NEUR3045 Visual Neuroscience
An interdisciplinary course on the Anatomy, Physiology and Psychophysics of Vision
This course will teach visual neuroscience from a broad, interdisciplinary point of view. Our modern understanding of vision and visual processing depends not only on the more traditional fields of anatomy, physiology and psychophysics, which remain centrally important, but also on the fields of genetics, molecular and cellular biology, ophthalmology, neurology, cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging. In this course, we will present visual neuroscience as a multidisciplinary, yet integrated field of study. This half unit also makes up part of the full unit course NEUR3001 “Advanced Visual Neuroscience”.
Aims: The aim is to provide students with an understanding of the functional anatomy and neurophysiology of the visual system, and an understanding of how neural activity results in visual perception and in behaviours that depend on vision. Students will be introduced to a variety of methods for investigating visual neuroscience including molecular biology, psychophysics, single cell recording, electrophysiology, brain imaging, and the experimental study of patients with brain damage or genetic defects.
Summary of Course Content: The course presents a multidisciplinary approach to vision. It will cover anatomical, physiological, genetic, molecular and psychological approaches. The first part of the course, which can be taken as a separate half unit, covers the fundamentals of visual neuroscience from the visual input at the retina to visual perception. The topics range from retinal imaging, visual transduction, the functional anatomy of the retina and LGN, cortical processing to higher level visual functions, such as colour, depth, space, and motion perception. The second part of the course, which completes the full unit, will cover advanced topics including the neural development of the retina, visual development in babies and infants, more in depth coverage of retinal and cortical processing, fMRI, object and face recognition, visual memory, vision and action colour, space, depth, motion and form perception, high level cortical processing, neurology and ophthalmology.
Students who take the half-unit will be provided with a strong foundation in visual neuroscience. Those who take the full-unit (NEUR3001 Advanced Visual Neuroscience) will be provided with an extensive and unique coverage of the topic that reflects the remarkable diversity of local expertise in vision and visual neuroscience at UCL.
Course Organiser:
Andrew
Stockman
Institute of Ophthalmology
London EC1V
9EL
Phone: 020 7608 6914
email: a.stockman@ucl.ac.uk
Deputy course Organiser:
Stewart Shipp
Institute of Ophthalmology
11-43 Bath Street
London EC1V 9EL
email: s.shipp@ucl.ac.uk
Course
Web site (here):
http://www.cvrl.org
or http://cvrl.ucl.ac.uk
Course lecturers:
Dr. Steve
Dakin (Ophthalmology), email: s.dakin@ucl.ac.uk
Prof. Mitch Glickstein (Anatomy), email: m.glickstein@ucl.ac.uk
Prof. Alan Johnston (Psychology), email: a.johnston@ucl.ac.uk
Prof. Tom
Salt (Ophthalmology), email: t.salt@ucl.ac.uk
Dr. Stewart Shipp (Ophthalmology), email: s.shipp@ucl.ac.uk
Prof.
Andrew Stockman (Ophthalmology), email: a.stockman@ucl.ac.uk
NEUR3045 "Visual Neuroscience" 2012-2013 Timetable
BLOCK G: 2-6 pm Tuesday in Foster Court 114, except the parallel NEUR3001 seminars which are in the AV Hill lecture theatre, and Lecture 10, which is in 25 Gordon St., as noted below.
Week 1 |
||
| Tuesday | 8th Jan 2-3 | 1. Course introduction/ Historical introduction (AS/MG) |
| Tuesday | 8th Jan 3-4 | 2. Fundamentals of neuroscience: cells, axons, and synapses (TS) |
| Tuesday | 8th Jan 4-5 | 3. Fundamentals of psychophysics (SD) |
| Week 2 | ||
| Tuesday | 15th Jan 2-3 | 4. Physiological optics and the photoreceptor mosaic (AS) |
| Tuesday | 15th Jan 3-4 | 5. Photoreceptors and phototransduction (AS) |
| Tuesday | 15th Jan 4-5 | 6. Introduction to retina (TS) |
| Week 3 | ||
| Tuesday | 22nd Jan 2-3 | 7. Achromatic & chromatic vision (AS) |
| Tuesday | 22nd Jan 3-4 | 8. Visual psychophysics and sensitivity regulation (AS) |
| Week 4 | ||
| Tuesday | 29th Jan 2-3 | 9. Comparative anatomy of the eye (MG) |
| Tuesday | 29th Jan 3-4 | 10. Parallel visual pathways (MG) |
| Tuesday | 29th Jan 4-6 | Demo 1. Colour vision demonstrations (SS) |
| Week 5 | ||
| Tuesday | 5th Feb 2-3 | 11. Multiple visual areas of cortex (SS) |
| Tuesday | 5th Feb 3-4 | 12. Hierarchical visual processing (SS) |
| Tuesday | 5th Feb 4-6 | Demo 2. Optical demonstrations (MG) |
| Week 6 | ||
READING WEEK |
||
| Week 7 | ||
| Tuesday | 19th Feb 2-3 | 13. The neural correlate of consciousness (SS) |
| Tuesday | 19th Feb 3-4 | 14. Spatial vision (SD) |
| Week 8 | ||
| Tuesday | 26th Feb 2-3 | 15. Basic motion (AJ) |
| Tuesday | 26th Feb 3-4 | 16. Depth perception/Visual Illusions (AS) |
| Week 9 | ||
| Tuesday | 5th Mar 2-5 | Seminar A. (NEUR3045). Pathways & cortical processing seminar. |
| Tuesday | 5th Mar 3-5 | Seminar A. (NEUR3001). Retina and Pathways & cortical processing seminar (A-G). Christopher Ingold XLG1 Chemistry LT. |
| Week 10 | ||
| Tuesday | 12th Mar 2-5 | Seminar B. (NEUR3045). Visual function seminar. |
| Tuesday | 12th Mar 3-5 | Seminar B. (NEUR3001). Pathways & cortical processing seminar (H-M) and Visual function seminar. Cruciform B304 - LT1. |
| Week 11 | ||
| Tuesday | 19th Mar 2-6 | Slots for rescheduled lectures, extra seminars, revision class. |
Recommended text books for the course
Sensation and Perception by Jeremy M. Wolfe et al.
Sensation and Perception by E. Bruce Goldstein
The First Steps in Seeing by R.W Rodieck
Visual Perception: Physiology, Psychology and
Biology by Vicki
Bruce, Patrick Green and Mark Georgeson
Recommended
reference sources for the course
The Visual Neurosciences by Leo Chalupa and John Werner
Webvision at http://webvision.med.utah.edu/
Because of the number of students this year, the seminars for the NEUR 3045 and NEUR 3001 students will be run separately and in parallel (see timetables).
Visual Neuroscience NEUR3045 2012-2013 Seminar topics
Advanced Visual Neuroscience NEUR3001 2012-2013 Seminar topics
Past
exam questions
Lectures, lecture notes and references (from the previous year until updated after the lecture)
Scroll up if the page looks blank!
Course Assessment:
- Assessment will be based upon a final 2 hour examination worth 80% and course work worth 20%.
- The course work will include a presentation given by the student at one of the seminars (worth 20%). The titles for the seminar presentations will be suggested by the individual seminar organisers and posted on this Web site.
- There will be a 2-hour exam. Candidates for the Visual Neuroscience half-unit must answer a total of two questions. Credit will be given for imaginative and critical discussion of experimental evidence relevant to the question being answered. Use separate answer books for each question.