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Reading and Resources2.html

Required Resources

Textbook: Cognitive Psychology Interactive eBook, Chapter 3 This chapter provides an overview of the visual system and how it works. Basic theories of visual perception are discussed.

Video: How Optical Illusions Trick Your Brain (5:04) This video explains a few common optical illusions and how our brains assemble information. 

Reading: Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Chapter 7, Sections “Visual Search and Eye Movement” and “Visual Search, Eye Movements, and Memory” This resource discusses visual search, eye movements, and memory.

Reading: Understanding Human Object Vision: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Representations, Section “Object Recognition and the Visual Ventral Pathway”

This resource explores how we recognize objects quickly and accurately and the behavioral findings associated with object perception.

Additional Support (Optional)

Reading: High Order Visual Disorders This resource discusses the impact on visual processing associated with high order visual disorders.

Module Overview12.html

Visual Perception

Figure 3.1 (Kitaoka, 2003)

What do you see when you look at the above image? Do you see the circles rotating? What happens to the rotating circles when you look directly at them? Does the motion stop? What happens when you look at the image with peripheral vision?

The image above is called “Rotating Snakes” and was created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka. When you look at it, you should see that the circles are spinning. However, it is actually a static picture, with no motion. The image makes use of the peripheral drift illusion (Kitaoka & Ashida, 2003). In this illusion, illusory motion is perceived in peripheral vision. Thus, when looking directly at the circles, the motion appears to stop or slow down. However, looking at the illusion with peripheral vision enhances the effect and increases the amount of motion perceived. The illusion occurs because of the reflected luminance (the intensity of the light being reflected) of the different patches of color. For some reason, when this luminance profile is created, it activates motion-detecting neurons in the visual system, and the brain perceives motion. It is also possible to create this illusion using just black, white, and gray (Rogers-Ramachandran & Ramachandran, 2010).

There are a number of motion-inducing visual illusions like the one above. Additionally, many other types of visual illusions exist. Visual illusions use principles of visual processing to fool or trick us into perceiving something that is not there. Beyond being fun to explore, they also teach us something very important about visual perception. They show us that what we see is a product of what our brain creates, not what is actually there. Our brains use cues from the environment to create the best reality for us; however, we may interpret things a little differently than what is physically there. For example, in the image above, we see motion where no motion exists.

Because our visual reality is created by our brains, it follows that damage to the brain or to the visual system will result in changes to our visual perception. Cognitive psychologists are interested in studying these changes and disorders because they can help us identify different systems within the brain. For example, it is possible to have brain damage that leaves an individual without the ability to identify objects. However, that same individual will generally still be able to reach for and use the objects. This dissociation highlights the fact that there are different visual pathways in the brain. One pathway exists for identifying objects (the “what pathway”), while another exists for guiding movements to objects (the “how pathway”) (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2016).

The connection between cognitive psychology and understanding the principles of visual perception and the functioning of the visual system is important in two ways.

First, recall from Module One the concept of embodied cognition: Cognition is influenced by the body and the environment. In visual perception, our bodies and our environments influence what we are able to perceive or how we perceive things. Thus, visual perception is influenced by embodiment. Through understanding embodiment and the general ideas of cognitive psychology, we can gain a more complete understanding of what will influence visual perception. As a result, cognitive psychology offers a nice lens for examining visual perception.

Second, understanding visual perception can also provide clues into other areas of cognitive psychology. What we perceive in our environment will influence our attention, our memories, and our emotions. For example, a certain color standing out in the crowd might direct your attention to a certain area of a visual display. We will have a chance to explore attention and memory later in the course. Getting a good foundation in ideas such as top-down processing and feature matching theories now will help you have a complete picture of how cognitive processes work and interact with each other.

References

Kitaoka, A. (2003). Akiyoshi’s illusion pages. Retrieved from http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html

Kitaoka, A., & Ashida, H. (2003). Phenomenal characteristics of the peripheral drift illusion. Vision, 15(4), 261–262.

Rogers-Ramachandran, D., & Ramachandran, V. (2010). A moving experience: Illusions that trick the brain. Scientific American Mind, 20(7), 22–24.

Sternberg, R.J. & Sternberg, K. (2016). Cognitive psychology (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Graduate Discussion Rubric.html

Graduate Discussion Rubric

Overview

Your active participation in the discussions is essential to your overall success this term. Discussion questions will help you make meaningful connections between the course content and the larger concepts of the course. These discussions give you a chance to express your own thoughts, ask questions, and gain insight from your peers and instructor.

Directions

For each discussion, you must create one initial post and follow up with at least two response posts.

For your initial post, do the following:

• Write a post of 1 to 2 paragraphs.
• In Module One, complete your initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
• In Modules Two through Ten, complete your initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
• Consider content from other parts of the course where appropriate. Use proper citation methods for your discipline when referencing scholarly or popular sources.

For your response posts, do the following:

• Reply to at least two classmates outside of your own initial post thread.
• In Module One, complete your two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
• In Modules Two through Ten, complete your two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
• Demonstrate more depth and thought than saying things like “I agree” or “You are wrong.” Guidance is provided for you in the discussion prompt.

Discussion Rubric

Criteria	Exemplary	Proficient	Needs Improvement	Not Evident	Value
Comprehension	Develops an initial post with an organized, clear point of view or idea using rich and significant detail (100%)	Develops an initial post with a point of view or idea using appropriate detail (90%)	Develops an initial post with a point of view or idea but with some gaps in organization and detail (70%)	Does not develop an initial post with an organized point of view or idea (0%)	20
Timeliness	N/A	Submits initial post on time (100%)	Submits initial post one day late (70%)	Submits initial post two or more days late (0%)	10
Engagement	Provides relevant and meaningful response posts with clarifying explanation and detail (100%)	Provides relevant response posts with some explanation and detail (90%)	Provides somewhat relevant response posts with some explanation and detail (70%)	Provides response posts that are generic with little explanation or detail (0%)	20
Critical Thinking	Draws insightful conclusions that are thoroughly defended with evidence and examples (100%)	Draws informed conclusions that are justified with evidence (90%)	Draws logical conclusions (70%)	Does not draw logical conclusions (0%)	30
Writing (Mechanics)	Initial post and responses are easily understood, clear, and concise using proper citation methods where applicable with no errors in citations (100%)	Initial post and responses are easily understood using proper citation methods where applicable with few errors in citations (90%)	Initial post and responses are understandable using proper citation methods where applicable with a number of errors in citations (70%)	Initial post and responses are not understandable and do not use proper citation methods where applicable (0%)	20
Total:	100%