sensation and perception - Courses in Psychology - UCLA

SENSATION AND PERCEPTIONPSYCHOLOGY 120BLAKRETZ 110, Monday & Wednesday, 2:00 - 3:15 pmProf. Philip J. KellmanOffice: Franz 6451BE-mail: Kellman@psych.ucla.eduOffice Hours: Wednesday, 3:30 - 4:30 pm and by appointmentTeaching Assistants:Caroline Crump: Email: Office: 8580 FranzOffice Hours: Friday, 10 am - 12 pmJames Hilger: Email: Office: 6522 FranzOffice Hours: Monday, 3:30 – 4:30 pm and Wednsesday, 4:30-5:30 pmEverett Mettler: Email: Office 6522 FranzOffice Hours: Thursday, 2 - 4 pmSynopsisWelcome to Sensation and Perception -- Psychology 120B. We are glad to have you in this course.Students of varied backgrounds take this course for a variety of reasons. No matter what yourbackground, you will find much in this class that is fascinating and useful to you. Of course, thatpresumes that you put in a good effort, attend lectures and sections, and stay current with yourreading.Our subject is one of the most fundamental in science and life. How do we get knowledge of theworld around us? We take perception for granted because it works so well (usually). Butunderstanding perception demands delving into ideas at many levels. For reasons not wellunderstood, most of these begin with “ph …” (physics, physiology, philosophy...). Perception iscomplicated, and only partly understood.The scientific study of sensation and perception is not new, however. It is in fact the oldest scientificenterprise in psychology, having fascinated and occupied philosophers, physicists, andphysiologists for centuries. Today perception is just as central -- in psychology, cognitive science,computer science, and neuroscience. Attempts to link mind and brain have advanced further in thisarea than any other. It's also an area undergoing a rediscovery, as the pick-up of information provesto be more important to thinking, acting, and learning than has often been realized. Here’s a factthat will surprise you: Most of your brain is involved with perception. About 60% of your entirecerebral cortex is dedicated to perceptual information processing, 40% for vision alone!How do scientists approach perception? The first task is discovering lawful relations betweenperceptual experiences and the physical world. Then, we develop models of the processes andmechanisms that produce these connections. Objects and events in the world interact with energy,

Psychology 120B Sensation & Perception 2such as light and sound. From patterns formed in this energy, perceptual systems extractinformation about structure and events in the world. To understand all this, we need accounts of theinformation, of computational processes, and of neural mechanisms. The study of perception teaches theneed for multiple levels of analysis in the study of the mind.Studying perception also raises the deepest issues about the nature of reality, mind, and knowledge.What is real? Is perception a direct link to reality? We are all familiar with illusions or failures ofperception. Yet, if we know reality through perception, what does it mean to perceive incorrectly?The consequences for science are as large as for the individual. In all of its branches, scientificknowledge depends on observation; as such it requires a coherent account of how we obtainknowledge by perceiving.The stakes are high -- intellectually, but also practically. Analyzing perception allows us tocommunicate and to depict; to imagine and to build artificial systems, such as virtual realitysystems. Investigating the neural hardware of perception helps us to understand and treat injuryand disorder. Perception issues arise in many facets of life, such as in the design of aircraft displaysand controls, highways, motion pictures, and Ipods, to name only a few.Although a 10-week, first course in perception is necessarily limited in the scope, you are invited toexplore issues in domains within and beyond our course material with the instructor and TAs andespecially on the course website. Your instructor has been doing scientific research in perceptionfor a long time, and has also been involved in a wide range of applications, including aviation andair traffic control, vehicle accident cases (as an expert witness, not a participant), consultant togovernment and law enforcement agencies, and development of educational technology.Discussions with your instructor, TAs, and on the course website can help you to relate thecoursework to your interests and to expand your involvement in the study of perception.Our course will emphasize visual perception, both our most important sense and the one moststudied. We will also discuss auditory perception and issues that span all perceptual systems.Course Prerequisites and Related InformationPsychology 120B fulfills a core course requirement for the Psychology and related majors.Prerequisites include prior fulfillment of Psychology 10 and Psychology 100A.Because this course has been designated as an "impacted" course, the Department of Psychology hasrequested that the following information be included here:1) If you are not enrolled in a discussion section by the end of the second week of the quarter, youwill be dropped by the computer. Furthermore, CORE courses are over-enrolled to compensate forthe typical drop rate. For this reason, Permission to Enroll Authorization Numbers (PTE's)will not be issued for this course. Students with concerns should go to the PsychologyAdvising Office, 1531 Franz Hall. All enrollment issues must be handled by the Advising Office.2) You cannot drop an impacted course after the second week of a term for other than exceptionallyextenuating circumstances which must be approved by the L&S Executive Committee on referral bycollege counseling units. Exceptionally extenuating circumstances do not include circumstances ofshort duration where other alternatives exist, including but not limited to a late drop of other(nonimpacted) courses or taking an Incomplete in the impacted course.

Psychology 120B Sensation & Perception 3Required ReadingsTextbook: Wolfe, J.M. et al (2006). Sensation & Perception. First Edition. Sunderland, MA:Sinauer Associates, Inc. (Abbreviated as “T” for textbook in reading assignments.)Resource Website: Our minilabs, a study guide, and study questions can be found at:http://www.sinauer.com/wolfe. This is a great resource for the class. It demonstratessome key sensory and perceptual phenomena and allows you to perform somemini-experiments. We will use selected assignments as mini-labs to give you firsthandexperience with some of the phenomena and concepts in the course. This website isabbreviated “RW” on course assignments. Some materials there, such as short essays onspecial topics, are valuable supplements to the course even though they may not beassigned. If you regularly go through the study guide and study questions week by week, itwill help your learning and your exam performance.Course Web PageThe address for the psychology course web pages is ; fromhere, click on Psychology 120B to access the web page for this course. Our current information isthat your login should be your Bruin OnLine (BOL) ID number and your password should be your9-digit student ID number.A variety of resources will be available on the course web page. We will post some graphics used inlectures, information about review sessions and paper deadlines, and review questions.Accompanying our postings will be a class bulletin board. Here you may post questions orresponses to questions of others. Your instructor and TAs will join in discussions as they unfold onthe bulletin board. We encourage you to use this resource, as it is not only a useful learning tool, butit can help you become more comfortable and personally involved with the course material.We recommend that you check the class website often for the announcements, information, andresources to be found there.Discussion Sections (will start the week of Oct. 6)Discussion sections will be a valuable part of the course. Although attendance will not be formallytaken, your consistent participation is strongly encouraged. Sections are for your benefit, you’reyour active participation will strongly benefit your learning and your success on exams. Sectionsenable you to focus on key points from the lectures and readings in an interactive format. If you arenot already enrolled in a discussion section, it is important to get this worked out in the first week ofthe class – if you have a schedule conflict, please try to switch with another student by posting onthe class website (please do not send an email to everybody in the class!).Course RequirementsExams: There will be 2 exams, one on the first half (Oct. 29) and one on the second half (Dec. 3) ofthe course. Each exam will cover only the material in that half of the course, but they will cover thematerial in both the lecture and the readings. Each exam will have 50 multiple-choice questions.Due to staffing limitations, there will be NO make-up examinations given in this course.

Psychology 120B Sensation & Perception 4Mini-Labs: Each week you will be required to review some units on the RW. For each unit, youmust write (in typing) and turn in a brief description of the main points in that unit. The length willvary across units as some contain more information than others. Do not get carried away! Usuallyan activity will consist of brief information and an interactive activity. A one-sentence comment foreach activity should suffice: Indicate what you learned from it, or what it demonstrated. The mainpurpose for your writing these brief descriptions is to verify that you have reviewed and made aneffort to understand the material. The labs will give you excellent support in absorbing importantconcepts and to give you some chance to experience firsthand some of the fascinating phenomena inperception.Mini-labs listed for the class meetings in a given week (Tues and Thurs) are due in the followingweek on Tues, before the class. Late mini-labs will be penalized 10% of the perfect grade per 24hours.Research Paper: Textbooks are convenient but sanitized vehicles for learning. Real knowledge ina scientific field is contained primarily in journal articles, published in peer-reviewed journals. Toget you acquainted with this primary form, the course requires one research paper, 4 pages long.You will select and read a designated journal article. Your paper will summarize what themotivating questions were, what was done and what was found. You will then comment onstrengths and weaknesses of the research, and make suggestions for future research. More detailedinstructions will be posted on the class website. It will be due on Nov. 12.Grading: The two exams will count for 70% of your grade. Mini-lab reports and the ResearchPaper will each count 15%.Extra Credits: There will be three optional extra credit points available, awarded for participation inan experiment through the UCLA Psychology subject pool. The final grades will be based on acurve, with extra-credit points awarded after the grade distribution has been determined (in otherwords, they really are extra).The posting and scheduling of experiments is handled via Sona, an online experiment participationorganizer. To access Sona, go to http://ucla.sona-systems.com/. Be sure to follow the detailedinformation on how to use this system.Policy on Incompletes: To receive an incomplete, you must have completed more than half thecourse with passing grades. Thus, if you miss both exams, or miss one exam and also lack a sectiongrade, you may not take an Incomplete. Be sure to check with the Undergraduate Advising Office ifyou are planning to take an Incomplete.Topics and Reading AssignmentsMost readings are taken from your textbook, abbreviated "T" below (for the first author, Wolfe).Mini-labs can be found at: http://www.sinauer.com/wolfe

Psychology 120B Sensation & Perception 5Date Topic ReadingsSept 29Oct 1Class BusinessIntroduction to Sensation and Perception;Levels of Analysis in PerceptionT, Ch.1, 2-25http://www.nici.kun.nl/~peterh/doc/marr_levels.htmlRW, Ch.1: Activities 1.2,1.3Optional:http://www.iep.utm.edu/e/epis-per.htm#H1http://www.marxists.org./reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/helmholt.htmhttp://plato.stanford.edu/entries/perception-episprob/Oct 6 Psychophysics and Signal Detection Theory Reread: T, Ch. 1, pp. 9-17; Ch. 2, pp.35-40RW, Ch. 1: Activity 1.1Ch. 2: Activities 2.1-2.3Oct 8Oct 13The Visual System:Anatomy and PhysiologyThe Visual System:Anatomy and PhysiologyT, Ch. 2, pp. 26-45RW, Ch. 2: Activities 2.4-2.6T, Ch. 3, pp. 46-72RW, Ch. 3: Activities 3.1-3.3Oct 15 Seeing Contrast and Edges T, Ch. 2, pp. 64 – 73;Oct 20 Seeing Lightness and Brightness /Theories of Perception applied toLightnessT, pp. pp. 115-121http://encarta.msn.com/text_761571997___15/Perception_(psychology).htmlhttp://persci.mit.edu/people/adelson/publications/gazzan.dir/gazzan.htm [Background]Oct 22 Seeing Color T, Ch. 5, pp. 98-108RW, Ch. 5: Activities 5.3-5.5Oct 27Seeing Color (cont’d)Catch up and ReviewT, Ch. 5, pp. 108-115; 121-125RW, Ch. 5: Activities 5.1-5.2Oct 29 *** FIRST EXAM ***

Psychology 120B Sensation & Perception 6Nov 3 Object Perception T, Ch. 4, pp. 74-88RW, Activities 4.1-4.3Nov 5 Object Perception (cont.) T, Ch. 4, pp. 88-97; Ch. 8, pp. 176-186RW, Activities 4.4-4.6Nov 10 Perceiving Depth and Size T, Ch. 6, pp. 126-138RW, Activities 6.1, 6.2; essay 6.1Nov 12Perceiving Depth and Size (cont.)***RESEARCH PAPER DUE***T, Ch. 6, pp. 138-153RW, Ch. 6.3, 6.4; essay 6.3Nov 17 Motion and Event Perception T, Ch. 7, pp. 154-165RW, Activities 7.1, 7.4; 7.2 optionalNov 19 Motion and Event Perception (cont.) T, Ch. 7, pp. 165-174RW, Activities 7.2, 7.3; essay 7.2Nov 24 The Auditory System T, Ch. 9, pp. 204-233RW, Activities 9.1-9.4Nov 26 Auditory Space Perception T, Ch. 10, pp. 234-259RW, Activities 10.1; 10.3-10.5Dec 1 Perceptual Learning and Development No additional reading.Dec 3 *** SECOND EXAM ***