Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week; 1.5 hours / session
Course Description
This course examines the neural bases of visual and auditory processing for perception and sensorimotor control, focusing on physiological and anatomical studies of the mammalian nervous system as well as behavioral studies of animals and humans. Visual pattern, color and depth perception, auditory responses and speech coding, and spatial localization are studied.
The first thirteen lectures are devoted to the organization of the visual system and eye-movement control. Topics covered during those lectures are: the retina, the lateral geniculate nucleus and the visual cortex, the parallel channels of the visual system, the processing of color, motion, depth and form, and the neural control of visually guided eye movements. The ten lectures that follow the midterm exam focus on audition. At the end of the semester, the last two sessions will provide an overview of the auditory and visual systems.
Grading
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Written report on vision | 10 |
| Midterm exam | 25 |
| Written report on audition | 10 |
| Final exam (15% vision + 40% audition) | 55 |
Calendar
| LEC # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to course; Visual system | |
| 2 | Basic layout of the retina | |
| 3 | The lateral geniculate nucleus and visual cortex | |
| 4 | The ON and OFF channels | |
| 5 | The Midget and Parasol channels | |
| 6 | Adaptation and color | |
| 7 | Depth perception | |
| 8 | Form perception | |
| 9 | Illusions and visual prosthesis | |
| 10 | The neural control of visually guided eye movements, part 1 | |
| 11 | The neural control of visually guided eye movements, part 2 | |
| 12 | Motion perception and pursuit eye movements | |
| 13 | Overview of vision | |
| Exam | Midterm exam | |
| 14 | Sound: External, middle, and inner ears | |
| 15 | Hair Cells: Transduction, electrophysiology and “cochlear amplifier” | |
| 16 | Auditory Nerve; Psychophysics of frequency resolution | |
| 17 | Cochlear Nucleus: Tonotopy, unit types and cell types | |
| 18 | Hearing loss and cochlear implants. Demonstration by implant user | |
| 19 | Descending systems and reflexes: OC efferents and middle ear muscles | |
| 20 | Sound Localization, part 1: Psychophysics and neural circuits | |
| 21 | Sound localization, part 2: Superior olivary complex and inferior colliculus | |
| 22 | Auditory cortex, Part 1: General physiology and role in sound localization | |
| 23 | Auditory cortex, Part 2: Language; bats and echolocation | |
| 24 | Eaton-Peabody lab tour at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary | |
| 25 | Review of visual system | Auditory system written report due |
| 26 | Review of auditory system | |
| Exam | Final exam & Visual system written report due |
