Sensation and Perception Part 4 Flashcards
Perception is _____ and involves both _____-______ and ________-______ processing.
Constructive, bottom up, top down.
What is crucial in interpreting sensory experience?
The observer’s knowledge and experience
Who in 1890 described the perceptual world of the new born infant?
William James
What did William James describe the perceptual world of a newborn infant as?
A “blooming buzzing confusion”.
Why did William James describe the perceptual world of a newborn infant as a “blooming buzzing confusion”?
Because they lack the perceptual experience that adults have in order to interpret visual experience.
At birth, _____ capabilities are not fully developed.
Sensory
What is relatively poor at birth?
Vision is relatively poor.
What happens to the underdeveloped visual system at birth?
The visual system continues to mature after birth up until toddler years.
What cones are under-developed/poorly developed in newborns?
Foveal Cones
What does the inner segment of a foveal cone do?
It captures light energy.
In newborns, describe the structure of the inner segment of the foveal cone.
It is short and stumpy.
Because infants have a short and stumpy inner segment of their foveal cones, what does this mean?
It means that they can’t capture light energy as efficiently as adults can.
What is the other difference to do with foveal cones between newborns and adults?
In newborns the foveal cones are more widely spaced.
What does having more widely spaced foveal cones mean for infants?
It means that they wont be capturing the same amount of information as adults can therefore newborns will experience less detail than adults.
The _____ nerve _____ is incomplete at birth.
Optic, myelination.
Explain myelination.
The production of a myelin sheath to wrap around a nerve, which helps to conduct neural impulses.
What does the incompletion of myelination of the optic nerve in newborns result in?
It means that neural impulses can’t be transmitted as efficiently, therefore the travelling of information takes longer.
What else (apart from cones and myelination) isn’t fully developed at birth?
The visual cortex.
What layers of the visual cortex mature the earliest?
Deep cortical layers mature earlier than the superficial (outside) layers.
Because the visual cortex is underdeveloped in newborns, what does this result in?
It means that the interpretation of information isn’t as effective or efficient as adults.
It can be said that we can measure visual _______.
Acuity.
What chart do we use to asses vision?
Snellen Chart
The lower down the Snellen chart you can read, the ______ your vision.
Better
What does 20/200 vision mean?
The letter should be able to be seen from 200 feet away, but can only be seen from 20 feet away.