Perception

Question 1

What is Perception?

Answer 1

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory data to create meaningful understanding

An awareness of things through the physical senses (esp. sight)

Question 2

What is Visual Agnosia?

Answer 2

A disorder where individuals can see but cannot recognize objects, due to a gap between sensation and perception

Question 3

What is Apperceptive Agnosia? (“object agnosia”)

Answer 3

Inability to recognize simple shapes (e.g., circles, triangles) - For example, they might see lines and colors but can’t tell it’s a picture of a dog (damage in phase 1)

Question 4

What is Associative Agnosia?

Answer 4

Ability to recognize simple shapes, but inability to recognize complex objects (items made up of multiple parts, ex. a car) - For example, they might see a picture of a dog, say, “It has four legs and fur,” but still not realize it’s a dog (damage in phase 2) (ex. “Kevin Chapell”)

Question 5

What are the visual perceptions two phases?

Answer 5

When you see something, your brain works in two steps:

Early Phase, in which your brain figures out the basic parts of what you’re seeing, like shapes, lines, and colors

Later Phase in which your brain puts those pieces together and realizes what it is.

Question 6

What and where is the retina?

Answer 6

It’s a thin layer at the back of your eye. It consist of photoreceptors

Question 7

What are photoreceptors?

Answer 7

Cells that can “see” light. When light hits these cells, they change shape and send messages to your brain, turning the light into a picture you can see

Question 8

What are rods and cones?

Answer 8

Rods and cones are two main types of photoreceptor cells in your retina that help you see.

Cones help you see colors and details clearly. They are mostly found in the fovea, which is the center of your vision.

Rods help you see in low light, like at night, but only in black and white and with less detail. They are located in the outer parts of your vision, called the periphery

Question 9

What is the receptive field?

Answer 9

The area in the retina that a cell in your visual system “pays attention to.” When light hits this area, the cell helps your brain understand what you’re seeing in that part of your vision

Question 10

What is the general fact about the neural pathway from the eye to the brain?

Answer 10

Information about the left side of the visual field goes to the right brain, and information about the right side of the visual field goes to the left brain

Question 11

What is the primary visual cortex?

Answer 11

The first area to recieve visual inputs. It organizes the visual information like a map, matching it to the parts of your field of vision

(located in the occipital lobe)

Question 12

What is the “What”-visual pathway?

Answer 12

In the ventral strem: A neural pathway carrying visual information from the primary visual cortex to regions of the temporal lobe that are specialized for identifying objects

Question 13

What is the “Where”-visual pathway?

Answer 13

In the dorsal stream: A neural pathway carrying visual information from the primary visual cortex to regions of the parietal lobe, which helps you understand where things are and how to interact with them (on-off cells)

Question 14

What are On-off cells and off-on cells?

Answer 14

Types of cells in the retina that respond to light in different ways:

On-off cells become active when light turns on and also when it turns off - they help you notice when something appears or disappears.

Off-on cells become active when light turns off and when it turns on - they help you notice when light stops or starts

Question 15

What are hypercolumns?

Answer 15

2x2 mm areas in the visual cortex of your brain. Each hypercolumn helps process different aspects of what you see, like colors, shapes, or movements, and works with neighboring areas to build a full picture of the world around you

Question 16

What are edge and bar detectors?

Answer 16

Edge detectors are cells in the visual cortex that focus on the edges of things, like where one object meets another.

Bar detectors are cells that focus on seeing bars or lines in your field of view.

Question 17

What is a feature-map?

Answer 17

A map in your brain that helps you recognize different parts of something you see, like colors, shapes, or edges. It helps your brain put all these little details together to understand the bigger picture.

Question 18

What are a 2 1/2-D sketch and a 3D model?

Answer 18

A 2 1/2-D sketch shows where things are in space from your view.

A 3-D model is a complete 3D picture of objects, made using clues like texture and motion.

Question 19

What is Bottom-Up processing?

Answer 19

Starts with sensory data and builds up to create a full understanding of what you’re seeing or experiencing

Question 20

What is top-down processing?

Answer 20

Uses what you already know and expect to shape how you see or understand things. Your brain fills in the gaps based on past experiences

Question 21

Visual pattern recognition: What is Template (matching) theory?

Answer 21

Says we recognize things by comparing what we see to stored mental images (templates). But it’s limited because it struggles with variations, like different handwriting.

Question 22

Visual pattern recognition: What is Feature-Analysis Theory?

Answer 22

Says we recognize objects by breaking them into basic features (like lines and curves) and then putting them together. It’s more flexible than Template Theory because it can handle variations in appearance

Question 23

Visual pattern recognition: What is Structural-Description Theories (the most common type: Recognition-by-components theory)?

Answer 23

Say we recognize objects by their basic parts. These parts are combined in different ways to identify objects, even if they change in size or direction

Question 24

What is Depth perception?

Answer 24

The ability to see the world in 3D and judge distances. It uses monocular cues (like size and overlap) and binocular cues (like the difference in images from both eyes) to help us understand how far away things are

Question 25

What are The Gestalt Principles of Organization? (object perception)

Answer 25

Explain how we naturally group things we see into patterns:

1. Proximity: Things that are close together are seen as a group.
2. Similarity: We group similar things together (like all circles or all crosses).
3. Good continuation: We expect lines to continue smoothly.
4. Closure: We fill in missing parts to see something as complete, even if it’s not fully visible.

Question 26

What is face perception?

Answer 26

The ability to recognize faces, and humans are really good at it. It involves two processes:

Holistic: Seeing the face as a whole.
Analytical: Focusing on individual features like eyes or mouth.

The right fusiform gyrus, located in the temporal lobe, becomes active when people recognize faces

Question 27

What is Prosopagnosia?

Answer 27

Face blindness, a condition where a person cannot recognize faces

Question 28

What is Speech recognizion?

Answer 28

The process of breaking down continuous speech into individual words and sounds (called “phonemes”) so we can understand what’s being said.

Question 29

What is Feature analysis of speech?

Answer 29

It breaks down sounds into specific features

(like Consonantal feature (sound of consonants in a phoneme),

Voicing (vocal cords vibrate to make a sound) and

Place of articulation (where in the mouth the sound is made, like the lips or tongue))

Question 30

What is Categorical perception?

Answer 30

The ability to hear and recognize things as different categories, even when the changes between them are gradual (like easily telling the difference between sounds like /b/ and /p/, even if they are similar)

Question 31

What is Word Superiority Effect?

Answer 31

It’s easier to recognize letters when they are part of a word than when they are alone or in a non-word

Question 32

What is FLMP Model?

Answer 32

This theory says that perception is based on both the information from the stimulus and the surrounding context

Question 33

What is Phoneme-Restoration Effect?

Answer 33

We tend to “hear” missing sounds (phonemes) in speech based on what makes sense in the context, even if the sounds aren’t actually there

Question 34

What is change blindness?

Answer 34

The failure to notice significant changes in a visual scene when they occur gradually or during a brief interruption

Question 35

What is the role of attention in perception?

Answer 35

Attention in perception helps us focus on important information by filtering out distractions. It selects what to process based on external cues (like loud sounds) or internal cues (like our goals or expectations)

Question 36

Whar are the two keypoints from the classroom readings?

Answer 36

1. Doherty, M. J., Tsuji, H., & Phillips, W. A. (2008): This study shows that visual size perception differs across cultures, with context playing a role in how sizes are perceived.
2. Sturmberg, J. P. (2011): This article argues that certainty in clinical practice is often an illusion, and overconfidence can lead to errors in medical decision-making.

Question 37

What are Ganglion cells?

Answer 37

Ganglion cells are nerve cells in the retina that collect visual information from photoreceptors and send it to the brain through the optic nerve

Question 38

What is the fovea?

Answer 38

A small, central part of the retina in the eye that is responsible for sharp, detailed vision

Question 39

What is the McGurk effect?

Answer 39

It occurs when conflicting auditory and visual cues cause people to perceive a different sound, showing how the brain combines sensory information from sight and sound (“ba” “pa”)

Question 40

What did Palmer find?

Answer 40

We recognize objects more easily when they are shown in a relevant context, like a kitchen, compared to when they are presented alone

Question 41

What brain areas are involved in perception?

Answer 41

Occipital Lobe: Primarily responsible for visual processing.

Temporal Lobe: Important for auditory processing and recognizing objects, faces, and sounds.

Parietal Lobe: Involved in spatial awareness and processing touch sensations.

Frontal Lobe: Plays a role in higher cognitive functions, such as attention, decision-making, and integrating sensory information.

Thalamus: Acts as a relay station for sensory information (except smell) to the appropriate brain areas.

Question 42

How does perception relate to other topics?