All information comes to us through our senses. Therefore, sensation is the essential starting place for all human psychology. Consider driving to school. Your eyes monitor the road, your ears detect car horns, your nose notices an odd smell coming from your engine. Indeed, you even “feel” the road with your vestibulatory system. This course examines basic processes in sensation and perception. We consider both the neural mechanisms that underlie sensation and the psychological processes inherent in perception. Although our main focus will be on the main senses of vision and audition, we will also consider the other human sensory systems and even some non-human sensory systems, such as biosonar in bats and dolphins.
Professor: Dr. Bennett Schwartz
office: DM 281A phone: 348-4025
office hours:
email: schwartb@fiu.edu ; web site: www.fiu.edu/~schwartb/sensation.html
Class sessions: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Texts: Perception (7th Edition, 2007). E. Bruce Goldstein.
Exams: There are three (3) exams, each worth 1/ 3 of the final grade.
The dates for the exams are as follows: May 23, June 8, and June 22.
The exams will cover material only from the most recent section.
There will be NO makeups whatsoever! DO NOT ask me about
make-ups. I will not give them!!!
Exam policy:
1. If you take all three exams, the best two will count.
2. If you take the first two exams, and miss the third exam,
your lowest exam grade on the first two exams will be counted double.
3. If you take two exams, including the third exam, your grade
with be the arithmetic mean (average) of those three exams.
4. A grade of “F” will be given to anyone who misses 2 or more exams.
5. If you are more than 15 minutes late to an exam, you will not be
allowed to take the exam. Makeups will not be given for students
who do not make to class on time.
6. if the university is officially closed on an exam date (for example,
for a hurricane), the exam will be rescheduled for the second class after
the university is officially reopened.
Class Conduct: Conduct appropriate for a university classroom is expected. You are not to enter class once it has started. Beepers or cellular phones must be turned off during class! Students will be penalized for cell phones or beepers making noise during class. Refer to the “Class Policies” on the class website for specifics of this policy.
Schedule:
May 9: Introduction to Perception
Reading: Chapter 1
May 11: Light and the anatomy of the human eye
Reading: Chapter 2
May 16: Visual Neuroscience
Reading: Chapter 4
May 18: Object Perception
Reading: Chapter 5
May 23: Exam 1 (Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5).
May 25: Color Perception
Reading: Chapter 7
May 30: Depth Perception
Reading: Chapter 8
June 1: Touch
Reading: Chapter 14
June 6: Smell & Taste
Reading: Chapter 15
June 8: Exam 2 (Chapters 7, 8, 14, 15)
June 13: Sound and introduction to hearing
Reading: Chapter 11
June 15: Auditory perception
Reading: Chapter 12
June 20: Speech Perception
Reading: Chapter 13
June 22: Exam 3 (Chapters 11, 12, 13)