Chapter 4: Objects--Vocab Flashcards
accidental viewpoint
A viewing position that produces some regularity in the visual image that is not present in the world (e.g., the sides of two independent objects lining up perfectly).
agnosia
A failure to recognize objects in spite of the ability to see them. Agnosia is typically due to brain damage.
ambiguous figure
A visual stimulus that gives rise to two or more interpretations of its identity or structure.
Bayesian approach
A way of formalizing the idea that our perception is a combination of the current stimulus and our knowledge about the conditions of the world—what is and is not likely to occur. The Bayesian approach is stated mathematically as Bayes’ theorem—P( A|O) = P( A) × P(O| A)/P(O)—which enables us to calculate the probability (P ) that the world is in a particular state ( A) given a particular observation (O).
congenital prosopagnosia
A form of “face blindness” apparently present from birth, as opposed to “acquired prosopagnosia,” which would typically be the result of an injury to the nervous system.
double dissociation
The phenomenon in which one of two functions, such as hearing and sight, can be damaged without harm to the other, and vice versa.
entry-level category
For an object, the label that comes to mind most quickly when we identify it (e.g., “bird”). At the subordinate level, the object might be more specifically named (e.g., “eagle”); at the superordinate level, it might be more generally named (e.g., “animal”).
extrastriate body area (EBA)
A region of extrastriate visual cortex in humans that is specifically and reliably activated by images of the body other than the face.
extrastriate cortex
The region of cortex bordering the primary visual cortex and containing multiple areas involved in visual processing.
feed-forward process
A process that carries out a computation (e.g., object recognition) one neural step after another, without need for feedback from a later stage to an earlier stage.
figure-ground assignment
The process of determining that some regions of an image belong to a foreground object (figure) and other regions are part of the background (ground).
fusiform face area (FFA)
A region of extrastriate visual cortex in humans that is specifically and reliably activated by human faces.
geon
In Biederman’s recognition-by-components model, any of the “geometric ions” out of which perceptual objects are built.
Gestalt
In German, literally “form.” In perception, a school of thought stressing that the perceptual whole could be greater than the apparent sum of the parts.
Gestalt grouping rules
A set of rules describing which elements in an image will appear to group together. The original list was assembled by members of the Gestalt school of thought.
global superiority effect
The finding in various experiments that the properties of the whole object take precedence over the properties of parts of the object.
good continuation
A Gestalt grouping rule stating that two elements will tend to group together if they seem to lie on the same contour.
heuristic
A mental shortcut.
homologous regions
Brain regions that appear to have the same function in different species.
illusory contour
A contour that is perceived even though nothing changes from one side of it to the other in an image.
inferotemporal (IT) cortex
Part of the cerebral cortex in the lower portion of the temporal lobe, important in object recognition.
lesion
- (n) A region of damaged brain. 2. (v) To destroy a section of the brain.
middle (midlevel) vision
A loosely defined stage of visual processing that comes after basic features have been extracted from the image (low-level, or early, vision) and before object recognition and scene understanding (high-level vision).
middle temporal area (MT)
An area of the brain thought to be important in the perception of motion.
