PSYC 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Optic Chiasm, Optical Illusion, Visual Cortex

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Gordon Anderson

Document Summary

Review of key points for chapter 4- sensation & perception. Light varies in terms of wavelength, amplitude and purity. Light enters the eye through the cornea and pupil and is focused upside down on the retina by the lens. Distant objects appear blurry to nearsighted people and close objects appear blurry to farsighted people. The retina is the neural tissue in the eye that absorbs light, processes images and sends visual signals to the brain. Cones, which are concentrated in the fovea, play a key role in daylight vision and colour perception. The retina transforms light into neural impulses that are sent to the brain via the optic nerve. Receptive fields are areas in the retina that affect the firing of visual cells. They vary in shape and size, but centre-surround arrangements are common. The optic nerves from the inside half of each eye cross at the optic chiasm and then project to the opposite half of the brain.