Test 1 Flashcards
Why will you always see the Dalmatian and the Cow?
Figure Ground Segmentation, fill in details around what you can now see
Process of seeing illusions
Top Down
Monkey Business Illusion
When you are looking for a gorilla you often miss other unexpected events
Inverse problem of shape
Any 2D image projected onto the retina can come from an infinite number of 3D shapes, visual system has to infer the real shape from many possible shapes
Inverse problem of brightness
Perceived brightness can come from infinite combos of illumination, surface reflectance and transmittance, visual system must infer reflectance of object
Difference between Distal stimuli and Proximal stimuli
Distal: Objects or events in the real world
Proximal: Retinal images
Introspection to the Problem of Perception
Manipulate perceptual experience to generate and test hypotheses by introspection
Neuroscience Experiments to the Problem of Perception
Measuring brain activity at multiple levels. Lesioning, electrophysiology, imaging, stimulation etc.
Behavioural Experiments to the Problem of Perception
Device perceptual tasks and measure threshold, accuracy, and/or response time (psychophysics, patient studies)
Why does one leaning tower lean more?
Railroad example, if parallel but not converging then one should lean more. Visual interprets as 3D, does not happen for 2D images.
Cognitively Impenetrable definition
Cannot be penetrated by knowledge. The leaning towers illusion is an example of this, face perception is another.
Perception as an unconscious inference with faces
Both Margret Thatcher’s look similar upside down but when flipped only one is right. When shown whole face identical eyes can appear to show different emotions
Definition of Psychophysics
Studies the relationship between physical stimuli and psychological/perceptual experience. Involves precise control and allows for insights of underlying mechanisms
Define Absolute (detection) Threshold
The minimum stimulus intensity that can be perceived “just detectable” e.g. darkest grey or slowest speed
Define Relative (difference, discrimination) Threshold
The minimum difference between stimulus intensities that can be perceived “just detectable” e.g. differences in grey brightness or slope of lines
The three ways that psychophysics measures thresholds
Method of adjustment
Method of limits
Method of constant stimuli
Method of adjustment - Psychophysics
Observers adjust stimulus level until the response changes from seen to not seen or vice versa
Method of limits - Psychophysics
Gradually decrease/increase stimulus level until observers report change from seen to not seen or vice versa. Approach from both ends to find the crossover point.
Method of constant stimuli - Psychophysics
show different stimulus levels in random order repeatedly, for each level tally number of yes responses and plot against stimulus level, steepest part of the curve is threshold
Psychometric curve
Curve of best fit. S curve is characteristic of human responses for most psychophysics experiments
Method of forced choice - psychophysics
Sidesteps criterion by forcing observers to choose between two or more stimuli (2AFC, 3AFC etc.)
2AFC
A forced choice. 2AFC means two stimuli on each trial, NOT one stimulus with two choices
Weber’s Law Equation
k = dI/I
k = Weber’s constant dI = relative threshold I = baseline/reference level
Weber’s Law
Relative threshold is proportional to background level. This can be generalized across senses. brightness k= 0.08 line length k= 0.03 weight k= 0.02 loudness k= 0.05
Fechner’s Law
Two signals that are just noticeably different are separated by one unit of perceptual/internal response. Relationship is logarithmic, think of financial status
Cornea and Lens
Direct light rays and photons onto retina, non-neural processing
What is the optic disc?
Where ganglion cells exit the eye through a hole and form the optic nerve that projects to the rest of the brain. No photoreceptors here make it a blind spot.
Major theme of perception
It is an active process, the visual system makes unconscious inferences about the world based on sensory information
What is the fovea?
Where we have sharpest acuity. We move our eyes to get fine grained visual details from objects like faces or words.
What is macular degeneration?
common form of blindness, 15% of over 65 have it, causes blindness at the fovea.
Stabilised images
blood vessels are fixed relative to retina, visual system is not sensitive to images that are stable
What are the ganglion cells?
fire when they see things, are the start of neural processing, the retina is an outpost of the brain
What are visual angles/degrees?
A standard measure that takes into account size and distance
Distribution of cones and rods across the eye
All cones at fovea, rods dominate periphery
Rods, cones and light
Cones work best in bright light, as you move away from the fovea you get better acuity in low level illumination
connection of rods and cones to retinal ganglion cells: light
Many rods attach to one ganglion while cones almost connect one to one. Ganglion cells need 10 unit of rod/cone responses to fire. Rod pathway is more sensitive to dim light because it sums individual responses of many rods where the cone pathway does not.
connection of rods and cones to retinal ganglion cells: sharpness
cones allow for sharper vision. rod pathway cannot tell where exactly photons come from, cone pathway is precise because it preserves information about which individual cone is stimulated
Major themes of visual systems
Overall Parallel Pathways Functionally distinct Anatomically distinct Complete coverage Recombine
Visual themes for rods and cones: functionally, anatomically, complete coverage, recombine
Functionally distinct: Rods for low light levels; cones for high light levels.
Anatomically distinct: Rods and cones have different shapes, although they’re located in same layer of retina.
Complete coverage: rods cover entire visual field except fovea.
Recombine: Rod/cone streams recombine at ganglion cells.
Retina ganglion cells: ON-center/OFF-surround
A bright spot in the center increases response; a bright stimulus in the surround inhibits response. Little to no response to a spot of light that covers both center and surround because of cancelation (lateral inhibition)
Retina ganglion cells: OFF-center/ON-surround
It gets inhibited by a small spot of light in the center, and it gets excited by a bright annulus in the surround.
Midget vs parasol cells
70/80% of ganglion are midget, project to different parts of the LGN. Midget (parvocellular). Parasol (magnocellular).