Information Coding In

Visual Cell, Perception

and Attention
LECTURE BY
HIRA
AZAM
Visual cell and also called photoreceptor cells. Visual cell is one
of the cells of the retina that is sensitive to light. Retina is the
innermost light-sensitive membrane covering the back wall of
the eyeball; it is continuous with the optic nerve.
The primary light-sensing cells in the retina are the
photoreceptor cells, which are of three known types
 Rods
 Cones
 Photosensitive retinal ganglion cells.
 Rods function mainly in dim light and provide black-and-white
vision.
 Cones are responsible for the perception of color, as well as high-
acuity vision used for tasks such as reading.
 The third type of cells are thought not contribute to sight directly,
but have a role in the entrainment of the circadian rhythm.

The natural cycle of physical, mental, and behavior changes that

the body goes through in a 24-hour cycle. Circadian rhythms are
mostly affected by light and darkness and are controlled by a small
area in the middle of the brain. Circadian rhythm is sometimes called
the“body'sclock.”
  Cones
 Rods
 Cones require significantly brighter light (that is, a
 Rods are extremely sensitive, and
larger number of photons) to produce a signal.
can be triggered by a single photon.
At very low light levels, visual  In humans, there are three different types of cone cell,
experience is based solely on the rod distinguished by their pattern of response to light of
signal. different wavelengths.
 Color experience is calculated from these three distinct
signals. This explains why colors cannot be seen at
low light levels, when only the rod and not the cone
photoreceptor cells are active. The three types of cone
cell respond to light of short, medium, and long
wavelengths, so they may respectively be referred to
as S-cones, M-cones, and L-cones.
 Visual Perception

 It is the brain's ability to receive, interpret, and act

upon visual stimuli. Visual perception is the ability
to interpret the surrounding environment using
light in the visible spectrum reflected by the
objects in the environment. A person can have
problems with visual perceptual processing even if
they have 20/20 vision.
 Elements of Visual Perception:

 Perception is based on the following seven elements:

 1. Visual discrimination: The ability to distinguish one shape from
another.
 2. Visual memory: The ability to remember a specific form when
removed from your visual field.
 3. Visual-spatial relationships: The ability to recognize forms that
are the same but may be in a different spatial orientation.
 4. Visual form constancy: The ability to discern similar forms that
may be different in size, color, or spatial orientation and to
consistently match the similar forms.
5. Visual sequential memory: The ability to recall two to seven items in
sequence with vision occluded.

6. Visual figure/ground: The ability to discern discrete forms when

camouflaged or partially hidden.

7. Visual closure. Visual perception is a process that starts in our eyes.

Visual perception happens when the eye focuses light on the retina. Within
the retina, there is a layer of photoreceptor (light-receiving) cells which are
designed to change light into a series of electrochemical signals to be
transmitted to the brain. Visual perception occurs in the brain’s cerebral
cortex; the electrochemical signals get there by traveling through the optic
nerve and the thalamus. The process can take a mere 13 milliseconds,
according to a 2017 study.
Example: Driving is one of the most complex daily tasks
that many people do every day. It requires many
different complex processes, once of which is visual
perception. If one of the processes in visual perception
fails, you have a chance of danger yourself or others
around you. It is so important to quickly be able to
figure out how close two cars are to each other, how fast
they are going, etc., which wouldn't be possible if your
visual perception is poor.
In perception of light, it has been estimated that the human visual
system can detect and discriminate among seven million colour
variations, but these variations are all created by the combinations of
the three primary colours: red, green, and blue. The perceived color
of light is determined by three dimensions: hue, saturation, and
brightness.
Hue:
Hue refers to the color quality of the light and corresponds to the
color names that we use, such as orange, purple, green, indigo,
yellow, cyan, aquamarine, etc. In fact, hue is the quality of color. A
quality is a value that changes, but it does not make the value larger
or smaller. When hue or color changes, it does not make sense to say
that red has more or less hue than green. This is because color is a
quality, not an amount.
Saturation:
Saturation refers to the purity of the light. The more saturated the stimulus,
the stronger the color experience and the less saturated, the more it appears
white or gray or black that is, achromatic. The classic example of saturation
differences concerns the continuum from red to pink. Pink is a combination of
red light and white light. The more white light is added, the less “red” the
pink is. Eventually, the red may be so overwhelmed by the white that we
barely notice the pink at all.
Brightness:
Brightness refers to the amount of light present. The brighter an object is, the
easier it is to see and to notice the colors. Brightness is the dimension that
now goes vertically through the color circle. Brightness does have a relation
to color; it is easier to see color at higher brightness values.
In his important research on colour vision.
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) theorized that colour is
perceived because the cones in the retina come in three types. One
type of cone reacts primarily to blue light (short wavelengths),
another reacts primarily to green light (medium wavelengths), and a
third reacts primarily to red light (long wavelengths). The visual
cortex then detects and compares the strength of the signals from
each of the three types of cones, creating the experience of colour.
According to this Young-Helmholtz trichromatic colour theory what
colour we see depends on the mix of the signals from the three types
of cones. If the brain is receiving primarily red and blue signals, for
instance, it will perceive purple; if it is receiving primarily red and
green signals it will perceive yellow; and if it is receiving messages
from all three types of cones it will perceive white.
 Visual Attention

You’re in the kitchen, standing at the stove, looking out the

window into the backyard. What do you see? A swimming
pool? Whatever it is whatever object, color, or movement you
zoom in on – results from the proper operation of your visual
attention.

Different systems encode colour, motion, depth, etc. How this

scattered information is put back together to produce a coherent
percept of each individual object is called the binding problem.
 Varieties of Attention

1. External. attending to stimuli in the world.

2. Internal Attending to one line of thought over another or selecting

one response over another.

3. Overt directing a sense organ toward a stimulus, like turning your

eyes or your head.

4. Covert attending without giving an outward sign.

5. Divided/limited. attending to stimuli at the same time.

6. Alternating Splitting attention between two different

stimuli.

7. Sustained i.e. continuously monitoring some stimulus.

8. Selective i.e. selectively attending certain stimuli in the

environment while at the same time tuning other things out.

Mechanisms of Selective Attention:
Selective attention is controlled by mechanisms on at least
four levels:
1. The mechanism that leads a high-level executive
controller to decide to attend to (or to ignore) something.
This may be a location, a class of objects, a modality, or a
single object, depending on the behavior in which the
subject is engaged.
2. Mechanisms of neural activity.
3. The mechanism that detects the appropriately enhanced
or otherwise flagged activity and passes it to awareness.
4. How awareness uses that information.