Study Questions for Quiz 3 & Exam 2

PSYC 3353

Chapter 6.

• Define the following terms:
  • law of specific nerve energies
  • Receptive field,
  • Saccade,
  • shape constancy,
  • visual field,
  • blind spot,
  • blind sight
  •  retina,
  • optic nerve,
  • pupil,
  • iris, fovea,
  • motion blindness,
  • color constancy,
  • binocular input,
  • sensitive(critical) period,
  • Retinal disparity.

2. Describe the initial processing of visual information at the level of the eye. What

is a visual receptor cell (photoreceptor)? Are all visual receptor cells the same?

Different?

3. How does visual information reach the brain? Describe the flow of information.

For example, visual receptor cells respond to photons (light) in a characteristic

way. They send a message to another cell in the retina, which, in turn sends a

message to another cell, and so on. Please describe all cells and nerves involved

(description is provided below).

4. Describe how a visual image is projected onto the retina.?

5. What is foveal vision? Peripheral vision? (hint: review Table 6.1 on page 159 in

the textbook)

6. You should be familiar with the following events in photo transduction:

 Both rods and codes contain photo pigments

 In rod cells, the photo pigment is called rhodopsin

Light causes 11-cis-retinal to be converted to all-trans-retinal (lipid part); and the protein part, which is called opsin, dissociates from the lipid part

8. You should be familiar with the role of glutamate in photo transduction: Glutamate is an amino acid that functions as a neurotransmitter; it is released in the brain and spinal cord and is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter

 Photoreceptors (rods/cones) release glutamate

10. What exactly happens when light strikes a visual receptor cell (a rod or cone)?

How does this influence the spontaneous output of the visual receptor cell?

 And how does this affect the bipolar cells that receive input from visual receptor cells?

11. What is lateral inhibition? Describe the interaction between photoreceptors and horizontal cells? Do horizontal cells interact with other cells? Do they usually inhibit or excite these cells? What is the main function of these interactions? That is, what is the main function of lateral inhibition?

12. Describe the different types of ganglion cells. Which ones have a small receptive field? Large receptive field? Which ones respond to color? Which ones respond more to moving stimuli? Where is each located in the retina?

(Hint: review Table 6.2 in the textbook)

13. What is a midget ganglion cell? Does it receive information from multiple photoreceptors? Why or why not? What role does this play in foveal vision?

14. Compare and contrast the different theories of color vision.

15. Describe the relationship between/among photoreceptors, bipolar cells, and ganglion cells in the periphery of the retina.

16. What is the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)? What cranial nerve provides the LGN with visual input?

17. Information leaves the LGN and travels to what area of the brain? This area is responsible for the first stage of visual processing? What does that mean?

18. Describe the phenomenon of blind sight?

19. After the first stage of visual processing information is sent to what area of the brain?

20. Information processing starts in the occipital cortex. However, information is processed further is other areas of the cortex. Different areas process different types of information. For example, one area is important for object recognition. What area of the brain is involved in object recognition? What is the name of the pathway or stream that carries this type of information?

21. Which area(s) of the brain is/are involved in motion perception? Does this pathway receive information from magnocellular or parvocellular ganglion cells?

22. Another cortical area also receives visual information from the occipital cortex, but its main function is keeping track of the position of the body relative to the world. It allows us to locate and grab an object. What area of the brain is involved in this type of visual processing? What is the name of the pathway or stream that carries this type of information?

23. Which area of the brain is active during recognition of faces? Does experience and practice influence our ability to recognize faces?

24. Which area is involved in color perception? Does this area receive information from magnocellular or parvocellular ganglion cells (or both)?

25. What are simple cells? Complex cells? End-stopped (hyper complex) cells? Where are these cells located in the brain?

26. What is a visual agnosia? What usually causes visual agnosia?

27. What is prosopagnosia? What usually causes prosopagnosia?

28. Describe the neural basis of stereoscopic depth perception. What role does (visual) experience play in the development of stereoscopic depth perception?

29. What are feature detectors?

Chapter 7.

• Define/describe the following:
  • amplitude
  • frequency,
  • pinna,
  • tympanic membrane
  • oval window,
  • hammer,
  • anvil,
  • stirrup,
  • hair cell,
  • cochlea,
  • frequency theory,
  • place theory,
  • volley principle of pitch perception,
  • conductive deafness,
  • nerve deafness,
  • tinnitus,
  • sound shadow,

2. Are pitch and loudness physical or psychological dimensions of sound? How do they relate to amplitude and frequency?

3. Describe how information about sound is analyzed by the ear. Does the sound wave directly stimulate an auditory receptor cell? What is the name of the structure that vibrates in response to a sound wave? How is this information transmitted to auditory receptor cells? Where are auditory receptor cells located?

4. What is a limitation of place theory? This theory does accurately describe how the basilar membrane responds to different frequencies. What part of the basilar membrane is excited by high-frequency sounds? Low-frequency sounds?

5. A more accurate theory of pitch perception combines both frequency and place theories. Describe this modified theory.

6. How does auditory information get to the brain? It travels to the brain via what cranial nerve? Does it travel to the cortex directly? Describe the flow of information from ear to the brain.

7. What is the auditory cortex? Describe its organization (hint: tonotopic map).

Where is it located relative to other cortical areas?

8. Neurons in the auditory cortex seem to respond to a preferred tone. Does that mean they only respond to one tone?

9. How is the central nervous system able to identify a sound’s location and direction? Are there cues that can be used for sound localization?

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