lecture 3 Flashcards
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN)
a part of the thalamus that processes visual information from the retina to the visual cortex.
Ipsilateral input
visual signals that come from the same side of the body
contralateral input
visual signals that come from the opposite side of the body
P-cells
ganglion cells that process fine detail and color, with small receptive fields and slow response times, layers 3-6
M-cells
ganglion cells that process motion and brightness, with large receptive fields and fast response times, layers 1 and 2
K-cells
ganglion cells that process color and some low-contrast information, with small receptive fields, between the layers
retinotopic organization
keeping everything in the same order—like a map
cortical magnification
zooming in on the middle of the picture (where you are looking directly), making it bigger in your brain so you can see more details
convergence
when both of your eyes turn inward to look at something close to you. It’s how your eyes work together to see things up close
optic chiasm
where the optic nerves from both eyes cross each other
population coding
when the brain uses the combined activity of many neurons to understand things, like shapes or movement, instead of just relying on one neuron.
adaption
when our sensory system gets used to a constant stimulus over time, so we stop noticing it as much
facilitation
when a stimulus makes a response stronger or more likely
ocular dominance
when one eye is stronger or more preferred by the brain for processing visual information
hypercolumn
a small area in the brain that helps process what you see
orientation tuning map
a pattern in the brain’s visual cortex (V1) that shows how different neurons respond to different line angles
dorsal system
fast, color blind and helps with motor control
ventral system
slow, detailed and helps with object identification
cortical area
a specific part of the brains cortex
