(PSY 304) Chapter 5 - Vision

(PSY 304) Chapter 5 - Vision
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_dqw3ds
1. law of specific whatever excites a particular nerve establishes a special

nerve energies kind of energy unique to that nerve.
2. pupil Light enters the eye through an opening in the center of

the iris
3. retina the rear surface of the eye, which is lined with visual
receptors.
4. bipolar cells eye neurons that receive information from the retinal cells
and distribute information to the ganglion cells
located closer to the center of the eye
5. ganglion cells located still closer to the center of the eye.
join together and travel back to the brain
6. amacrine cells get information from bipolar cells and send it to other
bipolar, amacrine, and ganglion cells.
refine the input to ganglion cells, enabling certain ones to

respond mainly to particular shapes, directions of move-
ment, changes in lighting, color, and other visual features
7. optic nerve the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the
brain
8. blind spot the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating
a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there
1. NO receptors
2. located at the back of the eye
3. anything in the blind spot is visible to the other eye
9. fovea a tiny area specialized for acute, detailed vision in the

central portion of your retina
your vision is dominated by what you see in and near the

it
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10. midget ganglion The ganglion cells in the fovea of humans and other pri-
cells mates because each is small and responds to just a single
cone.
provide 70 percent of the input to the brain, your vision is

dominated by what you see in and near the fovea
11. rods retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; neces-
sary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't
respond
bundant in the periphery of the human retina, respond to

faint light but are not useful in daylight because bright light
bleaches them.
12. Cones retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center
of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit
conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to
color sensations.
abundant in and near the fovea, are less active in dim light,
more useful in bright light, and essential for color vision.
13. photopigments chemicals that release energy when struck by light.
consist of 11-cis-retinal (a derivative of vitamin A)
14. opsins proteins that modify the photopigments' sensitivity to dif-

ferent wavelengths of light
15. trichromatic we perceive color by comparing the responses across a

theory of color few types of receptors, each of which was sensitive to a
vision, or the different range of wavelengths.
Young-Helmholtz
theory. he perceive color through the relative rates of response
by three kinds of cones, each one maximally sensitive to
a different set of wavelengths. (Trichromatic means "three
colors.")
2 / 10
He found that people could match any color by mixing
appropriate amounts of just three wavelengths. Therefore,
he concluded that three kinds of receptors—we now call
them cones—are sufficient to ac- count for human color
vision.
we discriminate among wavelengths by the ratio of activity

across the three types of cones.
For example, light at 550 nm excites the medium- wave-

length and long-wavelength receptors about equally and
the short-wavelength receptor almost not at all.
16. visual field the part of the world that you see—before you can identify
the color.
17. negative color af- result of staring at a colored object for a prolonged length
terimage of time and then looking at a white surface
a replacement of the red you had been staring at with

green, green with red, yellow and blue with each other,
and black and white with each other.
1. four green quarter circles

2. whole green square
18. oppo- the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green,

nent-process yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision.
theory
We perceive color in terms of opposites
For example, some cells are stimulated by green and

inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited
by green
for example, imagine a bipolar cell that receives excitation

from a short-wavelength cone and inhibition from long-
and medium-wavelength cones. It in- creases its activity in
response to short-wavelength (blue) light and decreases
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it in response to yellowish light. After prolonged exposure
to blue light, the fatigued cell decreases its response.
19. color constancy the ability to recognize colors despite changes in lighting
ex: If you wear green-tinted glasses or replace your white

light bulb with a green one, you still identify bananas as
yellow, paper as white, and so forth. Your brain compares
the color of one object with the color of another, in effect
subtracting a certain amount of green from each.
20. retinex theory a combination of the words retina and cortex
The cortex compares information from various parts of the

retina to determine the brightness and color for each area
21. color vision defi- colorblindness

ciency
esults because people with certain genes fail to develop
one type of cone, or develop an abnormal type of cone
22. red-green color most common form of color deficiency, people have trou-
deficiency ble distinguishing red from green because their long- and
medium- wavelength cones have the same photopigment
instead of different ones. The gene causing this deficiency
is on the X chromosome.
Women with one normal gene and one color-deficient

gene—and that includes all women with a red-green col-
or-deficient father—are slightly less sensitive to red and
green than the average for other people
23. horizontal cells Specialized retinal cells that contact both the receptor cells
and the bipolar cells
make inhibitory contact with bipolar cells, which in turn

make synapses onto amacrine cells and ganglion cells. All
these cells are within the eyeball.
24.
4 / 10
lateral geniculate a place in the thalamus that receives impulses from the
nucleus optic nerve
The term geniculate comes from the Latin root genu,

meaning "knee." To genuflect is to bend the knee. The
lateral geniculate looks somewhat like a knee, if you use
some imagination.)
25. lateral inhibition is the retina's way of sharpening contrasts to emphasize

the borders of objects. the reduction of activity in one
neuron by activity in neighboring neurons
is important for many functions in the nervous system. In

olfaction, a strong stimulus can suppress the response
to another one that follows slightly after it, because of
inhibition in the olfactory bulb.
In touch, stimulation of one spot on the skin weakens the

response to stimulation of a neighboring spot, again by
lateral inhibition.
In hearing, inhibition makes it possible to understand

speech amid irrelevant noise.
26. receptive field an area in visual space that excites or inhibits it
of a rod or cone is simply the point in space from which

light strikes the cell.
27. parvocellular small cell bodies with small receptive fields in or near the
neurons fovea. Suited to detect visual details.
(means "small celled," from the Latin root parv, meaning
"small.")
28. magnocellular large cell bodies with large receptive fields that are distrib-
neurons uted evenly throughout the retina
(means "large celled," from the Latin root magn, meaning

"large." The same root appears in magnify.)
5 / 10
29. koniocellular small cell bodies, similar to the parvocellular neurons, but
neurons they occur throughout the retina.
(means "dust celled," from the Greek root meaning "dust."

They got this name because of their granular appearance.)
30. blindsight the ability to respond in limited ways to visual information

without perceiving it consciously.
Within the damaged part of their visual field, they are un-
aware of visual input, unable even to distinguish between
bright sun- shine and utter darkness.
they might be able to point accurately to something in the

area where they cannot see, or move their eyes toward it,
while insisting that they are "just guessing"
1. in some cases, small islands of healthy tissue remain

within an otherwise damaged visual cortex, not large
enough to provide conscious perception but enough to
support limited visual function
2. thalamus sends visual input to several other brain areas,

including parts of the temporal cortex
31. simple cell has a receptive field with fixed excitatory and inhibitory
zones.
The more light shines in the excitatory zone, the more the
cell responds.
The more light shines in the inhibitory zone, the less the
cell responds.
bar-shaped or edge-shaped receptive fields.
32. complex cells located in areas V1 and V2, do not respond to the exact
location of a stimulus.
6 / 10
A complex cell responds to a pattern of light in a particular
orientation anywhere within its large receptive field
Most complex cells respond most strongly to a stimulus

moving in a particular direction—for example, a vertical
bar moving horizontally.
The best way to classify a cell as simple or complex is to

present the stimulus in several locations.
One that responds equally throughout a large area is a

complex cell.
33. End-stopped, or resemble complex cells with one exception: An

hypercomplex end-stopped cell has a strong inhibitory area at one end
cells of its bar-shaped receptive field.
The cell responds to a BAR-SHAPED pattern of light any-

where in its broad receptive field, provided the bar does
not extend beyond a certain point
34. feature detectors neurons whose responses indicate the presence of a par-
ticular feature.
For example, if you stare at a waterfall for a minute or more

and then look to the side, the rocks and trees next to the
waterfall appear to flow upward.
35. waterfall illusion suggests that you have fatigued the neurons that detect
downward motion, leaving unopposed the detectors for
the opposite motion.
36. retinal disparity the discrepancy between what the left and right eyes see.
Both eyes are active, but no cortical neuron consistently

receives messages from one eye that match messages
from the other eye.
37. sensitive period when experiences have a particularly strong and enduring
influence
7 / 10
depends on inhibitory neurons.
ex: mice - heightened susceptibility to experience
38. strabismus "lazy eye," a condition in which the eyes do not point in the
same direction.
these children attend to one eye and not the other.
The usual treatment is to put a patch over the active eye,

forcing attention to the other one.
39. astigmatism blurring of vision for lines in one direction, caused by an

asymmetric curvature of the eyes.
40. secondary visual processes the information further and transmits it to addi-
cortex (area V2) tional areas
41. ventral stream through the temporal cortex the perception pathway or the
"what" pathway, because of its importance for identifying
and recognizing objects.
42. dorsal stream through the parietal cortex is the action pathway or the
"how" pathway, because of its importance for visually guid-
ed movements.
damaged:
1. They see objects but they don't integrate their vision well
with their arm and leg movements.
2. They can read, recognize faces, and describe objects
in detail but they cannot accurately reach out to grasp an
object.
3. While walking, they can describe what they see, but they
bump into objects, oblivious to their location.
4. Although they can describe from memory what their
furniture looks like, they cannot remember where it is
located in their house
8 / 10
43. inferior temporal learn to recognize meaningful objects.
cortex
A cell that responds to the sight of some object initially
responds mainly when it sees that object from the same
angle, but after a bit of experience, it learns to respond
almost equally to that object from other viewpoints.
It is responding to the object, regardless of major changes

in the pattern that reaches the retina
44. Visual agnosia (meaning "visual lack of knowledge") is an inability to

recognize objects despite otherwise satisfactory vision.
It is a common result from damage in the temporal cortex.

Someone might be able to point to visual objects and
slowly describe them but fail to recognize what they are.
For example, one patient, when shown a key, said, "I don't
know what that is. Perhaps a file or a tool of some sort."
When shown a stethoscope, he said that it was "a long
cord with a round thing at the end." When he could not
identify a smoker's pipe, the examiner told him what it was.
He then replied, "Yes, I can see it now," and pointed out
the stem and bowl of the pipe. Then the examiner asked,
"Suppose I told you that the last object was not really a
pipe?" The patient replied, "I would take your word for it.
Perhaps it's not really a pipe"
45. fusiform gyrus brain area of the inferior temporal cortex that recognizes
faces
46. prosopagnosia The impaired ability to recognize faces
Occurs after damage to the fusiform gyrus of the inferior

temporal cortex
The fusiform gyrus responds much more strongly to faces

than anything else.
9 / 10
significantly smaller than average and has fewer than
normal connections with the occipital cortex.
they do not recognize the face as a whole.
47. motion blindness being able to see objects but unable to see whether they
are moving or, if so, which direction and how fast
are better at reaching for a moving object than at de-

scribing its motion but in all aspects of dealing with visual
motion, they are far behind other people.
48. saccades Rapid voluntary movements of the eyes.
10 / 10

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(PSY 304) Chapter 5 - Vision

Study online at https://quizlet.com/_dqw3ds

1. law of specific whatever excites a particular nerve establishes a special

2. pupil Light enters the eye through an opening in the center of

located closer to the center of the eye

5. ganglion cells located still closer to the center of the eye.

join together and travel back to the brain

refine the input to ganglion cells, enabling certain ones to

9. fovea a tiny area specialized for acute, detailed vision in the

your vision is dominated by what you see in and near the

provide 70 percent of the input to the brain, your vision is

bundant in the periphery of the human retina, respond to

13. photopigments chemicals that release energy when struck by light.

consist of 11-cis-retinal (a derivative of vitamin A)

14. opsins proteins that modify the photopigments' sensitivity to dif-

15. trichromatic we perceive color by comparing the responses across a

we discriminate among wavelengths by the ratio of activity

For example, light at 550 nm excites the medium- wave-

a replacement of the red you had been staring at with

1. four green quarter circles

18. oppo- the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green,

For example, some cells are stimulated by green and

for example, imagine a bipolar cell that receives excitation

ex: If you wear green-tinted glasses or replace your white

20. retinex theory a combination of the words retina and cortex

The cortex compares information from various parts of the

21. color vision defi- colorblindness

Women with one normal gene and one color-deficient

make inhibitory contact with bipolar cells, which in turn

The term geniculate comes from the Latin root genu,

25. lateral inhibition is the retina's way of sharpening contrasts to emphasize

is important for many functions in the nervous system. In

In touch, stimulation of one spot on the skin weakens the

In hearing, inhibition makes it possible to understand

26. receptive field an area in visual space that excites or inhibits it

of a rod or cone is simply the point in space from which

(means "large celled," from the Latin root magn, meaning

(means "dust celled," from the Greek root meaning "dust."

30. blindsight the ability to respond in limited ways to visual information

they might be able to point accurately to something in the

1. in some cases, small islands of healthy tissue remain

2. thalamus sends visual input to several other brain areas,

bar-shaped or edge-shaped receptive fields.

Most complex cells respond most strongly to a stimulus

The best way to classify a cell as simple or complex is to

One that responds equally throughout a large area is a

33. End-stopped, or resemble complex cells with one exception: An

The cell responds to a BAR-SHAPED pattern of light any-

For example, if you stare at a waterfall for a minute or more

Both eyes are active, but no cortical neuron consistently

depends on inhibitory neurons.

ex: mice - heightened susceptibility to experience

these children attend to one eye and not the other.

The usual treatment is to put a patch over the active eye,

39. astigmatism blurring of vision for lines in one direction, caused by an

It is responding to the object, regardless of major changes

44. Visual agnosia (meaning "visual lack of knowledge") is an inability to

It is a common result from damage in the temporal cortex.

46. prosopagnosia The impaired ability to recognize faces

Occurs after damage to the fusiform gyrus of the inferior