The readings listed below are the foundation of this course. Where available, journal article abstracts from
PubMed (an online database providing access to citations from biomedical literature) are included.
The “Reading Assignments” will help the students understand the lecture topics and provide background information. Each of the "Reports" is a research paper that demonstrates a novel finding. The list of reports is updated each time the course is offered to provide our current understanding of vision and audition. Each report will be discussed in class with a student chosen to present the paper.
Reading Assignments
Wassle, H., and B. B. Boycott. "Functional Architecture of the Mammalian Retina." Physiological Rev. 71 (1991): 447-480.
Schiller, P. H. "The ON and OFF Channels of the Mammalian Visual System." In Progress in Retinal and Eye Research. Vol. 15. Edited by N. N. Osborne and G. J. Chader. Oxford, England: Pergamon Press, 1995.
———. "The Neural Control of Visually Guided Eye Movements." In Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention. Edited by J. E. Richards. Erlbaum Associates, 1998.
———. "The Central Visual System." Vision Res. 26 (1986): 1351-1386.
Schiller, P. H., and N. K. Logothetis. "The Color-Opponent and Broad-Band Channels of the Primate Visual System." Trends in Neurosciences 13 (1990): 392-398.
PubMed abstract: Physiological, anatomical and psychophysical studies have identified several parallel channels of information processing in the primate visual system. Two of these, the color-opponent and the broad-band channels, originate in the retina and remain in part segregated through several higher cortical stations. To improve understanding of their function, recent studies have examined the visual capacities of monkeys following selective disruption of these channels. Color vision, fine- but not coarse-form vision and stereopsis are severely impaired in the absence of the color-opponent channel, whereas motion and flicker perception are impaired at high but not low temporal frequencies in the absence of the broad-band channel. The results suggest that the color-opponent channel extends the range of vision in the spatial and wavelength domains, and that the broad-band channel extends it in the temporal domain. Lesion studies also indicate that these channels must reach higher cortical centers through extrastriate regions other than just area V4 and the middle temporal area, and that the analysis performed by these two regions cannot be uniquely identified with specific visual capacities.
Schiller, P. H. "Past and Present Ideas About How the Visual Scene is Analyzed by the Brain." In Cerebral Cortex. Vol. 12 of Extrastriate Cortex. Edited by Kaas and Rockland. Plenum Press, 1997.
Sekuler, R., and R. Blake. "Color Perception," (Chap. 6), and "Depth Perception," (Chap. 7). In Perception. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill, 1995.
Brown M. C. "Audition." Chapter 26 in Fundamental Neuroscience. L. R. Squire, F. E. Bloom, S. K. McConnell, et al. New York, Academic Press, 2003, pp. 699-726.
Pickles, J. O. An Introduction to the Physiology of Hearing. 2nd ed. London: Academic Press, 1988.
Hudspeth, A. J. "Sensory Transduction in the Ear." In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz, & T. M. Jessell (eds.), Principles of Neural Science. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000, Chapter 31, pp. 614-624.
Brown, M. C. (2001). Functional neuroanatomy of the cochlea. In A. F. Jahn & J. Santos-Sacchi (eds.), Physiology of the Ear. New York: Raven Press.
Guinan, J. J., Jr. "The Physiology of Olivocochlear Efferents." In The Cochlea. Edited by P. Dallos, A. N. Popper, and R. R. Fay. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1996, pp. 435-502.
Suga, N. "Biosonar and Neural Computation in Bats." Sci. Am. 262 (June 1990): 60-68.
Caplan, D., T. Carr, J. Gould, and R. Martin. "Language and Communication." In Fundamentals of Neuroscience, by M. Zigmond, F. Bloom, S. Landis, J. Roberts and L. Squire. New York: Academic Press, 2000, only pp. 1493-1519.
Reports (examples from previous years):
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.
PubMed abstract: Visual information from the retina is transmitted to the cerebral cortex by way of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in the thalamus. In primates, most of the retinal ganglion cells that project to the LGN belong to one of two classes, P and M, whose axons terminate in the parvocellular or magnocellular subdivisions of the LGN. These cell classes give rise to two channels that have been distinguished anatomically, physiologically and behaviourally. The visual cortex also can be subdivided into two pathways, one specialized for motion processing and the other for colour and form information. Several lines of indirect evidence have suggested a close correspondence between the subcortical and cortical pathways, such that the M channel provides input to the motion pathway and the P channel drives the colour/form pathway. This hypothesis was tested directly by selectively inactivating either the magnocellular or parvocellular subdivision of the LGN and recording the effects on visual responses in the cortex. We have previously reported that, in accordance with the hypothesis, responses in the motion pathway in the cortex depend primarily on magnocellular LGN. We now report that in the colour/form pathway, visual responses depend on both P and M input. These results argue against a simple correspondence between the subcortical and cortical pathways.
Dacey, D. M., B. B. Lee, D. K. Stafford, J. Pokorny, and V. C. Smith. "Horizontal Cells of the Primate Retina: Cone Specificity Without Spectral Opponency." Science 271 (1996): 656-9.
PubMed abstract: The chromatic dimensions of human color vision have a neural basis in the retina. Ganglion cells, the output neurons of the retina, exhibit spectral opponency; they are excited by some wavelengths and inhibited by others. The hypothesis that the opponent circuitry emerges from selective connections between horizontal cell interneurons and cone photoreceptors sensitive to long, middle, and short wavelengths (L-, M-, and S-cones) was tested by physiologically and anatomically characterizing cone connections of horizontal cell mosaics in macaque monkeys. H1 horizontal cells received input only from L- and M-cones, whereas H2 horizontal cells received a strong input from S-cones and a weaker input from L- and M-cones. All cone inputs were the same sign, and both horizontal cell types lacked opponency. Despite cone type selectivity, the horizontal cell cannot be the locus of an opponent transformation in primates, including humans.
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.
PubMed abstract: Our previous observations led to the hypothesis that cells in the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) tonically inhibit saccade-related cells in the intermediate layers of the superior colliculus (SC). Before saccades to visual or remembered targets, cells in SNr briefly reduce that inhibition, allowing a burst of spikes of SC cells that, in turn, leads to the initiation of a saccadic eye movement. Since this inhibition is likely to be mediated by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), we tested this hypothesis by injecting a GABA agonist (muscimol) or a GABA antagonist (bicuculline) into the superior colliculus and measured the effects on saccadic eye movements made to visual or remembered targets. An injection of muscimol selectively suppressed saccades to the movement field of the cells near the injection site. The affected area expanded over time, thus suggesting the diffusion of muscimol in the SC; the area never included the other hemifield, suggesting that the diffusion was limited to one SC. One of the monkeys became unable to make any saccades to the affected area. Saccades to visual targets following injection of muscimol had longer latency and slightly shorter amplitudes that were corrected by subsequent saccades. The most striking change was a decrease in the peak velocity of the saccade, frequently to less than half the preinjection value. Saccades to remembered targets following injection of muscimol also showed an increase in latency and decrease in velocity, but in addition, showed a striking decrease in the accuracy of the saccades. The trajectories of saccades became distorted as if they were deflected away from the affected area. After muscimol injection, the area over which spontaneous eye movements were made shifted toward the side ipsilateral to the injection. Saccades toward the contralateral side were less frequent and slower. In nystagmus, which developed later, the slow phase was toward the contralateral side. In contrast to muscimol, injection of bicuculline facilitated the initiation of saccades. Injection was followed almost immediately by stereotyped and apparently irrepressible saccades made toward the center of the movement field of the SC cells at the injection site. The monkeys became unable to fixate during the tasks; the fixation was interrupted by saccadic jerks made to the affected area of the visual field and then back to the fixation point.
Oyster, C. W., and H. B. Barlow. "Direction-Selective Units in Rabbit Retina: Distribution of Preferred Directions." Science, 155 (1967): 841-842.
Adelson, E. H. "Perceptual Organization and the Judgment of Brightness." Science 262 (1993): 2042-2044.
PubMed abstract: The perceived brightness of a gray patch depends on the surrounding context. For example, a medium-gray patch appears darker when placed on a bright background and brighter when placed on a dark background. Models to explain these effects are usually based on simple low-level mechanisms. A new set of brightness illusions cannot be explained by such models. In these illusions, the brightness percept is strongly influenced by the perceptual organization of the stimuli. Simple modifications of the stimuli that should have little effect on low-level mechanisms greatly alter the strength of the illusion. These effects may be ascribed to more complex mechanisms occurring later in the visual system.
Stoner, G. R., R. D. Albright, and V. S. Ramachandran. "Transparency and Coherence in Human Motion Perception." Nature 344 (1990): 153-155.
PubMed abstract: When confronted with moving images, the visual system often must decide whether the motion signals arise from a single object or from multiple objects. A special case of this problem arises when two independently moving gratings are superimposed. The gratings tend to cohere and move unambiguously in a single direction (pattern motion) instead of moving independently (component motion). Here we report that the tendency to see pattern motion depends very strongly on the luminance of the intersections (that is, to regions where the gratings overlap) relative to that of the gratings in a way that closely parallels the physics of transparency. When the luminance of these regions is chosen appropriately, pattern motion is destroyed and replaced by the appearance of two transparent gratings moving independently. The observations imply that motion detecting mechanisms in the visual system must have access to tacit 'knowledge' of the physics of transparency and that this knowledge can be used to segment the scene into different objects. The same knowledge could, in principle, be used to avoid confusing shadows with real object boundaries.
Sary, G., R. Vogels, and G. A. Orban. "Cue-Invariant Shape Selectivity of Macaque Inferior Temporal Neurons." Science 260 (1993): 995-997.
PubMed abstract: The perception of shape is independent of the size and position of the shape and also of the visual cue that defines it. The same shape can be recognized whether defined by a difference in luminance, by motion, or by texture. Experiments showed that the shape selectivity of individual cells in the macaque inferior temporal cortex did not vary with the size and position of a shape and also did not vary with the visual cue used to define the shape. This cue invariance was true for static luminance and texture cues as well as for relative motion cues--that is, for cues that are processed in ventral and dorsal visual pathways. The properties of these inferior temporal cells meet the demands of cue-invariant shape coding.
Hofman, P. M., J. G. A. Van Riswick, and J. Van Opstal. "Relearning Sound Localization With New Ears." Nature Neurosci. 1 (1998): 417-421.
Zheng, J., W. Shen, D. Z. Z. He, K. B. Long, L. D. Madison, and P. Dallos. "Prestin is the Motor Protein of Cochlear Outer Hair Cells." Nature 405 (2000): 149-155.
Liberman, M. C., J. Gao, D. Z. Z. He, X. Wu, S. Jia, and J. Zuo. "Prestin is Required for Electromotility of the Outer Hair Cell." Nature 419 (2002): 300-304.
McKinney, M. F., and B. Delgutte. "A Possible Neurophysiological basis of the Octave Enlargement Effect." J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106 (1999): 2679-2692.
Maison, S. F., and M. C. Liberman. "Predicting Vulnerability to Acoustic Injury with a Noninvasive Assayof olivocochlear reflex strength." J. Neurosci. 20 (2000): 4701-4707.
Kanold, P. O., and E. D. Young. "Proprioceptive Information from the Pinna." J. Neurosci. 21 (2001): 7848-7858.
May, B. J., and S. J. McQuone. "Effects of Bilateral Olivocochlear Lesions." Auditory Neurosci. 1 (1995): 385-400.
Brand, A., O. Behrend, T. Marquardt, D. McAlpine, and B. Grothe. "Precise Inhibition is Essential for microsecond interaural time difference coding." Nature 417 (2002): 543-547.
Knudsen, E. I. "Capacity for Plasticity in the Adult Owl." Science 279 (1998): 1531-1533.
Zatorre, R. J., and V. B. Penhune. "Spatial Localization after Excision." J. Neurosci. 21 (2001): 6321-6328.
Portfors, C. V., and J. J. Wenstrup. "Delay-tuned neurons." J. Neurophysiol. 82 (1999): 1326-1338.
Gutfrend, Y., W. Zheng, and E. I. Knudsen. "Gated Visual Input to the Central Auditory System." Science 297 (2002): 1556-1559.
deCharms, R. C., D. T. Blake, and M. M. Merzenich. "Optimizing Sound Features for Cortical Neurons." Science 280 (1998): 1439-1443.
PubMed abstract: The brain's cerebral cortex decomposes visual images into information about oriented edges, direction and velocity information, and color. How does the cortex decompose perceived sounds? A reverse correlation technique demonstrates that neurons in the primary auditory cortex of the awake primate have complex patterns of sound-feature selectivity that indicate sensitivity to stimulus edges in frequency or in time, stimulus transitions in frequency or intensity, and feature conjunctions. This allows the creation of classes of stimuli matched to the processing characteristics of auditory cortical neurons. Stimuli designed for a particular neuron's preferred feature pattern can drive that neuron with higher sustained firing rates than have typically been recorded with simple stimuli. These data suggest that the cortex decomposes an auditory scene into component parts using a feature-processing system reminiscent of that used for the cortical decomposition of visual images.