This is a "living online document" subject  to change

Dr. Kenneth M. Steele

Smith Wright 310F (But teaching in a remote location)

Office Hours: M W 1-2:30 (Obtain the calendar link for a Zoom meeting in AsULearn)

phone: 262-2272 (Main Office - leave a message)

email: steelekm@appstate.edu

Textbook: S. Yantis & R. A. Abrams (2017). Sensation and Perception.

Online material: www.appstate.edu/~steelekm/

Description of the course:

This is an introductory survey course on perception. Historically, the study of perception is one of the first areas to emerge in psychology, and is concerned with the question of how we know the world. Answers involve being able to bridge three topic areas: a description of the physical stimulus (what is light? What happens when light rays strike an object and are reflected toward you?), how our bodies react to that stimulus (what happens when those reflected light rays hit the back of our eyes and activate sensors?), and the relation of both of those to our perceptual experience (That apple looks ripe and ready to eat!). So be prepared to do skipping back and forth as we will integrate physics, physiology, and subjective experience. Our goal is to link together the three domains.

The course is broken into four sections. The first section is concerned with the psychophysical method. This sections covers the methods by which people establish the relationship between physical events and subjective experience. The psychophysical method is both a philosophy about how to think about the world and a set of techniques derived from that philosophy. Next we will move to vision, the most investigated system. We will begin with some basic physics, physiology, and then move into an analysis of brightness, color, and form. In the next section, we will examine the perception of space, motion, and form (again). In the final section, we will cover audition, the next most investigated system. In all cases we will be connecting 3 descriptive systems-- physics, physiology, and the perceptual experience-- to understand the tasks and goals of the perceptual system..

Structure of the classes:

The course will be on-line for this semester.  I hate to do this for several reasons.  The in-class experience is the best for you and the most fun for me.  I use a variety of technologies in class including chalkboard, PPT, web-sites, and interactive videos.  I don't know how they will translate to on-line teaching because I typically customize the classroom computer to my needs.  You may expect things to fail or blow-up but we will muddle through because we have to do so.

Most of the material I will use in class is contained on my web site. Go to http://www.appstate.edu/~steelekm and click on the link to this class. The "Topics" link will take you to the in-class material. Each cell contains a variety of links. Some links are central to the topic and some links are there because they prove useful should certain questions pop up in class. Some links are there because I am experimenting with different ways of presenting material. The important point is that you should not treat the links as a Powerpoint slide show, to be viewed from from first to last for an equal amount of time. You will learn in class which are the important links to understand.

The class is taught in synchronous mode.  This means that you will need to log into my zoom room (or whatever it is called this week) at the scheduled time for the class.  The reason is that you will get the opportunity to ask me questions, even simple ones.  Learning material is not like watching a TV show.  Also I can give you suggestions or alternatives if something blows up or your specific machine.  One good thing is that the material is permanently housed on http://www.appstate.edu/~steelekm.  If technical gremlins invade your machine then you can get the material later.

You may be asking yourself whether the classes will be recorded for your later viewing pleasure.  The basic answer is No.  There is a technical reason.  Each recording would require about 200 Mb per class and I am allocated 1Gb of space on the Zoom cloud server (5 classes maximum).  Since I teach more than 5 sessions per week then there is not a weeks worth of storage time for me per week.

You should have received the zoom link by email to your official appstate address.  You also received a link to connect to me for a virtual office meeting.  It is there for your use and there is no requirement to meet with me.

Other items you will need are a spiral-bound notebook (or notebook pages), pen or pencil, a straight edge (cheap ruler or even your ID card), and a cheap calculator (or the calculator function on your phone or PC).  You will take lots of notes in this class.  At times, you will be drawing diagrams, and I will be explaining how to read/interpret them.  Calculations will be simple.  The calculator will make sure that you are not tripped up by simple math errors.

(Top level style points are awarded if you can do the calculations on a slide rule.  Try sliding the middle section.  Style points will not affect your grade.  But when you look at the slide rule then think this was the beast that allowed us to land people on the moon and then get them home safely.  No batteries are required.  Its' OS is not being updated every 3 days.  And it is virus-free.)

The topics web page shows you the general sequence of lectures.  Notice that cells do not have dates attached to them. Switching to an online format means that I don't know the timing required by topics. Also, topics within a class are often separated by horizontal dashes. This indicates a change in subtopic.  Don't be too scared by the number of topics on the web page.  We will cover what we cover.  The course is not a death march through the Sahara.  I pick topics based on your comments, such as diagnosis and problems of hearing loss. (HINT:  It is good to ask questions.)

One of the fun aspects of studying perception is that the effects are easy to see with just one subject, and that subject can be yourself. SO I provide many mini-experiments/demonstrations for the class. I put the demonstrations and figures on my website so that you can look at them at other times.  We shall see how they work in an online format.

Tests and grades and life (Oh my!):

Usually I use multiple-choice tests during the semester.  These tests have been calibrated to what I can expect of you if we had an ordinary classroom experience.  These questions can't be used since I have gone to an online format.  ASU is pretending now that we have jumped into the Wayback Machine and set the dial to 2018.  We shall see how that works out. (Think of us faculty as musicians on the Titanic.)

This semester, tests will be in the form of 4 at-home essay exams.  The exams will be presented and collected on AsULearn (or AsUBurn or AsUChurn or AsUYearn, as it is known to some.) This is good for you in that you are given time to prepare a high-quality answer.  (And creative snark is always appreciated.)

Essay exams are bad for you if you need to know your exact grade the moment after you click on the "submit" button.  I read all questions and provide feedback to let you know where I saw problems in the quality of your answers.  That is a lot of reading and commenting time.

I will drop your lowest grade in the computation of your final grade.  The final letter grade will be assigned on a 10- point scale (100-90, A; 89-80, B; 79-70, C; 69-60, D; below 60, F). Pluses and minuses will be assigned for averages that are 2 points from a higher or 2 points from a lower grade (e.g., C+ for a 78 or 79, C- for a 70 or 71).

Attendance and life (Oh my!):

This is a synchronous course and attendance is required.  I can check attendance in a couple of ways. You are participating in a grand experiment.  How much can you learn using this mode of presentation?  If you are having systematic problems of access then let me know.  If you spend class time sleeping or playing Fortnite then don't expect much help.

Please, Please, Please ask questions. I know the online format will be intimidating for all of us but don’t let the moment of confusion pass by. Don’t worry about the rest of the class, your job is to make sure that you understand the material.  My job is to help all of you to succeed.