Psychology 205

Perception

06 Feb 03

Day 06

   
      Three Kinds of Adaptation

definition: "Modify to suit new conditions"

biology:   Darwin ­­ change in the genome so that the phenome
      better fits its ecological niche; better ­­> reproduction;
      change random with selection

perception:
   1. Responding to constant stimuli 
sensory neurons
   2. Accommodating different ranges of stimulation
sensory systems
   3. Accommodating different patterns of stimulation    
cortex

   
1. Response to constant stimuli      neuronal

touch, olfaction, gustation, vision
not audition, pain, or kinesthesis

response decrement, spontaneous recovery

cross­adaptation
adaptation (d') vs. habituation (ß)

stabilized images    
Purkinje's tree
saccades & fixations
pursuit movements
physiological nystagmus (eye tremors)
   
sensory systems like change
without change they “adapt”

sensation begins to go away
sometimes complete; sometimes not
neural response declines

sensory organs fire less
transient cells can be thought of as
rapidly adapting

sustained cells can be thought of as
slowly adapting 
   
 slowly
adapting

 
rapidly  
adapting
 for convenience
look at rapidly
adapting systems

   
   
 how to test?

   
 one test
interval

   
 2nd test
interval

   
 3rd test
inteval

   
 Result by
connecting
data points

   
 adapt with test with a
one stimulus different
stimulus

no cross-
adaptation

   
 some cross
adaptation

   
adaptation (d') 
change in the sensitivity
d'  decreases with increased neural
adaptation
but adaptation is not the only cause for a change in d' 

habituation (ß)
change in one’s bias; 
possible increase in boredom, 
or simply “tuning out”

   
stabilized images                  ­­­­­>Purkinje's tree
3 basic eye movements

1. saccades & fixations:  endogenous control

2. pursuit movements:  exogenous control

3. physiological nystagmus    eye tremors, automatic,
           uncontrolled

   
eye movements

1. saccades & fixations:
3­4/s in reading, watching cinema, often less elsewhere
fixations        ~200­300 ms; saccades ~50­100 ms
saccades        up to 600°/s

2. pursuit movements:
up to 80º/s, lowered acuity (tracking not perfect) 

3. physiological nystagmus
up to 150 cycles/s; amplitude = half diameter of cone   

   
 classical
method

   
   
Process of perception:

1. One sees the content of the slide perfectly
2. Then content fades
3. Then content fades to neutral gray, not black

   
Approximation:

stare at
black dot

over 
time
rings 
will
fade

   
Stabilized edges (Krauskopf, 1963)

   
 alternative
method, not
quite as
good

   
Stabilized edges (Krauskopf, 1963)

Importance
of edges!

Filling in of
color, despite
the fact that
the receptors
are
stimulated
differently
   
 Are there any stabilized images in 
the real world of our natural experience?

   
 9 of 10 photons entering
the eye are absorbed
before nearing the
receptors; many receptors
are beneath blood vessels
  and arteries  
fovea optic disk

Purkinje’s
    tree
2. Accommodating different ranges of stimulation
sensory systems

light & dark adaptation
photopic & scotopic cones & rods
mesopic

ossicular dampening

signal­to­noise ratios
optimality in sensory systems

   
light & dark adaptation:
light ­­> quick; dark ­­> slow

two light­catching systems
photopic
day vision, color, cones
  scotopic 
night vision, black and white, rods
 ~500 times as sensitive after complete dark adaptation 
mesopic
both, room light
   
   
from text
Is there an analog in audition?

partial

ossicular dampening

   
Ossicular
dampening caused
by muscles around
ossicles

When in the midst of constant loud

noise, they clench and dampen the
   
sound by about 6 dB, ~3x
Why not simply build a supersensitive system?
avoid the necessity of needing two (or more) systems

   
1. Range of neural spikes/unit time is relatively small
     maximal firing = 1000 s
2. The system should avoid firing near maximal rate
    for too long. Possible tissue damage; ossicular dampening.

   
3. Accommodating different patterns of  stimulation
cortical

re­learning using
Molyneux's paradox in animals and humans

Roger Sperry
neural regeneration in amphibians
George Stratton, Ivo Kohler, and others  
inverting lenses
body schema

   
William Molyneux, Dioptrica Nova, 1692

Molyneux’s Paradox ­ the orientation of the
visual field
Relevant to Müller VIII

Molyneux’s Premise ­ depth perception

Moylneux’s Conjecture ­ the blind given sight

   
 upside down
and backwards;
rotated 180°

   
Neuroplasticity and behavior

Roger Sperry

   
rotate the eyes

upside down,
backwards,
depth wrong

   
 switch
optic
nerves

   
In frogs and newts,
no adaptation (after two years in newts)

In human beings?

   
 Dolezal

Snyder &
Pronko

   
 In response
to Molyneux

   
 upside down;
swinging;
coordination

   
 gradual
improvement

   
 still more
improvement;
left­right;
swinging

   
 gradual build up of unified
sense of body and sight

   
Ivo Kohler

after a 30­day period of adaptation to 
inverting lenses

   
Ivo Kohler

after a 30­day period of adaptation to 
inverting lenses

able to drive a Vespa rapidly, weaving in an out of traffic, in 
downtown Innsbruck

   
 the return to
normal:

odd (but not
inverted);
reverse
swinging;
almost gone in
1 hour;
slight return
the next day 

   
 slow adaptation to new state of affairs;
old schema suppressed, not changed
   
 wedge
prisms

sensorimotor
adaptation
   
 people adapt;
chicks don’t

adaptation to spatial
inversion and
displacements
  are cortical,  
and beyond V1
Three Kinds of Adaptation

definition: "Modify to suit new conditions”

biology: 

perception:
   1. Responding to constant stimuli 
sensory neurons    ­­>    Purkinje’s tree & lab phenomena
   2. Accommodating different ranges of stimulation
sensory systems  ­­>          light/dark adaptation
  ossicular dampening
   3. Accommodating different patterns of stimulation    
cortical   ­­>    inverting & wedge lenses