PSYC 205 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Orienting Response, Depth Perception, Visual Acuity

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 205
• Professor: Mary C Olmstead

Document Summary

Example of species-specific sensory abilities: mantis shrimp (only animal known to detect circular polarized light, created underwater when light scatters up toward the surface and is reflected back down) Possible that it allows secret communication within the species as reflections of polarized light from a mantis shrimp body would be invisible to other animals. Animals that inhibit environments with different patterns of light absorption, such as aquatic habitats, have evolved different visual sensitivities (humans see within a 400-700 nm range) Bioluminescence: (deep-sea) species that are able to emit and detect chemical light, occurs in internal organs. Many nocturnal animals have eyes with large pupils and lenses that allow them to pick up more light, also a much higher proportion of rods than cones (rods are 1000 times more sensitive to light than are cones) Ex: horse"s binocular field < owl"s binocular field < human"s binocular field.