Sensation Perception

The field of sensation and perception investigates the senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell). The brain processes huge amounts of data coming in through our eyes, ears, nose, skin, etc. How does the brain make sense of all this information? This course will focus mainly on visual perception, and cover questions such as: Why do insect eyes look so different from ours? Why does the moon look so big when it?s near the horizon? Why can't I see when I walk into a movie theater from a bright sunny day? How can a batter hit a baseball traveling at 90 mph? Why do some people see that dress as white-gold and others as blue black? What do the brains of blind people process? In understanding the visual system, we will learn common principles of brain function relevant for the other senses, and for understanding human cognition and behavior in general. Perception science has a long tradition, and is a great example for inter-disciplinary science, involving the fields of psychology, philosophy, biology, physiology, medicine, anthropology, physics, computer science, and art. In this course, we will cover many aspects of visual experience from many angles, including theories, underlying neural mechanisms, and their scientific evidence.