The Neural Basis of Visual Object Recognition in Monkeys and Humans
This MIT course examines how brains solve visual object recognition, one of the central problems in cognitive neuroscience. Lectures survey primate physiology and human fMRI data bearing on how objects are represented in the visual system, covering the computational problems of object representation, the selectivity and tolerance of neural representations to changes in viewpoint and lighting, and how attention and learning reshape those representations. Materials include lecture notes and readings drawn from primary research literature in the field, following MIT's OpenCourseWare format. The course is aimed at advanced students already familiar with neuroscience or cognitive science who want a research-level grounding in object recognition, combining findings from monkey single-unit recordings with human imaging studies to build a unified picture of how the brain turns raw visual input into recognized objects. Free to access through MIT OpenCourseWare, with no certificate offered.