Chapter 3: Visual Perception Flashcards

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1
Q

Cornea

A

Transparent tissue at the front of each eye, plays a key role in focusing incoming light

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2
Q

Lens

A

Works with cornea, muscles control the degree of curvature of the lens, allowing a sharp image to appear on the retina

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3
Q

Retina

A

Light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eyeball

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4
Q

Photoreceptors

A

Cells on retina that are sensitive to light and that respond when stimulated by light

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5
Q

Rods

A

Type of photoreceptors, sensitive to very low light levels but that are unable to discriminate hues and have poor acuity

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6
Q

Cones

A

Photoreceptors that are able to discriminate hues and have high acuity, concentrated in the retina’s fovea and become less frequent in visual periphery

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7
Q

Acuity

A

Ability to see fine detail

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8
Q

Fovea

A

Center of the retina, region of best acuity, looking at an object involves lining it up with the fovea

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9
Q

Bipolar cells

A

Type of neuron in the eye, receive input from photoreceptors and transmit output to the retinal ganglion cells

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10
Q

Ganglion cells

A

Type of neuron in the eye, receive input from bipolar cells and the axons of ganglion cells gather to form the optic nerve, carrying info back to LGN

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11
Q

Optic nerve

A

Bundle of nerve fibers, formed from the ganglion cells, carries info from eyes to brain

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12
Q

Lateral geniculate nucleus LGN

A

Located in the thalamus, an important 1st stop for visual information traveling into the brain

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13
Q

Lateral inhibition

A

A pattern in which cells, when stimulated, inhibt the activity of neighboring cells, creating edge enhancement

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14
Q

Edge enhancement

A

Process created by lateral inhibition in which the neurons give exaggerated responses to edges of surfaces

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15
Q

Mach bands

A

An illusion in which one perceives a region to be darker or lighter if its adjacent region is lighter or darker

Think about edge enhancement!

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16
Q

Single-cell recording

A

A technique for recording moment-by-moment activation level of individual neurons

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17
Q

Receptive field

A

Portion of visual field in which a cell within the visual system responds (fires)

Changes in position and orientation will change firing rate

18
Q

Center-surround cells

A

Type of neuron in the visual system that has a “donut shaped” receptive field

Stimulation of the center has a different impact than the “donut”

19
Q

Area V1

A

Site on the occipital lobe where axons from the lateral geniculate nucleus first reach the cerebral cortex

This site is the location at which info about the visual world first reaches the brain

20
Q

Parallel processing

A

System in which many steps are going on at the same time

Contrast with serial processing

21
Q

Serial processing

A

System in which one step happens at a time in succession with others

Contrast with parallel processing

22
Q

what system

A

The system of visual circuits and pathways leading from the visual cortex to the temporal lobe and especially involved in object recognition

23
Q

where system

A

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

24
Q

Binding problem

A

The problem of reuniting various elements of a scene, given that these elements are initally dealt with by different systems in the brain

25
Q

Neural synchrony

A

Pattern of neuron firing in which neurons in one brain area fire at the same time as neurons in another

Brain uses this pattern to solve the binding problem

26
Q

Conjunction errors

A

Error in perception in which a person correctly perceives what features are present but misperceives how they join together

27
Q

Necker cube

A

A classic reversible figure

A 2D drawing that can be perceived as a cube from two different angles

28
Q

Reversible (or ambiguous) figure

A

Drawings that can be readily perceived in more than one way

29
Q

Figure/ground organization

A

Processing step in which the perceiver determines which aspects of the stimulus belong to the central object and which aspects belong to the background

30
Q

Gestalt principles

A

Set of rules that govern how observers organize visual input

Some elements get put together, others are viewed as independent

31
Q

Visual features

A

The elements of a visual pattern–lines, curves, etc.

32
Q

Perceptual constancy

A

Achievement of perceiving the constant properties of objects in the world despite changes in the sensory info received

Size, shape, brightness

33
Q

Unconscious inference

A

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

34
Q

Distance cues

A

Info available to the perceiver that allows the perceiver to judge how far off a target object is

35
Q

Binocular disparity

A

A distance cue based on the differences between the two eyes’ views of the world

Difference becomes less pronounces as an object moves further from the person

36
Q

Monocular distance cues

A

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

36
Q

Pictoral cues

A

Patterns that can be represented on a flat surface to create the sense of a 3D object or scene

37
Q

Interposition

A

Monocular distance cue that relies on the fact that objects farther away are blocked from view by closer objects that happen to be in the viewer’s line of sight

38
Q

Linear perspective

A

A cue for distance based on the fact that parallel lines seem to converge as they get farther away from the viewer

39
Q

Motion parallax

A

A distance cue based on the fact that as an observer moves, retinal imgaes of nearby objects move more rapidly than those further away

40
Q

Optic flow

A

Pattern of change in the retinal image in which the image grows larger as the viewer approaches an object and shrinks as the viewer retreats from it