The Visual Perception System

THE VISUAL PERCEPTION SYSTEM

1. What is sensation defined as?

2. What is perception?

3. What makes up the visual perception system?

4. Define visual sensation and visual perception – is there a place where one begins and the other ends?

5. Draw a flow chart to show the path of visual sensation and perception. On it, mark where light energy is detected, transduced, transmitted and then selected, organised and interpreted.

6. What’s the formal name for detecting changes in light energy?

7. Where does this happen, what does the job – and what is the outcome of detection?

8. What form of energy is used in transduction? – define transduction as well.

9. What is electrochemical energy and how does our body use it in vision?

10. Tranmission is?

11. Name (in order) the pathway used to transmit images to the occipital lobe.

12. What is meant by selection?

13. Box 2 – What are feature detectors and how do they work?

14. What is a visual field and how is this different to a receptive field?

15. Once the sensory information has been received, how is organisation carried out?

16. What is interpretation, then?

17. Box 3 – What does this let us know about the interactive nature of perceptual systems?

18. What are 2 factors that influence the organisation and interpretation of incoming sensory information?

19. Think up another example to explain the mix of factors.

20. What are the psychological factors that cause individual differences in our perceptions?

21. What other factors may affect visual perception?

22. What does the text say about the interactive nature of our perceptual systems

23. Try and explain in your own words, what light IS and how it is detected, by receptors. It may be useful to make a mini concept map to sort out the information here.

24. What does the term ‘threshold’ mean?

25. What is an absolute threshold? Give an example.

26. What’s a differential threshold? Give an example.

27. What is the signal detection theory? (Box 4 p192)

You should be working on all the Learning Activities in this chapter – they are there to test your understanding and to reinforce all of this new information for your wonderful brain Lisa Dooley 2006 Lisa Dooley 2006