PSY 324 Sensation and Perception
3 hours
This course will cover the biological underpinnings of our senses (sensation) and how our brain interprets this information (perception), with a primary focus on how we see and hear. Students will learn about the anatomy and physiology of the visual system in order to understand how we perceive color, form, movement and depth and how we recognize faces. Additionally, students will explore the auditory pathways in the perception of speech and non-speech sounds. Students will study chemosensation (taste and smell) and answer questions such as why does food have little flavor when you have a cold. Our senses rarely operate in isolation and so students will also examine interactions between different sensory modalities and how this affects our perception of the environment. Throughout the course, students will examine how experience and culture can affect sensory perception in various domains, particularly the perception of color, faces, objects, depth, smell and flavor.