Lecturers:

Asst. Prof. Ivan Vankov, PhD
Asst. Prof. Ivo Popivanov, PhD

Course Description:

Competencies:

The students will know:

- the basic notions and concepts in the field of perception

- the functioning of the sensory systems

- the mechanisms of perception of shape, space, motion and time

- the basic theories of perception

The students will be able

- to read and understand texts in the field of perception

- to explain and discuss various perceptual phenomena

- to evaluate and compare individuals in respect to their perceptual abilities

Prerequisites:
none

Types:
Full-time Programmes

Types of Courses:
Lecture

Language of teaching:
English

Topics:

1. What is perception. Physiological and psychological approaches to perception. Basic psychophysical concepts.
2. Information transmission in the nervous system
3. Taste and olfaction. Temperature sensitivity. Pain
4. Somatosensory sensitivity: tactile, kinesthetic, and haptic perception. The vestibular sense.
5. Audition. Perception of loudness, pitch and timbre. Auditory space perception
6. Vision. Peripheral visual mechanisms. Visual analyzers
7. Test 1
8. Introduction to the Gestalt-psychology. Principles of visual grouping. Figure-ground segregation.Perception of partially occluded figures. Gestalt-principles in audition
9. Perception of color. The color space. Mechanisms and anomalies of the color vision
10. Depth perception.Binocular and monocular depth cues
11. Motion perception. Perception of continuous motion of objects and textures. Apparent motion
12. Attention. Attention and eye movements
13. Time perception. Face perception and perception of other’s bodies
14. Constancy of perception. Constructivism vs. ecological optics
15. Test 2

Bibliography:

Palmer S.E. (1999) Vision Science. The MIT Press, Cambridge

Schiffman H.R. (1996) Sensation and Perception. An Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.

Assessment:

Two tests and an essay during the semester.