Chapter 3

Question 1

Akinetopsia

Answer 1

a disruption of movement perception, with other aspects of perception still intact.

Question 2

Cornea

Answer 2

Transparent tissue at the front of each eye that plays an important role in focusing the incoming light.

Question 3

Lens

Answer 3

Transparent tissue located near the front of each eye that plays a role in focusing the incoming light. Muscles control degree of curvature of the lens, allowing the eye to form a sharp image on the retina.

Question 4

Retina

Answer 4

The light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eyeball.

Question 5

Parallel Processing

Answer 5

System in which many different steps are going on simultaneously.

Question 6

Rods (Photoreceptor)

Answer 6

Photoreceptor that is sensitive to very low light levels but that is unable to discriminate hues and that has relatively poor acuity.

Question 7

Cones (Photoreceptor)

Answer 7

Photoreceptor that is able to discriminate hues and that has high acuity. Concentrated in retina’s fovea and become less frequent in the visual periphery.

Question 8

Acuity

Answer 8

Ability to discern fine detail.

Question 9

Fovea

Answer 9

Center of retina and the region on the eye in which acuity is best; when a person looks at an object, he or she is lining up that object with the fovea.

Question 10

Bipolar Cells

Answer 10

Type of neuron in eye. Receive input from photoreceptors and transmit their output to the retinal ganglion cells.

Question 11

Ganglion Cells

Answer 11

Neuron in eye. Receive input from the bipolar cells, then the axons of the ganglion cells gather together to form the optic nerve, carrying information back to the LGN.

Question 12

Optic Nerve

Answer 12

Bundle of nerve fibers, formed from the retina’s ganglion cells, that carries information from the eyeball to the brain.

Question 13

Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN)

Answer 13

Way station in the thalamus that is the first destination for visual information sent from the eyeball to the brain.

Question 14

Lateral Inhibition

Answer 14

Pattern in which cells, when stimulated, inhibit the activity of neighboring cells.

Question 15

Edge Enhancement

Answer 15

Process created by lateral inhibition in which the neurons in the visual system five exaggerated responses to edges of surfaces.

Question 16

Center-Surround Cells

Answer 16

Neuron in visual system that has a donut-shaped receptive field. Stimulation in center of receptive field has one effect on the cell; stimulation in surrounding ring has the opposite effect.

Question 17

Area V1

Answer 17

Site on Occipital Lobe where axons from the LGN first reach the cerebral cortex. It is the location at which information about the visual world first reaches the brain.

Question 18

Binding Problem

Answer 18

Task of reuniting the various elements of a scene, elements that are initially addressed by different systems in different parts of the brain.

Question 19

Spatial Position

Answer 19

Part of the brain registering shape is separate from the parts registering color or motion (just an example).

Question 20

Conjunction Errors

Answer 20

correctly detecting the features present in a visual display, but making mistakes about how the features are bound together.

Question 21

Figure/Ground Organization

Answer 21

Determination of what is the figure and what is the ground.

Question 22

Parvocellular Cells

Answer 22

Cells in the LGN that are specialized for the perception of patterns.

Question 23

Magnocellular Cells

Answer 23

Cells in the LGN specialized for the perception of motion and depth.

Question 24

What System

Answer 24

System of visual circuits and pathways leading from visual cortex to temporal lobe and especially involved in object recognition.

Question 25

Where System

Answer 25

System of visual circuits and pathways leading from visual cortex to the parietal lobe and especially involved in the spatial localization of objects and in the coordination of movements.

Question 26

Binocular Disparity

Answer 26

Distance cue based on differences between the two eyes’ views of the world. Less pronounced the further away an object is.

Question 27

Interposition

Answer 27

Blocking of my view of one object by another object.

Question 28

Neural Synchrony

Answer 28

Pattern of firing by neurons in which neurons in one brain area fire at the same time as neurons in another area; the brain seems to use this pattern as an indication that the neurons in different areas are firing in response to the same stimulus.

Question 29

Motion Parallax

Answer 29

Depth cue based on the fact that as an observer moves, the retinal images of nearby objects move more rapidly than do the retinal images of objects farther away.

Question 30

Necker Cube

Answer 30

Two-dimensional figure drawn that can be perceived as a cube viewed from above or as a cube viewed from below.

Question 31

Unconscious Inference

Answer 31

Steps that perceivers follow in order to take one aspect of the visual scene into account in judging another aspect.

Question 32

Monocular Distance Cues

Answer 32

Features of the visual stimulus that indicate distance even if the stimulus is viewed with only one eye.

Question 33

Pictorial Cues

Answer 33

Patterns that can be represented on a flat surface to create the sense of a three-dimensional object.

Question 34

Single-Cell Recording

Answer 34

Specific cells for specific functions of the body.

Question 35

Parallel Processing

Answer 35

Ability of the brain to process incoming stimuli of differing quality.

Question 36

Serial Processing

Answer 36

Ability of the brain to process one stimuli at a time with incoming information.

Question 37

Form Perception

Answer 37

Shape and size of objects.

Question 38

Object Recognition

Answer 38

Identification of objects.