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Lecturers
Dr G Hennequin, Dr M Lengyel, Dr T O'Leary
Lab Leader
Timing and Structure
Lent term. 16 lectures.
Aims
The aims of the course are to:
- Introduce students to how the brain processes sensory information, controls our actions, learns through experience and lays down memories.
- Elucidate the computational and engineering principles of brain function.
Objectives
As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:
- Have a basic grasp of neuroscience that can act as foundation for further study.
- Understand the basic principles of sensory processing, decision making, learning and memory and how engineering concepts can be applied to them.
Content
Perception and action (6L) (Dr G Hennequin)
- Neurons and synapses
- Perception as Bayesian inference
- Decision making
Dynamics of single neurons (2L) (Dr T O'Leary)
- Introduction to basic cell physiology and ion channels
- How do neurons communicate? The action potential and the Hodgkin-Huxley model
Learning and memory (8L) (Dr M Lengyel)
- The cellular basis of learning and memory
- Animal learning
- Memory
Coursework
Simulation of different types of neural coding of natural images. Laboratory report and/or Full Technical Report.
Efficient coding in visual cortex
Learning objectives:
- To apply basic techniques from linear algebra, optimization and statistics to understand how the primary visual cortex might efficiently encode natural scenes
- To learn (or consolidate) how to implement simple algorithms in Matlab
- To consolidate critical analysis and report-writing skills
Practical information:
- Sessions will take place in the DPO during week 2 (3 sessions: Tuesday 30/01 from 11am-1pm and from 2-4pm; Wednesday 31/01 from 2-4pm).
- This activity involves primary work (estimated 30 min duration), consisting of mathematical derivations (including some basic vector calculus) to be performed before coming to the lab.
Full Technical Report:
Students will have the option to submit a Full Technical Report. This will take the form of a unifying review of 3 papers addressing efficient coding of sensory information in the brain.
Booklists
Please see the Booklist for Part IIA Courses for references to this module.
Examination Guidelines
Please refer to Form & conduct of the examinations.
UK-SPEC
This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:
Toggle display of UK-SPEC areas.
Last modified: 16/01/2018 13:18