Physiological Psych Modules 5-6

Cortical area ____ appears to be where conscious visual perception occurs.

V1

Area ____ is particularly important for color constancy.

V4

To what does "shape constancy" refer?

We can recognize objects even at different orientations

What is strabismus?

a failure of the two eyes to focus on the same thing at the same time

The ability to hear a mote and identify it perfectly is called ____.

absolute pitch

Light energy converts 11-cis-retinal to ____.​

all-trans-retinal

What dimension determines the intensity of a sound wave?

amplitude

What is the shape of the receptive field to which a simple cell in the primary visual cortex responds?

bar in a particular orientation

In the human retina, messages go from receptors at the back of the eye to ____.

bipolar cells

Parvocellular neurons most likely receive input from ____.

bipolar cells that receive input from cones

The name of the point at which the optic nerve leaves the retina is called the ____.

blind spot

Once within the cerebral cortex, a mixed pathway of magnocellular and parvocellular cells is important for ____.​

brightness and color

What type of cell responds to a pattern of light in a particular orientation anywhere within its large receptive field, regardless of the exact location of the stimulus?

complex

Which cell responds most strongly to a stimulus moving perpendicular to its axis?​

complex

Which receptors are responsible for the perception of color?

cones only

According to the retinex theory, we perceive color by ____.

contrasting the activity in one area of the visual field with that of the others

Damage to the primary auditory cortex results in ____.

difficulty in responding to sequences of sounds

The visual path in the parietal cortex is referred to as the ____.

dorsal stream

Which of the following would be easiest for someone who is motion blind?

dressing themselves

In foveal vision, ____.

each ganglion cell is excited by a single cone

The law of specific nerve energies states that ____.

every stimulation of the optic nerve is perceived as light

Human newborns come into the world predisposed to pay more attention to ____ than any other stationary displays.

faces

____ respond to a particular feature of a stimulus.

feature detectors

Pitch is a perception related to which aspect of sound?

frequency

The fact that the refractory period limits the firing rate of neuron is problematic for which of the following?

frequency theory only

____ cells axons make up the optic nerve.

ganglion

Bipolar cells send their messages to ____, which are located close to the center of the eye.

ganglion cells

In the vertebrate retina, which cells are responsible for lateral inhibition?

horizontal cells

Which structure as the largest receptive fields and the greatest preferential sensitivity to highly complex visual patterns, such as faces?

inferior temporal cortex

Once within the cerebral cortex, the magnocellular pathway continues, with a dorsal branch important for ____.​

integrating vision with action

Which statement characterizes the fovea?

it has the greatest perception of detail

Why does the fovea provide the clearest, most detailed visual information?

it has tightly packed receptors

Which statement is TRUE with regard to peripheral vision?

it is easier to recognize single objects in the periphery that are not surrounded by other objects

Branches of the optic nerve go directly to what areas of the brain?

lateral geniculate and cerebral cortex

What is responsible for sharpening contrast at visual borders?

lateral inhibition

Cutting the left optic nerve in front of the optic chiasm would result in blindness in ____.

left eye

The most common form of the color vision deficiency is due to ____.

long and medium wavelength cones making the same photopigment

Once information is sent to the secondary visual cortex it ____.

may return to the primary visual cortex

In the auditory system, hair cells are specialized receptors that respond to ____.

mechanical displacement

Conductive deafness is also known as ____.

middle ear deafness

Damage to the magnocellular pathway would most likely lead to the loss of ____.​

motion perception

Once within the cerebral cortex, the magnocellular pathway continues, with a ventral branch sensitive to ____.​

movement

Patients with damage in area MT have problems with perception of ____.

movement of objects and sounds

What kind of deafness is the result of damage to the cochlea or the hair cells?

nerve

Axons from the lateral geniculate extend to which area of the cerebral cortex?

occipital lobe

Where are the auditory receptor cells located?

on the basilar membrane

____ modify the ____ sensitivity to different wavelengths of light.

opsins; photopigments

The optic nerves from the right and left eye initially meet at the ____.

optic chiasm

According to the trichromatic theory of color vision ____.

our perception of color depends on the relative activity of three types of cones

Being able to detect fine details of a color painting would depend most on which type of ganglion cells?​

parvocellular

Humans localize low frequencies by ____ differences and high frequencies by ____ differences. ​

phase; loudness

Chemicals that release energy when struck by light are called ____.

photopigments

____ are chemicals that release energy when struck by light.

photopigments

The structure that we commonly refer to as the ear (on the outside of the head) is formally known as the ____.

pinna

Light enters the eye through an opening in the center of the iris called the ____.

pupil

Damage to the dorsal stream may interfere with ____.

reaching out to grasp an object

The ____ of any neuron in the visual system is the area of the visual field that excites or inhibits it.

receptive field

In what order does visual information pass through the retina?

receptor cells --> bipolar cells --> ganglion cells

Color constancy is the ability to ____.

recognize the color of an object despite changes in lighting

A person with visual agnosia is unable to ____.

recognize visual objects

Someone with prosopagnosia has difficulty with ____.

recognizing faces

According to the trichromatic theory of color vision, the most important factor in determining the color we see is the ____.

relative activity of short, medium, and long wavelengths

V1 neurons would be most strongly activated by viewing ____.​

repeating stripes on a flag

In depth perception, different views are received by each eye, depending on the distance of the object being viewed. What is this called?

retinal disparity

Stereoscopic depth perception requires the brain to detect ____.

retinal disparity

In comparison to the rods, cones are more ____.

sensitive to detail

The primary visual cortex is also known as the ____.

striate cortex

The lateral geniculate nucleus is part of the ____.

thalamus

In the visual system, the ____ and ____ constantly feed information back and forth.

thalamus; cortex

Damage to the ventral stream may interfere with ____.

the ability to describe the shape or size of an object

Most auditory information is sent to which hemisphere of the brain?

the contralateral side

Light from the right half of the world strikes which part of the retina?

the left half

Rods are to ____ as cones are to ____.

the periphery; the fovea

The primary visual cortex sends its information ____.

to area V2

At the level of rods and cones, the ____ theory seems to fit best, while at the level of the bipolar cells, the ____ theory seems to fit best.

trichromatic; opponent-process

What would be the likely outcome of a person who was blind at birth, and had vision restored later in life by the removal of cataracts (clouded lenses)?

trouble describing the shapes of objects

The eardrum is also known as the ____.

tympanic membrane

The visual paths in the temporal cortex collectively are referred to as the ____.

ventral stream

An inability to recognize objects despite otherwise satisfactory vision is called ____.

visual agnosia

What is the one way to determine whether a given cell in the primary visual cortex is "simple" or "complex"?

whether it can respond equally to lines in more than one location

According to the law of specific nerve energies, the brain tells the difference b/w one sensory modality and another by ____.

which neurons are active

Blindsight refers to ____.​

​the ability to localize visual objects within an apparently blind visual field

In comparison to cones, rods ____.

are more sensitive to dim light

Infants with cataracts need to have surgical repair ____.​

as early as possible

Astigmatism refers to the ____.

asymmetric curvature of eyes

A tonotopic map refers to a ____.

auditory cortex map of sounds

The optic nerve is composed of axons from which kind of cell?

ganglion cells

How do sound waves ultimately result in the production of receptor potentials?

hair cells in the cochlea vibrate, causing ion channels to open in their membrane

The one additional feature that hypercomplex cells have that complex cells do not is that hypercomplex cells ____.​

have strong inhibitory area at one end os its receptive field

Cells in the inferior temporal cortex that are sensitive to a particular shape are also likely to respond to the shape's ____.​

mirror-reversal

Why is it important for sound vibrations to be amplified as they pass through the ear?

more force is needed to create waves in fluid

Why do humans perceive faint light better in the periphery of the eye?

more receptors in the periphery than in the fovea funnel input to each ganglion cell

After you stare at a bright green object for a minute and look away, you see red. Which theory attempts to explain this finding?

opponent-process theory

What occurs to a tone as the frequency increases?

pitch gets higher

The receptive field of a receptor is the ____.

point in space from which light strikes the receptor

In addition to having difficulty recognizing faces, people with prosopagnosia may have difficulty ____.

recognizing different kinds of plants and animals

Difficulty distinguishing between ____ and ____ is the most common form of color vision deficiency.

red; green

Color and brightness constancy are best explained by the ____ theory of color vision.

retinex

Horizontal cells receive their input from ____, and they send output to ____.

rods and cones; bipolar cells

When cells in the middle temporal cortex respond to visual stimuli, their response depends mostly on the ____.​

speed and direction of movement