Name: ____________________________________ Block: _____             AP Psychology- Unit 3

Visual Anatomy & Function Practice

Directions: Label the structures of the eye

1. What is the blindspot?

2. Which eye structure contains most cones that aid a person in visual acuity in bright light?

3. What is transduction?

4. Where does transduction occur in the eye?

5. Someone who is nearsighted can clearly see objects close to them but has difficulty seeing objects farther away. [True or False] 

6. Put the following in the proper order based on the path of the neural impulse in the eye:

    [bipolar & ganglion cells; visual nerve; rods & cones; visual cortex in the occipital lobe]

______________________ > ______________________ > ______________________ > ______________________ 

7. There are two types of photoreceptors in the retina: rods & cones.  What is each responsible for?

Station 1: Color Processing

• Trichromatic Theory

  • What is it?

• Color the three “cones”: 

• Review: Write short/medium/long under each cone to indicate the wavelength for each color.  (They are not in order)

• Additionally, draw the wavelength beneath each cone.

• Opponent Process Theory

  • What is it?

  • Label & color the opposing colors below:  (Consider: How will you remember these color combos?)

• Afterimage (note: this is part of opponent process theory)

  • Example: (What happened?)

  • How does it work?

Station 2: Color Vision Deficiency

• Color Vision Deficiency:

  • Is someone with color deficiency blind to all colors?  

  • What causes color deficiency?

• Instead of being trichromatic, someone with color deficiency is either:

• _____________________________

•  ____________________________

• Which color deficiency is most common?

Station 3A : Damage to the Brain (Prosopagnosia)

• What is prosopagnosia?  

• Where is the face recognition area located in your brain that when damaged may result in prosopagnosia?

• Can people with prosopagnosia see and recognize objects? 

• Why was it so surprising that the woman in the video couldn’t identify the face shown on the screen?

Station 3B: Damage to the Brain (Blindsight)

• What is blindsight? 

Someone with blindsight can respond to a visual stimulus WITHOUT consciously experiencing it.

• Which area of the brain is damaged for someone with blindsight? _______________________

Station 4: Parallel Processing

• To analyze a visual scene

  • First, the brain divides into subdivisions (____________________________________) and works on each aspect __________________________

  • Then we construct our perceptions by integrating (_______________) the separate but parallel work

Station 5: Gestalt

• What is the favorite saying of Gestalt psychologists? 

• Key Gestalt principles:

  • ______________________: the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the background)

    • Example: Do you see a vase or two faces?  (It depends on what you interpret as the figure(s) and what you interpret as the ground)

• Proximity: When objects are placed together, the eye perceives them as a group.  We don’t see ___________________________________, but ______________________ of two lines.  

  • Draw example:

• Closure: When an object is incomplete or not completely enclosed, we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object.  

  • Draw example:

• Similarity:  When objects look similar to one another, the eye perceives them as a group or pattern.  You have probably grouped the elements pictured based on their color and shape.

In each column, there are two examples of one Gestalt principle.  Identify the Gestalt principle in the top box.  Explain the answer below it.  

*Gestalt principles don’t only apply to vision; they can also be applied to sound.  For example, sometimes you might hear one person’s voice over the chorus.  This could represent “_________________________” as you are perceiving the chorus as the background.  

Station 6: Depth Perception (Monocular Cues)

Binocular cues: depth cues that depend on the use of ________ eyes

Convergence: ________________________________________________ to see an object  Retinal disparity: _____________________________________________ ____________________________from the _______ eyes, the brain computes distance.  The ________________the disparity (difference) between the two images, the ____________ the object. If there is a large retinal disparity, is the object likely to be close or far?

Station 6: Depth Perception (Visual Cliff)

Station 7: Apparent Movement :The illusion of movement that our brain perceives (examples below)

_______________________________Our brain perceives a rapid series of slightly varying images as continuous movement.	_______________________________an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession	Autokinetic Effect: a visual illusion occurs when a stationary point of light appears to move in a dark or featureless environment.

*Note: You do not need to memorize the examples of apparent movement.

Station 8: Perceptual Constancy

• What is perceptual constancy?

• Is perceptual constancy a top-down or bottom-up process?

• Our experience of color depends on an object’s ____________

• Why do the colors in the center of each surface of the cube appear different even though they are actually the same color?

• Describe how size constancy is related to the image.

Station 9: Accommodation

• What is accommodation?

• Whether the ciliary muscles are relaxed or contracted changes which part of eye, and ultimately allows for it to focus? 

• When the process is altered what can result?