Chapter 6

Question 1

Five types of neurons that make up the retina:

Answer 1

Receptors
Horizontal cells
Bipolar cells
Amacrine cells
Retinal ganglion cells

Question 2

Saccades and why they are important

Answer 2

Involuntary eye movements of which we are unaware, but are critical because visual neurons only respond to changing images.

Question 3

Function of retinal-geniculate-striate pathways:

Answer 3

To conduct signals to the primary visual cortex

Question 4

Inferotemporal pathway

Answer 4

Detects shape of an object

Question 5

Posterior infotemporal pathway

Answer 5

Detects color of an object

Question 6

Posterior parietal pathway

Answer 6

Detects depth and movement

Question 7

______are more sensitive to light, while _______have better acuity

Answer 7

Rods, cones

Question 8

Convergence

Answer 8

Allows for rods to add influence to the firing upon the ganglion cell that helps us see in the dark by increasing input.

Question 9

V1 refers to the…

Answer 9

Primary visual cortex

Question 10

Primary visual cortex

Answer 10

Area of cerebral cortex the detects shape and color

Question 11

Receptive fields

Answer 11

Area of retina from which a cell receives its input

Question 12

Blobs

Answer 12

Dual-opponent color cells that occur scattered throughout V1 (primary visual cortex) in peg-like structures.

Question 13

Photopigments

Answer 13

Unstable pigments that undergo a chemical change when exposed to light.

Question 14

Lateral inhibition

Answer 14

A decrease in activity of one neuron caused by the stimulation of its neighbor neurons. Allows us to sense edges that enhance the contrast between an object and it’s background.

Question 15

Ganglion cells are stimulated when the center of a receptive field is illuminated. This is called…

Answer 15

Center-on, surround-off

Question 16

Ganglion cells are stimulated when the surround is illuminated. This is called…

Answer 16

Center-off, surround-on

Question 17

Simple cell

Answer 17

Neuron found in V1 that responds to edges that have a specific orientation and occur in a specific area of the visual field.

Different simple cells respond to different orientations.

Question 18

Complex cell

Answer 18

Neuron found in V1 and V2 that respond to line direction and (some) line movement. Also receive input from simple cells.

Different cells respond to different movements/directions

Question 19

Transduction

Answer 19

Conversion of one form of energy to another

Question 20

Akinetopsia: cause and symptom

Answer 20

A deficiency in the ability to see movement in a normal smooth fashion.

Caused by high doses of certain antidepressants

Question 21

Prosopagnosia: symptoms

Answer 21

Visual agnosia for faces (inability to recognize faces)

Question 22

Fusiform face area

Answer 22

Area of the cortex that is selectively activated by human faces

Question 23

The ventral system processes _________ and the dorsal system processes __________.

Answer 23

what, where

Question 24

Binocular depth cues

Answer 24

Depth perception provided by both eyes

Question 25

What can be perceived with monocular depth cues?

Answer 25

Relative size/height, interposition, texture gradient, linear perspective.

Question 26

Damage to the ventral system results in what symptoms?

Answer 26

People can see objects, reach for, and walk around them, but can’t identify what they are.

Question 27

Damage to the dorsal system results in what kind of symptoms?

Answer 27

People can identify what an object is, but have trouble reaching accurately and shaping their hands to grasp the object.

Question 28

The dorsal stream runs from the visual cortex to the _____

Answer 28

Posterior parietal cortex

Question 29

The ventral stream runs from the visual cortex to the _______

Answer 29

Inferotemporal cortex

Question 30

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory.

Answer 30

Three color processes account for all colors that we see. Primary colors are red, green, and blue. Different patterns of stimulation to the three receptors result in perception of different colors.

Question 31

Problem with Young-Helmholz trichromatic theory?

Answer 31

People who are unable to distinguish red and green should also be unable to detect yellow.