Psychology 107: Introduction to Perception
Summer 2011 Session B
MTW 11:00-12:20 in HFH 1104
Course description: An introduction to the scientific study of perceptual
processes, with particular focus on vision. Examination of theory and research
in major areas of perceptual science.
Course goals: This course provides an overview of the science (computational and neural basis) of perception. The focus is on how scientific methods
produce and refine knowledge and theories of perception. By the end of the
course, students will:
1. Learn basic theories and methods used to study
perception.
2. Learn to generate and compare predictions from
different perceptual theories.
3. Learn to evaluate experimental results in terms of
their implications for various theories of perception.
Instructor: Adam S. Cohen
X = ascohen
[X] at psych dot ucsb dot edu
(put “psych 107” in the subject line)
Office hours: Thursday 12-2
PM, Building 411, Room D
Teaching Assistant: Angela Chen
X = a_chen
[X] at psych dot ucsb dot edu
Office hours: Thursday 10-12
PM, Psych 3316
Website: http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/~ascohen/teach/107_11m_syllasite.html
1. Eye and Brain (5th Ed) by Richard L. Gregory
2. Assorted articles and chapters (to be) posted on the sylla-site
3. (optional) Eye, Brain, and
Vision by David Hubel (http://hubel.med.harvard.edu/book/bcontex.htm)
With the
exception of the first lecture, readings should be completed ahead of time.
Grading:
Journal article assignments: Researchers generate hypotheses, design studies to
test them, run those studies, analyze the data, and with some luck, discover
things about the world. The final step is to write up the result and submit it
to an academic journal, where it undergoes peer review, after which it may or
may not be accepted for publication. It’s not unusual for a “successful”
project to take, from start to finish, a few years before the results appear in
print. It’s worth noting that this lengthy process begins and ends with
articles: one starts with a survey of the current literature of the field and
ends with a contribution to the literature that was initially surveyed. This
makes journal articles one of the most basic and important aspects of science.
It’s the official record of science, the primary source of theory and data.
Therefore, it’s essential to have experience reading actual science. These
assignments are meant to give you that experience. You will learn a) to analyze
a research paper, b) to think critically about the hypotheses and whether they
gain support from the reported results, and c) about the latest discoveries at
the frontiers of vision science. See the schedule for the articles that have
been assigned this quarter.
Week 1: article quiz 1 (0%)
Week 3: article quiz 2 (15%)
Week 5: article quiz 3 (15%)
Advice: After you've read an article, read it again.
It often helps to read it a third time.
Exams:
Week 2: Exam
1 (20%)
Week 4: Exam
2 (20%)
Week
6: Exam 3 (30%)
Practice exams will be posted ahead of the exam.
On the virtues of repeated
testing: Rohrer & Pashler (2010) pdf
N.B. Make-up exams will not be granted without prior
approval from the instructor. No make-up
exam is possible for exam III: If you
cannot take exam III when scheduled, then you must drop the course.
Grade lines:
Plus and minus grades will be given within 2% of the
grade cutoff, lower bound inclusive, upper bound exclusive. This means
that an 87.9% is a B, an 88.0% - 89.9% is a B+, a 90.0% - 91.9% is an A-,
and a 92.0% is an A.
100% ≥ A ≥ 90%
90% > B ≥ 80%
80% > C ≥ 70%
70% > D ≥ 60%
60% > F ≥ 0%
Announcements:
2011/09/11 – Exam 3 grades are
now available. Enjoy the rest of your break!
2011/09/06 – posted handout
for depth perception
2011/09/01 – posted handouts
for object, color, and evo/devo lectures
2011/08/28 – posted readings
for motion perception and evolution & development
2011/08/27 – posted readings
for color and depth perception
2011/08/22 – posted answer
key to practice exam 2, handout for spatial vision (spatial frequency theory),
and new reading for object perception
2011/08/21 – posted readings
for last part of spatial vision and for object perception; posted practice exam
2
2011/08/15 – posted handout
for class 5 and updated handout for class 4
2011/08/12 – posted spatial
vision readings, sample article quiz 1, and supp reading for article 2
2011/08/08 – posted class 4
handout and answer key to practice exam 1
2011/08/08 – posted reading
for image formation and transduction
2011/08/05 – posted reading
on neurophysiological methods
Schedule:
|
Date |
|
Handouts |
Lecture Topic |
|
Week 0 |
|
|
|
|
|
cognitive science-Friedenberg
(2006) neuroscience–Hubel, Ch 2 & primer research methods – online book statistics- online book |
|
Optional background material |
|
Week 1 |
|
|
|
|
08/01 |
Marr
(1982), Chapter 1 NYTimes – vision
and action are hard Gregory, Ch 1 Optional: Fodor
& Pylyshyn (1981) |
Logistics Philosophy &
science of perception |
|
|
08/02 |
Ehrenstein
& Ehrenstein (1999) (p1211-1229) Chapter on Neurophys methods |
Psychophysics &
neurophysiology |
|
|
08/03 |
Heeger SDT link SDT online tutorial (ignore p and
z-score) Optional: Wickens (2002),
Ch 1-3 |
Handout class 3 |
Signal detection theory
Article Quiz 1: Linsen et al. (2011)
; version with notes Sample quiz |
|
Week 2 |
|
|
|
|
08/08 |
Excerpt from S&P Gregory, Ch 2, Ch 3 (p
24-60), & Ch 5 Optional: Hubel, Ch 3 |
Image formation & the eye (optics and phototransduction) |
|
|
08/09 |
Excerpt from S&P Optional: Hubel, Ch 4 & 5 |
Spatial vision I:
Retinal ganglion cells and LGN Review |
|
|
08/10 |
|
Exam 1 |
|
|
Week 3 |
|
|
|
|
08/15 |
Excerpt from S&P Excerpt from Goldstein Gregory, Ch 4 |
Spatial vision II:
Cortex |
|
|
08/16 |
Excerpt from HTMW Excerpt from S&P |
Object perception |
|
|
08/17 |
Excerpt from S&P Gregory, Ch 7 |
Color perception Article Quiz 2: Rutherford
& Brainard (2002) supp material for
article: p 339-343 of Adelson
(2000) and S&P
excerpt |
|
|
Week 4 |
|
|
|
|
08/22 |
Excerpt from Rock Excerpt from HTMW Gregory, Ch 3 (p
60-66), Ch 9 (p 189-193) |
Depth & size perception |
|
|
08/23 |
Gregory, Ch 6 |
Handout class 10 |
Motion perception Review |
|
08/24 |
|
Exam 2 |
|
|
Week 5 |
|
|
|
|
08/29 |
TBD |
|
Debate: Topic 1 |
|
08/30 |
TBD |
|
Debate: Topic 2 |
|
08/31 |
TBD |
|
Debate: Topic 3 Article Quiz 3: Phelps, Ling,
& Carrasco (2006) |
|
Week 6 |
|
|
|
|
09/05 |
|
|
|
|
09/06 |
Excerpt from S&P Gregory, Ch 8 Optional: Fernald
(2006) Optional: Evolution
of trichromatic color vision (video) Optional: Hubel, Chapter 9 |
Evolution and
development of the visual system Review |
|
|
09/07 |
|
Practice Exam 3 |
Exam 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Debate Topic Pool: Suggested
reading
Debate: Innateness,
statistical learning, and perception (Scholl,
2005; Turk-Brown et al., 2005)
Debate: Grandmother cell
hypothesis (Quiroga
et al., 2005; Barlow, xxxx; TBD)
Debate: Face processing:
Specialized mechanisms or expertise? (Kanwisher, McDermott,
& Chun, 1997; Kanwisher & Yovel, 2009;
Gauthier et al., 1999;
Haxby et al., 2000)
Debate: “What versus where/how” hypothesis (Mishkin,
Ungerleider, & Macko, 1983; Goodale & Milner, 1992)
Debate: SDT versus serial models of visual search (Eckstein, 1998; TBD)
Debate: Mental imagery:
digital or analog representation? (Kosslyn,
xxxx; Pylyshyn, xxxx)
Debate: Visual attention
– bottom-up, top-down, and beyond (Itti
& Koch, 2000; Parkhurst, Law, & Niebur, 2002; Eckstein, Drescher, & Shinozaki, 2006)
Debate: Mechanisms of
visual attention: Object-based or spatial? (Scholl,
2001; TBD)
Debate: object-centered vs
view-centered theories of object recognition (Biederman,
1990; Tarr, 1995)
Debate:
The binding problem and proposed solutions (Holcombe, 2009; TBD)
Debate: Is vision cognitively
penetrable? (Fodor,
1984; Pylyshyn, 1999; TBD)
Debate:
Molyneux’s problem (Streri
& Spelke, 1988; Ostrovsky, Andalman, & Sinha, 2006; SEP entry)
Secrets on how to do well
(...in any class):