Catalog

Sensory Systems

Brain and Cognitive Sciences MIT CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 23 lectures

This course examines the neural bases of sensory perception. The focus is on physiological and anatomical studies of the mammalian nervous system as well as behavioral studies of animals and humans. Topics include visual pattern, color and depth perception, auditory responses and sound localization, and somatosensory perception.

Syllabus

  1. 1 Lec 1: Introduction, the visual system
  2. 2 Lec 2: Basic layout of the visual system and the retina
  3. 3 Lec 3: The laternal geniculate nucleus and the visual cortex
  4. 4 Lec 4: The ON and OFF channels
  5. 5 Lec 5: The Midget and Parasol systems
  6. 6 Lec 6: Adaptation and color
  7. 7 Lec 7: Depth perception
  8. 8 Lec 8: Form perception
  9. 9 Lec 9: Illusions and visual prosthesis
  10. 10 Lec 10: The neural control of visually guided eye movements 1
  11. 11 Lec 11: The neural control of visually guided eye movements 2
  12. 12 Lec 12: Motion perception and pursuit eye movements
  13. 13 Lec 13: Review: The visual and oculomotor systems
  14. 14 Lec 14: Sound: External, middle and inner ears
  15. 15 Lec 15: Hair cells
  16. 16 Lec 16: Auditory nerve; psychophysics of frequency resolution
  17. 17 Lec 17: Cochlear nucleus: Tonotopy, unit types and cell types
  18. 18 Lec 18: Hearing loss; demo by Sheila Xu, cochlear implant user
  19. 19 Lec 19: Descending systems and reflexes
  20. 20 Lec 20: Sound localization 1: Psychophysics and neural circuits
  21. 21 Lec 21: Sound localization 2: Superior olivary complex and IC
  22. 22 Lec 22: Auditory cortex 1: Physiology and sound localization
  23. 23 Lec 23: Auditory cortex 2: Language; bats and echolocation

Course materials