Meet the Profs event
Thursday Sept. 23 at 4:30 in AH117
You’re invited to participate in a
study:
• Psychology study on sexual orientation
• Recruiting homosexual females and
heterosexual and homosexual males
• Involves a voice sample and hand scan, and
completing a survey
• Anonymous
• Contact sos@uleth.ca
Light is focused on the Retina
The Retina has photoreceptors
•
•
photoreceptors transduce incoming light
ganglion cells send signals along to the brain
Neurons “collect” information
• each ganglion cell integrates information
from a particular spot on the retina called
its receptive field
Receptive Fields
Stimulus is in
receptive field
Stimulus is
near receptive
field
Stimulus is
outside receptive
field
Visual Pathways
• Ganglion cells
project to the
brain via the
optic nerve
• information is
projected to
contralateral
cortex!
Visual Pathways
• the retina is mapped onto primary visual
cortex
• called a retinotopic or spatiotopic map
Stimulus
Cortical Activity
Visual Pathways
• signals are separated according to the type of
information
Dorsal
“Where”
Pathway:
Motion and
Location
Primary
Visual
Cortex (V1)
Ventral “What” Pathway: Color and Form
Sensory Systems:
• Auditory (hearing)
Visual (sight)
Gustatory (taste)
Olfactory (smell)
Somatosensory (touch/temperature/pain)
Vestibular (balance)
Some Themes
• Sensory systems extract information about the
environment by transducing energy
• Perceptual mechanisms interpret that
information and fill in the missing parts
Some Themes
• Sensory systems in the brain are organized in a
way that reflects the nature of the sensory
surface
– somatotopy, retinotopy = spatiotopy
– cochleotopy = tonotopy
• Sensory information is often handled by
contralateral hemisphere
Are you getting it?
• We’ve gone through a lot of material
• REMEMBER: The goal wasn’t to memorize
a bunch of facts
• I want you to think critically about how
these systems work and what that means for
perception
Are you getting it?
• Here’s an example of the kind of question I
might ask you:
When a sound source is moving toward you, the
spacing between the regions of compression
and rarefaction is smaller than when it is moving
away from you, what effect does this have on
the percept of the sound ?
• Notice it requires both fact regurgitation and
some reasoning.
How to practice getting it:
• Make up your own questions!
• tell your friends, get them to ask you
questions
• Notice and think about the world around
you
What if you’re not getting it?
Try these (in this order):
• Revisit the lecture slides online
• Use Sensation and Perception text as a
resource!
• Office Hours: Monday 3 - 4 room D856 or by
appointment
Next Time:
• We begin studying perception…
Hearing