Want to create interactive content? It’s easy in Genially!

Get started free

9 - Vision in the brain (cont'd again; 9.15.25)

Morgan Paladino

Created on September 12, 2025

Start designing with a free template

Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:

Transcript

Vision in the brain

9.15.25

(cont'd, AGAIN)

Agenda

  • Exit Ticket Recap
  • Areas of extrastriate cortex
  • What & where/how pathways

Announcements

  • A couple of days behind on syllabus
    • adjust reading accordingly
  • Project groups- contact Emma if assistance still needed
  • Emma will be organizing review session approx. 1 week prior to Exam 1 (Fri 10/3)

today's slido

bistable perception figure

What animal do you see above? (No wrong answers)

Areas of extrastriate cortex

V2 neurons

respond to color, contour, and borders

V2

V4 neurons

respond to curvature, orientation, and location (which together comprise shape)

V4

Area MT (V5) neurons

respond to motion in their receptive field (in a particular direction)

"He went that-a-way!"
"He went that-a-way!"

MT

Object recognition areas

respond to objects of distinct shape

recognition of generic objects is supported by the

  • lateral occipital cortex (LOC)
  • inferotemporal cortex (ITC)

The lateral occipital cortex (LOC) responds to meaningful objects (i.e. left side, not right)

Face & Place recognition areas

  • fusiform face area (FFA) responds to faces
  • parahippocampal place area (PPA) responds to places

the jennifer aniston neuron

Raster plot - graph used in neuroscience to show when individual neurons fire in response to stimuli

Note how the neuron fires much more in response to Jennifer Aniston than to other faces

Asking for Directions in the brain

Dorsal

Ventral

2 main processing streams originate in primary visual cortex (v1):

Where/How

Ventral stream: identifying objects (what)Damage causes visual agnosia (difficulty perceiving faces & objects)Dorsal stream: assessing the location of objects (where), and guiding our movement toward them (how)Damage causes optic ataxia (difficulty using vision to reach for & grasp objects)

What

Double dissociation study of the ventral & Dorsal streams

Double dissociation study: -tests if 2 tasks are supported by distinct brain regions-does this by lesioning 2 areas & then testing 2 tasks Landmark vs. object discrimination lesion study-dorsal stream lesion --> can't do landmark task ventral stream lesion --> can't do object discrimination task

Remember to complete your Exit Ticket

Exit Ticket
Next class: Visual Object Recognition