chapter 5- vision Flashcards
what is the law of specific nerve energies?
-the brain encodes information based on which neurons are active. its not based on the stimuli themselves but instead these neurons. if you touch your eyes you see things, if you stillmulated audio receptors you would hear
what is the centre of the iris
pupil
light enters centre of iris. the ____ . it is focused by ______ (adjustable) and ____ (not adjustable, and projected to the _____, the rear surface of the eye
pupil, … lens, cornea…retina
the visual system does not replicate images instead it
codes it by various neuronal activity
describe travel of light through the receptors
it first goes to receptors at the back of the eye, then to bipolar cells then to ganglion cells. the ganglion axons go to the back of the brain to the optic nerve. there are also amacrine cells which get information from bipolar cells and send it to other bipolar cells, amnicrane cells and ganglion cells
what do amnicrine cells do
refine the input to ganglion cells enabling certain ones to respond mainly to particular shapes, directions of movement, changes in lighting color and other visual features
what creates the blind spot
the axon join the optic nerve and it has no receptors
why don’t you notice blind spot
brain fills in the gap, anything in blind spot one eye is visible to the other eye
the fovea is the
central portion of the retina, tiny and specialized for acute specialized vision..it is so detailed because almost no blood vessels or ganglion axons
the more important part of seeing detail from the fovea is
each receptor connects to a single bipolar cell which connects to a single ganglion cell that has an axon to the brain
the ganglion cells in the fovea of humans are called
midget ganglion cells
why are they called midget ganglion cells
each is small and responds to a single cone , so each cone in the fovea has a direct route to the brain
vision is dominated by what you see in fovea because
midget ganglion cells provide 70 percent of the input to the brain
“eyes like a hawk” is a phrase because
birds have two fovea one looking ahead and one straight and their eyes are bigger
where do predatory birds have most receptors and why
top half because they spend most time looking down. input from bottom goes to top of the fovea
why can the brain not detect the exact location or shape of a peripheral light source? what advantage does it have instead
because towards to periphery more and more receptors converge onto bipolar and ganglion cells ..has sensitivity for dim light, perception of fainter things
in the peripehrary the ability to detect detail is limited by
inference by nearby objects
rods are in the ____ and for ___ light and cones are in the ___ and for ____
peripherally, dim…..fovea, color
are there more rods or cones ? what’s the ratio?
more rods..20:1
visible lights consists of electromagnetic radiation within the range
less than 400nm to more than 700nm
why do we call the wavelengths light
the receptors in our eyes are tuned to detecting them
what does trichromatic theory/young helmholts theory say about how we see color
we perceive color through the relative rates of response by three kinds of cones, each one maximally sensitive to a different set of wavelengths
how did hemholtz decide on three?
people could match any color by mixing appropriate amounts of just three wavelengths?
what happens when all 3 types of wavelengths are active
we see white or gray
which wave length cones are more abundant? because of this we its harder to see what dots
medium and long. blue
what is the difference in distribution of short medium and long wavelength cones
short is evenly while the other two are distributed haphazardly with differences among individuals .causes small differences. cones are so scarce in periphery no color vision there .
what is color constancy?
ability to recognize colours despite changes in lighting
why should we avoid talking about the color of a wave length of light?
a certain wavelength of light can appear as different colours depending on the background
explain retinx theory
combo of the words retina and cortex. the cortex is comparing information from different parts of the retina to determine the brightness and color for each area…
what was dale purves idea that was more general of the retinix theory
whenever we see something we make an inference…visual perception requires reasoning and inference not just retinal stimulation