Chapter 3

Question 1

Perception

Answer 1

The experience resulting from stimulation of the senses. “Gateway” to all other mental functions as it is essential for creating memories, acquiring knowledge, and solving problems. Changes based on added information or past experiences

Question 2

Perceptual puzzles

Answer 2

Things like determining if a dark area is a shadow or a dark - coloured building. Must go beyond raw pattern of light and dark on the retina to determine what is “out there”

Question 3

Cornea

Answer 3

Clear covering of the eye that works with the lens to focus light

Question 4

Iris

Answer 4

A ring of muscles that controls how much light enters by expanding in low light and shrinking in high light

Question 5

Lens

Answer 5

Focuses light on the back of the eye; it becomes less flexible with age, often resulting in cataracts

Question 6

Retina

Answer 6

The photosensitive membrane at the back of the eye where transduction occurs

Question 7

Fovea

Answer 7

Point within the retina of highest visual acuity, containing only conesO

Question 8

Optic Nerve

Answer 8

Takes visual information to the brain where all the axons of photoreceptors meet

Question 9

Blind Spot

Answer 9

Specific point where the optic nerve leaves the eye, containing no receptors

Question 10

Humour

Answer 10

Clear cells that circulate to let light through

Question 11

Eye Like a Camera

Answer 11

Light passes through the cornea and iris and is reflected onto the retina, where the image is actually flipped

Question 12

Myopia

Answer 12

Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball has a long horizontal shape. Because the eye is too long, the retinal image lands too far in front of the retinal photoreceptors rather than directly on them, resulting in a blurry perception of distant objects

Question 13

Hyperopia

Answer 13

Farsightedness. Caused by an eyeball that is “squished” horizontally. The retinal image lands behind the retina. Corrective glasses help my squishing or refracting the light to ensure the image lands normally on the retinal surface

Question 14

Transduction

Answer 14

The processes of changing a physical stimulus (light) into neural energy

Question 15

Rods

Answer 15

Highly sensitive to light have have poor acuity; used for nighttime vision

Question 16

Cones

Answer 16

Low sensitivity to light but high acuity; different types respond to different colours for daylight vision

Question 17

Visual Pathway

Answer 17

Information from the left and right visual fields crosses over so that one hemisphere gets the image from each side

Question 18

Blindsight

Answer 18

Patients with damage to the occipital cortex may react to light of reach for objects without conscious perception due to an alternative pathway through the superior colliculus

Question 19

Inverse Projection Problem

Answer 19

Starting with a 2D image on the retina and determining the 3D object that created it is difficult because many different objects can create the same retinal image

Question 20

Occulusion

Answer 20

Humans can easily understand that an object even if part of it is covered.

Question 21

Viewpoint Invariance

Answer 21

The ability to recognize an object regardless of the angle from which it is viewed

Question 22

Bottom - Up Processing

Answer 22

“Data - Driven” processing that starts with raw data rom environmental energy stimulating receptors

Question 23

Top - Down Processing

Answer 23

“Conceptually driven” processing that originates in the brain based on a person’s knowledge, expectations, and experience

Question 24

Speech Segmentation

Answer 24

The ability to tell when one word ends and the next begins in a continuous sound signal

Question 25

Transitional Probabilities

Answer 25

The likelihood that one sound will follow another within a word (ex, in "pretty baby" pre - ty is more likely than ty - ba)

Question 26

Statistical Learning

Answer 26

Research shows infants as young as 8 months are sensitive to these probabilities to segment words

Question 27

Binocular Cues

Answer 27

Use information from both eyes, including convergence (eyes moving inward for close objects) and binocular disparity (different views on each retina)

Question 28

Monocular Cues

Answer 28

Properties like perspective (lines converging), motion parallax (close objects move faster), interposition (close objects obscure distant ones), and textural gradient (less detail in the distance)

Question 29

Template theory

Answer 29

Objects are compared to stored templates; fails if size or orientation changes

Question 31

Selfridge's Pandemonium

Answer 31

A hierarchal weighted system where the unit with the most activation is selected

Question 32

Prototype Theory

Answer 32

Perceiving objects by comparing them to an "ideal" average representation in the mind

Question 33

Helmholtz's Theory of Unconscious Inference

Answer 33

Likelihood Principle: we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the stimulus pattern Unconscious Inference: perceptions are the result of automatic; rapid assumptions about the environment

Question 34

Gestalt Principles of Organization

Answer 34

Rejected the idea that perceptions are formed by "adding up" sensations; the whole is different than the sum of its parts Apparent movement: perceiving movement between two stationary flashing lights Principles: Proximity (grouping close objects), Similarity (grouping similar looking objects), Good continuation (following smoothest paths), and Law of Pragnanz (simplest possible structure

Question 35

Physical Regualrities

Answer 35

Vertical/horizontal orientations are more common (the oblique effect) and we assume light comes from above

Question 36

Semantice Regularities

Answer 36

We use scene schemas to identify objects faster, like bread in a kitche

Question 37

Bayesian Inference

Answer 37

Estimates of outcomes are determined by prior probability (initial belief) multiplied by likelihood (available evidence)

Question 38

Ventral Pathway "What"

Answer 38

From the occipital lobe to the temporal lobe; identifies objects

Question 39

Dorsal Pathway "Where/How"

Answer 39

From the occipital lobe to the parietal lobe; determines location and coordinates action

Question 40

Double Dissociation

Answer 40

Patient D.F. had temporal damage; she could not match a car to a slot's orientation (perception) but could "mail" it (action), proving independent mechanism