Assignment: Connection to Brain

Assignment: Connection to Brain
Assignment: Connection to Brain
Permalink:
Read the introduction to Chapter 5 (6 in the 11th edition of the textbook) the first several sections of module 5.1:
General Principles of Perception
The Eye and Its Connections to the Brain
Visual Receptors: Rods and Cones
Study the anatomy of the eye and retina in figures 5.1 and 5.3 (6.1 and 6.3 in 11th edition) in your textbook.
Answer two the following questions and then reply to classmate to let them know you found their explanation helpful:
1. How does your brain code the information about what it has detected?
2. What anatomy causes the blindspot demonstrated in Figure 6.4 (also the first “Try it yourself” in chapter 6 coursemate)? Why don’t we usually notice it?
3. Compare rods and cones. Write about one similarity and two differences between rods and cones. When do you use rods? When do you use cones?
4. Compare foveal and peripheral vision: What are differences in what you can perceive with foveal vision and what you can see with peripheral vision? Describe the differences in the anatomy of the retina in the fovea versus the periphery that cause those differences?
36450 Topic: Discussion 1
Number of Pages: 3 (Double Spaced)
Number of sources: 1
Writing Style: APA
Type of document: Essay
Academic Level:Master
Category: Psychology
Language Style: English (U.S.)
Damage to the optic nerve, connecting the eye with the brain, is a major cause of blindness. The most common culprit is glaucoma, estimated to affect more than 4 million Americans. There is currently no way to restore the lost vision, because the optic nerve, like other nerves in the mature central nervous system (CNS), cannot regenerate. Now, scientists at Children’s Hospital Boston report achieving the greatest regeneration to date in the mammalian optic nerve.
Research in animal models has revealed many of the factors thwarting in the mature CNS. The Children’s scientists have now discovered that two molecular pathways, which each promote some optic nerve regeneration on their own, can work synergistically. By activating these pathways simultaneously in a , they attained about 10-fold the regeneration seen with activation of either pathway alone.
“This is really a massive change,” says Larry Benowitz, PhD, a member of the Neurobiology and Neurosurgery Departments at Children’s and a Professor of Surgery and Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. “It brings us closer to potentially restoring function after vision loss caused by optic nerve damage.”
The synergistic effect, described November 17th in the