AFTER THE
COGNITIVE
REVOLUTION -
opening the black
box
BEHAVIOURIST MODEL -
environment leads to sensory
perceptions, memories,
beliefs etc AND behaviour at
the SAME TIME
COGNITIVE MODEL -
enviornment leads to
sensory perceptions,
memories, beliefs etc
THEN behaviour
NEISSER - CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH. cognition is
orderly stages of mental events that ACTIVELY construct
retinal input. PERCEPTION DEPENDS ON COMPLEX
MENTAL PROCESSES. e.g. there would be no such thing
if GIBSON'S THEORY OF DIRECT PERCEPTION (light
hitting the eye). Neisser stated that if our perception was
realy just a reflection of the world then impossible figures
would never be percieved
HISTORICAL
ROOTS OF VISUAL
PROCESSING
EARLY THEORIES
OF VISUAL
PERCEPTION
STRUCTURALISM
(Wundt) early
1900s
perception arises from
combining sensory atoms that
are coded on the retina. direct
correspondance between retina
and conscious awareness
The rise of
behaviourism in the
1900s
change to the idea that
behaviour is driven by
environmental cues rather
than internal processes.
external not internal
1966 - GIBSON'S THEORY OF
DIRECT PERCEPTION. visual
behaviour based on detecting
STABLE aspects of the environment
Stable aspects of the
environment are known as
PERCEPTUAL IN VARIANTS.
such as OPTIC FLOW (speed
and direction) and TEXTURE
(depth).
GIBSON says that visual
experience is WHOLISTIC
rather than the structuralist
view of breaking down the
retinal image into
component parts.
EARLY VISUAL
PROCESSING -
RECONSTRUCTING the
visual world begins AT
THE RETINA
ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM - radio
waves and x-rays.
NEWTON (1672) -
LIGHT CAN BE SPLIT
INTO MANY
COLOURS
colours are
captured by
three kinds
of cone, red,
green, blue
CONES and
RODS
respond to
light from
different
parts of the
visual field
Birds of prey have the
sharpest VISUAL
ACUITY due to large
eyes to maximise light
on the retina, image
spread over a large
number of cells, they
have a high density of
retinal receptors
RETINA made up of
DIFFERENT KINDS OF
CELL, and different
kinds of
PHOTORECEPTORS,
RODS AND CONES.
EACH
PHOTORECEPTOR
HAS UNIQUE
RECEPTIVE FIELD
RODS are more
numerous (120
million) and are more
sensitive than cones,
however not to colour
PROCEDURE OF
RECEPTIVE FIELDS -
light particles enter the
eye and travel towards
the retina, light is
absorbed by retinal
photoreceptors, cause
an action potential, the
action potential
transmitted to ganglion
cells, optic nerve and
brain.
EACH PHOTORECEPTOR
IS SENSITIVE TO A VERY
SMALL AREA OF THE
VISUAL FIELD -
RECEPTIVE FIELD
TOPOGRAPHICAL
organisation,
photoreceptors are
sensitive to adjacent
areas of the visual field
every area of the
visual field is coded
by the retina and
primary visual
cortex
CELL TYPES IN THE
RETINA. magno and
parvo remain
segregated in the
brain
MAGNOCELLULAR =
sensitive to MOTION.
magno = faster responses,
larger receptive fields,
wavelength insensitive
the idea that different cells respond to
different things shows that the visual
system understands things though
component parts (CONSTRUCTIVIST
VIEW)
PARVOCELLULAR
CELLS = sensitive to
changes in LIGHT
INTENSITY. colour
specific, slow
response, colour /
shape.
EARLY VISUAL PROCESSING
looks at BASIC FEATURES
(colour, edges, motion) but don't
see an object.GESTALT
PSYCHOLOGISTS HOWEVER
suggest that we use a set of rules
to decide if features belong to the
same object, such as
SIMILARITY, PROXIMITY,
CLOSURE CONNECTEDNESS
etc... (WERTHHEIMER)
HOWEVER.. such
groupings are
ruined by
camouflage
GESTALTISM - sum
more than parts,
grouping gives meaning
to visual elements
BECK (1982) - TEXTURE defined by
colour, orientation, motion and depth.
texture shows edges, shape, distance
AUDITION - signals begin in
eardums and then signals are
processed in the cochlea. sound
localisation is processed by
interaural time and interaural
sound intensity which are coded
seperately in the brain
OVERVIEW
PHOTORECEPTORS (rods
and cones) in the retina
translate light into neural
signals, rods are sensitive under
low levels of illumination BUT
are not colour sensitive.
the fovea at the
center of the retina is
densely packed with
cones, the outside of
the retina contains
mostly rods.
the visual cortex is
made up of distinct
regions that carry
out specialised
processing
functions, such as
V4 colour and V5
motion.
ACHROMATOPSIA -
inability to percieve
colour
AKINETOPSIA
- inability to
process
motion
visual cortex
lesions impair
visual acuity
MULTIMODAL PERCEPTION -
proces information from more
than one sensory modality,
increases sensitivity and
accuracy of perception
SYNESTHESIA -
people experience a
mixing of the senses
such as coloured
hearing or coloured
taste
PERCEPTUAL
REORGANISATION - when
senses are deprived the
function of sensory regions
of the cortex may become
reorganised (plasticity)