The Visual System

Readings

Lec #	Topics	Readings
1	Introduction to the Visual System and Organization of the Retina: Anatomy and physiology of the retina, ganglion-cell receptive field organization, pre-ganglionic elements	_Preparatory Assignment _ Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, sections I-III in The Schiller Lab at MIT. _Assigned Reading _ Background: Schiller, Peter H. “The Central Visual System.” Vision Research 26 (1986): 1351-1355. [Read sections on retina.] Werblin, F. W., and J. E. Dowling. “Organization of the retina of the mudpuppy, Necturus maculosus. II. Intracellular recording.” J Neurophysiol 32 (1969): 339-355. Waessle, H., and B. B. Boycott. “Functional architecture of the mammalian retina.” Physiological Reviews 71 (1991): 447-480. Dacey, Dennis M. “The mosaic of midget ganglion cells in the human retina.” J Neurosci 13 (1993): 5334-5355.
2	A. The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus: Laminar organization of the LGN, receptive field properties of single cells B. The Striate Cortex: Striate cortex receptive field organization, cytoarchitecture, modular organization, imaging	A. Preparatory Assignment Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section IV in The Schiller Lab at MIT. _Assigned Reading _ Background: Schiller, P. H. “The Central Visual System.” Vision Research 26 (1986): 1355-1357. (Read sections on LGN.) Schiller, P. H., and J. G. Malpeli. “Functional specificity of lateral geniculate nucleus laminae of the rhesus monkey.” J Neurophysiol 41 (1978): 788-797. Hendry, S. H. C., and T. Y. Yoshioka. “A neurochemically distinct third channel in the macaque dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus.” Science 264 (1994): 575-577. _B. Preparatory Assignment _ Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section V in The Schiller Lab at MIT. Assigned Reading Background: Schiller, P. H. “The Central Visual System.” Vision Research 26 (1986): 1357-1363. (Read sections on the striate cortex.) Hubel, D., and T. Wiesel. “Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecutre in the cat’s visual cortex.” J Physiol 160 (1962): 106-154. Leventhal, A. G., K. G. Thompson, D. Liu, Y. Zhou, and S. J. Ault “Concomitant sensitivity to orientation, direction and color of cells in layers 2, 3, and 4 of monkey striate cortex.” J Neurosci 15 (1995): 1808-1818. Recommended Reading Hubel, D. H., and T. W. Wiesel. “Receptive fields and functional architecture of monkey striate cortex.” J Physiol (London) 195 (1968): 215-243. Schiller, P. H., B. L. Finlay, and S. F. Volman. “Quantitative studies of single-cell properties in monkey striate cortex I, II and III.” J Neurophysiol 39 (1976): 1288-1351. Research Reports Blasdel, G. G. “Differential imaging of ocular dominance and orientation selectivity in monkey striate cortex.” J Neurosci 12 (1992): 3115-3138. ———. “Orientation selectivity, preference, and continuity in monkey striate cortex.” J Neurosci 12 (1992): 3139-3161.
3	Extrastriate Areas: Specificity of areas, single-cell receptive field properties, topography, imaging, functional and anatomical connections	Preparatory Assignment Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section VI in The Schiller Lab at MIT. _Assigned Reading _ Background: Schiller, P. H. “The Central Visual System.” Vision Research 26 (1986): 1363-1372. [Read sections on higher cortical areas.] Kaas, J. H., and D. C. Lyon. “Visual cortex organization in primates: Theories of V3 and adjoining visual areas.” Chapter 18 in Vision: from Neurons to Cognition. Edited by C. Casanova and M. Ptito. Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 134. Amsterdam, NL: Elsevier, 2001. ISBN: 0444505865. Levitt, J. B., D. C. Kiper, and J. A. Movshon. “Receptive fields and functional architecture of macaque V2.” Journal of Neurophysiol 71 (1994): 2517-2542. Maunsell, J. H. R., and D. C. VanEssen. “Functional properties of neurons in middle temporal visual area of the macaque monkey.” J Neurophysiol 49 (1983): 1127-1167. _Recommended Reading _ Gross, C. G. “From Imhotep to Hubel and Wiesel: The story of visual cortex.” In Cerebral Cortex. Edited by Rockland, Kaas, and Peters. New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1997. ISBN: 0306455307. Kaas, J. H. “Theories of visual cortex organization in primates.” In Cerebral Cortex. Edited by Rockland, Kaas and Peters. New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1997. ISBN: 0306455307. _Research Reports _ Sereno, M. I., et. al. “Borders of multiple visual areas in humans revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging.” Science 268 (1995): 889-893. Murphy, P. C., S. G. Duckett, and A. M. Sillito. “Feedback connections to the lateral geniculate nucleus and cortical response properties.” Science 286 (1999): 1552-1554.
4	The ON and OFF Channels and Brightness Perception: The ON and OFF channels and their function in vision	Preparatory Assignment Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section VII in The Schiller Lab at MIT. Assigned Reading Hartline, H. K. “The responses of single optic nerve fibers of the vertebrate eye to illumination of the retina.” Am J Physiol 121 (1938): 400-415. Kuffler, S. W. “Discharge patterns and functional organization of mammalian retina.” J Neurophysiol 16 (1953): 37-68. Schiller, P. H. “The ON and OFF channels of the mammalian visual system.” Progress in Retinal and Eye Research 15 (1995). ———. “The central connections of the retinal ON and OFF pathways.” Nature 297 (1982): 580-583. Schiller, P. H., J. H. Sandell, and J. H. R. Maunsell. “The functions of the ON and OFF channels of the visual system.” Nature 322 (1986): 824-825. Research Reports Adelson, E. H. “Perceptual organization and the judgment of brightness.” Science 262 (1993): 2042-2044. Rossi, A. F., C. D. Rittenhouse, and M. A. Paradiso. “The representation of brightness in primary visual cortex.” Science 273 (1996): 1104-7.
5	The Midget and Parasol Systems: Characteristics, connections and functions of the midget and parasol systems	_Preparatory Assignment _ Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section VIII in The Schiller Lab at MIT. Assigned Reading Livingstone, M., and D. H. Hubel. “Segregation of form, color, movement and depth: Anatomy, Physiology and Perception.” Science 240 (1988): 740-749. Schiller, P. H., N. K. Logothetis, and E. R. Charles. “The role of the color-opponent and broad-band channels in vision.” Visual Neuroscience 5 (1990): 321-346. Schiller, P. H., and N. K. Logothetis. “The color-opponent and broad-band channels of the primate.” Trends in Neurosciences 13 (1990): 392-398. _Research Reports _ Maunsell, J. H. R., T. A. Nealy, and D. D. DePriest. “Magnocellular and parovcellular contributions to responses in the middle temporal area (MT) of the macaque monkey.” J Neurosci 10 (1990): 3323-3334. Ferrera, V. P., T. A. Nealy, and J. H. R. Maunsell. “Mixed parvocellular and magnocellular geniculate signals in visual area V4.” Nature 358 (1992): 756-758.
6	Color Vision and Adaptation: The processing of wavelength information in the visual system, perception at isoluminance Adaptation phenomena and the neural mechanisms of visual adaptation	Preparatory Assignment Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, sections IX and X in The Schiller Lab at MIT. _Assigned Reading _ Derrington, A. M., J. Krauskopf, and P. Lennie. “Chromatic mechanisms in lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque.” J Physiol 357 (1984): 241-265. Dacey, D. M. “Parallel pathways for spectral coding in primate retina.” Annu Rev Neurosci 23 (2000): 743-775. Schiller, P. H. “The effects of V4 and middle temporal (MT) area lesions on visual performance in the rhesus monkey.” Visual Neuroscience 10 (1993): 717-746. [Read the following section: pages 733-4, perception at isoluminance. (Figs. 19 and 20.)] Spillman, L., and J. S. Werner. Chapter 5 in Visual Perception. Burlington, MA: Academic Press, 1990. ISBN: 0126576769. MacLeod, D. I. A., and M. Hayhoe. “Rod origin of prolonged after images.” Science 185 (1976): 1171-1172. Kaiser, P. K., and R. M. Boynton. “Sensitivity regulation.” Chapter 6 in Human Color Vision. Washington, DC: Optical Society of America, 1996. ISBN: 1557524610. Schiller, P. H., and R. P. Dolan. “Visual aftereffects and the consequences of visual system lesions on their perception in the rhesus monkey.” Vis Neurosci 11 (1994): 643-665. _Recommended Reading _ Hood, D. C. “Lower-level visual processing and models of light adaptation.” Ann Rev Psychol 49 (1998): 503-35. Kaiser, P. H., and R. M. Boynton. “The encoding of color.” Chapter 7 in Human Color Vision. Washington, DC: Optical Society of America, 1996. ISBN: 1557524610. Sekuler, R., and R. Blake. “Color perception.” Chapter 6 in Perception. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1994. ISBN: 0070579431. Schiller, P. H. “Area V4 of the primate visual cortex.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 3 (1994): 89-92. Schiller, P. H., N. K. Logothetis, and E. R. Charles. “Parallel Pathways in the Visual system: their role in perception at isoluminance.” J Neuropsychologia 29 (1991): 433-441. _Research Reports _ Xiao, Y., Y. Wang, and D. J. Felleman. “A spatially organized representation of colour in macaque cortical area V2.” Nature 421 (2003): 535-539. Chatterjee, S., and E. Callaway. “Parallel colour-opponent pathways to primary visual cortex.” Nature 426 (2003): 668-671.
7	Eye Movement Control, Subcortical Structures: Codes for the generation of visually guided eye movements, the role of excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms in eye movement generation	Preparatory Assignment Part 2, The Neural Control of Visually Guided Eye Movements, sections I and II in The Schiller Lab at MIT. _Assigned Reading _ Schiller, P. H. “The neural control of visually guided eye movements.” In Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention: A developmental perspective. Edited by J. Richards. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1998. ISBN: 080582409X. _Research Report _ Hikosaka, O., and R. H. Wurtz. “Modification of saccadic eye movements by GABA-related substances. I. Effect of muscimol and bicuculine in monkey superior colliculus.” J Neurophysiol 53 (1985): 266-291.
8	Eye Movement Control, Cortical Structures: Parallel pathways for the control of visually guided eye movements, functions of cortical areas in eye-movement generation	Preparatory Assignment Part 2, The Neural Control of Visually Guided Eye Movements, sections III and IV in The Schiller Lab at MIT. Assigned Reading Schiller, P. H., and I. Chou. “The effect of frontal eye field and dorsomedial frontal cortex lesions on visually guided eye movements.” Nature Neuroscience 1 (1998): 248-253. Tehovnik, E. J., W. M. Slocum, and P. H. Schiller. “Differential effects of laminar stimulation of V1 cortex on target selection by macaque monkeys.” European Journal of Neuroscience 16 (2002): 751-760. Tehovnik, E. J, M. A. Sommer, I. Chou, W. M. Slocum, and P. H. Schiller. “Eye fields in the frontal lobes of primates.” Brain Research Reviews 32 (2000): 413-448. Schiller, P. H., and E. J. Tehovnik. “Look and See: How the brain moves your eyes about.” Chapter 9 in Vision: from Neurons to Cognition. Edited by C. Casanova and M. Ptito. Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 134. Amsterdam, NL: Elsevier, 2001. ISBN: 0444505865.
9	Motion Perception and Smooth-pursuit Eye Movements: Motion processing in cortical and subcortical visual structures Pursuit eye movements	Preparatory Assignment Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section XI in The Schiller Lab at MIT. Assigned Reading Background: Schiller, P. H. “The Central Visual System.” Vision Research 26 (1986): 1377-1378. (Read section on the accessory optic system.) Albright, T. D. “Form-cue invariant motion processing in primate visual cortex.” Science 255 (1992): 1141-1143. Duffy, C. J., and R. H. Wurtz. “Sensitivity of MST neurons to optic flow stimuli. I. A continuum of response selectivity to large-field stimuli.” J Neurophysiol 65 (1991): 1329-1345. ———. “Response of monkey MST neurons to optic flow stimuli with shifted centers of motion.” J Neurosci 15 (1995): 5192-5208. _Recommended Reading _ Salzman, C. C., and W. T. Newsome. “Neural mechanisms for forming a perceptual decision.” Science 264 (1994): 231-237. Nakayama, K. “Biological image motion processing: A review.” Vis Res 25 (1985): 625-660. Research Reports Pack, C. C., V. K. Berezovskii, and R. T. Born. “Dynamic properties of neurons in cortical area MT in alert and anaesthetiazed macaque monkeys.” Nature 414 (2001): 905-908. Movshon, J. A, T. D. Albright, G. R. Stoner, G. R. Majaj, and M. A. Smith. “Cortical responses to visual motion in alert and anesthetized monkeys.” Nature Neuroscience 6 (2003): 3-4. (Plus: read reply to this criticism by authors in 1a.) Fukushima, K., T. Yamanobe, Y. Shinmel, J. Fukushima, S. Kurkin, and B. W. Peterson. “Coding of smooth eye movements in three-dimensional space by frontal cortex.” Nature 419 (2004): 157-162.
10	Depth Perception: Depth perception and underlying neural mechanisms	Preparatory Assignment Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section XII in The Schiller Lab at MIT. _Assigned Reading _ Howard, I. P., and B. J. Rogers. (a) Tests of Stereopsis (pp. 149-155), (b) Motion Parallax (pp. 571-584), and (c) Stereo in Animals: Chapter 16 (pp. 645-657). In Binocular vision and stereopsis. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0195084764. Parker, A. J., and B. G. Cumming. “Cortical mechanisms of binocular stereoscopic vision.” Chapter 14 in Vision: from Neurons to Cognition. Edited by C. Casanova and M. Ptito. Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 134. Amsterdam, NL: Elsevier, 2001. ISBN: 0444505865. Poggio, G. F., F. Gonzalez, and F. Krause. “Stereoscopic mechanisms in monkey visual cortex: binocular correlation and disparity selectivity.” J Neurosci 8 (1988): 4531-4551. Schiller, P. H., N. K. Logothetis, and E. R. Charles. “The role of the color-opponent and broad-band channels in vision.” Visual Neuroscience 5 (1990): 321-346. (Read material pertaining to Figs. 22, 23 and 24.) Schiller, P. H. “The effects of V4 and middle temporal (MT) area lesions on visual performance in the rhesus monkey.” Visual Neuroscience 10 (1993): 717-746. [Read material pertaining to Figs. 18, 20, 25 and 28.] Recommended Reading “Chapter 7.” in Perception. Edited by R. Sekuler, and R. Blake. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1994. ISBN: 0070579431 “Chapter 12.” in Visual Perception Edited by L. Spillman, and J. S.Werner. Burlington, MA: Academic Press, 1990. ISBN: 0126576769. _Research Reports _ DeAngelis, G. C., B. G. Cumming, and W. T. Newsome. “Cortical area MT and the perception of stereoscopic depth.” Nature 394 (1998): 677-680. Thomas, O. W., B. G. Cumming, and A. J. Parker. “A specialization for relative disparity in V2.” Nature Neuroscience 5 (2002): 472-478.
11	Pattern Perception: Pattern perception, underlying neural mechanisms and the significance of topographic organization Review of the course	Preparatory Assignment Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section XIII in The Schiller Lab at MIT. _Assigned Reading _ Schiller, P. H. “The effects of V4 and middle temporal (MT) area lesions on visual performance in the rhesus monkey.” Visual Neuroscience 10 (1993): 717-746. [Read material pertaining to Figs. 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27 and 29.] ———. “Past and present ideas about how the visual scene is analyzed by the brain.” In Cerebral Cortex. Edited by Rockland, Kaas and Peters. Vol. 12. New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1997. ISBN: 0306455307. Von der Heydt, R., and E. Peterhans. “Mechanisms of contour perception in monkey visual cortex: 1. Lines of pattern discontinuity.” J Neurosci 9 (1989): 1731-1748. Schwartz, E. L. “Computational studies of the spatial architecture of primate visual cortex: Columns, maps, and protomaps.” In Cerebral Cortex. Edited by A. Peters, and K. S. Rockland. Vol. 10. New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1994. ISBN: 0306455307. Recommended Reading “Chapter 5” in Perception. Edited by R. Sekuler, and R. Blake. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1994. ISBN: 0070579431. _Research Reports _ Pasupathy, A., and C. E. Connor. “Population coding of shape in area V4.” Nature  Neuroscience 5 (2002): 1332-1338.
12	Visual Illusions: What illusions can convey about how the brain processes visual information and what we know about the brain that can explain some illusions	Preparatory Assignment Part 1, The Neural Control of Vision, section XV in The Schiller Lab at MIT. Assigned Reading Adelson, E. H. “Lightness Perception and Lightness Illusions.” Chapter 24 in The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Edited by M. Gazzaniga. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. p. 339-351. ISBN: 0262071959. Michael Bach’s 56 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena web site. _ Research Reports _ Eysel, U. T. “Neuroscience. Illusions and perceived images in the primate brain.” Science 302 (2003): 789-791.
13	Visual Prosthesis: Assessment of the research on visual prosthesis and discussion of the major tasks involved in making a visual prosthetic feasible	Preparatory Assignment Part 3, Visual Prosthesis, sections I thru IV in The Schiller Lab at MIT. _Assigned Reading _ Tehovnik, E. J., W. M. Slocum, C. E. Carvey, and P. H. Schiller. “Phosphene induction and the generation of saccadic eye movements by striate cortex.” J Neurophysiol 93 (2005): 1-19. Research Reports Zrenner, E. “Will retinal implants restore vision?” Science 295 (2002): 1022-1025.