Readings for Alex’s PSYC3013 lectures
- Material will be added to this document as the lectures proceed.
The Retina, and conceptual introduction
Wolfe textbook chapter 1, 2
Stiefel, K., & Holcombe, A. O. (2014). EYES, CAMERA, ACTION! Scientific American Mind, (May/June), 52–58. On unit of study e-reserve. Explains certain aspects of the retina by comparing it to digital cameras.
Optional
Ramachandran, V.S. “Filling in Gaps in Perception : Part I” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, No. 6 (Dec., 1992), pp. 199-205
- http://xkcd.com/1080/ Fun illustration of visual field and idiosyncrasies of the retina. Although note that the cartoonist omitted or got wrong:
- Spatial scaling into periphery for night vision
- S-cone, rod scotomas omitted
- Blood vessels omitted
- Macular pigment omitted (you don’t need to know about that)
- Chromatic aberration omitted (you don’t need to know about that)
Signal Detection Theory
pp. 11-15 of Wolfe et al. Sensation and Perception 3rd edition, “Signal detection theory”
Blake & Sekuler, pp. 553-564, esp. 561-564. On unit of study e-reserve
Optional
Swets, J. A., Dawes, R. M., & Monahan, J. (2000). Psychological Science Can Improve Diagnostic Decisions. Psychological Science In the Public Interest, 1(1), 1-26 (too long and difficult to be easily digestible).
Spatial resolution
- Humans have large individual differences in various visual abilities, e.g. face recognition
- Wolfe textbook Chapter 3
- Blake & Sekuler Perception excerpts pp. 95-99, 102-3, and p.331 on On unit of study e-reserve
“Testing visual acuity”, a rough draft article written by Alex and posted in eLearning in his lectures folder
Have you thanked your visual system today? It creates a model of what’s out there, so you don’t have to.
Optional
- Fun regarding acuity relative to iphone resolution: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/10/resolving-the-iphone-resolution/
Touch
- “Chapter 2: Somatosensory systems” by Dougherty & Tsuchitani http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s2/chapter02.html
- pp.221-5 of Wolfe textbook (3rd edition)
- “The comb illusion” http://alexholcombe.wordpress.com/?p=1233
- Wolfe textbook chapter 13 (Touch)
Temporal resolution
- Persistence of vision explained by Mr. Wizard
- Blake & Sekuler Perception Excerpts p.331 on On unit of study e-reserve
- Holcombe blog post. “Explaining temporal resolution with waterworks”
- Holcombe (2011) “Hold your horses- News just in on the speed of sight”
Optional
- Time Warp on Discovery Channel trailer
- Holcombe (2009). Seeing slow and seeing fast: Two limits on perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. On unit of study e-reserve