Deck 3: The Visual Brain

Question 1

Ninety percent of the axons in the optic tract synapse in the

A)superior colliculus.
B)optic chiasm.
C)lateral geniculate nucleus.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The smallest cell bodies in the lateral geniculate nucleus are found in the layers.

A)magnocellular
B)parvocellular
C)koniocellular

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Functional specialization within the visual system refers to

A)differences between rods and cones.
B)differences between the left and right eye.
C)different areas of the brain representing different kinds of information.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The study by O'Connor et al.(2002),which used fMRI to investigate the effects of attention on the activity level of the left or right lateral geniculate nucleus,found that

A)as long as the direction of gaze did not change the activity levels from left to right LGN did not change.
B)the activity levels from left to right LGN did not change when the direction of gaze changed.
C)even when the direction of gaze did not change the activity levels from left to right LGN changed due to the direction of attention.

Question 5

The right visual field is represented on the hemisphere of the brain.

A)left
B)right
C)ipsilateral

Question 6

The part of the visual pathway that has been described as a "volume control" is the

A)retina.
B)optic nerve.
C)lateral geniculate nucleus.

Question 7

The visual property of is processed in the magnocellular layers?

A)color
B)form
C)motion

Question 8

Area V1 is called

A)the primary visual cortex.
B)the secondary visual cortex.
C)Brodmann's area 19.

Question 9

The magnocellular layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus are composed of cells with

A)many axons.
B)more than one cell body.
C)large cell bodies.

Question 10

Neurons in the superior colliculus

A)help control eye movements.
B)receive all of their inputs from areas of the cerebral cortex.
D)do not play a role in multisensory integration.

Question 11

The koniocellular layers receive inputs from retinal ganglion cells.

A)parasol
B)midget
C)bistratified

Question 12

______________ visual properties are associated with the magnocellular layers,while visual properties are associated with the parvocellular layers.

A)Dynamic;static
B)Static;dynamic
C)Large;small

Question 13

The optic radiations begin in the

A)retina.
B)lateral geniculate nucleus.
C)superior colliculus.

Question 14

The place in the visual pathway where the optic nerve from each eye splits in half is called the

A)optic tract.
B)optic chiasm.
C)blind spot.

Question 15

The lateral geniculate nucleus is composed of layers;the first for the magno- cellular layers,and the next for the parvocellular layers.

A)______________6;2;4
B)______________5;2;3
C)______________6;3;3

Question 16

Which two LGN layers are believed to process color information?

A)magnocellular;koniocellular
B)parvocellular;koniocellular
C)parvocellular;magnocellular

Question 17

Each lateral geniculate nucleus contains koniocellular layers.

A)2
B)4
C)6

Question 18

Layers of the left lateral geniculate nucleus receive signals from the contralateral eye.

A)1,4,and 6
B)1,3,and 5
C)2,3,and 5

Question 19

The magnocellular layers receive inputs from retinal ganglion cells,while the parvocel- lular layers receive inputs from retinal ganglion cells.

A)parasol;midget
B)midget;parasol
C)bistratified;midget

Question 20

Signals from the nasal retina of the left eye travel to the cerebral hemisphere of the brain.

A)left
B)right
C)ipsilateral

Question 21

Ungerleider and Mishkin's (1982)study of the ventral and dorsal pathways in monkeys demon- strated that

A)lesions of the parietal cortex led to poor performance on the landmark task.
B)lesions of the inferotemporal cortex led to poor performance on the landmark task.
C)lesions of the parietal cortex led to poor performance on the object task.

Question 22

The dorsal pathway

A)goes to the parietal cortex.
B)begins with the bistratified RGCs.
C)includes "blobs" from layers 2/3.

Question 23

This graph shows that the response rate for a simple cell with a 90-degree orientation

A)will always be greater for the 90-degree orientation than for any other orientation,regardless of contrast.
B)could be greater for the 80-degree orientation than for the 90-degree orientation if the 80-de- gree orientation bar had a higher contrast.
C)could never be the same for bars of different orientations.

Question 24

This figure shows a bar of light impinging on the receptive fields of several RGCs.That pattern would produce response in the simple cell.

A)no
B)a weak
C)a strong

Question 25

A(n)column consists of neurons that receive signals from only one eye.

A)ocular dominance
B)orientation
C)receptive field

Question 26

A cortical column in area V1 includes layers of the cortex and is roughly mm in diameter.

A)the first three;1.0
B)all six;0.5
C)all six;1.0

Question 27

______________ cells increase their response rate as the length of an edge increases up to a limit,but then decrease their response rate as the length of the edge increases further.

A)Simple
B)Complex
C)End-stop

Question 28

In Ungerleider and Mishkin's (1982)study of the ventral and dorsal pathways,monkeys were trained to find food in a covered bin using either a landmark or an object to identify the correct bin.Following lesions of the inferotemporal cortex they were no longer able to successfully

A)do the landmark task.
B)do the object task.
C)do either the landmark or object task.

Question 29

A simple cell in the occipital cortex

A)has a preferred orientation.
B)has two preferred orientations at 90 degrees from each other.
C)would have a preferred color but not a preferred orientation.

Question 30

A simple cell that responds maximally to an edge with a 90-degree (i.e. ,vertical)orientation would

A)respond almost as well to an edge with a 180-degree orientation.
B)respond almost as well to an edge with either an 80-degree or a 100-degree orientation.
C)not respond to an edge with any orientation other than exactly 90 degrees.

Question 31

If a researcher inserted an electrode perpendicularly into area V1,she would encounter different neurons with receptive fields as the electrode moved through the layers of the cortex.

A)from many locations on the retina
B)at about the same location on the retina
C)at about the same location but only for the area of the fovea

Question 32

A(n)column consists of neurons with the same orientation tuning.

A)ocular dominance
B)orientation
C)receptive field

Question 33

Simple cells ,while complex cells .

A)respond to either light or dark bars;respond to both light and dark bars
B)respond to both light and dark bars;respond to either light or dark bars
C)are more numerous;are less numerous

Question 34

The ventral pathway includes

A)midget RGCs and the parvocellular layer of the LGN.
B)parasol RGCs and the magnocellular layer of the LGN.
C)cells in the parietal cortex.

Question 35

The receptive fields of V1 neurons

A)that receive inputs from foveal RGCs are very large.
B)that receive inputs from foveal RGCs are very small.
C)that receive inputs from peripheral RGCs are very small.

Question 36

If a researcher were interested in studying the full range of preferred orientations,she would insert an electrode into the brain

A)perpendicularly.
B)obliquely.
C)contralaterally.

Question 37

Area V1 of the cerebral cortex

A)has four layers of cells.
B)was originally described as having four layers of cells but now is known to have six layers of cells.
C)is the primary visual cortex.

Question 38

According to cortical magnification,the amount of cortical area in V1 devoted to the is greater (e.g. ,for a stimulus of a given size)than the area devoted to the .

A)fovea;periphery
B)optic disk;retina
C)periphery;fovea

Question 39

The ventral pathway includes and is considered the pathway.

A)the parvocellular layer of the LGN;"what"
B)the magnocellular layer of the LGN;"what"
C)the parietal cortex;"where/how"

Question 40

Although a single simple cell would be unable to unambiguously determine the orientation of a bar,due to its inability to independently code orientation and contrast,a can resolve the ambiguity.

A)complex cell
B)population code
C)magnocellular cell

Question 41

The largest cell bodies in the lateral geniculate nucleus are found in the layers.

A)magnocellular
B)parvocellular
C)koniocellular

Question 42

Achromatopsia

A)is another name for color blindness due to missing or damaged cone photoreceptors.
B)causes damage to the inferotemporal cortex.
C)results from damage to area V4 and associated areas.

Question 43

The is the place in the visual pathway where the optic nerve from each eye splits and sends half of its fibers to each hemisphere

A)optic tract
B)optic chiasm
C)blind spot

Question 44

Explain the following statement: "Contralaterality of vision is based on the field of vision and not on the eye of signal origin."

Question 45

Research investigating the functions of the anterior intraparietal area (AIP)have found that the AIP is involved in only

A)reaching.
B)grasping.
C)touching.

Question 46

Single-cell recordings from neurons in the medial temporal area show that those cells tend to respond best to

A)color.
B)faces.
C)movement.

Question 47

You are having dinner when you notice something flying around the table.You realize it's a fly,but you keep on eating.Finally,it lands.You track its movement for a few seconds,then reach out and swat it flat.Describe the primary functional modules and visual pathways that are involved at each point in this chain of events.

Question 48

The response rate of a(n)cell increases as the length of an edge increases up to a point,but then decreases as the length of the edge increases further.

A)simple
B)complex
C)end-stop

Question 49

An electrode is inserted obliquely into area V1.Describe the changes in the characteristics of the neurons successively encountered as the electrode penetrates deeper into V1.A second elec- trode is inserted perpendicularly into area V1.What are the characteristics of the successively encountered neurons as the second electrode penetrates deeper into V1?

Question 50

First,explain the concept of cortical magnification in terms of the receptive fields of RGCs.Next,discuss the concept of cortical magnification from the point of view of your everyday visual experience.That is,how does your ability to see across the visual field square with the notion of cortical magnification?

Question 51

Describe the double dissociative pattern of impairment and ability shown by Milner and Goo- dale's patient,D.F. ,and patients suffering from optic ataxia.(What are the abilities and impair- ments of each?)What conclusions about the visual processing streams can be drawn from this double dissociation?

Question 52

The fusiform face area (FFA)

A)is found in the parietal cortex.
B)is found in the occipital cortex.
C)is found in the temporal cortex.

Question 53

The lateral geniculate nucleus is composed of layers.

A)3
B)5
C)6

Question 54

The visual field is represented on the left cerebral cortex.

A)left
B)right
C)ipsilateral

Question 55

Static visual properties are associated with the layers.

A)magnocellular
B)parvocellular
C)koniocellular

Question 56

Briefly describe the studies performed by Schiller and Logothetis (1990)and Ungerlieder and Mishkin (1982).What was similar about their methods? Describe the findings of each and ex- plain the reasoning they used to draw their final conclusions.

Question 57

What structures along the visual stream exhibit retinotopic mapping? At what point in visual processing is retinotopic mapping no longer the rule? Why do we not expect to find retinotopic mapping in an area such as the FFA (fusiform face area)?

Question 58

According to the idea of ,the area in the primary visual cortex devoted to a stimulus at the fovea is greater than the area devoted to the same stimulus in the periphery of the retina.

A)cortical magnification
B)retinal magnification
C)optical magnification

Question 59

A electrode path would encounter cells tuned to the full range of preferred orien- tations.

A)perpendicular
B)oblique
C)contralateral

Question 60

D.F. ,a woman who had suffered damage to her ventral pathway due to carbon monoxide poi- soning,was studied by Goodale et al.(1991)using the perceptual matching and posting tasks.The results showed that D.F.

A)was unable to perform either task.
B)performed both tasks as well as control participants.
C)performed only the posting task well.

Question 61

Visual neuroprosthetic devices are typically implanted in

A)the inferotemporal cortex (IT).
B)the LGN.
C)Area V1.

Question 62

D.F. ,the woman who was studied by Goodale et al.(1991),

A)suffered from achromatopsia.
B)suffered from optic ataxia.
C)could perform the posting task but not the perceptual matching task.

Question 63

Single-cell recordings from FFA neurons show that those cells respond best to

A)colors.
B)faces.
C)movement.