Vision and Neuroscience k-3

A virtual science-themed library created by neuroscientists at UNE for kids in grade k-8!

UNE's Brain Fair e-Library 

The pain or discomfort you feel from the eye lash in your eye is your cornea telling you to stop and take the eye lash out of your eye. It feels pretty uncomfortable because your cornea has lots of nerves, which help you feel things like pain.

Your eyes are one of your five senses. Senses are something that you understand the world around you.

From the eye, information travels to the brain. The brain pieces together information things that we recognize.

The Color Blind Test

People who cannot see one or more colors are considered colorblind. Below are some examples of what people who are colorblind might see.

The different parts of your eye work together to help you see. Our occipital lobe, in the back of our brain, processes what we see. Optical illusions trick our brains into seeing something that is exactly correct.

Click on this video<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syaQgmxb5i0"> </a>for a quick video to review how the anatomy of the eye assists us in seeing!

The Visual System: How Your Eyes Work

Behind the pupil is the lens, a clear part of the eye that bends, or refracts, the incoming light.

After light passes through the lens, light hit the back of the eye. The thin tissue on the back of the eye is called the retina.

The iris is the colored part of the eye and it change the size the of the pupil to allow different amounts of light to enter the eye.&nbsp;

The iris relaxes and closes the pupil in bright light.

The iris contracts opening the pupil in dim light.

A&nbsp;thaumatrope&nbsp;is a toy that was popular in the 19th century. A disk with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string (or straw). When the strings, or straw, are twirled quickly the two pictures appear to blend into one.

They help you see, of course! But have you ever wondered how your eyes help you to see?

Hello, I'm Nancy and I will be sharing with you how our eyes work with our brains to figure out what we are seeing.

If you see this picture in the book, there is a video link.

The part of the brain that processes what we see is called the occipital lobe, which is located on the back of the brain!

It is here what you see is processed, or decoded!!

The brain tries to make sense of what it sees, but sometimes the brain doesn't get it right. 

Glasses help our  eyeballs to focus light onto the correct place in the back of our eye (also called the the retina).&nbsp;

Images are flipped upside down when they hit the retina and then flipped right side up on it's journey to brain.

Image by&nbsp;Marcella Cheng/The Conversation

First, light must pass through the cornea.

Have you ever got an eye lash in your eye?

* For more information on how the eye works, click <a href="https://dana.org/article/the-senses-vision/">here</a>.

* Information on eye movements and eye disorders, click <a href="https://dana.org/article/the-eyes-are-windows-into-the-brain/">here</a>.

* Extra information discussing vision, click <a href="https://dana.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/fact-sheet-senses-vision-baw-2020.pdf">here</a>.

* 'The Dress' activity, click <a href="https://michaelbach.de/ot/col-dress/index.html">here</a>.

* Optic experiments at home, click <a href="https://www.optics4kids.org/classroom-activities/5-10">here</a>.

* 13 <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/optical-illusions-will-blow-your-mind-4864290">More optical illusions</a>

Works Cited 1. https://webvision.med.utah.edu/ 2. https://dana.org/article/the-senses-vision/

Images that challenge or deceive the eye are called an optical illusions.

This optical illusion is called the impossible cube.

Both answers are correct! The image you see may even switch back and forth from being a duck and a rabbit.

Check out this video for more optical illusions and the science behind them.

How Do Optical Illusions Work?

Why do some people have different color eyes?

For the answer to this question check out this video!

Is Your Eye Color Real?

How to make a thaumatrope 1. Trace and cut out two identical circles. 2. Draw two images which “go together.” (You can find other templates <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/ginger0290/thauatropes/">here</a>, or draw your own!) 3. Place a piece of double sided tape on the&nbsp;straw&nbsp;and apply the first paper circle. 4. Hold the&nbsp;straw&nbsp;between two palms and spin!!!

The brain tries to make sense of the world by organizing what it sees into something familiar or meaningful.&nbsp;

Now let's do some illusions with color!

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