PSYC 2220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Grid Illusion, Lateral Inhibition, Limulus
6 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Lateral inhibition - is a process where neighbouring receptors inhibit (stop or decrease) the. Experiments with limulus crabs were used to measure lateral inhibition. They choose this type of crab because the receptors in it"s eyes are large single receptors that are easy to isolate and test separately. They shined a light in to one receptor measured the response, then also shined a light in a neighbouring receptor & found that the response from the rst receptor was weaker. Lateral inhibition explains the herman grid illusion herman grid. We see grey spots in the white intersections, even though it is all white we see grey. This is caused by receptors responding to the white corridors (the surrounding of the white intersections) are inhibiting the signal from the receptors in the intersection causing grey to appear. The middle receptors receives the strongest competing inhibiting signals from the surrounding cells causing a high cumulative inhibition.
