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      UCI General Catalogue (2009)
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217 Vision (4). Examines visual sensation and perception using psychophysi-
cial and neuroscientific perspectives. Covers visual stimulus description and
gneration; the eye and retinal processing; LGN and cortical visual area func-
tion; specialized processing for form, depth, motion, and color perception;
and neurological disorders. Prerequisite: graduate standng or consent of
instructor.

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   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.  

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      Elaborated course description specific to Prof. Sperling
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217 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.

If class size permits, each student will make a 12 minute report using
powerpoint or equivalent of a classic paper in visual science.  Such brief
presentation (as well as posters) are the typical modes of communication at
scientific meetings.

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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 will learn to 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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 The course aims are

1.  a. Be able to describe visual stimuli that might be used in
        experiments including CRT monitors, projection devices in fMRI, etc.
    b. Be able to understand colloquia and the work of current vision
        faculty, prepare to be able to read articles that deal with vision
        and visual perception.
    c. Provide background for more advanced courses.

2.  Practice giving brief presentations & extracting the main point
        from a complex paper
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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.

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 * The instructor will give his permission to add or to drop this course at
any time for any reason. However, the instructor cannot override applicable
UCI rules.

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