PSYCH 1XX3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Depth Perception, Two-Streams Hypothesis, Peripheral Vision
30 Oct 2015
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Document Summary
Light travels as a wave and varies in two respects; amplitude: height of each wave. Measured in nanometers or millionths of a millimetre. Smaller wavelengths = higher frequency: less distance between successive peaks. Humans are only sensitive to a small portion of the total range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation - visible spectrum . Shortest wavelength is @ 360 nanometers: looks violet. Other species see light outside our spectrum (eg. bees see shorter than 360nm, snakes longer than 750nm) allows them to find prey in dark by being able to see body heat emitted by prey. Two physical characteristics of light (amp. and wavelength) translate into brightness and colour. Purity: affects perception of saturation (richness of colours) Light made of a single wavelength: pure light (completely saturated) What we see in real life is a mixture of wavelengths. Light first passes curved cornea begins focusing process. Cornea: transparent window at front of the eye.
