Functional mri of high-level vision

Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session

We are now at an unprecedented point in the field of neuroscience: We can watch the human brain in action as it sees, thinks, decides, reads, and remembers. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is the only method that enables us to monitor local neural activity in the normal human brain in a noninvasive fashion and with good spatial resolution. A large number of far-reaching and fundamental questions about the human mind and brain can now be answered using straightforward applications of this technology. This is particularly true in the area of high-level vision, the study of how we interpret and use visual information including object recognition, mental imagery, visual attention, perceptual awareness, visually guided action, and visual memory.

The goals of this course are to help students become savvy and critical readers of the current neuroimaging literature, to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the technique, and to design their own cutting-edge, theoretically motivated studies. Students will read, present to the class, and critique recently published neuroimaging articles, as well as write detailed proposals for experiments of their own. Lectures will cover the theoretical background on some of the major areas in high-level vision, as well as an overview of what fMRI has taught us and can in future teach us about each of these topics. Lectures and discussions will also cover fMRI methods and experimental design. A prior course in statistics and at least one course in perception or cognition are required.

Huettel, Scott A., Allen W. Song, and Gregory McCarthy. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 1st ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 2004. ISBN: 9780878932887.

Farah, Martha J. Visual Agnosia. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780262062381.

———. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Vision. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. ISBN: 9780631214038.

Information About fMRI Methods, fMRI Physics, and Neuroanatomy

Useful Slides on fMRI Physics and Methods

Assignments include a written essay, a paper critique, two class presentations, a term paper and class participation. All written assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day they are due. There is a midterm.

Functional organization of the ventral visual pathway

Controversies concerning this organization

FMRI design/methods

How to critique an fMRI paper

2 – 4 page essay due at the beginning of class

(Essay details: Read Talbot, Margaret. "Duped." New Yorker, July 2007 and then address whether and how you could test if fMRI can be used as a lie detector in the real world, what conditions would you need to test, could such an experiment actually be run, and how might you do it?)

Visual recognition, object shape, and the lateral occipital complex (LOC)

How to do a presentation

Basic neuroanatomy of the visual system

Scene perception and the PPA

Class presentations

Face processing and the FFA

Class presentations

Visual attention

Class presentations

Visual awareness

Class presentations

In class we will have one or more guest lectures, e.g.:

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