Task 2 - Wonder Baby

Question 1

Visual acuity

Answer 1

the ability to see details – it is determined by noting the smallest letters a person can accurately identify

Question 2

Two common methods (visual acuity)

Answer 2

1. Behaviour (preferential looking)

2. Electrical signals recorded from the scalp (visual evoked potential)

Question 3

Preferential looking (PL) technique

Answer 3

two stimuli are presented, and the experimenter watches the infant’s eyes to determine where the infant is looking – to see if they can tell a difference between the two stimuli depending on if they look at one longer than the other

Question 4

Visual evoked potential (VEP)

Answer 4

is recorded by disk electrodes placed on the back of the infant’s head, over the visual cortex – VEP provides an objective measure of the visual system’s ability to detect details (ex.: gray field which is then replaced by either a grating or a checkerboard pattern)

Question 5

Contrast sensitivity

Answer 5

is measured by determining the smallest difference between the dark and light bars of a grating at which an observer can still detect the bars

Question 6

Spatial frequency

Answer 6

the number of cycles of the grating (in which one cycle is one light bar and one dark bar) per degree of visual angle – it is a measure of how fine the bar pattern is on the retina

Question 7

Contrast sensitivity function (CSF)

Answer 7

a subjective measurement of a person’s ability to detect a low contrast pattern stimuli, usually vertical stripes of decreasing shades of black to grey. The resulting measurement is said to give a more accurate representation of the eyes’ visual performance

Question 8

Habituation

Answer 8

decrease in response
– one stimulus is presented to the infant repeatedly, and the infant’s looking time is measured on each presentation, when a new novel stimuli is presented the researchers can check if the infants are interested in the new one → meaning they can distinguish between these two stimuli if they show new interest

Question 9

Dishabituation

Answer 9

when we respond to an old stimulus a if it where a new one

– an increase in looking time when the stimulus is changed

Question 10

Binocularly fixate

Answer 10

the two eyes are both looking directly at the object, and the two foveas are therefore directed to exactly the same place

Question 11

Stereopsis

Answer 11

the perception of depth due to binocular disparity - visual cortex combines both incoming signals from both eyes and puts it together as one

Question 12

Binocular Disparity

Answer 12

see things from two angles and have to put this information together to understand it is the same thing (3 to 6 months)

Question 13

Object unity

Answer 13

perceive an object as a whole even when part of it is obscured by an occluding stimulus

Question 14

Intermodal perception

Answer 14

coordination of information from different senses into a perceptual whole (f.e. seeing and hearing an ambulance) – combination of hearing and seeing

Question 15

Paired comparison

Answer 15

to determine the ability of infants and adults to recognize human faces and monkey faces – One stimulus is presented during a familiarization period. Then during the recognition period, this “familiar” stimulus is presented with a new stimulus that the infant has never seen
Because infants tend to look more at novel stimuli, if they do look longer at the new face, this means that they can tell the difference between the two faces

Question 16

Visual scanning

Answer 16

is the ability to use vision to search in a systematic manner, such as top to bottom and left to right.
– infants are interested in moving stimuli – loof for parts with high contrast

Question 17

Object segregation

Answer 17

the way we perceive boundaries between objects – have to be able to combine all elements – identification of separate objects in a visual area (f.e. Bottle on counter - they have the same color - cannot perceive it as individual object

Question 18

Optical expansion

Answer 18

depth perception – visual image increases in size when the distance to it decreases – when the object gets closer the child blinks more often

Question 19

Monocular cues

Answer 19

perceptual cues of depth – can only be perceived by one eye (dynamic monocular cues / kinetic cues)

Question 20

Pictorial cues (/Static monocular cues)

Answer 20

perceiving depth when looking at a 2D picture– monocular cues – using cognitive experience (f.e. When looking at the picture and moving your head that the it does not change) – it is static because no movement
(the cliff)

Question 21

Random dot stereograms

Answer 21

two different pictures presented at the same time (one to the left and one in the right eye) disparity information - because of binocular disparity