Psych 351 – Study Guide 2

A collection of key terms and definitions from the lecture notes on visual perception and attention.

Rod & Cone monochromat

A type of color-blindness that results in univariance problem.

Cones

Part of the visual system most closely tied to detecting color.

Trichromatic theory

The theory that red, green, and blue can combine to make any color, explaining why yellow pixels are not needed.

Color opponent cells

Evidence for color opponency within the visual system.

Univariance problem

Occurs under scotopic vision when only rods are active.

Color constancy

The effect allowing us to perceive bananas as yellow regardless of lighting.

Color assimilation

Occurs when colors bleed into one another, changing their appearance.

S cones

A cone type that does not respond to certain wavelengths of light, important for color detection.

Efferent copy

The signal sent to the visual system when making a voluntary eye movement.

Second-order motion

Motion defined by changes in contrast or texture, not luminance.

Smooth pursuit

Type of eye movement used to follow a moving object, like a plane.

Tympanic membrane

The part of the ear that funnels sound waves to the inner ear.

Neural firing rate

The key way amplitude of sound is coded in the cochlea.

Aperture problem

The issue of ambiguity in motion direction when viewed through a small receptive field.

Balint’s Syndrome

A condition where a patient can perceive only one object at a time.

Inattentional blindness

The phenomenon of failing to see an object when attention is diverted.

Gestalt shape processing

Refers to how the brain organizes visual information into meaningful shapes.

Motion adaptation

The process where prolonged exposure to motion makes a stationary object appear to move.