HOME >COURSE DESCRIPTION

Meeting Times:
Wednesdays 9:40-10:40
Full Summer Term (A+B)

Location:
Physics-Astronomy Building Room B164

Credits:
2.0

Instructor:
Kerry Kim

Audit Policy:
Auditors welcome so long as there is room avaliable.

Course Description:

Scientists have long been fascinated by the workings of vision since the time of Newton, Ramon y Cajal, and Helmholtz, who made pioneering contributions to this field including early color theory, anatomy, and the invention of the ophthalmoscope. Modern neuroscientists studying the visual system have made phenomenal progress in understanding how this incredibly complex yet elegant system transforms light stimuli into a digital electrical signal. Indeed, visual neuroscience requires an understanding of both neurophysiology and physics. This course is for both physics students interested in biophysics and for biology students interested in a quantitative introduction to visual neuroscience. We will begin with an overview of the eye and compare its functioning to that of a camera. Next, we will investigate the fluctuations in light intensity due to the particle nature of light, then see how early experimenters used this to deduce that the visual system can detect single photons. We will study how the absorption of a photon by the photoreceptor initiates a biochemical cascade that results in the generation of an analog electrical signal. This electrical signal is transmitted between cells at the synapse by neurotransmitters, and ultimately is encoded by action potentials into a digital signal that is sent to the brain. We will study each of these processes in detail, to understand how general neurophysiological mechanisms have been optimized in the visual system to process & transmit light information with maximal reliability. Emphasis will be on developing a quantitative understanding and intuition of the concepts presented in class. The course will conclude by showing how these mechanisms affect the way that we perceive our visual environment, and how these explain some optical illusions.

PREREQUISITES: Physics students must have completed their first year physics (through PHYS 123) courses. Biology students must have completed their second year biology courses (through BIO 201/202, and General Chemistry). Neurobiology majors and graduate students are welcome.