Psychology 2015B-001
The Psychology of Perception
If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.
1.0 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
This survey course provides an introduction to perception with an emphasis on perceptual principles in everyday life. The topics may include: assessment of vision and hearing, perceptual principles in art and film, colour vision, illusions and constancies, the perception of pain, perceptual disabilities, and the senses of animals.
Antirequisite: Psychology 2115A/B
Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. So if you take a course that is an antirequisite to a course previously taken, you will lose credit for the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in the most recent course.
3 lecture hours, 0.5 course
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Dr. John Campbell
Office and Phone Number: SSC 7440
Office Hours: TBA; By appointment
Email: jcampb7@uwo.ca
Teaching Assistant: Matthew Bain
Office: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Email:
Time and Location of Classes: Tuesdays, 2:30 – 5:30pm, SEB-1059
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western
http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Student Accessibility Services (formerly known as Services for Students with Disabilities) at 519-661-2147.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
Goldstein, E.B. (2016). Sensation & Perception, 10th edition. Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-133-95849-9
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course will introduce students to the various human senses, including vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, pain, and vestibular and kinaesthetic senses. It will cover basic issues of transduction and transmission in the sense modalities, and subsequent perceptual processing. This will include description of the how processing produces perception and recognition. We’ll also examine various methods for investigating perceptual experience.4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the term, students should have developed the following skills:
|
Learning Outcome |
Learning Activity |
Assessment |
|
Depth and Breadth of Knowledge. Identify and illustrate the ways in which perceptual processes occur in daily life, such as how people perceive the world around them. |
In class activities; Supplementary Readings and videos |
Multiple choice exams |
|
Examine perceptual processing from an empirically-based, scholarly perspective, rather than from an intuitive or speculative perspective based solely on personal experience and observations |
Supplementary Readings and videos; In class activities |
Multiple choice exams |
|
Application of Knowledge. Apply concepts and theories in perception to novel examples of how we perceive and interact with the world to make predictions about perceptual experiences and their impact on our daily lives. |
videos; In class activities |
Multiple Choice exams. |
|
|
||
|
Application of Methodologies. Explain the scientific study of perceptual processes to non-academic individuals. |
In class activities; |
Multiple choice exams |
|
Integrate knowledge gained from the empirical tradition of perception with knowledge gained from the “folk” psychological perspective |
Supplementary Readings and videos; In class activities |
Multiple choice exams |
|
Awareness of Limits of Knowledge. Identify and think critically about challenges of perception research and transferring theories from the lab to real world experiences. |
In-class activities and lectures. |
Multiple choice exams |
5.0 EVALUATION
Grades in this course will be based on three multiple choice exams: two midterms and a final exam. Midterm #1 will be worth 30% of the final grade. Midterm #2 will be worth 30%. The final exam will be worth 40%. Exams will not be cumulative – each will cover roughly one-third of the course content.
Students who are required to and have accommodations to write a make up exam for the midterms will do so with the TA on the week following the exam. The TA will announce on OWL when and where the make up exam will take place. It is also suggested that students do NOT make travel plans until the final exam schedule has been finalized
Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level and 2000-level courses
72% 2190-2990 level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows Western's grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf):
A+ 90-100 One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A 80-89 Superior work that is clearly above average
B 70-79 Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C 60-69 Competent work, meeting requirements
D 50-59 Fair work, minimally acceptable
F below 50 Fail
6.0 ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
January 7 Introduction 1
January 14 Psychophysics & Signal Detection 1 + Appendix
January 21 Vision (1) 2
January 28 Vision (2) 3
February 4 Midterm #1 – covers Chapters 1, 2, 3, + Appendix & corresponding lectures
February 11 Hearing 11
February 18 Reading Week – No lecture
February 25 Cutaneous & Chemical Senses 14, 15
March 3 Perceiving Motion 8
March 10 Midterm #2 – covers Chapters 8, 11, 14, 15, & corresponding lectures
March 17 Perceiving Objects & Scenes 5
March 24 Visual Attention 6
March 31 Perceiving Color, Depth & Size 9 & 10
Final exam– Chapters 5, 6, 9, 10, & corresponding lectures – Scheduled by Registrar’s Office for a time during the April exam period (April 6 – 26, 2020)
8.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf
As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com http://www.turnitin.com
Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
9.0 POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR MEDICAL ILLNESS
Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/PolicyPages.cfm?PolicyCategoryID=1&Command=showCategory&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12
The full policy for consideration for absences can be accessed at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/Academic_Consideration_for_absences.pdf
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation:
http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html
If you experience an extenuating circumstance (e.g., illness, injury) sufficiently significant to temporarily make you unable to meet academic requirements, you may request accommodation through the following routes:
- Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
- For medical absences, submitting a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner in order to be eligible for Academic Consideration;
For non-medical absences, submitting appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in their Faculty of registration in order to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation. The self-reported absence form may NOT be used for absences longer than 48 hours; coursework/tests/exams/etc., worth more than 30% of the final grade; or exams scheduled in the December or April final-exam periods: http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html
Students seeking academic consideration:
- are advised to consider carefully the implications of postponing tests or midterm exams or delaying handing in work;
- are encouraged to make appropriate decisions based on their specific circumstances, recognizing that minor ailments (upset stomach) or upsets (argument with a friend) are not normally an appropriate basis for a self-reported absence;
must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hours after the end of the period covered by either the self-reported absence or SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence
10.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar web site: http://registrar.uwo.ca
Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca
Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:
http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html
- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2019-2020 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones and smart watches, will be allowed during exams.
Copyright Statement: Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute lecture notes, wiki material, and other course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.
