Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Essay Example

Perception is whereby one becomes aware of something through the five senses of touch, smell, taste, sound, and sight. The process of perception is a sequence of the steps that are influenced by the environment that results in a stimulus which eventually brings about an action towards what is perceived from the surroundings (Baird et al,. 2020). According to Kendra Cherry and Steven Gans (July 2020), the perception process is as follows; The Environmental Stimulus, The Attended Stimulus, The Image on the Retina, Transduction, Neural Processing, Perception Recognition, and then Action. The environmental stimulus, stimuli are all over the world that can invite attention through various senses (Baird et al,. 2020). The environmental stimulus is all in the surroundings that have the probability to be perceived. The attended stimulus is the precise object in the environment on which attention is focused. The image on the retina involves light actually passing through the cornea and pupil and onto the eye’s lens (Baird et al,. 2020).

The cornea helps focus the light as it enters the eye, and the iris of the eye controls the size of the pupils to determine how much light to let in. The cornea and lens act together to project an inverted image onto the retina (Baird et al,. 2020). With transduction, the image on the retina is then converted into electrical signals in a process known as transduction. This allows the visual messages to be transmitted to the brain to be interpreted. Neural processing refers to the phase where the electrical signals undergo neural processing (Baird et al,. 2020). The path followed by a particular signal depends on what type of signal it is. Recognition as part of the perception process involves being consciously aware of the environment and the brain being able to interpret what it senses. While on the other hand, the action phase refers to the response given by an activity after the recognized stimuli. It could be either blinking or running towards a distressed person or running away from the course of distress. Kendra, Steven (2020) say that the perception process gives one an experience in his or her world and interacts with that environment in meaningful ways.

Neurons are nerve cells that act as agents to transmit instructions and messages from the brain cells. They are passed through Neurons are nerve cells; neurons are messengers. The messages are transported through electrical signals from receptors in the brain (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). The agents responsible for transportation of information or nerve impulses from one cell to another are known as axons. Similar to an electrical wire, when an axon is torn, the nerve impulse will not end up being transmitted; like electrical wires, axons have an outer coating that gives it insulation. Especially when it is being damaged by force (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). This leads to problems being noticed in the nerve cell, despite the possibility that the axon may be torn.

A physical example of comparison is a cord to an appliance like, for instance, a vacuum cleaner. Oftentimes, I know I can rush the brushing process and, on occasion, have gotten the cord caught on the blades (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). When damage is caused to the exterior of the cord, the vacuum will continue to properly function despite the fraying of insulation, which then exposes a bare wire. When we touch it with our bare hands after the rubber protection has melted off, almost if not instantaneously, I will feel a shock. Basically, the insulation from the electricity is no longer there and is now exposed (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). Our skin is our insulation, like the rubber is to the vacuum wire. The same is the electrical signal sent from axons sent to one cell to another the electrical signals connection, the axon is a wire that is so long that if you attached it from one end to the other, there would be enough wire to reach from the moon and back (Neurons and Circuits). Our brain is composed of different subsystems; these signals are in charge of sending information that is far or long distance (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). Our brain processes so much information, it is these connections that work together to figure out the over 10,000 connections. Wires connect signals at the speed of light, while the signals in our brains are slower in transporting signals (Flitcroft et al,. 2019).

Inference refers to the action of concluding based on the reasoning or evidence available towards a perceptive. The unconscious inference theory is based on the hypothesis that perception is based indirectly on a person’s knowledge of their environment and the earlier experiences with similar situations (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). According to Hermann von Helmholtz, the human vision is not complete, but details are concluded by an unconscious mind to create a clear picture. He adds that most human perceptions are usually assumptions of the brain that it makes from eye perceptions that are either motion or depth perceptions. The likelihood principles state that the human will perceive their environment based on their experiences (Flitcroft et al,. 2019).

Characteristics of the energy we view as white light. Light energy is electromagnetic radiation that travels in waves. Long low frequent appear red high frequent one appears blue.

Light energy enters through the pupil. These light waves must be precisely focused on the inner back of the eye to produce a clear vision. When the light s not focused/ at the inner back of the eye, blurry vision/ cloudy vision occurs. To combat this issue, people wear glasses and/or contact lenses to focus on the light. Light Culture effects on visual perception (Flitcroft et al,. 2019).

Myopia is an eye disorder that means that an individual does not see distant objects. This is because the eye does not focus the light precisely at the back of the eye for objects that are far away. The opposite of this condition is the state where the eye does not focus precisely at the back of the eye for the things that are near. This condition is called hyperopia (Flitcroft et al,. 2019).

Vision starts once the light enters the eye; it is focused by the cornea and lens against the retina, which is a thin layer of neural tissue behind the eye. There are specialized neurons known as Photoreceptors that transduce light into neural signals, and then they respond with graded potentials that pass the signal on to bipolar cells, which sends the signal to retinal ganglion cells. Retinal ganglion cells are the only neurons in the retina that fire action potentials (Flitcroft et al,. 2019).

The Blind Spot is an area where the person’s view is obstructed. Here, the ganglion cells are usually at the front, while the photoreceptors are at the back of the retina. The ganglion cell axons, therefore, form the optic nerve that goes out through a hole at the back (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). The photoreceptors transform light energy into a neural signal. If there are no photoreceptors, this means there is no sensitivity to light hence creating a blind spot. Blind spots can either be natural or artificial. The natural blind spot, also known as scotoma, is due to lack of receptors, that is, the rods or cones where the optic nerve and blood vessels dispense the eye (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). There can also be artificial blind spots when something blocks light from reaching the photoreceptors or if there is a local version of the retina as just after seeing a bright light. It is important to note that blindness is caused by an absence of seeing. Some people will experience it as blackness, or some will refer to it as nothing (Flitcroft et al,. 2019). The sudden blindness of switching off the light is blackness, and black is a color; nothing refers to lack of visual sensation.

References

Baird, P. N., Saw, S. M., Lanca, C., Guggenheim, J. A., Smith III, E. L., Zhou, X., … & He, M. (2020). Myopia. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 6(1), 1-20.

Flitcroft, D. I., He, M., Jonas, J. B., Jong, M., Naidoo, K., Ohno-Matsui, K., … & Yannuzzi, L. (2019). IMI–Defining and classifying myopia: a proposed set of standards for clinical and epidemiologic studies. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 60(3), M20-M30.

Dudycha, L. W., & Naylor, J. C. (1966). Characteristics of the human inference process in complex choice behavior situations. Organizational behavior and human performance, 1(1), 110-128.