Visual Pathways and Perception

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to visual pathways and perception.

Law of Specific Nerve Energies

The principle that different nerves carry specific types of sensory information, as described by Johannes Müller.

Accommodation

The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus light on the retina.

Acuity

The sharpness of vision.

Myopia

Nearsightedness, a condition where light is focused in front of the retina.

Hyperopia

Farsightedness, a condition where light is focused behind the retina.

Photoreceptors

Cells in the retina that detect light, including rods and cones.

Rods

Photoreceptors that detect the presence or absence of light and function in low illumination.

Cones

Photoreceptors responsible for color and detailed vision, functioning primarily in high illumination.

Fovea

The central indentation in the retina, densely packed with cones and responsible for sharp vision.

Optic Nerve

The bundle of cells that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain.

Blind Spot

The area of the retina where the optic nerve exits the eye, lacking photoreceptors.

Lateral Inhibition

The process by which excited neurons reduce the activity of their neighboring neurons, enhancing contrast.

Parvocellular System

The top four layers of the LGN that are responsive to color and fine detail.

Magnocellular System

The lower two layers of the LGN that respond to movement and large patterns.

Receptive Fields

Areas of the retina that correspond to the firing of a specific neuron, responding to light.

Blindsight

The ability to respond to visual stimuli without conscious perception, often observed in damage to area VI.

Simple Cells

Cells in the visual cortex that respond best to bars of light in specific orientations.

Complex Cells

Cells in the visual cortex that respond best to moving bars of light and orientation.

Feature Detectors

Cells that process specific features of visual stimuli, such as orientation and movement.

Contrast Sensitivity

The ability to detect changes in contrast, influencing visual perception.

What Pathway

Also known as the ventral stream, it processes object recognition and originates from the parvocellular system.

Where Pathway

Also known as the dorsal stream, it processes spatial awareness and originates from the magnocellular system.

Prosopagnosia

The inability to recognize faces due to occipito-temporal brain activity.

Somatoparaphrenia

The inability to identify one's own body parts as belonging to oneself.