• to specify mechanisms and cognitive models of perceptual functions and especially of space perception;
• to emphasize the characteristics of perceptual development, age-related changes in some perceptual functions and to demonstrate perceptual disorders in brain-damaged patients;
• to present neuropsychological computational models of imagery and their relationship to perception.

• discuss neuropsychological evidence explaining theoretical models of perception and imagery;
• investigating visual and visuospatial abilities;
• develop approaches for studing mental imagery;
• elaborate an experiment designed at assessing different perceptual and/or imagery abilities in normal and/or brain damaged patients.

• guided reading.
• lectures emphasizing main problems.
• seminars and discussions on the problems and case reports.

Handbook of Neuropsychology, Elsevier Sci Publ.

Kolb, B. & Whishaw, I.Q., (1990),

Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology, W.H. Freeman & Comp., San Francisco.

Heilman, K. & Valenstein (ed.), (1985),

Clinical Neuropsychology, New York, Oxford University Press.

Kosslyn S.M., (1994),

Image and Brain: the resolution of the imagery debate, A Bradford Book, The MIT Press.

Kosslyn S.M. & Koenig O., (1995),

Wet Mind, New York, The free Press.

Neuropsychologia, 1995, vol.33, N 11.

• basic concepts - nature, development, interrelations and disorders of perception and imagery (6 hours);
• spatial abilities and spatial behaviour (20 hours);
• mental imagery - concepts, mechanisms, stages and disorders (14 hours);
• functional specialization of cerebral hemispheres (5 hours).

• L.Mavlov, (1981), Perceptual processing and sensory modalities. Publ. House of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.
• A. Ellis & A. Young, (1988), Human Cognitive Neuropsychology (chapter 2). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Topic 2: Agnosias - definition and conditions. Modality-specific nonverbal agnosias (visual, audutory, tactile and somato-agnosias). Supramodal agnosias (spatial and temporal agnosias). Rhythm agnosia and amusia. (3 hours lecture with discussion).
Required reading:

• L.Mavlov, (1981), Perceptual processing and sensory modalities. Publ. House of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.
• M.Farah, (1990), Visual Agnosia Disorders of object recognition and what they tell us about normal vision. The MIT Press.

Topic 3: The nature of space. Origin and functions of psychological space. Cognitive space. Personal and extrapersonal space. Multimodal structure of the extrapersonal space. Anatomical correlates of spatial behaviour. Classification of spatial abilities. (4 hours lecture and discussion).
Required reading:

• B.Kolb and I.Whishaw, (1985), Human Neuropsychology, W.H.Freeman and Company, New York.
• I.Tournev, Spatial disorders of visual and tactile sensory modality in perception and imagery and hemisphere differences (Doctoral dissertation)
• O.Grussel, (1985), Multimodal structure of the extrapersonal space, In: Spatially oriented behaviour. A.Hein and M.Jeannerod (Eds.) Springer-Verlag, New York.
• L.Mavlov, (1981), Perceptual processing and sensory modalities, Publ. House of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia. E. De Renzi, (1982), Disorders of space exploration and cognition, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Topic 4: Spatial perception and its disorders. Visual perception, tactile and auditiry perception of spatial characteristics. Disorders of space exploration. Neglect syndrome in different sensory modalities. Tests for unilateral neglect. (4 hours lecture and discussion).
Required reading:

• I.Tournev, Spatial disorders of visual and tactile sensory modality in perception and imagery and hemisphere differences (Doctoral dissertation)
• E. De Renzi, (1982), Disorders of space exploration and cognition, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Topic 5: Disorders of personal space cognition and hemispheric differences. Constructional disorders in patients with different cerebral lesions. (4 hours lecture and discussion).
Required reading:

• I.Tournev, Spatial disorders of visual and tactile sensory modality in perception and imagery and hemisphere differences (Doctoral dissertation)
• E. De Renzi, (1982), Disorders of space exploration and cognition, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Topic 6: Spatial memory. Spatial short-term memory. Spatial long-term memory. Topographical orientation - mechanisms and disorders. (4 hours lecture and discussion).
Required reading:

• B.Kolb and I.Whishaw, (1985), Human Neuropsychology, W.H.Freeman and Company, New York.
• E. De Renzi, (1982), Disorders of space exploration and cognition, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Topic 7: Spatial abilities and aging. Spatial abilities, sex and handedness. (4 hours lecture and discussion).
Required reading:

• F. Boller and J. Grafman, (1991), Handbook of Neuropsychology, vol. 4. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
• E. De Renzi, (1982), Disorders of space exploration and cognition, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Topic 8: Mental imagery and high level vision. Two visual systems. The neuropsychological approach. Computational models. Componentional analysis of perceptual and imaginal tasks. Visual perception and visual imagery - shared mechanisms. (7 hours lecture, discussion, lab-work).
Required reading:

• S.Kosslyn, (1994), Image and Brain. High level vision (chapter 2) , The MIT Press.
• S. Kosslyn, (1991), A cognitive neuroscience of visual cognition: further developments. In Mental Images of Human Cognition. R. Logie & M. Denis (Eds.) Elsevier Sci Publ., North Holland.
• B. Alexandrova, Interrelations between visuo-spatial abilities of localisation and pattern discrimination, (Doctoral dissertation)
• M. Farah, (1984), The Neurological Basis of Mental Imagery: A Computational Analysis, Cognition, 18, 245-272.
• M. Farah, (1988), Is Visual Imagery Really Visual? Overlooked Evidence From Neuropsychology, Psychological Review, 95, 3, 307-317.
• M. Farah, K. Hammond, D. Levine & R. Calvanio, (1988), Visual and spatial mental imagery: dissociable systems of representation, Cognitive Psychology, 20, 439-462.

Topic 9: Mental imagery components. Image generation. Image transformation. Experimental data with normal subjects. Neuroimaging experiments Neuropsychological evidence. Case studies. Cerebral hemispheres and different patterns of deficits in mental imagery. (7 hours lecture, discussion, lab-work).
Required reading:

• M. Farah, (1986), The Laterality of Mental Image Generation: A Test With Normal Subjects, Neuropsychologia, 24, 541-551.
• G. Goldenberg, C. Artner & I. Podreka, (1991), Image generation and the territory of the left posterior cerebral artery (chapter 24), in: Mental Images of Human Cognition. R. Logie & M. Denis (Eds.) Elsevier Sci Publ., North Holland.
• S.Kosslyn, (1994), Image and Brain, Generating and maintaining visual images (chapter 9), The MIT Press.
• S.Kosslyn, (1994), Image and Brain, Inspecting and transforming visual images (chapter 10), The MIT Press.
• M. Corballis, J. Sergent, (1989), Mental Rotation in a commissurotomized subject, Neuropsychologia, 27, 385-397.
• L. Trojano, D. Grossi, (1994), A Critical Review of Mental Imagery Defects, Brain and Cognition, 24, 213-243.

Topic 10: Functional cerebral asymmetry - problems and hypothesis. Lateralization in high level vision and imagery. Hemisphere dichotomies - evidence from normal subjects and neuropsychological findings. Developmental aspects of cerebral lateralization. (5 hours discussion and lab-work).
Required reading:

• M. Bryden, (1988), Cerebral specialization: clinical and experimental assessment, in F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.)
• Handbook of Neuropsychology. vol 1.
• M. Terzieva, Functional cerebral asymmetry in visual perception - ontogenetic aspects, (doctoral dissertation).