Last update: September 5, 2006.
Instructor: Dr. Zygmunt Pizlo, PRCE 365F
Office hour: Tu 2-2:45.
Teaching Assistants: Oh-Sang Kwon: PRCE 178, Wed, Fri 9-10:30AM
Joshua Wede: PSYC 3192, Wed 11:30-12:20.
Text: Schiffman, H.R. (2001) Sensation &
Perception. 5th Edition.
Grades are based on exam performance. The first two midterms count 25% each, and the final counts 50%. The second midterm is not cumulative, but the final is. For each exam, an average of two best scores is computed and every score is normalized to it. All exams are multiple-choice. Conventional cutoff points are used. A: 90% and above, B: 80% - 89%, C: 70% - 79%, D: 60% - 69%, F: below 60%.
Week
1:
Chapter 1 –
Introduction (pages 1 - 22).
- Sensation vs. Perception.
- The historical and scientific roots of perception.
- Approaches to the study of perception.
- Anatomy and physiology of the neuron.
Chapter
2 – Psychophysics (pages 23 - 42).
- Absolute and difference threshold. Weber’s Law.
- Classical psychophysical methods (adjustment, limits, constant stimuli).
- Psychometric function. Point of subjective equality.
- Signal detection theory and experiment.
- Magnitude estimation (Fechner’s and Stevens’ Laws).
Chapter 3 – The visual
system (pages 46 – 88).
- Light sources: primary & secondary.
- Wave theory of light.
- Reflection and refraction.
- Prisms and lenses.
- Eye ball. Cornea, lens, retina. Accommodation.
- Retina. Receptors (rods and cones). Fovea. Shadows of blood vessels (demo).
- Bipolar, amacrine, horizontal and ganglion cells.
- Optic disk – blind spot (demo).
- Receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells.
- Optic chiasm. Lateral geniculate nucleus. Striate cortex. Receptive fields.
- Corpus callosum. Split brain.
- Two visual pathways. Shape vs. space perception – Ungerleider & Mishkin’s experiment.
Week
4:
Chapter 4 –
Fundamental visual functions and phenomena (pp. 89 – 108).
- Duplicity theory. Spectral sensitivity curves.
- Dark adaptation.
- Limits of basic visual function – Hecht, Shlaer & Pirenne’s experiment. Spatial and temporal summation.
- Visual acuity, visual angle.
- Eye movements.
Week
5:
Review and Exam 1.
Exam 1: Sep 21.
Week
6:
Chapter 5 – Color
vision (pp. 116 – 141).
- Dimensions of color. Chromatic and achromatic colors.
-
- Trichromatic theory: T. Young – blue, green, red channels. Yellow, white are complex percepts.
- Opponent process theory – E. Hering: red/green, yellow/blue, bright/dark channels. Yellow is a simple percept.
- Hurvich & Jameson’s (1951) experiment. Measuring the strength of colors. Binocular fusion of pure green and pure red leads to the percept of gray, contradicting the trichromatic theory.
- Physiological correlates of the opponent theory.
- Color constancy.
- Defective color vision.
Week 7:
Chapter 6 – Visual
pattern and form perception (pp. 142 – 158).
- Contour and contrast perception.
- Spatial frequency analysis. Contrast sensitivity function.
Week 8:
Chapter 7 – Higher processes of perceptual
organization (pp. 168 – 193).
- Structural Psychology – mental chemistry (Wundt).
- “Wetness” demo. Percepts are composed of elementary sensations.
- Gestalt Psychology – “the whole is different from the sum of the parts” (Wertheimer).
- Simplicity and likelihood principles. Figure - ground organization.
- Gestalt grouping principles: proximity, similarity, common fate, good continuation, closure, symmetry.
- The “perceptual whole” determines “the perceptual parts” – examples.
- The Law (principle) of Prägnanz.
- 3D percept of a 3D object from a single 2D image.
Week 9:
Chapter 8 – The
perception of movement (pp. 194 – 217).
- Motion detection.
- Optical stimulation.
- Biological motion.
- Kinetic depth effect.
- Apparent movement. Beta (optimal movement). Phi movement – pure, objectless.
Week 10:
Review and Exam 2.
Exam 2: Oct 31.
Week 11:
Chapter 9 – The
perception of space (pp. 218 – 249).
- Monocular cues – motion, shading, texture
- Perspective projection, symmetry.
- Binocular cues – vergence, disparity (stereoscope)
- Random dot stereogram
Week 12:
Chapter 10 – Constancy
and Illusion (pp. 250 – 264).
- Lightness constancy – ratio rule.
- Size constancy – Holway & Boring’s experiment
- Shape constancy – Stavrianos’ experiment.
- Transactionalism: likelihood vs. simplicity.
Week 13:
Chapter 11 –
Perceptual development (pp. 287 – 310).
- Development of the sensory system.
- Perception of the newborn human.
- Perceptual adaptation.
Week 14:
Chapter 12 – The
auditory system (pp. 315 – 338).
- The physical stimulus.
- Anatomy and mechanisms of the ear.
- Functioning of the inner ear.
Chapter 14 – Auditory pattern
perception: sound as information (pp. 361 – 381).
- The auditory pathway and central structures.
- Auditory space perception.
- Perception of music.
Week 15:
Review.