Vision Lecture Notes

Question 1

Hubel & Wiesel, 1959

Answer 1

recorded neural activity from cells in cats’
and monkeys’ visual cortex while shining light
patterns on the retina (via microelectrode
recordings)

Question 2

1997 Nancy Kanwisher

Answer 2

demonstrated that a specific region in the ventral visual
processing stream showed consistently more activity to
faces than other objects
This region was located in the fusiform gyrus and became known as the Fusiform Face Area

Question 3

Face-Specific Neural Modules: location

Answer 3

these modules are generally located within the occipital-temporal cortex (i.e., in the so-called ventral processing stream)

Question 4

3 main regions of the Core Face Perception Network:

Answer 4

occipital face area (OFA)
fusiform face area (FFA)
posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS)

Question 5

where is face-specific neural activity typically stronger?

Answer 5

face-specific neural activity typically stronger in right than the left hemisphere

Question 6

how are humans so good at recognising faces (which are highly homogenous)

Answer 6

by processing faces holistically: by combining various facial features into a unique whole

Question 7

Face Composite Effect

Answer 7

Humans habitually fuse the upper and lower parts of a face to form a holistic impression, at the cost of their ability to recognize the constituting parts.

Question 8

Face Detection Effect

Answer 8

Holistic face processing is so good that we are often able to detect faces based on extremely impoverished visual information (such as Mooney Faces).

Question 9

Face Inversion Effect

Answer 9

Holistic face processing breaks down when faces are inverted. Thus, upon inversion, odd configurations are not as easily detected

Question 10

Functional Contribution Of The fusiform face area (FFA)

Answer 10

holistic processing
(face inversion effect,
face composite effect,
response to Mooney
faces, spacing effect)

Question 11

Functional Contribution Of The occipital face area OFA

Answer 11

feature-based processing
(no inversion effect, no
composite effect, no
spacing effect)

Question 12

Functional Contribution Of The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS)

Answer 12

processing of dynamic information (sensitive to eye, mouth etc. movements)

Question 13

The Functional Significance of V1

Answer 13

contains many cells (i.e., neurons) tuned to
bars in different positions of the visual field.
Based on combination of many neurons with
simple, complex and hypercomplex receptive
fields we are able to detect basic features in
images: edges!

Question 14

V2 V3

Answer 14

Has many complex and hypercomplex cells. Responds to even more complex patterns.

Question 15

V4

Answer 15

Processes colour. Damage to this results in cerebral achromatopsia

Question 16

cerebral achromatopsia

Answer 16

patients have intact colour naming from memory but impaired colour naming for objects in environment. Patients describe their surroundings as being darkly coloured, as in an unlit room at twilight

Question 17

V5

Answer 17

Processes motion. Damage to V5 results in cerebral akinetopsia

Question 18

cerebral akinetopsia

Answer 18

A loss of movement vision in all three dimensions. Patient had difficulty, for example, in pouring tea or coffee into a cup because the fluid appeared to be frozen, like a glacier

Question 19

What is Prosopagnosia

Answer 19

Face blindness

Question 20

Describe Prosopagnosia

Answer 20

• impairment in the recognition of faces
• often completely distinct from visual agnosia
• people with prosopagnosia often use alternative routes to recognition (a person’s movement, bodily appearance etc.)

Question 21

The Core Body Perception Network key areas:

Answer 21

EBA: extrastriate body area
FBA: fusiform body area
pSTS: posterior superior temporal sulcus

Question 22

Which of the following brain regions shows an enhanced response to Mooney faces (compared to meaningless black-and-white images):

a. Occipital Face Area
b. Fusiform Face Area
c. Frontal Face Area

Answer 22

b.Fusiform Face Area

Question 23

who created the face processing model in 2011

Answer 23

Haxby & Gobbini