12/11/24, 11:43 PM CHAPTER 9 AND 10 - NotebookLM
Week 6 Lecture Summary: Seeing and Hearing the World
This lecture focuses on Chapters 8 and 9, covering sensation and perception in the visual and auditory systems.
It explains how sensory energy like light and sound waves convert into neural activity, travel to the brain, and
how we perceive these signals as representations of the world. 1 2 3 4 ...
Part 1: Sensation and Perception
● Sensation: Registration of physical stimuli from the environment by sensory organs. 9
● Perception: Subjective interpretation of sensations by the brain. 9
● Sensory Receptors: Convert sensory energy (e.g. light) into neural activity. Each type responds only to a
specific energy band. 10
● Receptive Field: Region of sensory space (e.g., skin, visual field) where a stimulus modifies a receptor’s
activity. 10
● Neural Relays: All receptors connect to the cortex through a sequence of neurons, with the thalamus being
the main relay station (except for smell). This allows sensory systems to interact and modify information. 11
● Sensory Coding: Sensory information is encoded by action potentials. Stimulus presence, intensity, and type
are encoded by changes in neuronal firing rates. 11 12
● Topographic Map: The neocortex represents the sensory field of each modality (vision, touch, etc.) as a
spatially organized map. 9 12 13
● Perceptual Ambiguity: Demonstrates that perception is a subjective construction. Examples: Rubin’s
vase/faces, ambiguous cheetah image, and the McGurk effect (auditory). 2
Part 2: Visual System
● Visible Light: Electromagnetic energy visible to humans (400nm - violet to 700nm - red). 3 14
● Structure of the Eye: 14 15
○ Cornea: Clear outer covering.
○ Iris: Opens and closes to control light entering the pupil.
○ Lens: Focuses light and accommodates for near/far objects.
○ Retina: Back of the eye where light energy initiates neural activity.
● Retinal Structure: 15 16
○ Contains neurons and light-sensitive photoreceptors (rods & cones).
○ Rods: More numerous, sensitive to dim light, used for night vision (one pigment type).
○ Cones: Responsive to bright light, specialised for colour and high acuity (three pigment types), found in
the fovea.
○ Inverted organization: Light passes through other retinal cells before reaching photoreceptors.
○ Tapetum Lucidum: Reflective layer behind photoreceptors in some animals, aiding night vision (humans
lack this). 16 17
● Fovea: Central region of the retina with densely packed cones, resulting in high visual acuity. 17
● Blind Spot: Region on the retina (optic disc) with no photoreceptors, where the optic nerve exits and blood
vessels enter/leave. Located nasally to the fovea in each eye. Binocular vision compensates for the blind
spot. 18 19 20
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● Photoreceptor Pigments: Three cone pigments have peak absorption at 419nm (blue), 531nm (green), and
559nm (red). 21 Rods are less sensitive to red light, leading to the Purkinje shift (perceived brightness
change of red objects during dark adaptation). 21 22 23
● Ganglion Cells: 24
○ Magnocellular (M-cells): Receive input from rods, sensitive to light and motion.
○ Parvocellular (P-cells): Receive input from cones, sensitive to colour.
● Visual Pathways: 25 26 27
○ Optic Chiasm: Nasal retinal axons cross to the opposite brain hemisphere; temporal axons stay on the
same side.
○ Geniculostriate System: Main pathway from retina to lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) to visual cortex
(V1).
○ Tectopulvinar System: From retina to superior colliculus to pulvinar to parietal and temporal areas,
provides spatial information, implicated in blindsight.
● Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN): 26 27
○ Right LGN receives input from the right visual field; left LGN from the left visual field.
○ Six layers: Layers 1, 2 (Magnocellular input), Layers 3-6 (Parvocellular input), contralateral and ipsilateral
input.
● Primary Visual Cortex (V1 or Striate Cortex): 27
○ Receives input from LGN.
○ Origin of dorsal (parietal) and ventral (temporal) visual streams.
● Visual Streams: 28
○ Dorsal Stream: Occipital to parietal, the “how” pathway (action guidance).
○ Ventral Stream: Occipital to temporal, the “what” pathway (object identification).
● Cortical Column: 28 29
○ Functional unit of cortex, extending across cortical layers.
○ Separate ocular dominance columns for input from each eye.
○ M and P LGN layers project to distinct parts of layer IV.
● Extrastriate Cortex: Non-striped areas beyond V1, receive input from V1, functionally distinct. 29
● Segregation in V1 and V2: 29 30
○ Blobs: Colour-sensitive neurons in V1 (revealed by cytochrome oxidase staining).
○ Interblobs: Process form and motion.
○ V2: Thin stripes (colour from blobs), thick stripes (motion), pale zones (form).
● Visual Fields: 4
○ Left visual field projects to the right hemisphere; right field to the left hemisphere.
● Receptive Field Hierarchy: 31 32
○ Many retinal ganglion cells project to single LGN cells, and many LGN cells project to single V1 cells.
○ Cortical receptive fields are larger than retinal ganglion cell fields.
○ Nearby retinal cells project to nearby LGN and V1 cells.
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● Topographic Maps in V1: 22 23 32 33 34
○ Represent specific visual field locations.
○ Left V1 = right visual field, right V1 = left visual field.
○ Dorsal V1 = lower field, ventral V1 = upper field.
○ Posterior V1 = centre, anterior V1 = periphery.
○ Cortical Magnification: More cortical tissue devoted to the fovea than to the periphery.
○ Over 20 separate hemifield maps found across occipital, temporal, and parietal lobes (measured by fMRI
retinotopic mapping).
● Visual Field Deficits: 34
○ Monocular Blindness: Loss of sight in one eye.
○ Homonymous Hemianopia: Blindness in an entire left or right visual field.
○ Quadrantanopia: Blindness in one quadrant of the visual field.
○ Scotoma: Small blind spot.
● Visual Corpus Callosum: 35
○ Connects the two hemispheres, but with few connections in the occipital lobes.
○ Exception: Cells along the midline of the visual field are connected via the corpus callosum.
Part 3: Neural Coding in the Visual System
● Neural Activity and Stimuli: Neuron firing rate can increase, decrease, or stay unchanged in response to a
stimulus. This selective response provides information about the stimulus. 36
● Retinal Ganglion Cell Processing: 37 38
○ Respond to the presence/absence of light, not shape.
○ Concentric Receptive Fields: Centre and surround.
○ On-Center Cells: Excited by light in the centre, inhibited by light in the surround.
○ Off-Center Cells: Excited by light in the surround, inhibited by light in the centre.
○ Luminance Contrast: Amount of light reflected by an object relative to its surroundings; used to detect
edges.
● Shape Processing in V1: 39 40 41
○ V1 neurons receive input from multiple RGCs, resulting in larger receptive fields and orientation selectivity.
○ Simple Cells: Rectangular on-off receptive fields, respond to bars of light at specific orientations.
○ Complex Cells: Respond to bars of light moving in a particular direction.
○ Hypercomplex Cells: Like complex cells, but with strong inhibitory areas at one end ("end-stopped").
● Columnar Organisation: 41 42
○ V1 organised into columns perpendicular to the cortical surface.
○ Neurons within a column respond to the same orientation.
○ Adjacent columns respond to slightly different orientations.
○ Orientation columns further organised into ocular dominance columns.
● Prenatal and Postnatal Effects: 43 44
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○ Chemoaffinity Hypothesis: Neurons are drawn towards specific signalling chemicals during
development.
○ Postnatal activity refines connections, leading to ocular dominance columns.
○ Amblyopia: Impaired vision due to suppressed input from one eye (often caused by strabismus - eye
misalignment).
Part 4: Colour Vision
● Colour Mixing: 45
○ Subtractive: Mixing paints (red, blue, yellow).
○ Additive: Mixing light (white reflects the entire spectrum).
● Theories of Colour Vision: 45 46
○ Trichromatic Theory: Based on the three cone types (red, green, blue), explains colour blindness but not
afterimages.
○ Opponent-Process Theory: Colour-opponency pairs (red/green, blue/yellow), processing occurs in retinal
ganglion cells and V1.
● Opponent-Colour Contrast Response: 46 47
○ Centre-surround RGCs adapted for colour (e.g., centre responds to red, surround to green).
○ Colour-sensitive cells in V1 blobs have similar responses.
○ Hypercolumn: V1 module responding to orientation, colour, and input from each eye at a specific
location.
● Processing in V4: 48
○ Neurons in V4 respond to perceived colours, not specific wavelengths.
○ Centre-surround receptive fields (excited by one colour, inhibited by another).
○ Important for colour constancy (perceived colour remains constant despite changes in illumination).
Part 5: Higher-Level Vision
● Ventral Stream: 49
○ Temporal lobe neurons with large receptive fields, respond to complex stimuli.
○ Fusiform Face Area (FFA): Processes faces; damage leads to prosopagnosia (inability to recognize
faces).
○ Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA): Processes places.
● Shape Processing in TE: 50
○ Complex features (orientation, size, colour, texture) needed for neuron activation.
○ Neurons with similar feature preferences cluster in columns.
● "Grandmother Cells": 50 51 52
○ Hypothesised neurons responding to a specific object/face (sparse coding).
○ Found in the hippocampus and nearby regions, respond to specific individuals (e.g., Jennifer Aniston).
● Dorsal Stream ("Vision for Action"): 52
○ Lateral Intraparietal Area (LIP): Eye movements.
○ Anterior Intraparietal Area (AIP): Visual control of grasping.
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○ Parietal Reach Region (PRR): Visually-guided reaching.
● Posterior Parietal Cortex: 53
○ Processes visual information for action.
○ Parietal neurons are silent under anaesthesia, unlike temporal neurons.
○ Some cells process object appearance for grasping and fire before movement, even when observing
others grasp objects.
● Modularity in Visual Processing: 53 54
○ Agnosias: Domain-specific disabilities:
■ Prosopagnosia: Inability to recognize faces.
■ Achromatopsia: Inability to recognise colours.
■ Visual-Form Agnosia: Inability to recognize objects, but can still draw them.
○ Optic Ataxia: Deficit in visual control of reaching and other movements, but object recognition is intact;
caused by parietal cortex damage (dorsal stream).
● Ebbinghaus Illusion and Dorsal/Ventral Separation: 55 56
○ Two central circles of the same size appear different due to surrounding circles.
○ Action (reaching) is less affected by the illusion than perception.
○ Suggests the Ebbinghaus illusion is primarily a ventral stream phenomenon.
Part 6: Auditory System
● Sound Wave: Periodic displacement of molecules caused by changing pressure. 5
● Physical Dimensions of Sound: 5 57 58
○ Frequency: Number of cycles per second (Hz), corresponds to pitch.
○ Amplitude: Intensity or loudness (dB).
○ Complexity:
■ Pure Tones: Single frequency.
■ Complex Tones: Mixture of frequencies.
■ Fundamental Frequency: Rate of repetition of a complex waveform.
■ Overtones (Harmonics): Multiples of the fundamental frequency, determine timbre.
● Functional Anatomy: 59 60 61 62
○ Outer Ear:
■ Pinna: Funnels sound waves.
■ External Ear Canal: Amplifies and directs sound to the eardrum.
○ Middle Ear: Air-filled chamber containing ossicles (hammer, anvil, stirrup).
○ Inner Ear:
■ Cochlea: Fluid-filled, contains auditory receptor cells.
■ Basilar Membrane & Tectorial Membrane: Vibrate, stimulating hair cells.
■ Organ of Corti: Auditory receptor cells and supporting cells.
● Sound Transduction: 62 63 64
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○ Sound waves create a travelling wave on the basilar membrane.
○ Frequency coded by location on the membrane, amplitude by displacement strength.
○ Hair Cells:
■ Inner hair cells: Auditory receptors.
■ Outer hair cells: Adjust tectorial membrane stiffness.
○ Movement of cilia towards the tallest cilia: Depolarisation, neurotransmitter release.
○ Movement towards the shortest cilia: Hyperpolarisation, less neurotransmitter release.
● Tuning Curves: 65 66
○ Each hair cell is maximally responsive to a particular frequency, but also responds to nearby frequencies.
○ Amplitude influences hair cell response.
● Pathways to Auditory Cortex: 66 67 68
○ Inner hair cells → bipolar cells (auditory nerve) → cochlear nucleus → superior olive & trapezoid body →
inferior colliculus → medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) → primary auditory cortex (A1).
○ Ventral MGN: Projects to A1, decodes complex sounds.
○ Dorsal MGN: Projects to areas adjacent to A1, integrates auditory and somatosensory information.
● Auditory Cortex: 68 69
○ A1: Located in Heschl’s gyrus, surrounded by secondary areas (A2).
○ Planum temporale: Posterior to Heschl’s gyrus, left side forms Wernicke’s area (speech zone).
○ Lateralization: Speech analysis mainly in the left hemisphere, music analysis mainly in the right.
○ Insula: Multifunctional, involved in language, taste, and social cognition.
● Tonotopic Maps: 70
○ Ordered representation of frequency sensitivity from basilar membrane to cortex.
● Cochlear Implants: 70
○ Transduce sound waves to neural activity, allowing deaf individuals to hear.
● Sound Localisation: 6 71
○ Interaural Time Difference (ITD): Difference in sound arrival time at each ear.
○ Interaural Intensity Difference (IID): Difference in loudness between ears.
Part 7: Language and Music in the Brain
● Left temporal lobe: Analyzes speech meaning. 72
● Right temporal lobe: Analyzes musical sounds. 72
● Categorical perception: Hearing speech sound variations as identical. 72
● Language Areas: 72 73 74
○ Wernicke’s Area: Posterior left temporal lobe, comprehension.
○ Broca’s Area: Anterior left hemisphere, speech production.
○ Arcuate Fasciculus: Connects Wernicke's and Broca's areas.
○ Aphasia: Language impairment:
■ Broca’s Aphasia: Non-fluent speech, comprehension intact.
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■ Wernicke’s Aphasia: Fluent but meaningless speech, comprehension impaired.
● Brain Stimulation Studies (Penfield): 75 76
○ Stimulating auditory cortex evoked sounds (e.g., ringing, buzzing).
○ Stimulating A1 produced simple tones.
○ Stimulating Wernicke’s area elicited sound interpretations.
○ Stimulating supplementary speech area stopped speech.
○ Stimulating motor/somatosensory areas produced vocalizations.
● PET Studies (Zatorre): 7 77
○ Passive listening to noise activated A1.
○ Listening to words activated posterior speech areas (including Wernicke’s).
○ Speech discrimination activated frontal regions (including Broca’s).
○ Melody perception strongly activated right auditory cortex.
○ Pitch judgments activated right frontal lobe.
○ Music perception is largely right-lateralized.
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