Perception

1. Perception We perceive with our BRAIN!

2. Sensation vs. Perception • Sensation: • Perception: • Our experience is important to perception • Turnbull (1963) • phonemes

3. Vision is the dominant sense • Has the largest amount of neural substrate • Vision trumps other senses • University of Bordeaux study • McGurk Effect

4. The Neuroscience of the Visual Pathway • The Retina • Optic Nerve --> Central Pathways • Primary Visual Cortex • Association Areas

5. The Retina • Photoreceptors: Rods and Cones • Bipolar Cells • Ganglion cells • --> To optic nerve

6. Central Pathways • Majority of optic nerve transmits through Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (thalamus)

7. V1: The Primary Visual Cortex • Processes information for features such as color, form, motion

8. Association Areas • The “What” pathway: Through occipitaltemporal visual stream • The “Where” pathway: Through occipitalparietal visual stream

9. The What/Where Pathway Distinction: Case Studies • Blindsight • Prosopagnosia

10. Processing: Top Down vs. Bottom Up • Top Down: • Bottom Up:

11. The Complexity of Pattern Recognition • Pattern Recognition: • Visual properties alone do not convey meaning • Long Term Memory very involved here

12. Pattern Recognition: Template Theory • Requires direct match between sensory experience and template in memory • Problems:

13. Pattern Recognition: Feature Analysis Theory • Analysis of elements of stimulus • Synthesis puts the features together into a coherent whole

14. The Importance of Context • Context aids recognition in providing expectations about incoming patterns • May activate patterns in LTM prior to sensory experience of pattern • Final recognition is guided by LTM

15. Gestalt Prinicples of Organization

16. Connection of Vision to Emotion • Capgras delusion

17. The Special Case of Smell: The Proust Effect • Smell does not go through thalamus • Smell is closely related to memory and emotion