Sensation and Perception

I’ve overhauled the set to be more mechanistic. Instead of asking "What is X?", these questions focus on the "How" and "Why" based on the specific studies and biological steps in your notes (like the specific cell layers of the retina and the 71% Swiss children study).

Quizlet Import Block (Comprehensive & In-Depth)

Copy and paste the text below into the Quizlet "Import" tool:

Explain the biological sequence from light hitting the eye to the Optic Nerve.

Light enters the Pupil (controlled by Iris), is focused by the Cornea onto the Retina; Rods/Cones convert light to impulses, processed by bipolar/amacrine/horizontal cells, then passed to Ganglion cells which form the Optic Nerve.

How does the brain compensate for the "Blind Spot" where the optic nerve exits?

The brain uses "constructive processes" to fill in the missing visual information based on the surrounding environment so we don't perceive a hole in our vision.

Contrast the functional roles of the Fovea vs. the Peripheral Retina.

The Fovea is densely packed with Cones for high-acuity color and detail; the Peripheral Retina is dominated by Rods for low-light sensitivity and motion detection.

How do the 380-740 nanometer wavelengths interact with Trichromatic Theory?

Cones are specialized to respond to specific segments of this range: Short (Blue/440nm), Medium (Green/550nm), and Long (Red/600nm) wavelengths.

Describe the "Opponent-Process" mechanism found in the Thalamus and Ganglian cells.

Neurons work in opposite pairs (Red vs. Green, Blue vs. Yellow); when one color "fatigues" the neuron, the opposing color becomes more active, creating a perceived afterimage.

What did the Macaque "Bullseye" V1 experiment prove about Retinotopic Mapping?

It proved that the spatial arrangement of the world is physically maintained in the brain; the neurons firing in V1 formed the exact bullseye pattern the monkey was viewing.

Explain Hubel & Wiesel’s findings regarding V1 "Simple Cells" and "Edge Detectors."

They found that individual neurons only fire for a specific location and a specific orientation (angle) of a line, providing a "sketch" of the world's edges.

How does V2 processing differ from V1 in terms of "Illusory Contours"?

V2 neurons have larger receptive fields and can perceive shapes that aren't physically there (like the "ghost" square cats prefer) by pulling information from multiple V1 cells.

Describe the specialized functions of V4 and V5 in the visual hierarchy.

V4 is specialized for color and complex form, while V5 contains direction and velocity-specific cells that handle motion.

How does "Motion Aftereffect" (Waterfall Effect) function as a biological adaptation?

Direction-specific neurons become fatigued by constant motion; when the stimulus stops, the "resting" neurons for the opposite direction fire more relatively, making static objects seem to move.

Why do "Thatcher Illusion" faces (upside-down) look normal until they are flipped?

Face processing is a holistic template-based system; when upside-down, the brain fails to use the "face template" and processes features like eyes and mouths as individual objects.

What is the difference between "View-Specific" (ML/MF) and "Identity-Specific" (AM) neurons?

ML/MF neurons fire only when seeing a face from a certain angle (profile), whereas AM neurons in the anterior network fire for the same identity regardless of the viewpoint.

Explain the "Jennifer Aniston/Concept Cell" phenomenon.

Specific neurons in the temporal lobe fire for a single identity (or concept) across all formats (names, different photos), showing high-level abstract representation.

How did theSwiss children study (71% accuracy) support the theory of face-trait inference?

It showed that humans have an innate, automatic tendency to judge competence/trustworthiness from facial structure, and these snap judgments can accurately predict real-world outcomes like elections.

Contrast the Ventral and Dorsal streams using the case of Patient D.F.

The Ventral stream ("What") was damaged, preventing object recognition; the Dorsal stream ("Action") remained intact, allowing her to physically interact with objects she couldn't name.

Explain why the Dorsal stream is "immune" to the Titchener Circle illusion.

The Ventral stream perceives size relative to context (which is easily fooled), but the Dorsal stream calculates the absolute physical scale required for motor actions like grip scaling.

What does it mean that consciousness is a "gradient" in the context of the Stroop Test?

It shows states of awareness can overlap; hypnosis can "partition" consciousness to turn off automatic processes like reading while keeping color naming active.

How does the "Student Council/Disgust" study relate to the "Iceberg" principle?

It demonstrates that unconscious physical sensations (gut feelings) drive our conscious moral judgments, even when we aren't aware of the trigger.