There are many areas where applied research is benefittingindividuals in society at large. This course will emphasize suchapplied areas not only in lecture, but also through the researchprojects that we will complete. For this one semester, PSY 440 andPSY 506 will be co-taught, although there will be some separaterequirements for each course. See the coursesyllabus for more information.
Return to Perception 440information page.
If you are interested, the webpages from previous classes are alsoavailable: 1997, 1998,1999, 2000,2002, 2003
The major class research project for PSY 440 (undergraduate seniorlab course) was a study of auditory brainstem responses (ABRs). Muchprevious research has shown that cortical responses can be modifiedby attention, but the results have been mixed with respect to whetheror not brainstem responses can be modified by attention. In our studywe compared ABRs while participants attended to visual and auditorystimuli. This work was done in collaboration with Dr. Judy Lauter andwe used her lab space and EEG equipment. This project will bepresented at the annual SWPA (Southwestern Psychological Association)convention in March of 2005. Click here for the abstract.
The graduate students (PSY 506) each wrote a research papersummarizing a topic in applied visual perception, and gave a classpresentation over the topic. The topics were based on chapters fromone of two books: Visual Information Processing (Edited by Sal SoraciJr. and Kimiyo Murata-Soraci) or The Neuropsychology of Vision(Edited by Manfred Fahle and Mark Greenlee).
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Service-learning projects are another way to apply what we knowfrom research about perception to needs outside the classroom. Thegoal of a service-learning project is to enhance learning by sharingwith others and actively reflecting on the process afterward. Thecommunity, or "others" involved should also benefit from thisinteraction.
On December 2nd, the PSY 440 class visited McMichael MiddleSchool, gave presentations, and interacted with sixth andseventh-graders in Mrs. Leah Kahn's science class. The interactionsinvolved many demonstrations to help the students understand somebasic principles about perceptual processing and some of the effectsof perceptual aging. Enjoy some photosof our workshop interactions!
Short summaries of these handouts were presented during our visitto the middle school. Below are links to the handouts the PSY 440students created for the middle school students. (Some of thepictures on the handouts are not available as they were cut andpasted onto the actual handouts before copying.)
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