BCS 220: The Intelligent Eye

Spring 2007

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Thought questions

Instructor

David Knill
Meliora 275
275-4597

Office Hours: T 1:00-2:00 PM

Catalog Description

Aristotle described visual perception as "to know what is where by looking". This common-sense description of what it means to see reflects our phenomenal experience with the ease and simplicity of perception. This apparent simplicity is the first of many illusions that students will encounter in the class. Computers have achieved grand master status in chess, yet still cannot solve vision problems that young children handle with ease every second of their waking day. The course will provide an inter-disciplinary view of modern research into how the human brain solves the problems involved in perception, including how we perceive the three dimensional structure of the world, how we recognize objects and how visual information is used to control action in the world. Students will read contemporary research papers that will expose them to the science that has forced us to re-conceptualize, sometimes in non-intuitive ways, how vision works. Through classroom discussion and a series of critical essays, students will explore and analyze the questions and debates that define contemporary perceptual science.

Reading

Reading for the course will include book chapters and research articles from the vision literature. Copies of reading material will be handed out in class or posted on the course web site.

Organization

Basic structure: The course will be run as a cross between a lecture and a seminar. The main goal of the course is to critically consider contemporary research in vision; thus, many of the class meetings will focus on discussions of research papers. A certain amount of content material (e.g. how cells in primary visual cortex work) is needed to understand much of the material, so interspersed with the paper discussions will be lectures based on readings from textbooks.

Student participation: By its nature, the success of the class depends largely on your involvement. In order to make the course work, you will have to come to class prepared – having done the reading and writing assignments for the class. I expect everyone to participate in the class. This means that attendance is mandatory (excepting absences due to valid reasons such as sickness) and I expect all students to participate in discussion. This will make the class fun for all of us, including myself.

Regular assignments: Course work consists primarily of reading chapters from books and articles from the scientific literature, and regular, small writing assignments.

Thought questions

You will write brief answers to a small number (1-2) of thought questions about the reading for each class. I will hand these out to the class before they are due. The questions are designed to get you thinking critically about the reading prior to coming to class. Thought questions will be graded on a simple contract basis – 2 points for satisfactory, 1 point for having made a good first attempt at an answer and 0 points for unsatisfactory. In order to receive full credit, an assignment must meet the following criteria:

• A coherent first attempt at answering the question must be mailed to me over electronic mail by 10:00 PM the night before class. You should also bring a copy of your answers to the class. Answers should be written so that they could be understood by other students in the class. (1 point)
• An answer is satisfactory if it reflects an understanding of the reading material and is built on rational arguments. You have the opportunity to revise answers based on class discussion and turn in the revised answers by the beginning of the next class. Revised answers must be e-mailed to me before the beginning of the next class. I will be available to meet with you if you need help with any questions. (1 point)
• Your two lowest scores on thought questions will be discarded for purposes of computing the final grade. The one exception to this is that the first four sets of thought questions will count toward the grade.

Student questions

You should submit one or two questions about the reading for each class. The questions could be for clarification (e.g. about the experimental methodology), about background information for the work described in the reading or about the approach or interpretation. These are due the same time as the thought questions. You will receive 1 point for turning in thoughtful questions (I reserve the right not to give a point for frivolous questions or questions that clearly show that you haven't read the material).

Final project

Group paper: The final project will be a three chapter "book" on a contemporary problem in vision. You will work in groups of three to write a review that will consist of three chapters written by each of the members of the group. Each of the first three chapters of the book should be 12 – 15 pages long (not including figures). You will do the project in four stages.

1. Project proposal: Due Feb. 9, to be refined in a meeting with me the following week.
2. Annotated bibliography: One to two paragraphs summarizing the main points of the articles and book chapters you plan to use for your book. Due March 23.
3. First draft of project; Due April 6
4. Final draft of project: Due May 3

Oral presentation: As part of the final project, you will lead a seminar on the topic of your project. I will be available to meet to help plan your seminar.

Important dates for the final project:
Feb. 9: Pre-proposal due
Feb. 12 - 16: Meetings with me to finalize project proposals
March 23: Annotated bibliographies due
April 6: First draft due
Final drafts due two days before class presentations

Project grading:

• Proposal: 10%
• Annotated Bibliography: 20%
• First draft: 20%
• Final "book": 30%
• Class presentation: 20%

Course Grading

• Thought questions / student questions: 50%
• Final project: 30%
• In class participation: 20%

Attendance

I expect students to attend all classes. 1 point (out of 100) will be deducted from your final grade for every unexcused absence. You will also receive a 0 for the thought questions due the day of your absence.

Excused absences: Excused, unplanned, absences include sickness and family emergencies. These require appropriate documentation (from Student Health, a hospital, etc.). If you know you have to miss a class for some other reason (e.g. a University sponsored activity or a job interview), you must inform me beforehand and show reasonable documentation. I will not accept any reason for an absence if you knew of it prior to class and did not discuss it with me in advance.

Schedule

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© 2006, University of Rochester, Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Last modified: 03/23/2009
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