Vision

Vision

1. Photoreceptors

   • Convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses that are conducted to our brain

2. Transduction

   • Eyes receive light energy which is transformed into neural messages and the brain processes into conscious sight
   • The transformation of stimulus energy to electrochemical energy of neural impulses (except smell)
   • Occurs in the Retina

3. Hues

   • the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth.

4. Blind Spot

   • The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there
     • Saccade, eyes have rapid movement from side to side to help fill in missing information created by the blind spot

5. Optic Nerve

   • The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain (cross to opposite side of brain, once inside the brain, visual information is sent via a number of structures to the occipital lobe at the back of the brain for processing)

6. Iris

   • A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening (colored part of eye)

7. Lens

   • The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

8. Visual Accommodation

   • The change in the thickness (shape) of the lens as the eye focuses on objects that are far away or close

9. Visible Light

   • The tiny part of the electromagnetic spectrum to which our eyes are sensitive. The visible spectrum of other creatures may be slightly different from our own.

10. Rods

    • Specialized photoreceptors that work well in low light conditions, involved in our vision in dimly lit environments as well as in our perception of movement on the periphery of our visual field

11. Cones

    • Light-detecting cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions
      • Work best in bright light conditions
      • Cones are very sensitive to acute detail and provide tremendous spatial resolution
      • They also are directly involved in our ability to perceive color

12. Binocular Cues

    • Visual information taken in by both eyes that enable a sense of depth perception

13. Monocular Cues

    • Clues that allow us to see depth through one eye, only involve one eye

14. Gestalt

    • Emphasized the brain’s tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes
      • Gestalt, German word for “form” or a “whole”
      • In perception, the whole may exceed the sum of its parts
      • Our brain does more than register information about the world

15. Cornea

    • The transparent tissue in the front of your eye, rays of light entering the eye are bent first by the curved cornea

16. Pupil

    • The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters (black part of center of eye)

17. Retina

    • The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

18. Proximity

    • the Gestalt principle that we tend to group objects together when they are near each other

19. Similarity

    • The Gestalt principle that we tend to group similar objects together in our perceptions

20. Continuity

    • Gestalt psychology principle which states that the observer tends to see a line or shape as continuing in a particular direction rather than making a turn

21. Closure

    • a Gestalt principle of organization holding that there is an innate tendency to perceive incomplete objects as complete and to close or fill gaps and to perceive asymmetric stimuli as symmetric

22. Depth

    • the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.