Psychology 3680
Spring 2004
TH-290, TR 1:40-2:55 PM
Instructor: Glen Prusky
Office: EP-1220
e-mail: prusky@uleth.ca
Phone: 329.5161
Psychology 3680
Spring 2004
Course Assistant: Byron Silver
Office: EP-1250
e-mail: byron.silver@uleth.ca
Phone: 394.3998
Office Hours: Tuesday TBA
Wednesday TBA
Text
There is no formal textbook for this
course because I have not found one that is
appropriate.
Course Outline
This course is intended to teach the
fundamentals of vision, visual development
and visual plasticity. The emphasis will be
on the structure and function of the
developing visual system of humans and
other animals. I will assume that students
have no in-depth familiarity with biological
science, but be forewarned, this is a
neurobiology course.
Course Material
I will rely on lecture materials uploaded to the
course website, internet resources, and
materials placed on reserve in the library.
Attendance in class is the best way to gain
access to the information that you will be
tested on.
Examination Format
There will be 2 exams in the class; a midterm worth
40% of the final grade, and a final worth 40% of your
total mark. The format of the exams will be short
answer and short essay and will test both factual and
conceptual knowledge of the course material. That is,
the facts are important, but only as they are needed
to develop a conceptual understanding of the
course material. Treat the lectures, textbook, and
classroom discussions as resources to be used by
you to understand the content of the course.
Missed Exams
There will be no make-up exams.
In cases where there is a valid reason
for missing an exam (ie. documented
medical illness), the weight of the
missed exam will be apportioned
equally to the other.
Examination Dates
Midterm- Thursday, February 26th
Final- Final Exam Period
Written Assignment
Evaluation in the course also includes a
written assignment worth 20% of the final grade,
due on April 15th. The assignment will be a
summary of 4 related research papers, published
since 1995, in the area of developmental visual
plasticity. Each paper is to be summarized in 12 pages with the original paper appended. Each
summary should include the theory, background,
research question, methods, results and
relevance of the experiments.
Mark Distribution
A+ (90+)
A (85-89)
A- (80-84)
B+ (75-79)
B (70-74)
B- (65-69)
C+ (62-64)
C (59-61)
C- (56-58)
D+ (53-55)
D (50-52)
D- (45-49)
F (45-0)
Consultations
Byron and I will be available for discussions
related to this course most of the time. One of
the best ways to contact us if we are not in our
office is by e-mail. There we can discuss
course-related issues or set a specific time for
a personal appointment. As a last resort, ask
the Canadian Centre for Behavioural
Neuroscience (CCBN; a.k.a., Exploration
Place) secretary, Naomi Cramer (EP-1202;
394-3979), to page us in the laboratory.
Quotation
“Suppose a man born blind, and now an adult, and
taught by his touch to distinguish between a cube and a
sphere of the same metal…. Suppose then the cube and
sphere placed on a table and the blind man made to see;
query, Whether by his sight, before he touched them,
could he now distinguish and tell which is the globe, and
which the cube? To which the acute and judicious
proposer answers: not. For though he has obtained the
experience of how a globe, how a cube affects his touch,
yet he has not attained the experience that what affects his
touch so or so, must affect his sight so or so.”
-from a letter written by Willian Molyneux to John Locke,
1790
Next class…
Natural History of Vision
Structure of the Visual System