Sensory Systems

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the functioning of our visual sensory system. According to the paper, the systems involved in visual processing are constantly being bombarded with various stimuli. The paper goes on to discuss how several factors influence the process of visual information, including visual masking, spatial location and color of stimuli, the manner in which stimuli are grouped, as well as expectation of the presentation of visual stimuli.

From the Paper:

"The actual pathways on which spatial information and feature information, such as color, travel from the eye to the brain may be separate but parallel (Grabbe & Pratt, 2004). This would mean that there is a fundamental anatomical and functional difference in the way these types of information are processes. Furthermore, "selection happens by differential activation (excitation, inhibition, or both), of certain representations (not necessarily location representations) (Grabbe & Pratt, 2004)". What are the specific anatomical areas responsible for spatial and nonspatial information? Spatial information is routed into posterior parietal areas, while nonspatial information is directed into inferior temporal cortical areas."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, A., Carpenter, R. (2006). Changes in expectation consequent on experience, modeled by a simple, forgetful neural circuit. Journal of Vision, 6(8), 822-35.
• Grabbe, Y., Pratt, J. (2004). Competing top-down processes in visual selection: evidence that selection by location is stronger than selection by color. Journal of General Psychology, 131, 137-49.
• Macknik, S. (2006). Chapter 11 - Visual masking approaches to visual awareness. Progress in Brain Research, 155, 177-215.
• Min-Shik, K., Cave, K. (1999). Grouping effects on spatial attention in visual search. Journal of General Psychology, 126, 326-52.
• Muller, M., Anderson, N., Trujillo, N., Valdes-Sosa, P., Malinowski, P., Hillyard, S. (2006). Feature-selective attention enhances color signals in early visual areas of the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(38), 14250-4.

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