• perform experimentss on contrast threshold measurements and tachistoscopic experiments and discuss the results obtained;
• describe methods of measuring human visual perceptal capacities;
• explain the functions of the visual pathways and the chart of visual information flows;
• explain some disturbances of visual perception;
• understand the relationship between investigations of human visual perception and the artificial-intelligene approach to cognition.

The impeding dimese of the icon: A critique of the concept of iconic storage in visual information processing. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol.6, 1-54.

Neisser, U. (1967),

Cognitive Psychology, Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Marr, D. (1982),

Vision, W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco.

DeYoe, E. A., Van Essen D. C. (1988),

Concurrent processing streams in monkey visual cortex. Trends in Neurosciences, vol. 11(5), 219-226.

Glezer, V. D.(1995),

Vision and Mind, Lawrence Erlbaum.

Spillman, L., Werner, J. S. (eds.),

Visual Perception. The Neurophysiological Foundations, Academic Press, NY., 1987.

Bruce V., Green P. R., Georgeson M. A. (1996).

Visual Preception. Physiology, Psychology, and Ecology, 3rd Edition, Psychology Press.

Vassilev, A. (1996),

Serial processing of visual signals and the parallel visual pathways, Perspectives on Cognitive Science, 2, New Bulgarian University Sofia, 163-168.

Kandel E. C., Schwartz J. K., Jessell T. M.(1991),

Principles of Neural Science, 3rd Edition. Prentice-Hall International Inc.

• expands the knowledge about the structure and function of the human visual system, introduced in COG304;
• introduces the student to basic concepts and related methods of studying vision and visual recognition;
• allows for practicing some psychophysical methods of investigation;
• gives an account on some new trends of research and on disturbances in visual perception.

• Haber, R. N. (1983). The impeding dimese of the icon: A critique of the concept of iconic storage in visual information processing. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol.6, 1-54.
• Neisser, U. (1967). Cognitive Psychology, Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Topic 2: (Demonstration). Tachistoscopes and their use in studies of visual recognition: Effect of backward pattern masking on recognition. Metacontrast. Visual information store. The experimental paradigm of G. Sperling.

Topic 3: The information approach to visual recognition. Factors detemining the threshold exposure time. Types of recognition as revealed by the information approach. Serial versus parallel processes of recognition. Reaction time and information processing.
Required reading:

• Haber, R. N. (1983). The impeding dimese of the icon: A critique of the concept of iconic storage in visual information processing. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol.6, 1-54.
• Neisser, U. (1967). Cognitive Psychology, Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Topic 4: Recognition as a classification process. Mechanisms of feature encoding. Feature detectors or Fourier analysers?
Required reading:

• Marr, D. (1982). Vision, W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco.
• Glezer, V. D.(1995). Vision and Mind, Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Bruce V., Green P. R., Georgeson M. A. (1996). Visual Preception. Physiology, Psychology, and Ecology, 3rd Edition, Psychology Press.

Topic 5: Visual search and its asymmetries. "Pop out". Comparison of the visual search approach with the information approach in the study of mechanisms of visual recognition.
Required reading:

• Spillman, L., Werner, J. S. (eds.) (1987), Visual Perception. The Neurophysiological Foundations, Academic Press, NY.

Topic 6: Attention and visual perception. PET method of localizing brain functions: Cortical areas involved in visual attention.
Required reading:

• Spillman, L., Werner, J. S. (eds.) (1987), Visual Perception. The Neurophysiological Foundations, Academic Press, NY. Current papers are going to be selected during the lectures.

Topics 7 and 8: The retina as a neural network: components, their interconnections and functions. Spatial and temporal filtration by the retina. Redundancy reduction as a principle of peripheral information processing.
Required reading:

• Kandel E. C., Schwartz J. K., Jessell T. M.(1991). Principles of Neural Science, 3rd Edition. Prentice-Hall International Inc.

Topic 9: (Demonstration and discussion). Mach bands. O'Brian-Cornsweet illusion. Quasi-stabilized images: fading and filling-in demonstrated by Krauskopf'coloured figures.

Topic 10: Spatial and temporal properties of vision. Spatial-frequency and temporal-frequency contrast sensitivity functions.
Required reading:

• Humphreyes, G. W., Bruce, V. (1989). Visual Cognition. Computational, Experimental and Neuropsychological perspectives, Lawrence Erlbaum Ass., Hove and London (UK), Hillsdale (USA).
• Kandel E. C., Schwartz J. K., Jessell T. M.(1991). Principles of Neural Science, 3rd Edition. Prentice-Hall International Inc.
• Spillman, L., Werner, J. S. (eds.) (1987), Visual Perception. The Neurophysiological Foundations, Academic Press, NY.

Topic 11: (Demonstration and experiments). Psychophysical methods of sensitivity measurement. The effects of stimulus spatial and temporal frequency on contrast sensitivity at different light-adaptation levels. Random-dot stereograms and spatial vision.

Topics 12 and 13: Visual pathways: parvocellular and magnocellular retino-geniculo-cortical pathways. Multiple information streams and their cortical rearrangement. Visual areas involved in perception of colour, movement, or form. Occipito-temporal and occipito-parietal streams and their functions.
Required reading:

• DeYoe, E. A., Van Essen D. C. (1988). Concurrent processing streams in monkey visual cortex. Trends in Neurosciences, vol. 11(5), 219-226.
• Vassilev, A. (1996). Serial processing of visual signals and the parallel visual pathways.

Topic 14: The information chart of early visual processing. The multiple relationship between sensory cues and inferred attributes.
Required reading:

• DeYoe, E. A., Van Essen D. C. (1988). Concurrent processing streams in monkey visual cortex. Trends in Neurosciences, vol. 11(5), 219-226.
• Vassilev, A. (1996). Serial processing of visual signals and the parallel visual pathways. Perspectives on Cognitive Science, 2, New Bulgarian University Sofia, 163-168.

Topic 15:
Required reading:

• Spillman, L., Werner, J. S. (eds.), Visual Perception. The Neurophysiological Foundations, Academic Press, NY.

• activity in discussions during the course;
• essay and its oral presentation;
• test (multiple choice test).

• COG303
• COG304: The Senses
• COG310: Psychophysics
• COG311: Perception
• COG418