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UCI General Catalog
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131A Vision (4). Visual perception and the anatomy and physiology of the
visual system. Topics include: the retina and the visual pathway; visual
sensitivity; color vision; spatial vision; motion perception; and the
development of the visual system. Psychology 130A may not be taken for
credit if taken after 131A. Same as Biological Sciences 182.
**** Some words of caution. In previous years, students have found
this course difficult. Although a textbook (Palmer, Vision Science)
is recommended, the course does not closely follow any particular text.
If a student already owns a textbook on sensation and perception with
a major section on vision, that would probably be adequate. Because
the course covers a lot of material, lectures do not dwell long even
on more difficult topics, so a textbook can be helpful. Textbooks
by Palmer and by Goldstein are on reserve in the UCI Libraries.
**** Lectures will present material of practical and theoretical
interest in vision, some of which will not be tested in examinations.
If you prefer courses in which the lectures are restricted primarily
to preparing you for examinations, DO NOT take this course.
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Elaborated course description specific to Prof. Sperling
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131A. Vision (4). Visual perception and its basis in the anatomy and physiology
of the visual system and the physics of light. Topics: physics of light,
lenses, photometry; physiology and anatomy of the retina and visual pathways
(including mechanisms of neural transmission, receptive fields); neural and
psychological mechanisms for the perception of brightness, color, depth,
motion, objects; consciousness; visual development; applications to vision
of psychophysical methods and sensory scaling, of linear systems theory, and
of decision theory. Students learn how to solve selected applied problems
and learn about general algorithms that apply to visual perception, to neural
computation, and to robotic vision systems.
Suggested background
Students should be familiar with the following statistical concepts:
probability density function
cumulative probability distribution
mean
variance
correlation
Students should be able to solve the following equation for x: a/x = b/d
Students should (eventually) be able to make a log-log graph of y=x^2
(y equals x squared) without consulting a table of logarithms.
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Nota bene:
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This is a SCIENCE course.
(1) The aim is to get an idea of how the brain works (and to learn to
figure out how the brain works) using the visual system as an example.
(2) Learn phenomena of visual perception
(3) Learn some real-life skills, not just how to answer exam questions.
(4) It is LIBERAL EDUCATION, not vocational education. Lectures are
not confined to just "vision" and offer occasional digressions into
other subjects that may be of interest. Until now, exams have been
restricted just to "vision."
DIVERSE SCIENCES USED IN STUDY OF VISION
The study of visual perception requires
the integration of methods from many sciences and mathematics, and this course
offers brief exposures to the elementary principles of these interdisciplinary
applications. Physics and algebra are involved in the description of light,
lenses, and retinal image formation; chemistry in the the description of the
absorption of light by visual receptors; physiology and anatomy in the
descriptions of the structure and function of the neurons of the visual system;
linear systems theory (from engineering) in the formal description of visual
stimuli and the neural processing of these stimuli; computer science in the
description of neural algorithms for computing motion and object recognition;
probability and statistics in the theory of signal detection--how neurons
and humans make optimal decisions given ambiguous sensory inputs;
measurement theory in the description of sensory magnitudes; and finally
linguistics, logic, and philosophy apply to issues of sensory awareness and
consciousness.
Obviously only the briefest samples of these various domains can be offered
in this course, hopefully they will orient the student with an interest in
neural and cognitive systems to the wide range of full course offerings at UCI
and elsewhere.
There are
(at least) FIVE graded homework problem sets;
TWO in-class interim examinations,
plus ONE final, in-class examination during finals week.
Nothing more advanced than elementary high school algebra, geometry, and
trigonometry is required for any examination or problem set. The purpose of
the problems is to demonstrate that the knowledge of vision has immediate
real-world applications beyond merely writing essay answers.
Grading is based on total points accumulated in homework assignments and
examinations. Grading is approximately on a curve based the average 1996
grade in comparable UCI advanced undergraduate courses (A-41%, B-36%, C-19%,
D-4%). However, if students with poor performance drop the course and/or
students perform well on an absolute standard, this will be taken into account.
Regular office hours are Tuesday and Thursday, 2:00 to 3:00 (after
the instructor's subsequent class), also by special appointment. There are
discussion sections in which teaching assistants work with groups of students
for facilitate their understanding of the lecture and HW materials. See
"Recent Notes and Announcements" on the class web page for time and room
numbers.
http://aris.ss.uci.edu/HIPLab/Vision_Class/
* The instructor will give his permission to add or to drop this course at
any time; however, the instructor cannot override UCI rules that apply under
various circumstances in the various deparments.
REASONS TO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS
The instructor does not "teach" to the exams. The lectures contain material
that will not be tested, and some topics that are covered quickly in class
may require students to seek additional help from textbooks and from the
teaching assistants.
The course does not closely follow any textbook. This creates problems for
students who prefer not to attend lectures, and even for those who do.
This is a large class, inherently impersonal.
There is an emphasis on discovering the algorithms and neural computations
carried out by the visual system versus demonstrating phenomena of vision
that are interesting but do not fit into a systematic framework.
Exams are short-answer, NOT multiple choice. You have to study, can't just
guess.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
THREE GREAT TEACHING ASSISTANTS, expert in the subject matter.
They are available in discussion sections in which students
can get additional help with anything that is not clear from the lectures.
Spring, 2007 Section times, teaching Assistants
Section 1 06053/68178 M 2:00-3:20 SSTR 100 - Steven Thurman sthurman@uci.edu
Section 2 06054/68181 Tu 12:30-1:50 SSTR 101 - Stefanie Wong stefanieawong@gmail.com
Section 3 06055/68184 W 3:00-4:20 SST 220A - Danting Liu dantingl@uci.edu
Section 4 06057/68187 F 1:00-2:20 PCB 1300 - Stefanie Wong stefanieawong@gmail.com
Office Hours
TA 1 Stefanie Wong
TA 2 Danting Liu
TA 3 Steven Thurman