrome?

Recall: Which part of the brain is essential for visual imagery?

Answer 88

Early visual cortex.

Question 89

When carrying out research on mental rotation, what was a key assumption made?

Is there strong support for this assumption?

Answer 89

If we use mental rotation, the time taken to decide whether 2 objects are identical will be longer if more rotation is required.

Yes, regardless of whether rotation was required in 2 or 3 dimensions.

Question 90

Why is mental rotation important?

Answer 90

• need good spatial processing to move successfully around the environment -> ability to perform mental rotation accurately and rapidly is an indication of such processing skills.

Question 91

Males are actually not better off than females when it comes to spatial ability even though some experiments may show otherwise. True/false?

Can practice allow females to perform on the same level as males?

Answer 91

True. Only very modest effects found actually.

Yes.

Question 92

In countries whereby there is a high level of gender equality, males and females perform equally well in tests of spatial ability. True or false?

Answer 92

FALSE.

Question 93

Use the hunter-gatherer theory to explain why there is a gender difference in mental rotation.

Answer 93

Last time men went out to hunt. Need good spatial ability to find their way back home. Women would need a different set of spatial skills in order to gather plant resources.

Question 94

Primary visual cortex in occipital region of the brain + temporal lobes (associated with the storage of object and concept information) -> they are involved in mental rotation.

True or false?

Answer 94

False.

Different types of processing needed.
The areas listed are required for visual imagery. As for mental rotation, since you need to use spatial and motor processing, the brain areas most associated with mental rotation should differ substantially from those areas used during visual imagery.

Question 95

By using transcranial magnetic stimulation, what can be said about the regions essential for efficient mental rotation?

Answer 95

Use TMS to produce brief inhibition of processing in the parietal region.

Found that performance on mental rotation tasks was impaired. Can say that parietal regions are essential for mental rotation

(perhaps, you can only come close to making a causal relationship between a function and a brain area by doing a ‘negative’ experiment? like you show that something is impaired when you inhibit something, and not that something is activated when you do something).

Question 96

Name another brain region involved during mental rotation.

Answer 96

Motor areas in the posterior frontal cortex.

Question 97

Name 2 types of visual illusions.

Answer 97

Muller-Lyer illusion: recall arrow

Ponzo illusion: train track

Question 98

How many visual systems do we have and what are their names?

Answer 98

Two.
Vision-for-perception system (VfP)
Vision-for-action system? (VfA)

Question 99

What is the function of the VfP system?

Answer 99

Used to identify objects (eg is this a cow or a chicken?)

Used when we look at visual illusions.

Question 100

What is the function of the VfA system?

Answer 100

Provides accurate information about our position wrt to an object. Used for visually guided action.

Question 101

There is a _____ or _____ pathway going to the __________ cortex corresponding to the vision-for-perception system.

Answer 101

“what” or ventral

inferotemporal

Recall this way. Since you need this system to help you recognize objects, you’ll probably ask yourself “WHAT is this thing?”

Question 102

There is a _______ or _______ pathway going to the ______ cortex corresponding to the vision-for-action system.

Answer 102

“where or how” or dorsal

Parietal

Recall this way. You need this system to find out your position wrt to an object. Will probably concern yourself with “HOW am i supposed to move from WHERE I am to there”

Question 103

Explain how both systems work using the Muller Lyer illusion.

Answer 103

Present people with 3D version of this illusion.

Expect that illusion will be present if the participants were asked which line was longer.
- involves the vision-for-perception system

However, illusion should disappear if they pointed at the end of one of the 2 figures, because that would involve the vision-for-action system.

Mean illusion effect: 22.4% (P) vs 5.5% (A) -> effect was 4 times greater with the VfP system than with the VfA system

Question 104

The 2 systems operate independently from each other. True or false?

Answer 104

False. They are not separated neatly and tidily, and there is considerable interchange of information between them

Question 105

How does the hollow-face illusion work?

Answer 105

A realistic hollow mask looks like a normal face. A target (a small magnet) was placed on the face mask or on a normal face.

Question 106

What are the 3 tasks that participants were assigned to?

Answer 106

1) Draw the target position (using the vision-for-perception system)
2) Make a fast flicking finger movement to the target (using the vision-for-action system)
3) Make a slow pointing movement to the target (involves both systems)

Question 107

Which conditions in the face mask experiment resulted in a strong illusory effect.

Answer 107

1 and 3

Drawing the target position and making a slow pointing movement to the target.

Question 108

Why would condition 3 result in a strong illusory effect even thought the VfA system was used?

Answer 108

If an action is preceded by conscious cognitive processes, it would involve the VFA and VFP systems.

Question 109

Distinguish between effective and appropriate grasping.

Answer 109

Use the vision for perception system.

Eg: can grasp a toothbrush EFFECTIVELY by its handles, but to do so appropriately, you have to access stored knowledge about what a toothbrush is before you hold it by its handle.

Question 110

Is there evidence to suggest that retrieval of knowledge using VfP is necessary for appropriate grasping.

Answer 110

Asking people to pick up various objects with handles.

Handle always pointed away from the participant, and the measure of interest was greatly impaired when they performed a learning task involving retrieving words from LTM at the same time.