This is the home page for the School of Informatics course "CNV: Computational Neuroscience of Vision", given by James A. Bednar in January-March 2007.
This course uses the new Topographica neural simulator and the new Computational Maps in the Visual Cortex book; see the topographica.org and computationalmaps.org web sites for more details on the simulator and book.
You will get a chance to run simulations of visual cortex development and function, and gain an understanding of what modeling can achieve, what it cannot, and how modeling can be done well. See the course for more details on the topics to be covered.
02 Oct 06: These pages will be updated regularly once the semester begins, so please check this page and the lecture notes page at least weekly for news. Be sure to refresh both pages in your browser before deciding there is no news.
02 Oct 06: I have posted a few MSc projects closely related to the course topics, and will probably be posting more later this year. Students in CNV are very well suited for any of these projects, and will be able to use what they learn in CNV to get started very quickly on the project. Just search for "Bednar" in the projects list. You can also discuss ideas for other projects with me.
02 Jan 07: The first class meeting will be 8 Jan 2007 at 2pm, in room G.02 of the William Robertson Building (on George Square next to the Hume tower).
15 Jan 07: The Topographica simulator used for the CNV assignments is written in Python, and to make full use of its capabilities you will need to learn some Python. For anyone who needs an introduction to Python, I have arranged for Python tutorial sessions led by an experienced Python tutor. There are two parts, each offered twice to allow you to fit it into your schedules. All sessions are given from 1pm-2pm in Appleton Tower Lab North, which is on the 5th floor, on the right across from the Quiet Lab.
Tutorial 1 is offered on Monday, 22 January, and Friday, 26 January.
Tutorial 2 is offered on Monday, 29 January, and Friday, 2 February.
Note that experienced Python users need not attend; these sessions are entirely optional. And there is not much reason to attend both sessions of each tutorial, unless you find yourself having too many questions to be answered the first time.
25 Jan 07: If you are interested, you are welcome to go to these upcoming talks:
ANC Seminar, FH-D2, 11:00am 13 Feb: Dr. Wei Wang, Corticothalamic Feedback effects on the early visual information processing
ANC Seminar, FH-D2, 11:00am 27 Mar: Prof. Klaus Obermayer, TBA
There are also various talks in the DTC Neuroinformatics Research course that are likely to be relevant, particularly the one by Peggy Series. The DTC students in the course attend these talks already, but other CNV students can also attend if they want.
29 Jan 07: Undergraduates may be interested in the York CVR Vision Science Summer School this May.
19 Feb 07: Students may be interested in attending a talk by Dr Robert Hindges, Kings College London, Molecular control of visual system development, in the Hugh Robson Lecture Theatre, George Square, at 12:30pm on 23 Feb 2007.
2 Mar 07: Students may be interested in attending a talk by Peter Foldiak (University of St. Andrews), Neural Representations and Formal Concept Analysis for Semantic Storage, Forrest Hill Room D2 (Jim Howe Room), on 14 March from 11:20am-1pm (followed by discussion). I haven't seen this particular talk, but his talk last year on methods for determining the preferences of higher level cortical neurons was excellent.
Last updated: 2007/03/02 14:18:35
Informatics Forum, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB, Scotland, UK
Tel: +44 131 651 5661, Fax: +44 131 651 1426, E-mail: school-office@inf.ed.ac.uk Please contact our webadmin with any comments or corrections. Logging and Cookies Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all material is copyright © The University of Edinburgh |