Chapter 9

Question 1

What is the ecological approach to perception and who coined the term?

Answer 1

JJ Gibson-Emphasizes that perception and action are connected-information about movement can help us perceive the world and guide further action (bidirectional link between action and perception).

Question 2

How does movement create perception?

Answer 2

Optic flow-as you move through the world, objects in visual environment “Flow” around you. DIrection and gradient allow us to know where we are headed (to the focus of expansion). Where we’re going and how fast we are moving.

Question 3

What is gradient of flow and focus of expansion (optic flow)?

Answer 3

Gradient of flow-Nearer objects move more quickly, farther objects move more slowly (tells us speed of motion)
Focus of expansion-Point at which flow is zero (tells us direction of motion)

Question 4

What is self-produced information?

Answer 4

Movement provides information which can be used to provide further movement (ex: drifting in lane, use optic flow to keep us in the lines of the lane)

Question 5

What does it mean that our senses are interconnected?

Answer 5

Example is balance-we are more wobbly when we close our eyes while trying to balance

Question 6

What was Lee and Anderson’s study on senses being interconnected?

Answer 6

13-16 month olds were put in a swinging room, with one wall that can move (swings forwards and backwards). Kids stand facing the moveable wall-wall then moves towards the child and the child falls away from the wall.

Question 7

What was the conclusion from Lee and Anderson’s study?

Answer 7

Child compensates based on optic flow-demonstrates how balance involves multiple senses.

Question 8

What are affordances?

Answer 8

What an object offers an animal/person, what it provides or ould be used for-potential actions, we immediately extract this.

Question 9

What do affordances demonstrate?

Answer 9

That we use environmental information to form perception-we either look for affordances based on what we need (top down) or simply passively notice them (bottom up)

Question 10

What is the ventral pathway?

Answer 10

The what pathway (perception pathway)-LGN-V1-V2-MT-Inferotemporal cortex

Question 11

What is the dorsal pathway?

Answer 11

The action pathway- LGN-V1-V2-MT-Parietal cortex

Question 12

What is the intraparietal sulcus and the parts involved?

Answer 12

Involved in visually guided action-includes the lateral IP area, medial IP area, and anterior IP area

Question 13

What is the lateral IP area?

Answer 13

Involves eye movements and attention shifts

Question 14

What is the medial IP area?

Answer 14

Visually guided reaching (parietal reach region)

Question 15

What is the anterior IP area?

Answer 15

Visually guided grasping-specific neurons respond to specific types of grips.

Question 16

What did Fattori et al study?

Answer 16

Had monkeys look at an object, then later reach for it in the dark. Different objects required different grips. Recorded the neurons while reaching-realized there are specific neurons for specific grasps. Fires for the action, but not merely looking at the object.

Question 17

What did Fattori et al discover?

Answer 17

Some neurons fire selectively when viewing an object requiring a specific grip-called these visuomotor grip cells-fires for both perception AND ACTION.