The seeing brain

Question 1

The effects of a stimulus on the sensory organs

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

The elaboration and interpretation of a sensory stimulus based on, for example, knowledge of how objects are structured

Answer 2

Perception

Question 3

The internal surface of the eyes that consist of multiple layers. Some layers contain photoreceptors that convert light to neural signals, and others consist of neurons themselves

Answer 3

Retina

Question 4

A type of photoreceptor specialized for low levels of light intensity, such as those found at night

Answer 4

Rod cells

Question 5

A type of photoreceptor specialized for high levels of light intensity, such as those found during the day, and specialized for the detection of different wavelengths

Answer 5

Cone cells

Question 6

The region of space that elicits a response from a given neuron

Answer 6

Receptive field

Question 7

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye. There are no rods and cones present there

Answer 7

Blind spot

Question 8

The first stage of visual processing in the cortex; the region retains the spatial relationships found on the retina and combines simple visual features into more complex ones

Answer 8

Primary visual cortex (V1)

Question 9

In vision, cells that respond to light in a particular orientation (or points of light along that line)

Answer 9

Simple cells

Question 10

In vision, cells that respond to light in a particular orientation but do not respond to single points of light

Answer 10

Complex cells

Question 11

In vision, cells that respond to particular orientations and particular lengths

Answer 11

Hypercomplex cells

Question 12

Cortical blindness restricted to one half of the visual field (associated with damage to the primary visual cortex in one hemisphere)

Answer 12

Hemianopia

Question 13

Cortical blindness restricted to a quarter of the visual field

Answer 13

Quadrantanopia

Question 14

A small region of cortical blindness

Answer 14

Scotoma

Question 15

The receptive fields of a set of neurons are organized in such a way as to reflect the spatial organization present in the retina

Answer 15

Retinotopic organization

Question 16

A symptom in which the patient reports not being able to consciously see stimuli in a particular region but can nevertheless perform visual discriminations accurately

Answer 16

Blindsight

Question 17

In vision, a pathway extending from the occipital lobes to the temporal lobes involved in object recognition, memory and semantics

Answer 17

Ventral stream

Question 18

In vision, a pathway extending from the occipital lobes to the parietal lobes involved in visually guided action and attention

Answer 18

Dorsal stream

Question 19

A region of the extrastriate cortex associated with color perception

Answer 19

V4

Question 20

A region of the extrastriate cortex associated with motion perception

Answer 20

V5/MT

Question 21

A failure to perceive color (the world appears in grayscale), not to be confused with colorblindness (deficient or absent types of cone cell)

Answer 21

Achromatopsia

Question 22

A failure to perceive visual motion

Answer 22

Akinetopsia

Question 23

The color of a surface is perceived as constant even when illuminated in different lighting conditions

Answer 23

Color constancy

Question 24

The ability to detect whether a stimulus is animate or not from movement cues alone

Answer 24

Biological motion

Question 25

A memory representation of the 3D structure of objects

Answer 25

Structural descriptions

Question 26

A failure to understand the meaning of objects due to a deficit at the level of object perception

Answer 26

Apperceptive agnosia

Question 27

A failure to understand the meaning of objects due to a deficit at the level of semantic memory

Answer 27

Associative agnosia

Question 28

The process of segmenting a visual display into objects versus background surfaces

Answer 28

Figure-ground segregation

Question 29

A region of the brain that is specialized for processing object shapes

Answer 29

Lateral occipital complex (LOC)

Question 30

A failure to integrate parts into whole s in visual perception

Answer 30

Integrative agnosia

Question 31

An understanding that objects remain the same irrespective of differences in viewing conditions

Answer 31

Object constancy

Question 32

A reduced neural response to a stimulus, or stimulus feature, that is repeated

Answer 32

Adaptation (or repetition suppression)

Question 33

The notion that the brain represents different categories in different ways (and/or different regions

Answer 33

Category specificity

Question 34

Stored knowledge of the 3D structure of familiar faces

Answer 34

Face recognition units (FRUs)

Question 35

An abstract description of people that links together perceptual knowledge (ex: faces) with semantic knowledge

Answer 35

Person identity nodes (PINs)

Question 36

An area in the inferior temporal lobes that responds more to faces than other visual objects, and is implicated in processing facial identity

Answer 36

Fusiform face area (FFA)

Question 37

Impairments of face processing that do not reflect difficulties in early visual analysis (also used to refer to an inability to recognize previously familiar faces)

Answer 37

Prosopagnosia

Question 38

The tendency to perceive ambiguous or hybrid stimuli as either one thing or the other (rather than as both simultaneously or as a blend)

Answer 38

Categorical perception