Computer Science

One incredibly useful tool for the study of vision and art is computational modeling. Comfort (or a willingness to get comfortable) with programs like MATLAB is a must.  Most psychophysical experimentation (research relating physical stimuli to behavior/perception) is easily accomplished with the use of computers, which enable the careful controlof visual stimuli. Using computers to run psychophysics experiments requires writing computer programs that can present stimuli and record responses.  Matlab, and a set of Matlab programs called the Psychtoolbox, is especially useful for this purpose.  Computers also facilitate the development of models of vision, to test hypotheses about how the brain might process visual information, and to incorporate biological discoveries abouttvision into artificial vision systems.  As a concrete example, computational models designed to extract 3-D information from visual images can be used to evaluate theoretical models of depth perception.  Sound cool? Check out CS112 (Introduction to MATLAB) and Ellen Hildreth’s course in Visual Processing: 

CS 332 Visual Processing in Computer and Biological Vision Systems
Ellen Hildreth
CS 332 explores computational models for deriving information about the three dimensional world from visual images.  We examine the algorithms used bycomputer vision systems to analyze digital images from a camera, and the strategies used by biological vision systems to interpret the incoming retinalimage.  We show how an interdisciplinary study that combines computer science, psychology and neuroscience, contributes to the design of effective computer vision systems and the understanding of human visual processing.  Topics include edge detection, stereopsis, motion analysis, shape from shading, lightness and color, object recognition, and applications of computer vision systems in areas such as medicine, security, information retrieval, and intelligent vehicles. The course uses vision software written in MATLAB.