L3 - Modularity & Visual Pathways Flashcards
what are physiologically defined modules?
modules are specialised to respond selectively to a particular quality
e.g., occipital lobe - vision
temporal lobe - hearing
parietal lobe - skin senses (touch, temp., pain)
What is the function of the middle temporal (MT) area?
cells respond to visual movement and 90% of neurons respond only to movement in particular directions
damage to the MT area reduces perception of movement
What’s the function of inferotemporal cortex (IT)?
Cells respond selectively to different forms
simple stimuli respond to slits, spots, ellipses, squares etc.
Complex stimuli responds to faces
how can modules be defined?
by what kind of sensation they process , these modules can be defined at different levels for sensory processing + therefore can be specialised modules within a larger module
what are retinotopic maps
the retina surface is retinotopically mapped at each level
each location corresponds to a location on the retina
what is the cortical magnification factor?
the concept that explains how much brain tissue is devoted to processing information from different parts of the visual field
more brain area is devoted to the central vision (where you see the most detail) compared to peripheral vision
what’s sub-cortical processing?
the brain activities that occur below the cerebral cortex (outer layer of the brain that’s responsible for higher functions e.g., thinking + planning).
sub-cortical areas handle more basic functions e.g., breathing, heartbeat etc.
what are unconscious visual processing in sub-cortical pathways
blind sight patients have damage to either their visual cortex or pathways to the visual cortex – these patients have no visual experience in damaged parts but can respond accurately to visual stimuli presented at these locations (blindsight) due to sub-cortical pathways (Kentridge et al. 1997).
what’s parallel processing
when the same visual info is being processed but
for different functions
what’s double dissociation?
when 2 related mental processes are shown to function independently from each other e.g., a brain injury that affects understanding it shows they work independently.
