PSYC 3501 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Receptive Field, Fusiform Face Area, Visual Cortex
Document Summary
Visual pathways, perceiving objects, perceiving depth & size. Perception is a process in which the brain builds a model of the world, using both previous experience and signals from the sensory organs. Visual perception is an experience-based interpretation of retinal images. Perception is awareness of objects and events, out of which we derive meaning. Primary visual pathway: retina thalamus (lateral geniculate nucleus, lgn) striate cortex. Neurons in the lgn have receptive fields with the center-surround configurations like the receptive fields of neurons in the retina. Neurons in the striate cortex are specialized to respond best to specific aspects of stimuli, such as orientation, movement, and size. We can connect the responding of these neurons with perception by using a psychophysical technique called selective adaptation. Selective adaptation is the fatigue, and decrease of firing of neurons due to repeated exposure to a specific orientation stimulus. Selective adaptation increases the contrast threshold necessary to view lines of the same orientation.
