655-222 Visual Processing and Control

655-221.

This series of lectures will deal with the structure and function of the visual system, essential for a fundamental understanding of the rationale of many types of measurements and observations undertaken in evaluating visual function. The subject begins with the neural control of gaze and follows up with a full account of normal and abnormal eye movements. The subject deals with muscular mechanisms of the eye including the mechanics of translatory, saccadic and slow pursuit eye movements, Listing's Law, neural control of eye movements and binocular eye movements, Hering's Law, accommodation and the accommodative-convergence synkinesis and pupillary reactions. There will be lectures on the use of electrical recordings from the eye to help understand ocular function. The subject will also include a detailed account of the visual space sense, including binocular correspondence, the horopter, fusion and stereopsis.

Ongoing assessment of practical work during the semester (20%); a 30-minute written examination held mid-semester (10%); a 3-hour written examination in the examination period (70%). Satisfactory completion of practical work is necessary to pass the subject.

• E R Kandel, J H Schwartz, T M Jessell, Principles of Neural Science. 4th edn, McGraw-Hill, 2000.