• Describe the visuotopic organization (or map) of the primary visual cortex V1, i.e., how different regions in V1 are responding to stimuli in different locations of visual fields.
• Describe the primary visual pathway (i.e., until the primary visual region v1).
• What is visual neuron's receptive field? How to find the receptive field of a specific neuron?
• For a neuron who responds to different orientations, how to find its preferred orientation?
• How neurons' receptive field and preferred features change along the ventral visual stream?
• Explain the two major pathways in visual perceptual processing. Please also provide double dissociation evidence from human neuroimaging and human lesion studies that supports the two major pathways.
• How are the responses of neurons in the temporal and parietal lobes suited for processing the "What" and "where" information, respectively?
• What is repetition suppression? Using an example to explain how we can use it to study perceptual processing (Hint: e.g., the LOC for shape processing).
• Explain the "ensemble theories" in object recognition.
• Using examples to explain category-specific processing in the ventral visual stream.
• Describe EEG, fMRI, and stimulation data that support the conclusion that there are dedicated neural resources for face processing in humans.
• Describe two hypotheses that explain why there is selective agnosia for living things.
• Explain different types of visual agnosia.
• Explain unilateral spatial neglect (including its causes and typical symptoms).
• Explain Balint syndrome (including its causes and typical symptoms).
• Using animal single-cell recording, human ERP, or fMRI evidence to explain top-down spatial attention facilitation effect in early perceptual processing.
• Explain the biased competition model on attention selection. Describe an fMRI study that may provide some support for this model.
• Using empirical evidence to explain how attention facilitation effects can "spread" to (1) a different part of an attended object, or (2) task-irrelevant features of an attended object.
• Explain the dorsal and ventral attention system (e.g., brain regions, function, etc.).
• Where is the frontal eye field? Using empirical evidence to explain why we think this region plays an important role in attention control.
• Explain how the intraparietal sulcus may play a role in attention control (e.g., related to saliency map).
• Explain how the thalamus, especially the pulvinar, may play a role in attention control
• What brain regions play a role in movement/motor control? Please also explain how these different regions play different roles in movement/motor control?
• What is the affordance competition hypothesis in action planning? Please also provide empirical evidence that supports or is in line with this hypothesis.
• What are mirror neurons and what possible functions could they serve?
• What are the two dorsal streams in motor control? Please also explain the functional differences between the two streams.
• Explain the direct and indirect pathways related to the basal ganglia in motor control, and how Huntington's and Parkinson's disease are related to the malfunction of these pathways.
• Using evidence to explain how the cerebellum plays a role in sensory-motor adaptation learning.
• Explain how our brain uses the forward model in error-based motor learning.