sensation and perception - Courses in Psychology - UCLA

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