Notes on Animal Motion and Neuroanatomy Lecture

Key Concepts of Motion Perception

• Importance of understanding motion in survival:
  • Avoid predators or catch prey
• Unique human ability: Precision throwing
• Visual motion: Shared ability among many animals
• Role of motion in communication: Important in understanding speech through lip reading

Challenges of Motion Perception

• Difficulties with static facial expressions:
  • Subtle emotional expressions can be hard to discern (microexpressions last less than a second)

Motion Processing in the Brain

• Question on survivalability in a strobe-lit world:
  • Nearly impossible to navigate without the ability to perceive motion
  • Case study example: A woman living in such conditions will be discussed later.
• Consideration of programming motion detection in a CS context:
  • Real-world implications and parallels to brain computations.

Neuroanatomy Overview

The Human Brain

• Contains approximately 100 billion neurons (10^11)
• Human brain operates on 20 watts of power vs. IBM’s Watson at 20,000 watts

Brain Structure Basics

1. Cerebellum: Primarily motor coordination, debated cognitive role.
2. Limbic System: Involves many subcortical regions.
3. Thalamus:
   • Acts as a relay station for most sensory information before reaching the cortex.
   • Most incoming sensory information passes through the thalamus except for olfactory signals (smell).
   • There are significantly more connections backward from cortex to thalamus.
4. Cortex: The outer layer of the brain, often studied in neuroscience.

Brain Stem

• Connects spinal cord to the brain, controls basic bodily functions (breathing, consciousness, etc.)

Major Subcortical Structures

• Thalamus: Acts as a hub for sensory information.
• Hippocampus: Key for long-term memory and navigation.
• Amygdala: Involved in emotional processing, especially fear.
  • Remember the 4 F's: Fighting, Fleeing, Feeding, Mating.

White Matter

• Composed of axons connecting different brain regions, significant for brain connectivity.
• Takes up about 45% of the human brain.

The Cortex and Sensory Processing

Primary Sensory Areas

1. Visual Cortex
2. Auditory Cortex
3. Somatosensory Cortex

• Each sensory area has a specific map of sensory information.
  • For example, adjacent areas in the visual cortex relate to adjacent areas in the visual field (retinotopy).

Area MT (Medial Temporal)

• Involved in motion processing. Demonstrated the role of direction sensitivity in visual perception.

1. Evidence of function:
   • Neurons respond to specific directions of motion.
   • Neurons organized such that nearby neurons have similar direction preferences.
2. Research Methods:
   • Distinctive functions often assessed through neuron response patterns.
   • Damage to area MT leads to akinotopsia (motion blindness).

Moving Forward in Study

• Understanding of these structures can provide insights into complex cognitive functions.
• Key terminology to understand (e.g., retinotopic maps, primary sensory regions) will guide future study.