Last modified February 5, 2002 to reflect shifting of lectures and midterm date
Last modified January 20, 2002 to reflect shifting of assignments
Psychology 202: Perception & Cognition (section 005)
Term 2 – Jan 2002
This course will provide an introduction to the study of cognitive systems. This will include both what is known about the nature of such systems (regardless of whether they are human or animal), as well as the various ways in which these systems can be studied. The lectures will begin with perceptual abilities and proceed to higher-level cognitive functions. In tandem with this, the tutorials will discuss related issues based on the study of neurological patients.
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Instructor |
Dr. Jason Harrison |
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Office: Kenny 3020 |
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Phone: 822-2849 (least effective method of communication) |
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Email: harrison@cs.ubc.ca (most effective method of communication) |
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Office hours: by appointment Tuesdays through Fridays |
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Textbooks |
Eye and Brain, by R. L. Gregory, $33.55 (fifth edition, 1997, Princeton University Press) |
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Phantoms in the Brain, by V.S. Ramachandran, $24.50 (1998, Morrow) |
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Both books will be placed on two hour reserve at the Koerner Library |
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Lectures |
Tuesday 11:00-13:00 |
Angus 104 |
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Tutorials |
Thursday 11:00-12:00 Each student will be assigned to a tutorial section, based on the initial letters of their surname. This tutorial will be held in a separate classroom, guided by a teaching assistant (TA). |
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This assignment of students to tutorial sections will be verified by Tuesday January 8.
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Student Surname |
Teaching Assistant |
Location |
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Abedinzadeh Kivi – Cheng |
David
Eichhorn |
Buchanan B218 |
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Cheung – Gorkoff |
New email
addess: Ben Fox |
Geography 201 (NOT Scarfe 1024) |
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Groholski – Kirtisinghe |
Samantha
Richer |
Buchanan A102 |
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Kolada – Lim |
Mike
Kariya |
Scarfe 205 |
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Lin – Ng |
Alicia
Spidel |
Scarfe 1328 |
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Nirwan – Shariff |
Jodi
Pawluski |
Scarfe 208 |
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Sharpe – Vollmer |
Siobhan
McCormick |
Buchanan B312 |
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Vuong - Zhu |
Christine
Tipper |
Scarfe 201 |
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Assignments |
You will have a brief assignment to complete every week. The assignment will help you get "hands-on" experience with the material for that week. These assignments constitute an important component of your grade in this course. |
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Assignments are due Thursday in tutorial during the first ten minutes of tutorial. Late assignments for reasons other than medical and family emergencies will not be graded. |
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Subject Pool Participation |
You may earn up to a total of 4 extra-credit percentage points by participating in the psychology subject pool. |
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Grading |
Midterm Exam |
33.3% |
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Final Exam |
33.3% |
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Weekly Assignments |
33.4% |
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Course total |
100 % |
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Subject Pool |
4 % |
Readings and Lectures. You are responsible for reading the material BEFORE the lectures and tutorials. This cannot be emphasized enough. The texts contain more material than may be covered directly in class. You are responsible for this material and it will appear on exams. On the other hand, there is material that will be covered in the lectures that will not appear in the readings. Therefore, you have been warned: your attendance and preparation will impact your comprehension of the course material and thus your final grade.
Exams. The exams will consist of multiple-choice and short essay questions. Each exam will cover only material that you have not been tested on previously. THERE WILL BE NO MAKEUP EXAMS. Only medical reasons (including psychological and psychiatric ones) will be accepted for missing an exam. Should such an emergency arise, you must contact me BEFORE the exam. You may email or phone me (harrison@cs.ubc.ca, 822-2849) or with the Psychology Department (822-2755). If you show up after an exam and inform me that you were sick, you will receive no credit. Students will NOT ordinarily be excused for work-, travel-, childcare- or sports-related activities.
The final exam will be 1.5 to 2 hours long and scheduled between April 9 and 25, 2002. Do not make any travel plans until you know the final exam schedule. No special arrangements will be made for writing the final exam later or earlier than scheduled. Instead you receive a 0 (zero) for the final exam portion of your grade.
Extra credits for research participation. As part of this course you may participant in a psychology experiment. Your involvement will help you learn more about perception and cognition and how experiments are designed (and executed) to answer scientific questions. All experiments are approved by the University Ethics Board and are anonymous. Each half hour of participant is worth half an extra credit. You may participant in a single experiment for up to two credits, and any combination of experiments for up to four credits. (If you’d rather be paid for participation then only sign up for experiments which offer cash for participation.)
Experiments are posted on the bulletin board in the Kenny building – sign up and follow any instructions listed on the form. At the end of your session the experiment supervisor will tell you about their work and give you a Participant Credit Form – these credits will be added to your final grade. You must participant in and submit your Credit Form(s)
If you do not wish to participant in experiments you may earn credits by writing brief (500 words each) summaries of recent research papers. The summaries must be submitted no later than April 5, 2002 to me. If you choose this option please discuss it with me first.
We reserve the right to scale final grades, although we do not intend to do so and have only rarely resorted to this practice in the past.
Academic Honesty. Academic dishonesty of any sort will not be tolerated. Please read the UBC Calendar for the University’s policies on cheating and plagiarism.
Plagiarism is a serious offence. The minimum penalty for plagiarism is a grade of zero on the assignment. The maximum penalty is suspension from the university. All incidences of plagiarism will be reported to the head of the department.
It is your responsibility to read and understand the section on Student Discipline in the UBC Calendar. If you have any questions, ask!
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Week |
Lecture / Tutorial / Assignment |
Readings |
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Thu, 3 Jan 00 and 01 |
Introduction; Approaches to perception |
Gregory Ch 1 |
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Mon, 7 Jan 02 and 03
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Approaches to perception; Light Tutorial: Introduction to TAs
and tutorial assignment Assignment 1 (due in tutorial): How do scientists measure perception? |
Gregory Ch 2-3 Rama Ch 1 |
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Mon, 14 Jan
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The eye;Tutorial: Mapping the body onto the brain
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Gregory Ch 4 Rama Ch 2 |
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Mon, 21 Jan |
The brain; Perception of brightness; Tutorial: Chasing the phantom
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Gregory Ch 5 Rama Ch 3 |
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Mon, 28 Jan |
Perception of time, motion, and movement Tutorial: The Zombie in the brain. Assignment 3 (due in tutorial): How is time important to perception |
Gregory Ch 6 Rama Ch 4 |
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Mon, 4 Feb |
Colour vision; Visual pathways Tutorial: The secret life of James Thurber Assignment 4 (due in tutorial) What determines the colour of an object? |
Gregory Ch 7 Rama Ch 4 |
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Mon, 11 Feb |
Art and illusions; Visual completion Tutorial: Jeopardy review in Angus 104 Assignment 5 (due in tutorial—held in Angus 104): Is visual art an illusion? What kind? |
Gregory Ch 9-10 Rama Ch 5 |
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Mon, 18 Feb |
Midterm Break |
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Mon, 25 Feb |
Development of vision; Visual deficits Tutorial: Midterm Exam — Thursday February 28 in Angus 104. Assigned seating, closed book no notes or other aids. Fifty minutes, multiple choice, fill-in, short answer essay. |
Gregory Ch 8
Midterm includes: Gregory Ch 1-7 and Ch 9-10 Rama Ch 1-5 |
Mon, 4 Mar |
Attention and Objects Tutorial: Through the looking glass; the sound of one hand clapping Assignment 6 (due in tutorial) What is the basis of self-deception in human thinking? |
Rama Ch 6 Rama Ch 6-7 |
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Mon, 11 Mar |
Memory systems Tutorial: The unbearable likeness of being Assignment 7 (due in tutorial): Why does perception need attention? |
Rama Ch 7 Rama Ch 8 |
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Mon, 18 Mar |
Language; Cognitive modules Tutorial: Mind-body interactions Assignment 8 (due in tutorial): How many kinds of memory are there? |
Rama Ch 11 |
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Mon, 25 Mar |
Consciousness Tutorial: God and the limbic system Assignment 9 (due in tutorial): What’s unique about natural language? |
Gregory Ch 11 Rama Ch 9 |
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Mon, 1 Apr |
Animal cognition; What is cognitive science? Tutorial: Do Martians see red?Assignment 10 (due in tutorial):Easy and hard questions about consciousness.Last day to earn extra credit for experiment participation is the last day of classes. |
Gregory Ch 11
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Apr 9-25 |
Final Exam |
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FINAL EXAM ----- Check registrar's list for time and place
**Grade appeals must be made in writing to Dr. Jason Harrison, 3020 Kenny Building**