Vision - A Learned Process Or Are We Born With It?
Depth perception is made possible by having two components, binocular vision and stereopsis. Binocular vision is defined as vision where both eyes are aimed simultaneously at the same visual target and where both eyes work together a coordinated team (1). Stereopsis is defined as vision where two separate images from two eyes are successfully combined into one image in the brain (1). In class it was learned that through the process of depth perception, one can have 3-D vision even though our retina receives visual information as 2 dimensional. This is made possible by the fact that the brain has learned to process visual images by comparing the relative sizes, horizontal and vertical orientations, object overlaps and shadows projected within the field to define our perceptions of the world around us (4). Is this really true? Does the brain learn how to perceive its world as three dimensional or is it something that we always did from birth?
The most obvious time to see if this visual process is learned is through the observation of the visual processes of infants. The earliest studies of depth perception and babies used an apparatus called the visual cliff (Berk 151). This device consists of a glass covered table and a central platform, from which babies are encouraged to crawl. Patterns are placed beneath the glass to create the appearance of a shallow side and a deep side. When trying to get the babies to crawl across the glass, the babies readily crossed the shallow side and all but a few reacted with fear to the deep side. The researchers concluded that about the time infants crawl, most of them have an understanding of depth perception.
Another study carried out ...
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... crucial first weeks of life. The efficacy of vision therapy is something that should also be studied. Not much has been heard about this therapy and if it is effective as it says to be, then the visual system can be better understood. It would also be interesting to note if any changes in brain structure take place as a result of vision therapy. Further investigations (like those mentioned above) can help us better understand whether vision is learned or not. At the beginning of researching this paper, I was ready to say that we were born with our visual abilities and were stuck with them due to genetics, however I am now willing to support a theory that vision is learned and can be re-learned, due to the findings of vision therapy.
Internet Sources:
http://www.autism.org/visual.html
Berk, Laura E. Child Development 4th Ed. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1997.
Understanding of Children with Congenital Profound Visual Impairment." British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22.1 (2004): 1-17.
Speigelman uses the selected quote to engage the reader and make them aware of how it feels to be raised by Holocaust victims, his dad in particular. In this passage, Speigelman speaks with his friend Pavel about how he has recently been experie...
Neylan (2013) suggests that the Aboriginal women of Vancouver have perhaps experienced a similar and lingering attitude to those of the colonists. As well, it seems the Canadian justice system has also retained some of the same cruel and biased ideologies as its earlier colonialists. Neylan identifies a parallel here, explaining both colonists and the current justice system treat natives in a demeaning manner, disregarding the value of human life because of an indigenous lab...
Baillargeon, R., & Graber, M. (1987). Where’s the rabbit? 5.5 month-old infants’ representation of the height of a hidden object. Cognitive Development, 2, 375-392.
Eyes are the ‘organ of sight or vision; the visual sense; the sense of seeing’ (Biology-Online). The eye is an organ that detects light and sends signals along the optic nerve to the brain. The eye allows for light recognition and the ability to differentiate between colors, and light and dark. The eye is approximately 2.54 cm wide, 2.54 cm deep and 2.2 cm tall. The human eye has around 200-degree viewing angle and can see and detect more than 10 million colors and shades. This essay is going to look at ways of seeing. The possible problems with eyesight, and eyes of various kinds. It is one of the most rare problems today that is affecting people, all over the world. Around the world an estimate of 4 in 10 people have perfect vision/sight (BBC). The population of the world right now
Sajda P. & Finkle, L.H. (1995) Intermediate Visual Representations and the Construction of Surface Perception. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7, 267-291.
All over the world coral reefs play an important part in our environment. Not only are the reefs colorful and beautiful to look at but the coral reefs house several different types of fish and other sea creatures. Coral reefs have started to decline over the years due to “climate change, El Nino events, overfishing, pollution and other pressures” (Newnham 1). A healthy coral reef can also collapse due to a natural disaster (Newnham 2). There can be several different reasons why a coral reef has started to decline or has been destroyed.
Huppert, A., and Stone, L. 1998. Chaos in the Pacific’s Coral Reef Bleaching Cycle. The American Naturalist; Vol. 152, No. 3 (Sept. 1998), pp. 447-459.
A big change that has occurred in the oceans all over the world is the Coral Reefs are dying and are predicted to be dead by the end of the century due to the rising acidity of the oceans caused by many different threats to marine ecosystems. Coral reefs cover less than 0.2% of our oceans but they contain 25% of the world’s marine fish species according to Endangered: Biodiversity on the brink, 2010: pg.45). If this is the case that means by the time the end of the century comes around we will have lost close to 25% of the worlds marine ecosystems.
Vision-- receiving and interpreting light signals from the environment in order to form an image in one's mind-- is an incredibly complex process. Somehow signals from photoreceptors located in the eye are converted into the conscious experience of sight. Of all the aspects of vision, perhaps the most difficult for us to comprehend scientifically is this notion of consciousness. Somehow the brain interprets light waves hitting the retina so that we are visually aware of our surroundings. While the mechanism of signal transduction from the photoreceptor through the visual cortex has been extensively elucidated, science has difficulty dealing with the phenomena of consciousness and awareness, especially on a reductionist level.
We as human beings utilize the five senses to process information about our surroundings. These senses help keep us safe. For example, we use our sense of touch to avoid picking up a hot pan, while our senses of smell and taste prevent us from cooking any rotten food in the pan. Our sense of sight allows us to see an oncoming train, while our sense of sound makes it possible to hear the train’s horn.
Oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface. The talk of climate change can often seem to focus on what is happening in our atmosphere, but there is a lot of change going on in our oceans. The oceans have absorbed 90% of the excess heat and 28% of the carbon pollution generated by human consumption of fossil fuels (Nuccitelli 2015). The purpose of this paper is to show how the effects of climate change effect the coral reefs in our oceans, with a focus on the coral reef systems in the Caribbean and of the Great Barrier Reef. The Caribbean coral reefs are well known to have suffered more damage between the two reef systems. That’s not to say that the Great Barrier Reef has not suffered its own damage. It has and will continue to suffer in the future.
Baker, Andrew c. “Climate change and coral reef bleaching: An ecological assessment of long-Term impacts, recovery trends and future outlook.” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Academic Press, 17 Sept. 2008, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272771408003405.
Coral reefs can only function within a small temperature range with increased temperature breaking the symbiotic relationship between coral and zoozanthele. Freshwater runoff, a lack of cloud cover and an increase in atmospheric temperature, together have caused a 0.4°C increase in sea temperature since the 1800’s. In addition the GBRMPA reports sea level observations from Townsville show an average rise of 1.2mm/year. Sea levels have been constant in the past 6000 years. Despite reef growth rates supporting a 3mm/year rise, the increasing rate of change may have acute impacts on the surrounding environment (islands, cays etc.) which can alter the nature of coral
The Eye is the organ of sight. Eyes enable people to perform daily tasks and to learn about the world that surrounds them. Sight, or vision, is a rapidly occurring process that involves continuous interaction between the eye, the nervous system, and the brain. When someone looks at an object, what he/she is really seeing is the light that the object reflects, or gives off.