Chapter 5: Vision
What is true about cortical neurons that have become insensitive to an eye that was sutured shut during the critical period?
Some sensitivity can be recovered if the other eye is sutured shut for a few months.
a receptor potentialWhen mechanical force is absorbed by a sensory receptor, the energy is transduced into a local depolarization or hyperpolarization. What is this called?
a receptor potential
In comparison to cones, rods:
are more sensitive to dim light.
Monkeys with damage to area V4 lose:
color constancy.
The principle that allows you to perceive an orange shirt to be the same color under varying lighting conditions is known as:
color constancy.
An individual suffers damage to the temporal cortex, but maintains an intact parietal cortex. This may result in an inability to:
describe the size or shape of objects they see.
The law of specific nerve energies states that:
every stimulation of the optic nerve is perceived as light.
The optic nerve is composed of axons from which kind of cell?
ganglion cells
Which of the following items would most likely attract the attention of a newborn baby?
human face
Which of the following has 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.
What is responsible for sharpening contrast at visual borders?
lateral inhibition
Light is focused as it enters through which of the following structures?
lens and cornea
In the visual system of the mammalian cerebral cortex, the dorsal stream is specialized for detecting ____, and the ventral stream is specialized for detecting ____.
location/shape
People with motion blindness probably have suffered damage to the:
middle-temporal cortex.
While focusing on the car in front of you, you suddenly notice another car in your peripheral vision. You will probably have a difficult time describing the details of the second car because:
more receptors converge their inputs in the periphery.
Magnocellular cells are to ____ as parvocellular cells are to ____.
movement; color
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
If we compare the receptive fields of two simple cells in the primary visual cortex, chosen at random, in what way are they most likely to differ?
orientation (angle) of a line that they respond to
Small receptive fields are to ____ cells as large receptive fields are to ____ cells.
parvocellular; magnocellular
Chemicals that release energy when struck by light are called:
photopigments.
The receptive field of a receptor is the:
point in space from which light strikes the receptor.
Visual information from the lateral geniculate area goes to the:
primary visual cortex.
In what order does visual information pass through the retina?
receptor cells, bipolar cells, ganglion cells
What difficulty does someone with prosopagnosia have?
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 wavelength cones.
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
What structure is labelled E in the diagram above?
the cornea
What structure is labelled H in the diagram above?
the iris
Cutting the left optic nerve in front of the optic chiasm would result in blindness in ____.
the left eye
What structure is labelled G in the diagram above?
the lens
While bird watching, a red cardinal slowly hops into view. Which of the following characteristics are you most likely to notice first in your peripheral vision?
the movement of the bird
All of the following are reasons why the fovea is well-suited for highly detailed vision EXCEPT:
the optic nerve connects there.
Rods are to ____ as cones are to ____.
the periphery; the fovea
What structure is labelled F in the diagram above?
the pupil
What structure is labelled B in the diagram above?
the retina
Light from the left half of the world strikes what part of the retina?
the right half
If you stare at a waterfall long enough to fatigue feature-detector neurons responsive to downward motion, then look at the rocks and trees next to the waterfall, how will the rocks and trees appear?
to move upward
Where does the optic nerve send most of its information?
to the lateral geniculate
The visual paths in the temporal cortex collectively are referred to as the:
ventral stream.
