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 twelve 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 twelve lectures that follow the midterm exam focus on audition. At the end of the semester, the last session will provide an overview of the auditory and visual systems.
Course Schedule
Course calendar.
| LEC # | TOPICS |
| 1 | The layout of the visual system, the retina, and the lateral geniculate nucleus |
| 2 | The visual cortex |
| 3 | The ON and OFF channels |
| 4 | The midget and parasol channels |
| 5 | Adaptation and color |
| 6 | Depth perception |
| 7 | Form perception |
| 8 | Illusions and visual prosthetics |
| 9 | The neural control of visually guided eye movements, subcortical control |
| 10 | The neural control of visually guided eye movements, cortical control |
| 11 | Motion perception and pursuit eye movements |
| 12 | Discussions and overview |
| 13 | 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 | Hearing loss and cochlear implants |
| 18 | Cochlear nucleus: Tonotopy, unit types and cell types |
| 19 | Brainstem reflexes: OC efferents and middle ear muscles |
| 20 | Sound localization I: Psychophysics and neural circuits |
| 21 | Sound localization II: Superior olivary complex and inferior colliculus |
| 22 | Auditory cortex I: General physiology and role in sound localization |
| 23 | Auditory cortex II: Language; Bats and echolocation |
| 24 | Eaton-Peabody lab tour at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary |
| 25 | Review session for audition |
| 26 | Comparison of vision and audition, vision review |
