Chapter 3 Flashcards

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1
Q

Visual agnosia

A

An inability to identify objects visually even though they can be identified using other senses (eg. touch).

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2
Q

Perception

A

The processing of sensory information in such a way that it produces conscious experiences and guides action in the world.

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3
Q

Cornea

A

The outer tissue of the eye and the first layer that light passed through on its way to the back of the eye, where you’d put your contacts on.

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4
Q

Pupil

A

The space through which light passes on its way to the back of the eye; adjusted in size by the iris; to an observer the pupil appears black.

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5
Q

Iris

A

The tissue that surrounds the pupil and is responsible for the distinct colour of the eye.

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6
Q

Lens

A

The transparent tissue in the eye that refracts light and focuses it on the back of the eye.

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7
Q

Retina

A

The tissue at the back of the eye that contains light receptors.

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8
Q

Photoreceptors

A

Cells that transduce light energy into a neural signal.

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9
Q

Fovea

A

The region of the retina where photoreceptors are most densely packed.

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10
Q

Primary visual cortex

A

The area at the back of the brain that is primary responsible for the basic processing of visual information.

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11
Q

Retinotopic

A

A principle of organization of the primary visual cortex, whereby information falling on adjacent areas of the retina is processed in adjacent areas of the cortex. Visual processing is highly modular as this principle suggests.

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12
Q

Achromatopsia

A

A visual deficit characterized by inability to perceive colour because of damage to the area of the brain that processes colour information.

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13
Q

Akinetopsia (motion blindness)

A

An inability to perceive the motion of objects.

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14
Q

Ventral (“what”) pathway

A

The stream of visual processing in the brain that is responsible for determining object shape, colour, and meaningful identity.

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15
Q

Dorsal (“where”) pathway

A

The stream of visual processing in the brain that is responsible for determining object location and motion, and which guides action.

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16
Q

Feedforward sweep

A

The propagation of visual information from the primary visual cortex down the “what” and “where” pathways.

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17
Q

Re-entrant (feedback) connections

A

Connections between brain areas that allow the propagation of visual information from the endpoints of the “what” and “where” pathways back to the primary visual cortex.

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18
Q

Bottom-up influences

A

The feedforward influence of the external environment on the resulting perceptual experience.

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19
Q

Top-down influences

A

The feedback of context and the individual’s knowledge, expectations, and high-level goals on perceptual experience. Moves quicker than bottom-up influences.

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20
Q

Fusiform face area (FFA)

A

An area in the inferior temporal cortex that is responsible for the conscious recognition of faces. Located in the inferior temporal cortex.

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21
Q

Prosopagnosia

A

A selective deficit in the ability to consciously recognize faces resulting from damage to the FFA.

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22
Q

Percept

A

The visual experience of sensory information.

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23
Q

Parahippocampal place area (PPA)

A

An area in the ventral stream that is responsible for the conscious recognition of places.

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24
Q

Extrastriate body area (EBA)

A

An area in the ventral stream that is involved in processing non-facial body parts.

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25
Q

Pattern recognition

A

The ability to recognize an event as an instance of a particular category of event.

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26
Q

Memory trace

A

The trace that an experience leaves behind in memory.

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27
Q

Hoffding function

A

The process whereby an experience makes contact with a memory trace, resulting in recognition.

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28
Q

Feature detection theory

A

Detecting patterns on the basis of their features or properties.

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29
Q

Pandemonium

A

A model of pattern recognition consisting of three levels: data, cognitive demons, and decision demons.

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30
Q

Feature

A

A component or characteristic of a stimulus.

31
Q

Cognitive demon

A

A feature detector in the pandemonium model that decides whether the stimulus matches its pattern.

32
Q

Decision demon

A

A feature detector in the pandemonium model that determines which pattern is being recognized.

33
Q

Contrast energy

A

The relative ease with which a stimulus can be distinguished from the background against which it is displayed.

34
Q

Squelching

A

The tendency of the nervous system to inhibit the processing of unclear features.

35
Q

Recognition by components (RBC)

A

The theory that we recognize objects by breaking them down into their fundamental geometric shapes. We are actually more efficient at recognizing more complex objects than less complex ones.

36
Q

Geons

A

The set of 36 basic three-dimensional shapes from which all real-world objects can be constructed.

37
Q

Prototypical

A

Representative of a pattern or category

38
Q

Template-matching theory

A

The hypothesis that the process of pattern recognition relies on the use of templates or prototypes.

39
Q

Multiple-trace memory model

A

Traces of each individual experience are recorded in memory. No matter how often a particular kind of event is experienced, a memory trace of the individual event is recorded each time (Hintzman).

40
Q

Probe

A

A “snapshot” of information in primary memory that can activate memory traces in secondary memory.

41
Q

Echo

A

When a probe goes out from primary to secondary memory, memory traces are activated to the extent that they are similar to the probe.

42
Q

Context effects

A

The change in perception of a visual component of a scene based on the surrounding information in the scene and the observer’s prior knowledge.

43
Q

Moon illusion

A

The tendency for the moon to appear different in size depending on whether it is near the horizon or high in the night sky.

44
Q

Holistic

A

Focusing on the entire configuration of an object (Gestalt).

45
Q

Atomistic

A

Focusing on the components of objects.

46
Q

Grouping

A

The combination of individual components to form a percept of a whole object.

47
Q

Organizational principles

A

The rules (or laws) that govern the perception of whole objects or events from a collection of individual components or features.

48
Q

Principle of experience

A

Visual components are grouped together based on the prior experience and knowledge of the observer.

49
Q

Apparent-distance theory

A

An explanation for the moon illusion based on the idea that the perceived size of the moon depends on the assumptions the visual system makes about the distance of the moon from the observer.

50
Q

Principle of similarity

A

Visual features that have a high degree of visual similarity are combined.

51
Q

Principle of proximity

A

Visual components that are close to one another are grouped to form a whole.

52
Q

Principle of symmetry

A

Symmetrical lines are perceived as going together.

53
Q

Principle of parallelism

A

Lines that are parallel or similar in orientation are perceived as going together.

54
Q

Figure-ground segmentation (segregation)

A

The separation of a scene such that one component of the scene becomes a figural object and the other components become the backdrop.

55
Q

Denotivity

A

The degreased to which an object is meaningful and familiar to an individual observer.

56
Q

Jumbled word effect

A

The ability to read words in sentences even when some of the letters are mixed up.

57
Q

Word superiority effect

A

It’s easier to identify a letter (ex. p) when it appears in a word (warp) than if it appears alone.

58
Q

Empirical theory of colour vision

A

The theory that colour perception is influenced by prior experience with the way different illuminations affect colour (the dress).

59
Q

Optic ataxia

A

A condition characterized by a deficit in the ability to successfully reach for objects, especially when they are presented in the periphery of vision, with unimpaired ability to identify them. Involves the dorsal (“where”) pathway.

60
Q

Theory of ecological optics

A

The proposition that perception results from direct contact of sensory organs with stimulus energy emanating from the environment and that an important goal of perception is action.

61
Q

Ambient optical array (AOA)

A

All the visual information that is present at a particular point of view.

62
Q

Transformation

A

Gibson’s term for the changes in the optical information hitting the eye that occur as the observer moves through the environment.

63
Q

Optic flow field

A

The continually changing (i.e. transforming) pattern of information that results from the movement of either objects or the observer through the environment.

64
Q

Gradient of texture density

A

Incremental changes in the pattern on a surface, which provide information about the slant of the surface.

65
Q

Topological breakage

A

The discontinuity created by the intersection of two textures. Gives us information about the edges of objects.

66
Q

Scatter-reflection

A

The degree to which light scatters when reflected from a surface.

67
Q

Intentional binding effect

A

Events that take place after one has taken some action are perceived as occurring sooner than they actually did.

68
Q

Principle of common movement

A

Visual features that move simultaneously and follow the same path are perceived to form a whole entity.

69
Q

Modality appropriateness hypothesis

A

The hypothesis that different senses are better at processing different stimuli, and therefore that different sensory modalities dominate at different times, depending on circumstances.

70
Q

Visual prepotency effect

A

The hypothesis that the visual system dominates the other senses when it comes to perceptual processing.

71
Q

McGurk effect

A

The auditory experience of the syllable “da” when seeing a mouth silently saying “ga” while at the same time hearing a voice say “ba”.

72
Q

Drumsticks/Arms Crossed Experiment

A

People can determine which hand was touched first (when touched quickly in succession) when their hands or drumsticks are on the same side of their body as the hand they are in. If their arms or drumsticks were crossed performance went down.

73
Q

Multimodal Perception

A

At least two or more of our senses are actively perceiving the world around us and they can influence each other (Eating different coloured food can make us feel sick, McGurk effect).

74
Q

Rods vs. cones

A

Cones are sensitive to colour and really good for detail. Rods are better for night vision. Cones come online really quickly but rods take time.