Iris Balodis Scientific Teaching Fellows Course Teachable
Tidbit: Face Perception
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Students Cognitive Neuroscience Course 3 rd or 4 th year
Undergraduates Majors in Psychology Previous Courses: Psyc100,
Brain & Behaviour, Perception Have prepared for class by
reading the relevant chapter ahead of time
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Textbook Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R.B. & Mangun, G.R. Cognitive
Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind, 3 rd Edition, WW Norton
& Company: New York. Chapter 6 Object Recognition Face
Recognition
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Learning GoalsLearning Objectives Understand neural systems
underlying cognitive functions in the brain Use and apply knowledge
of brain systems flexibly To gain experience reading/understanding
original papers in cognitive neuroscience To describe key
perspectives in cognitive neuroscience Be able to critically think
about the evidence Understand how the visual system processes
complex information Be able to apply knowledge to particular case
studies Discuss recent studies in visual perception Discuss/Debate
evidence for key perspectives in cognitive neuroscience To bridge
material between different areas (e.g. chapters from basic
sensation/perception to higher cognitive processes).
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Clicker Questions Purpose Retrieve information from last week
Anonymous Thought Question for material this week
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In response to the light, this cell in the Lateral Geniculate
Nucleus will: A) Increase its firing rate B) Decrease its firing
rate C) Wont change its firing rate D) LGN cells dont respond to
light
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Retrieval of Previous Weeks Material Applies repeated retrieval
of previous information Clicker Questions Anonymous 2 questions
from last week 1 from this week 1 broader thought question.
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2 Visual Processing Streams
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Failures of Object Recognition Visual Agnosias: Damage to where
pathway Damage to what pathway Prosopagnosia
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Learning GoalsLearning Objectives Understand neural systems
underlying cognitive functions in the brain Use and apply knowledge
of brain systems flexibly To gain experience reading/understanding
original papers in cognitive neuroscience To describe key
perspectives in cognitive neuroscience Be able to critically think
about the evidence Understand how the visual system processes
complex information Be able to apply knowledge to particular case
studies Discuss recent studies in visual perception Discuss/Debate
evidence for key perspectives in cognitive neuroscience To bridge
material between different areas (e.g. chapters from basic
sensation/perception to higher cognitive processes).
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Case Study Purpose: apply information learned in the text to a
specific example. Think-Pair-Share technique Discuss with one or
two other classmates Call on 2 or 3 groups to share answers with
the class
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Case Study You are a neurologist and Jim is your patient who
recently suffered a stroke. Even though you just saw him in your
clinic 2 days ago, he doesnt recognize you when he walks into the
room. What condition(s) might he have? What types of tests might
you run? What brain networks and areas might be affected by the
stroke?
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May have prosopagnosia Test basic vision, basic memory tests,
test perceptual categorization (e.g. Unusual Views Object Test),
prosopagnosia tests Damage to What Pathway Ventral Stream
Particularly in inferior temporal lobe and fusiform gyrus
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Grandmother Cells Refers to a neuron that responds to highly
specific, complex and meaningful stimuli i.e. a single percept or
concept.
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Whats in a face?
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Quiroga et al., 2005
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Learning GoalsLearning Objectives Understand neural systems
underlying cognitive functions in the brain Use and apply knowledge
of brain systems flexibly To gain experience reading/understanding
original papers in cognitive neuroscience To describe key
perspectives in cognitive neuroscience Be able to critically think
about the evidence Understand how the visual system processes
complex information Be able to apply knowledge to particular case
studies Discuss recent studies in visual perception Discuss/Debate
evidence for key perspectives in cognitive neuroscience To bridge
material between different areas (e.g. chapters from basic
sensation/perception to higher cognitive processes).
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Debate Team As part of a debating team, defend the argument
that the brain has evolved a specialized system for perceiving
faces. Defend the argument that face perception reflects the
operation of a highly experienced system that is good at making
fine discriminations.
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Gets at fundamental debate in visual processing research
Whether brain systems are equipped with: a general intelligence or
capability to perform functions Distributed cognitive & neural
processing a developed specificity in particular cortical regions
for a high-level cognitive function (e.g. face perception).
Swiss-Army Knife Analogy
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Learning GoalsLearning Objectives Understand neural systems
underlying cognitive functions in the brain Use and apply knowledge
of brain systems flexibly To gain experience reading/understanding
original papers in cognitive neuroscience To describe key
perspectives in cognitive neuroscience Be able to critically think
about the evidence Understand how the visual system processes
complex information Be able to apply knowledge to particular case
studies Discuss recent studies in visual perception Discuss/Debate
evidence for key perspectives in cognitive neuroscience To bridge
material between different areas (e.g. chapters from basic
sensation/perception to higher cognitive processes).
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Group Activity Describe the neural cascade of events that would
occur from perceiving a visual stimulus, to recognizing it as Halle
Berrys face.