Sen&Per chapter 3 terms
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Created by:
stellabosmith on February 22, 2011
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33 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 acuity | The smallest spatial detail that can be resolved. |
| adaptation | A reduction in response caused by prior or continuing stimulation |
| aliasing | Misperception of a grating due to undersampling. |
| amblyopia | A developmental disorder that is characterized by reduced spatial vision in an otherwise healthy eye, even with proper correction for refractive error. Often referred to as "lazy eye." |
| column | A vertical arrangement of neurons |
| complex cell | a neuron whose receptive-field characteristics cannot be easily predicted by mapping with spots of light |
| contralateral | Referring to the opposite side of the body (or brain). |
| contrast sensitivity function (CSF) | A function describing how the sensitivity to contrast (defined as the reciprocal of the contrast threshold) depends on the spatial frequency (size) of the stimulus. |
| contrast threshold | The smallest amount of contrast required to detect a pattern. |
| contrast | The difference in luminance between an object and the background, or between lighter and darker parts of the same object. |
| • cortical magnification | The amount of cortical area (usually specified in millimeters) devoted to a specific region (e.g., 1 degree) in the visual field. |
| cycle | For a grating, a pair consisting of one dark bar and one bright bar. |
| cycles per degree. | The number of dark and bright bars per degree of visual angle |
| cytochrome oxidase (CO) | An enzyme used to reveal the regular array of "CO blobs," which are spaced about 0.5 millimeter apart in the primary visual cortex. |
| end stopping . | The process by which a cell in the cortex first increases its firing rate as the bar length increases to fill up its receptive field, and then decreases its firing rate as the bar is lengthened further |
| filter | An acoustic, electrical, electronic, or optical device, instrument, computer program, or neuron that allows the passage of some frequencies or digital elements and blocks the passage of others. |
| hypercolumn . | A 1-millimeter block of striate cortex containing two sets of columns, each covering every possible orientation (0-180 degrees), with one set preferring input from the left eye and one set preferring input from the right eye |
| ipsilateral | referring to the same side of the body |
| lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) . | A structure in the thalamus, part of the midbrain, that receives input from the retinal ganglion cells and has input and output connections to the visual cortex |
| magnocellular layers | The neurons in the bottom two layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus, which are physically larger than those in the top four layers. |
| ocular dominance | The property of the receptive fields of striate cortex neurons by which they demonstrate a preference, responding somewhat more rapidly when a stimulus is presented in one eye than when it is presented in the other. |
| orientation tuning . | The tendency of neurons in striate cortex to respond optimally to certain orientations, and less to others |
| parvocellular layers | The neurons in the top four layers of the LGN, which are physically smaller than those in the bottom two layers |
| phase | the relative position of a grating |
| primary visual cortex (V1) | The area of the cerebral cortex of the brain that receives direct inputs from the lateral geniculate nucleus, as well as feedback from other brain areas, and is responsible for processing visual information. Also called area 17 or striate cortex. |
| simple cell | A cortical neuron with clearly defined excitatory and inhibitory regions. |
| sine wave grating | A grating with a sinusoidal luminance profile. |
| spatial frequency | The number of cycles of a grating per unit of visual angle (usually specified in degrees). |
| spatial-frequency channel | A pattern analyzer, implemented by an ensemble of cortical neurons, in which each set of neurons is tuned to a limited range of spatial frequencies. |
| strabismus . | A misalignment of the two eyes such that a single object in space is imaged on the fovea of one eye, and on a nonfoveal area of the other (turned) eye |
| tilt aftereffect | The perceptual illusion of tilt, produced by adaptation to a pattern of a given orientation. |
| topographical mapping | The orderly mapping of the world in the lateral geniculate nucleus and the visual cortex. |
| visual angle | The angle subtended by an object at the retina. |
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