Chapter 6: Vision Flashcards
Pupil
opening through centre of eye where light enters
Lens
focuses light (adjustable)
Cornea
Focuses light (not adjustable)
Retina
- where light is projected onto
- rear surface of eye
- lined with visual receptors
Visual path to brain
-image is coded by different types of neuronal activity
back of eye -> bipolar cells -> ganglion cells-> ganglion axons that join together and travel back to brain
Amackine cells
refine and input to ganglion cells and enable them to respond to shapes, movement, and other visual features
Fovea
- acute detailed vision
- each receptor connects to single ganglion cell that has axon to the brain
Midget Ganglion Cells
- small
- responds to a single cone
- each cone in fovea is connected to the brain with direct route that registers exact location of input
- 70% of input provided by midget ganglion cells therefore vision is dominated by what we see in the fovea
process by which three types of cones, and the neurons they connect with, can produce a rich spectrum of perceived color
3 types of cones
1) short wavelength
2) medium wavelength
3) long wavelength
Trichromatic or Young Helmholtz Theory
- perceive colour through relative rates of response by the 3 kinds of cones
- compare the response to cone with response of other cones
- discriminate wavelengths by ratio of activity across 3 types of cones
ex) light @550nm excites medium and long receptors equally but not short receptors at all. This ratio determines perception of yellow-green - mice only have 1 type of cone and are colourblind
Opponent Process Theory
- perceive colour in terms of opposites
- brain has a mechanism that perceives colour on a continum
- cerebral cortex must be responsible for after images not individual receptors
trade-off between acuity for detail and sensitivity to dim light.
cones=colour vision, abundant in fovea, useful in bright light, essential for colour vision
rods=good in dim light, abundant in periphery, respond to faint light, not useful in day light because bright light bleaches them
-20:1 more rods than cones
-each cone has own line to brain due to midget ganglion cells
-periphery rod receptors share a line with 10,00-100,00 other rods which is why acuity is not good
Receptive Field
- area in visual space that excites or inhibits it
- point in space from which light strikes the cell
- receptive field grows as info becomes more processed (receptive fields converge)
- cone/rod -> bipolar cell -> ganglion cell
Parvocellular Neuron
- small cell body
- small receptive field
- mostly near fovea
Magnocellular neuron
- large cell body
- large receptive field
- evenly throughout retina