Week 8

Question 1

Beta effect

Answer 1

The perception of motion that occurs when different images are presented next to each other in succession

Question 2

Binocular depth cues

Answer 2

Depth cues that are created by retinal image disparity - this is, the space between our eyes - and which thus require the coordination of both eyes

Question 3

Blind spot

Answer 3

A hole in our vision because there are no photoreceptor cells at the place where the optic nerve leaves the retina

Question 4

Cones

Answer 4

Visual neurons that are specialized in detecting fine detail and colours

Question 5

Convergence

Answer 5

The inward turning of our eyes that is required to focus on objects that are less than 50 feet away from us

Question 6

Cornea

Answer 6

A clear converging that protects the eye and begins to focus on the incoming light

Question 7

Depth cues

Answer 7

Messages from our bodies and external environment that supply us with information about space and distance

Question 8

Electromagnetic energy

Answer 8

Pulses of energy waves that carry information from place to place

Question 9

Feature detector neurons

Answer 9

Specialized neurons, located in the visual cortex, that respond to the strength, angles, shapes, edges, and movements of a visual stimulus

Question 10

Fovea

Answer 10

The central point of the retina

Question 11

Gestalt

Answer 11

A meaningfully organized whole that is perceived as more than just the sum of its parts

Question 12

Iris

Answer 12

The coloured part of the eye that controls the size of the pupil by constricting or dilating in response to light intensity

Question 13

Lens

Answer 13

A structure that focuses the incoming light on the retina

Question 14

Monocular depth cues

Answer 14

Depth cues that help us perceive depth using only one eye

Question 15

Opponent-process colour theory

Answer 15

Proposes that we analyze sensory information information not in terms of three colours but rather in three sets of “opponent colours”: red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black

Question 16

Optic nerve

Answer 16

A collection of millions of ganglion neurons that sends vast amounts of visual information, via the thalamus, to the brain

Question 17

Phi phenomenon

Answer 17

We perceive a sensation of motion caused by the appearance and disappearance of objects that are near each other

Question 18

Pupil

Answer 18

A small opening in the center of the eye

Question 19

Retina

Answer 19

The layer of tissue at the back of the eye that contains photoreceptor cells

Question 20

What colours do rods specialize in?

Answer 20

Black, white, and grey

Question 21

Trichromatic colour theory

Answer 21

The colour we see depends on the mix of the signals from the three types of cones

Question 22

Visible spectrum

Answer 22

The part of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes detect

Question 23

Visual accomodation

Answer 23

The process of changing the curvature of the lens to keep the light entering the eyes focus on the retina

Question 24

Visual cliff

Answer 24

A mechanism that gives the perception of a dangerous drop-off, in which infants can be safely tested for their perception of depth

Question 25

Wavelength

Answer 25

The distance between one wave peak and the next wave peak

Question 26

Crossmodal phenomena

Answer 26

Effects that concern the influence of the perception of one sensory modality on the perception of another

Question 27

Crossmodal receptive field

Answer 27

A receptive field that can be stimulated by a stimulus from more than one sensory modality

Question 28

Crossmodal stimulus

Answer 28

A stimulus with components in multiple sensory modalities that interact with each other

Question 29

Integrated

Answer 29

The process by which the perceptual system combines informationarising from more than one modality

Question 30

Multimodal perception

Answer 30

The effects that concurrent stimulation in more than one sensory modality has on the perception of events and objects in the world

Question 31

Multisensory convergence zones

Answer 31

Regions of the brain that receive input from multiple unimodal areas processing different sensory modalities

Question 32

Primary auditory cortex

Answer 32

A region of the cortex devoted to the processing of simple visual information

Question 33

Principle of inverse effectiveness

Answer 33

The finding that, in general, for a multimodal stimulus, if the response to each unimodal component (on its own) is weak, then the opportunity for multisensory enhancement is very large. How, if one component - by itself - is sufficient to evoke a strong response, then the effect on the response gained by simultaneously processing the other components of the stimulus will be relatively small

Question 34

Receptive field

Answer 34

The portion of the world to which a neuron will respond if an appropriate stimulus is present there

Question 35

Sensory modalities

Answer 35

A type of sense (ex. vision and audition)

Question 36

Spatial principle of multisensory integration

Answer 36

The finding that the super additive effects of multisensory integration are observed when the sources of stimulation are spatially related to one another

Question 37

Superadditive effect of multisensory integration

Answer 37

The finding that responses to multimodal stimuli are typically greater than the sum of the independent responses to each unimodal component if it were presented on its own

Question 38

Unimodal components

Answer 38

The parts of a stimulus relevant to one sensory modality at a time

Question 39

Unimodal cortex

Answer 39

A region of the brain devoted to the processing of information from a single sensory modality