CHAPTER 4.17: Depth Perception

Question 1

what is depth perception

Answer 1

ability to determine distance of objects from ourselves

Question 2

what are binocular cues

Answer 2

cues using both eyes at same time

Question 3

what is convergence?

Answer 3

a binocular cue where eyes turn inward due to eye muscle contraction so both eyes focus on a single object that is close to us

Question 4

what is retinal disparity?

Answer 4

a binocular cue where our brain is telling the slight differences between perspective in the left and right eye.

Question 5

what is stereopsis?

Answer 5

our sense of depth which comes from retinal disparity

Question 6

what is strabismus?

Answer 6

lazy eye. when eyes do not align properly when looking at objects, therefore not able to see proper overlap between your left and right eye perspective

Question 7

describe the case of stereo sue

Answer 7

a woman who had strabismus and couldn’t see depth! she eventually trained her eyes to reduce strabismus and her brain learned depth!

great example of brain plasticity

Question 8

why might a species have eyes laterally placed (on either side of their head)

Answer 8

these species are usually prey so they must be constantly on the lookout for any predators. they dont need that extra depth perception

Question 9

why might a species have eyes frontally placed

Answer 9

need that overlap between both eyes because they need the depth perception since they are hunters

Question 10

what are monocular depth cues

Answer 10

depth cues provided by a single eye

Question 11

what is accommodation

Answer 11

a monocular depth cue where the lens of an eye curves to focus on nearby objects to bend the light properly to the fovea

Question 12

what is motion parallax

Answer 12

monocular depth cue used when we are in motion, things nearby will “move” fast and away from us while things far away will “move” slow and with us