Psychology 2320
Cognition and Perception:
Thinking and Seeing
Dr. Matthew Tata
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
University of Lethbridge
Objective
1. Gain insight and knowledge into the
functioning of the mind.
2. Learn to think critically and creatively
about perplexing questions.
3. Discover weird and interesting things
about perception and cognition.
The Plan
Perception
-Sensory Physiology
-Hearing
-Vision
Cognition
-Attention
-Memory
Text
-Selected readings available at the
bookstore
-Sensation and Perception, Coran,
Porac & Ward on reserve in library
-Cognitive Psychology, RobinsonRiegler on reserve
Evaluation
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•
•
•
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Mid-Term 1 15%
Mid-Term 2 30%
Final 45%
Ideas Journal 10%
Extra credit available through Psych Subject
Pool
Midterms and final are WebCT taken
in the WebCT Test Centre
Ideas Journal
• Record your thoughts and questions about
perception and cognition
• Keep track of your ideas - you never know
when you’re going to have a good one!
• You will be graded on how good your ideas
are!
A Good Idea:
• “the size of your eye has to be just right to match the
focusing power of the cornea. How does the eye
know when to stop growing? Is it because the brain
tells it to stop when images are clearly focused? We
could test this by looking at the size of the eyeballs in
children who are born with cataracts since their
brains don’t get accurate visual information from their
eyes”
A Bad Idea:
• “Matt was wearing a blue sweater today. I like blue.
Blue is my favorite color. I wish I had a blue
sweater.”
Put Ideas in a Book
Grades
Rounding will be down except when I
decide otherwise!
Interaction
• My Office hours: immediately after class
• Email: matthew.tata@uleth.ca
– Rules:
– 1. No emailing the night before a test
– 2. email is for making appointments not asking
questions
– 3. Put “2320” in the subject line
Interaction
• Try to understand on your own FIRST!
Rules
• If your cell phone rings, I get to answer it.
• If you need to take a nap, take it.
If You Were in my Psych 1000
Lecture…
• There will be no Gorillas in this course…if
you know what I mean.
Perception: It’s not as Easy as it
Looks
Purpose of this Lecture:
•See cool illusions
•Notice (and begin thinking
about) the mysteries of perception
and cognition
What is an Illusion?
•When what you perceive is not
what is really out there
•Visual Illusions happen in your
visual system
•Optical illusions occur when the
physical stimulus itself is distorted
What is an Illusion?
Optical Illusion
Visual Illusion
Size Constancy
•Big and small = near and far !?
•System adjusts size based on
perceived distance
Ponzo Illusion:
Muller - Lyer Illusion
Kaniza Triangle
Illusory Contours
•Kaniza Triangle
•Neurons in higher levels of visual
pathways “build” contours from
information in lower levels
Apparent Motion
•Object disappears and reappears
somewhere else
•Visual system “interpolates”
motion in between
Frazer Spiral:
Frazer Spiral:
Who did you see?
Reversible Figure
The Necker Cube
Impossible Staircase
Shepard Tone
Attention and Perception
•Your perception of a rich visual
environment is an illusion!
•You actually are only aware of the small
part of the scene that you are attending to
Attention and Perception
•Change Blindness: you can’t notice
changes in a scene unless you attend to
the location of the change
Attention and Perception
Illusions
• Are cool.
• Highlight questions about how perception
happens.
• Make you think.
Next Time:
• A bit of philosophy and a bit of biology