OPTO30007: Visual Neuroscience

two written assessments of 30 minutes each, one mid semester (15%) and one late semester (15%); 3-hour written examination (70%) in end of semester exam period.

This was my favourite subject this semester, and perhaps even my major (although I liked all my neuroscience subjects). It really piqued my interested into visual neuroscience to the point where at this early stage I'm considering ophthalmology as my speciality once I finish medicine (if not, I'd also be happy to fall back on optometry as a career option). I thought it was well run, well taught and had an appropriate workload, and it should not be difficult at all to perform well. I highly recommend it to neuroscience students unsure which subjects to select in semester 2. Unlike the other neuroscience subjects, I also highly recommend it to anatomy students looking for semester 2 electives. It's somewhat more concrete than the other neuroscience subjects - despite the fact so much about visual neuroscience remains unknown, the staff do a very good job at leaving that big picture stuff towards the end of the lecture, meaning you get a better appreciation for what remains to be discovered. Additionally, there is some basic eye anatomy that complements some of the content taught in the second semester core unit of the anatomy major. If you're like me and are not a big fan of anatomy though, don't worry: I found it very manageable.

Like a lot of the semester 2 neuroscience subjects, this subject has a strong research focus, with most of the lecturers teaching material that directly relates to their own work. They are all designed to give you a taste of research in neuroscience and provide opportunities to talk with the academics and even organise placements for honours. Initially I thought I wouldn't like this but in the end I was quite wrong. Additionally, a lot of time and effort is spent relating research to clinical applications, so it regularly felt like my knowledge was really practical and relevant. Some of the concepts are still somewhat abstract, but most of the time these concepts are taught at a suitable pace, giving you enough time to absorb the information.

The lectures themselves were of a very high quality. The standard was definitely above average, with the exception of perhaps a handful that were about average (this is me being picky - it is the only reason I've deducted 0.5 from my rating). Some lectures appear hard at first (e.g. eye movements is especially difficult), but with time and persistence most people managed to work their way through them. The notes were always clear, concise and contained the right amount of information on them. There's no point going through individual lecturers and their styles, but generally there shouldn't be too many problems. It's probably a subject worth attending in person because many optical illusions and diagrams may be displayed to demonstrate a concept, which won't be visible in the recording but are very helpful for building understanding. To go through the lecture course: we first started with some basic concepts in neuroscience, revising some of the key concepts relevant from last semester's prerequisites. After that, we basically started at the front of the visual system (i.e. the eye) and worked our way back: we spent some time looking at some basic eye anatomy and its clinical relevance in systemic disorders, before investigating the retina in detail. We then followed the visual pathway back to the brain and then in turn spent time on the different sorts of functions the brain has to perform in visual processing. In this way, the structure of the course is highly logical and effective, making it incredibly easy to understand how everything works together. OPTO30007 is definitely a cohesive narrative. Interestingly, this subject is really about putting the details into the overviews on the visual system provided in NEUR30003 Principles of Neuroscience and NEUR30002 Neurophysiology: Neurons and Circuits, although inevitably some completely new content is introduced as well. There is some overlap with NEUR30004 Sensation, Movement and Complex Functions.

During the semester the main assessments are two mid-semester tests: one covers weeks 1-6 and is in week 7, and the other covers weeks 7-12 and is in week 12. In this way, all of the lectures are examined in the mid-semester tests, which makes SWOTVAC revision a lot easier because you're up to date and pretty familiar with all of the content already. I found having our exam on the first day of the exam period more of a help than a hindrance for this reason. These tests are both multiple choice - 30 questions in 30 minutes. While the other neuroscience subjects resolve ambiguity inherent in the abstract concepts we cover fairly well, I felt OPTO30007 did a particularly good job. I do not recall finding any of the exam questions ambiguous in any way. Practice materials for the tests and exam would have been a bonus but were not provided for us. Alternatively, two revision tutorials were held prior to each mid-semester test where students could clarify questions and lecturers would provide us with some practice. I found both of these quite helpful, especially considering there are no other support classes in this subject (as is the case in most neuroscience subjects). The tests themselves were not difficult at all: the class average was 78% for test 1 and 84% for test 2 - incredibly high. While the questions were perhaps on the easy side, I feel this also reflects strong teaching and good exam writing by the staff. Results were always released promptly.

The final exam is 3 hours in duration and consists of 60 multiple choice questions (1 hour), 2 extended response questions from a selection of 3 (1 hour for the section or 30 minutes per question) and 6 short answer questions from a selection of 10 (1 hour for the section or 10 minutes per question). The exam was more difficult than the mid-semester tests, but it wasn't especially hard. There was a high degree of recycling of mid-semester test questions in the multiple choice section - I think this was done so that students had the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and be rewarded for that, which was nice. We hadn't seen any short answer or extended response questions before, which I guess made those sections a bit more tricky. The extended response questions tend to focus on one large part of the course, so a certain amount of detail is required. You should probably aim to write 2-3 pages per question if possible. This section isn't really about integrating different topics together or anything like that. The short answer section also requires detail, but since it focuses on shorter topics and concepts you will not have to write as much. Remember that the course is called visual neuroscience so the focus is on neurophysiology, not optics (despite covering optics regularly throughout the semester). You may also find that referencing specific research projects is useful when writing your answers.
Given this subject is just lectures, tests and exams there's not a lot more I can really discuss. Once again, I'll re-iterate that this was a fantastic subject and perhaps my favourite out of them all for the neuroscience major. If a H1 is what you're after, this subject certainly wouldn't threaten that from happening. Feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions. Good luck!

Yes, with screen capture.

- Co-ordinator: Prof. Trichur (Sagar) Vidyasagar - basic concepts in systems neuroscience, visual cortex, visual attention, plasticity/learning/development in the visual system and associated disorders (11 lectures).
- Assoc. Prof. Bang Bui - eye anatomy, introduction to electrophysiological diagnosis (1 lecture).
- Prof. Erica Fletcher - the retina (5 lectures).
- Dr. Christine Nguyen - using the eye in systemic disease (1 lecture).
- Dr. Mike Pianta - light and dark adaptation (2 lectures).
- Dr. Andrew Anderson - retinal sampling, visual decision making (2 lectures).
- Assoc. Prof. Larry Abel - eye movements and associated disorders (4 lectures).
- Prof. Allison McKendrick - higher visual functions (3 lectures).
- Prof. Michael Ibbotson - visual perception during saccades, visual prosthesis (3 lectures).

No.

4.5/5.

- Prescribed textbook: E R Kandel, J H Schwartz, T M Jessell, Principles of Neural Science, 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill, 2000.
- Recommended textbook: J G Nicolls, A R Martin, B G Wallace & P A Fuchs, From Neuron to Brain, 4th Ed., Sinauer, 2001.

I didn't use them so I can't comment on them. I felt I didn't really need any textbook during the semester.

- Contact hours: 3 x one hour lectures per week.
- Estimated total time commitment: 170 hours.

Semester 2, 2016.

H1