LECTURE 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE SENSORY SYSTEMS

Norbert Fortin, PhD

N110: Neurobiology and Behavior
April 26, 2017
OVERVIEW

The challenge of understanding the sensory systems

Internal rules, assumptions and shortcuts influencing

sensory perception

The multidimensionality of sensory perception

Unusual perception
THE CHALLENGE OF UNDERSTANDING THE SENSORY SYSTEMS

The brain is the most complicated and sophisticated organ

created by evolution
~100 billion neurons
Each neuron is connected directly to ~7,000 other neurons
(~ 100-500 trillion synapses)
Even more glial cells (~500 billions to ~1 trillion)

Each neuron is also covered by thousands of receptors that

respond to neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, hormones,...

We will focus mostly on the visual system

Why?
THE CHALLENGE OF UNDERSTANDING THE SENSORY SYSTEMS

What our sensory systems do is incredibly hard

the sensory information we get is ambiguous

Different lines in the world, same projection on the retina

THE CHALLENGE OF UNDERSTANDING THE SENSORY SYSTEMS

Somehow you can drive in a but its really hard to

snowstorm train a computer to do it
THE CHALLENGE OF UNDERSTANDING THE SENSORY SYSTEMS

What do you see here?

THE CHALLENGE OF UNDERSTANDING THE SENSORY SYSTEMS

Your brain actively constructs your sensory experience

Your visual system is not like a camera faithfully
capturing images
Everything you see is actively constructed
Color, shading, texture, motion, shape,...

This internal model of the world is built by innate rules

combined with your own experiences including your
memories, emotions, logic and beliefs
OVERVIEW

The challenge of understanding the sensory systems

Internal rules, assumptions and shortcuts influencing

sensory perception

The multidimensionality of sensory perception

Unusual perception
INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
WHY DO WE HAVE THESE RULES?

Our brain has evolved for a very different world than the one
we live in now.

vs

Our ancestors lived in a very dangerous world, and had to

make quick decisions to survive.
We evolved innate rules, assumptions and short-cuts to help
us quickly decide in a hostile environment
INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of foreground/background effects

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of illusory contours

Your brain creates the contours of objects

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of illusory contours

It works with curved lines too

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of simultaneous contrasts

The context of the visual scene influences perception

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of simultaneous contrasts

The context of the visual scene influences perception

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of simultaneous contrasts of color

The context of the visual scene influences perception

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of relative size

The context of the visual scene influences perception

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of length perception

Which table is longer? Which is wider?

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Perception of straight lines

INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of apparent motion: stock market ticker

Your brain creates the illusion of motion if each

stationary stimulus lights up within 50 ms
INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of apparent motion: visual illusions

Your brain creates the perception of motion

using some other cues as well
INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of apparent motion: visual illusions

Your brain creates the perception of motion

using some other cues as well
INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of apparent motion: visual illusions

Your brain creates the perception of motion

using some other cues as well
INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Demo of apparent motion: visual illusions

Your brain creates the perception of motion

using some other cues as well
INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Influence of the cognitive context of the visual scene

What is this?
INTERNAL RULES, ASSUMPTIONS & SHORTCUTS OF PERCEPTION
SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF OBJECTIVE EXTERNAL STIMULI

Another example top-down influence on perception

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.

Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are or if thhre are
tpyos, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the
rghit pclae. It can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a
porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,
but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? And I awlyas tghuhot slpeling
was ipmorantt!

from Prof. Ron Frostig, UCI

OVERVIEW

The challenge of understanding the sensory systems

Internal rules, assumptions and shortcuts influencing

sensory perception

The multidimensionality of sensory perception

Unusual perception
THE MULTIDIMENSIONALITY OF SENSORY PERCEPTION
WE INTEGRATE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ASPECTS OF OUR EXPERIENCES

We saw that the external context is important for perception.

There is also an internal context that affects our sensory
perception, including emotions, reason, expectations and
beliefs.
Examples of problems integrating internal and external info
to create unified perceptions
Capgras syndrome (Capgras delusion)
THE MULTIDIMENSIONALITY OF SENSORY PERCEPTION
WE INTEGRATE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ASPECTS OF OUR EXPERIENCES

Emotional expectations: the case of capgras syndrome

THE MULTIDIMENSIONALITY OF SENSORY PERCEPTION
WE INTEGRATE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ASPECTS OF OUR EXPERIENCES

We saw that the external context is important for perception.

There is also an internal context that affects our sensory
perception, including emotions, reason, expectations and
beliefs.
Examples of problems integrating internal and external info to
create unified perceptions
Capgras syndrome (Capgras delusion)
Cotards syndrome (Cotard delusion)
Placebo effect (more common, benign version of this phenomemon)

Need more details? Look them up on wikipedia.org or pubmed.com

OVERVIEW

The challenge of understanding the sensory systems

Internal rules, assumptions and shortcuts influencing

sensory perception

The multidimensionality of sensory perception

Unusual perception
UNUSUAL PERCEPTION
THE CASE OF SYNESTHESIA

Experiencing with two separate senses what the rest of us

experience with just one.
(e.g., taste a shape, or see color in sound).

See letters and digits

in color
Hear a telephone ringing
UNUSUAL PERCEPTION
THE CASE OF SYNESTHESIA

The associations are arbitrary

Hear door bell ringing Hear dog barking

UNUSUAL PERCEPTION
THE CASE OF SYNESTHESIA
UNUSUAL PERCEPTION
THE CASE OF SYNESTHESIA

Some specific examples

UNUSUAL PERCEPTION
THE CASE OF SYNESTHESIA

Some specific examples

UNUSUAL PERCEPTION
COMMON FEATURES AMONG SYNESTHESIAS

Automatic, involuntary, and consistent over time (years)

Elementary
qualities like warm-cool, jagged-smooth, bright-dark, sparkling-steady
not pictorial nor highly elaborate
Very specific
They will spend a long time finding the exact color that matches
They use many more words to describe color variations, hinting that
their color experience is much richer.
Highly memorable.
It helps me remember
Loaded with affect.
When a color of ink does not match the expected one (a conflict) they
are disgusted, or describe their feeling to be like a fingernail
scratching a blackboard; while matches are delightful, gorgeous.
UNUSUAL PERCEPTION
NEURAL BASIS OF SYNESTHESIA

Not localized to any point in the brain

Seems to be the perceptual result of increased cross-talk between
different areas of the brain.
Two types of hypotheses regarding synesthesia:
1) Abnormal connections between cortical areas not typically
connected. Either non-pruned after childhood or an overgrowth
during adulthood.
2) Same cortical connections but lack of suppression (imbalance
of excitation and inhibition)
TAKE HOME MESSAGE

Your internal representation is not a faithful reflection of what

is in the environment
You are actively creating your own visual world based on the
visual input, internal and external context
Our brains bind together all these aspects into a single
percept (some extra binding in synesthesia)