SENSATION & PERCEPTION

Psychology 331

Winter 1998

Meeting Times: 
Lecture: 9:00-9:50 MWF 
Laboratory: 8:00-10:50 R 

Instructor: Dr. John H. Krantz

Text: Sensation and Perception, 4th ed. 
Coren, Ward, and Enns and readings on reserve. 

Office Hours: TBD by class. 
Office: Science Hall 112 
Phone: x 7307 

Objectives:

Broadly speaking, the study of sensation and perception is the study of how an organism's brain knows what is going on around it. To help you appreciate the questions that scientists studying sensation and perception struggle with, think of the captain of a sea ship. What does that person need to know? The captain must be able to detect obstacles, storms, other ships, and weather conditions such as extreme heat that may effect the operation and safety of the ship. To perform these functions, the captain has radar, sonar and other systems to gain information about the outside environment. In addition, the captain must know about the operating condition of the ship, such as fuel level and temperature of the engine. Sensors have been placed in the ship to give the captain the needed information. In some sense you can consider your brain, or mind, as the captain of a ship. In the same manner as the captain, your brain does not have direct access to the information necessary to behave in an intelligent and effective manner. Thus, our sensory systems such as vision and audition are like the radar which gives your brain necessary information about the outside world. You also have sensory systems that obtain information about the state of your body such as your position relative to the ground.

The objective of this course is to develop your understanding of how our sensory systems operate to gain this necessary information. We will emphasize those senses that gain information about the outside world. One of the difficulties with teaching Sensation and Perception is that we all intuitively "know" what we see, hear, etc. In addition, we have an implicit trust that what our senses tell us about is physical reality. This belief is held despite most people having extensive experience with illusions which illustrate the almost tentative nature of our information about the outside world. You will have to leave many of these intuitions behind, because there are many surprises in how our sensory systems actually operate.

In addition to the class lectures, we will be performing laboratory experiments. These experiments are important both to illustrate important phenomena of this field, and also to help you understand how the current understanding of the sensory systems has been gained.

Course Outline:

Material covered in any course that you take here at Hanover College represents more than a collection of facts or ideas loosely held together by the course title. There is an intricate structure to what is included and what is not included which makes that course content distinct from other courses. I find, however, that in the heat of a term students and faculty get caught up in the particulars of the day's lecture or fulfilling the next assignment and sometimes lose sight of how the specifics of the day fit into the overall structure of the course. It is a "lose sight of the forest for the trees" type of phenomenon. In order to help you understand and keep track of the overall structure of this course, I have prepared the following course outline. The reading assignments are listed within the outline so that you can see how the daily lectures relate to the overall structure of the course.

Note: In addition to readings from the text and some articles on reserve, there are readings on the Internet. The first lab period will cover how to get to these readings.

Date 

Topic 

Reading

 

I. Background 

 

Jan 5
M
  1. Philosophical Basis of Sensation and Perception 

pp. 4-16 

Jan 7-9
W,F
  1. Biological Basis of Sensation and Perception

pp. 640-646
Review Structure of Neuron: http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neurotut.html

 

 


II. Vision 

 

Jan 12-19
M,W,F,M 
  1. The Physics and Anatomy of Vision 

pp. 65-102
Receptive Fields Tutorial: http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/receptive/

Jan 21-23
W,F
  1. Fundamental Limits of Visual Functioning 

pp. 103-118

Jan 26-29
M,W,R(Lab) 
  1. Form (Two-dimensional Structure)  

Discussion (Filtering) 

pp. 118-145;365-406; CD2
Fourier Analysis Tutorial: http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/fourier/ 



Jan 30
F



Examination #1

 

 

 

Feb 2-6
M,W,F 

    D. Chromatic Aspects of Vision

pp. 145-180

Feb 9-11
M,W

    E. Motion Perception

pp. 453-469; CD3 

Feb 13-18
F,M
  1. The Third Dimension (Depth) 

pp. 328-357
Investigating Depth: http://psychplace.com/learning/depth/intro.html
Vision and Art Tutorial: http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/art/

Feb 20-22
W,F
  1. Constancy and Illusions

pp. 483-510
Parts of Vision and Art Tutorial

 

Mar 2
M

 

 

 

Examination #2 

 

 

 

III. Audition 

 

Mar 4-6
W,F
  1. Physics and Anatomy of Audition 

pp. 181-212
Fourier Analysis Tutorial: http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/fourier/ 

Mar 9-13
M,W,F 
  1. Perceptual Functions of Audition

pp. 213-252;407-442; CD1
Seeing with your Auditory Cortex: http://www.psychplace.com/news/biological/seeingwi.html

 

Mar 16
M

 

Examination #3 

 

 

 

 

IV. Other Senses 

 

Mar 18-25
W,F,M,W 
  1. Skin Senses

pp. 285-326 

Mar 27-30
F,M
  1. Chemical Senses (Gustation and Olfaction 

pp. 253-284

 

Apr 1-6
W,F,M

 

V. Interaction of Senses (Orientation as an Example) 

 

pp. 469-478; CD4

 

 

VI. Perceptual Development 

 

Apr 8
W
  1. Development of Sensory Processes 

pp. 549-578

Apr 10
F
  1. Development of Sensory Integration 

pp. 579-618

Apr 13-17

 

Final Examination (During Final Examination Period) 

 

References for Current Directions in Psychological Science (CD) articles:

1 Yost, W. A. & Guzman, S. J. (1996). Auditory processing of sound sources: Is there an echo in here? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 5, 125-131.

2 Peterson, M. A. (1994). Object recognition processes can and do operate before figure-ground organization. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 3, 105-111

3 Lu, Z. & Sperling, G. (1996). Three systems for visual motion perception. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 5, 44-53.

4 Stern, R. M. & Koch, K. L. (1996). Motion sickness and differential susceptibility. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 5, 115-120.
 
 

Laboratory Schedule:

In all types of inquiry, the knowledge gained is fundamentally dependent upon the methods used to gain that knowledge. Therefore, the laboratory portion of this course is set up to allow you to both experience some fundamental phenomena and also to gain experience in how scientific questions are asked, answers sought and discoveries communicated. Below is the schedule of laboratories that are part of the course. Some of the laboratories serve the purpose of illustrating important concepts in the class that take more time than a one hour class allows. These laboratories do not have any assignment associated with them and are indicated by the word "Demonstration" following the description of the laboratory. Other laboratories are designed primarily to introduce you to the methods of sensation and perception and will only have problems due on the lab period following the session indicated by the word "Problems." Other laboratories are designed to serve multiple purposes but one of the most important goal is developing skills in scientific communication. These laboratories have reports due the laboratory session following the session indicated by the word "Report."

Date Laboratory TopicAssignment Type 

  

Jan 8

Psychophysical Methods I: Absolute Thresholds (Read Ch 2) 

Problems

Jan 15

Hearing Out Harmonics 

Report (Method and Results)

Jan 22

Psychophysical Methods II: Psychophysical Laws (Read Ch 2) 

Problems

Jan 29

NOTE: 9:00 a.m. Optics

Demonstration 

Feb 5

Blakemore-Sutton Effect I/Project Proposal Due 

 

Feb 12

Blakemore-Sutton Effect II 

Report

Feb 19

Color Vision Laboratory 

Problems

Mar 5

Stereoscopic Size Constancy I 

 

Mar 12

Stereoscopic Size Constancy 

Report

Mar 19

Müller-Lyer Illusion 

Report

Mar 26

Skin Senses

Problems 

Apr 2

Off

 

Apr 9

FINAL LAB PROJECT REPORT DUE/CLASS PRESENTATION 

 

Assignments and Examinations:

Homework Assignments.

Periodically throughout the term there will be short homework assignments required. The homework will primarily be problems of a type covered in the class during which the homework is assigned. The homework will usually require basic math skills including simple trigonometry. Only math that is required for entrance into the college is assumed and the procedures will be reviewed in the class. The purpose of the homework is to develop skills in using math to solve problems and make predictions to be tested. Each set of problems will be due at the beginning of the next class period. You should be prepared to present the problem to the class and discuss your solution. The homework problems will be worth a total of 100 points. You will be graded only on the problem you present. If you are not ready to present the problem when called on, then you will get a 0 for this assignment.

Examinations.

There will be four examinations. The examinations will be a combination format of short answer items (such as identification) and longer essays. You should expect that the type of work required in the homework assignments will be required on the examinations. All examinations will be of a similar format. Also, all examinations will be cumulative because all later material builds on or relates to earlier material. Since each successive examination covers more material, each successive examination will be worth more according to the following chart.

Exam #1

50 points 

Exam #2

100 points

Exam #3

150 points

Exam #4

200 points

Laboratory Assignments.

Problems. The problems will be simple data analysis based on the results of the laboratory. The analysis may require simple statistical procedures such as a mean or a graphical presentation of the results. Each set of problems is worth 25 points for a total of 100 points.

Reports. For three of the laboratories, you will be required to write up the experiment in the form of a report. The format for the laboratory report, similar to the American Psychological Association format used on this campus in courses such as Psychology 325, will be covered in a separate document. All laboratory reports are due exactly one week after you perform the experiment. A letter grade will be subtracted for each partial day that the laboratory report is late. This lateness policy holds for the final project as well. The first laboratory report will be worth 25 points. The second, third and fourth laboratory reports are worth 50 points for a total of 175 points.

Your own Laboratory Project. In this class we have the great fortune of having available an excellent software package that can be used to perform actual experiments on visual capabilities. You will, with a partner, devise an experiment using this software. Do not get confined by the titles of the experiment. The range of possible experiments is great and go well beyond what we might use in our laboratories. A short proposal for your experiment is required to be submitted on February 6. You will then collect the data and prepare both a written and oral presentation of your experiment. The written laboratory report will be done separately by each lab partner, but the oral presentation (20 minutes total) will be a combined effort. The written report is due April 10 and the oral presentations will be on April 10. The lab report will be worth 100 points and the oral presentation will be worth 50 points for a total of 150 points.

Network Use Assignments:

A few years ago, Hanover College established a computer network that is local to the campus and established links to the Internet which stretches around the world. The implications and possibilities of such computer communications strikes me as staggering and to a great extent unrealized. However, I find it important that you begin gaining experience with at least some aspects of the network because it will alter many aspects of at least your work lives, by providing access to information not previously available, and probably your home lives in the context of the information highway. Therefore, I have designed a few small assignments to give you experience on the network in ways that I believe will shape the future of Psychology.

Assignment 1: Get a copy of this syllabus off of the Internet but Wednesday. (10 points)

Assignment 2: Create a file in a word processor of your choice. Save the document as a text file and include that file to me in another e-mail message (this is a second message). I will cover the specifics for this assignment in a laboratory class. Both assignment 1 and 2 must be completed one week before the first journal assignment is due as you will use these techniques to submit your papers. Due the end of the second week of the term. (20 points)

Assignment 3: One way science may be changed by the Internet is by the use of electronic journals. For example, the American Psychological Association supports one journal called Psycoloquy. For the Hanover College Psychology Department, I maintain a list of on-line psychological journals. Most of them do not have actual articles but some like Psycoloquy do. Search these journals and find one that deals with Sensation and Perception. Print it out and hand it in. Due the end of the third week of the term. (20 points)

Class Participation:

Participation in and regular attendance of classroom activities and discussions will be worth 125 points. I expect each student to participate fully in discussions in class and laboratories. These discussions are integral to getting the greatest possible benefit from this class.

Grading:

I grade on a point system which means that each assignment of the course is worth a certain amount of points towards the final grade. When you get an assignment back you will be given a grade with the points earned over the total number of points. Thus, you should be able to follow your progress in the course on your own. There are a total of 1200 points in this course.

Grades will be assigned as follows:

A

1300 - 1170

B

1169 - 1040

C

1039 - 910

D

909 - 780

F

< 780