Psychology 101 - Human Eye & Visual Perception (L4)

Front 1

Optic Chiasm

Back 1

Where the left visual field goes to the right side of the bran, and where the right visual field goes to the left side of the brain.

Front 2

What part of the brain do the things we see go to next?

Back 2

Optic Chiasm > Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN)

Front 3

Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN).

Back 3

Area in the thalamus that relays visual signals from the retina to the occipital lobe. This is 90% of the visual signal.

Front 4

Primary Visual Cortex.

Back 4

All the visual signals go here.

Front 5

Feature detectors.

Back 5

Neurons that respond selectively to a specific feature of the stimulus.

Front 6

How do feature detectors work?

Back 6

Work in corresponding opposites. (e.g. if left and right movement moves the same distance, then we see movement; fatigue disrupts the balance of these corresponding opposites).

Front 7

Extrastriate cortex.

Back 7

Areas of the cortex that process visual signals beyond the primary visual cortex.

Front 8

Visual agnosia.

Back 8

Rare neurological condition in which an individual cannot perceive or recovnize some aspect of the visual scene.

Front 9

Apperceptive Visual Agnosia.

Back 9

Failure to perceive objects/forms despite normal visual acuity (e.g. difficulty in distinguishing between an apple and a strawberry--they're the same color, but they're different forms).

Front 10

Achromatopsia.

Back 10

Inability to discriminate different colors.

Front 11

Color agnosia

Back 11

aka "achromatopsia"; inability to discriminate different colors.

Front 12

Akinetopsia.

Back 12

Inability to determine velocity or direction of movement. (e.g. running water looks still; crossing the street is dangerous because cannot see the cars moving).

Front 13

Motion Agnosia.

Back 13

Akinetopsia. An inability to determine velocity or direction of movement.

Front 14

Binding pattern.

Back 14

Process of converting environmental energy into a neural signal by sensory process (e.g. light transduced by rods; pressure sensors in skin turned to the sensation of touch.

Front 15

Sensation.

Back 15

Process of converting environmental energy into a neural signal by sensory neurons.

Front 16

Perception.

Back 16

Process of organizing and interpreting sensations into meaningful experiences.

Front 17

This links us to our environment.

Back 17

Perception.

Front 18

Perception can be influenced by which cognitive processes.

Back 18

- Visual perception

- Attention

- Memory & context

- Language

Front 19

We do not directly experience the environment. We experience a pattern of neural actitivy that somehow represents the environment. What is this a description of?

Back 19

Visual perception.

Front 20

Pareidolia.

Back 20

Perception of a significant object, often a face, in a vague or random display (e.g. man on the moon, the Virgin Mary grilled cheese). You always perceive a convex face--never a concave face.

Front 21

Hierophany.

Back 21

Senseory experience of the divine.

Front 22

Describe the cornea.

Back 22

Transparaent, dome-shaped window covering the front of the eye.

Front 23

What is the cornea's function?

Back 23

Focus. Refract light toward back of the eye.

Front 24

What causes an astigmatism?

Back 24

A more pitched dome in the cornea.

Front 25

Describe the iris.

Back 25

Pigmented muscular membrane that dialates and constricts (i.e. colored part of the eye).

Front 26

What does the pupil do?

Back 26

A hole that allows light through the eye.

Front 27

What part of a camera is the iris similar to?

Back 27

Aperture.

Front 28

What is the iris' function?

Back 28

Regulates amount of light entering the eye.

Front 29

Is the iris controlled by the autonomic or peripheral nervous system?

Back 29

Autonomic nervous system.

Front 30

Describe the lens.

Back 30

Flexible, transparaent element direction behind the iris.

Front 31

What is the lens' function?

Back 31

Focuses light to back of the eye.

Front 32

Define accomomodation.

Back 32

A phenomenon that occurs with the lens where the the lens changes shape to bring light into focus depending on the closeness of the object.

Front 33

What type of muscles mediate accommodation?

Back 33

Cilliary muscles.

Front 34

Define the vitreous cavity.

Back 34

Cavity filled with clear jelly-like substance called vitreous humor.

Front 35

Function of the vidreous cavity.

Back 35

Holds the vitreous humor.

Front 36

State the function of vitreous humor.

Back 36

Maintains interoccular pressure.

Front 37

Describe the retina.

Back 37

Soft, transparent layer of nervous tissue that contains photoreceptors (i.e. rods & cones).

Front 38

Fovea.

Back 38

Located in the central retina. Is a specilized pit.

Front 39

State the retina's function.

Back 39

Transduce light into a neural signal. Is basically an extension of the peripheral nervous system.

Front 40

Rods.

Back 40

Very sensitive to light; low light vision; shows the location of things.

Front 41

Cones.

Back 41

Provides color and detailed vision.

Front 42

Where are cones concentrated?

Back 42

Center of the fovea.

Front 43

Photoreceptors.

Back 43

Neurons that absorb & transduce light energy into a neural signal.

Front 44

What is the optic nerve?

Back 44

A bundle of retinal axons.

Front 45

State the function of the retinal nerve.

Back 45

Conveys visual signal to regions of the brain.

Front 46

Does the optic nerve have photoreceptors?

Back 46

No.

Front 47

What is ironic about the optic nerve?

Back 47

It is the eye's blind spot.