BCS 220: Syllabus

Spring 2011

Personnel

David Knill (Instructor)
Meliora 406
Office hours: Thursday 1:00 - 2:00 PM

585-275-4597

Catalog Description

Aristotle described visual perception as "to know what is where by looking". This common-sense description of what it means to see reflects our phenomenal experience with the ease and simplicity of perception. This apparent simplicity is the first of many illusions that students will encounter in the class. Computers have achieved grand master status in chess, yet still cannot solve vision problems that young children handle with ease every second of their waking day. The course will provide an inter-disciplinary view of modern research into how the human brain solves the problems involved in perception, including how we perceive the three dimensional structure of the world, how we recognize objects and how visual information is used to control action in the world. Students will read contemporary research papers that will expose them to the science that has forced us to re-conceptualize, sometimes in non-intuitive ways, how vision works. Through classroom discussion and a series of critical essays, students will explore and analyze the questions and debates that define contemporary perceptual science.

Reading

Reading for the course will include book chapters and research articles from the vision literature. Copies of reading material will be posted on the course blackboard site.

Organization

Basic structure: The course will be run as a cross between a lecture and a seminar. The main goal of the course is to critically consider contemporary research in vision; thus, many of the class meetings will focus on discussions of research papers. A certain amount of content material is needed to understand much of the material, so interspersed with the paper discussions will be lectures based on readings from textbooks.

Student participation: By its nature, the success of the class depends largely on your involvement. In order to make the course work, you will have to come to class prepared – having done the reading and writing assignments for the class. I expect everyone to participate in the class. This means that attendance is mandatory (excepting absences due to valid reasons such as sickness) and I expect all students to participate in discussion. This will make the class fun for all of us, including myself.

Regular Assignments: Daily course work consists of reading chapters from books and articles from the scientific literature, and regular, small writing assignments.

Thought questions

You will write brief answers to a small number (1-2) of thought questions about the reading for each class. I will hand these out to the class before they are due. The questions are designed to get you thinking critically about the reading prior to coming to class. Thought questions will be graded on a simple contract basis – 2 points for satisfactory, 1 point for having made a good first attempt at an answer and 0 points for unsatisfactory. In order to receive full credit, an assignment must meet the following criteria:

A coherent first attempt at answering the question must be mailed to me over electronic mail by 8:00 AM the morning of the class. You should also bring a copy of your answers to the class. Answers should be written so that they could be understood by other students in the class. (1 point)
An answer is satisfactory if it reflects an understanding of the reading material and is built on rational arguments. If you get an unsatisfactory grade, you will have the opportunity to revise answers based on class discussion and turn in the revised answers by the beginning of the next class. Revised answers must be e-mailed to me before the beginning of the next class. (1 point)
Part of the learning process is figuring out what you need to revise, so you will not be given written feedback about what you need to revise in your answer. I will be available to meet with you if you need help with any questions.
Your lowest score on thought questions will be discarded for purposes of computing the final grade. The one exception to this is that the first four sets of thought questions will count toward the grade.

Student questions

You should submit one or two questions about the reading for each class. The questions can be for clarification (e.g. about the experimental methodology), about background information for the work described in the reading or about the approach or interpretation. These are due the same time as the thought questions. You will receive 1 point for turning in thoughtful questions (I reserve the right not to give a point for frivolous questions or questions that clearly show that you haven't read the material).

Mid-term Paper & Presentation

In teams of two or three, you will give a 15-minute presentation describing a visual illusion and summarizing research on possible "explanations" for the illusion. You should have at least five scholarly references for the presentation. Included in these five can be one textbook or website. Prior to your presentation, you will schedule a meeting with me to practice the presentation and get feedback for improving it.

Important Dates

Feb. 10: mid-term project proposals due
March 17 – March 24: mid-term project presentations

Mid-term Grading

Practice: 20% (this will be awarded for giving me a prepared practice presentation)
Presentation: 80%

Final paper

A 12 page, double-spaced review paper on a topic of your choice in vision.

Important Dates

March 31: Final paper proposals due
April 21: First drafts due
April 28: Feedback on first drafts returned
May 3: Final paper due

Final Paper Grading

Proposal: 10%
First draft: 30%
Final Paper 60%

Exam

The course will have a mid-term and a final exam. Exams will consist of a small number of essay questions on the material preceding the exam. The final exam will cover material following the mid-term.

Course Grading

Thought questions / student questions: 30%
Mid-term project: 15%
Final paper: 20%
Mid-term exam: 15%
Final exam: 20%

Attendance

I expect students to attend all classes. 1 point (out of 100) will be deducted from your final grade for every unexcused absence. You will also receive a 0 for the thought questions due the day of your absence.

Excused absences: Excused, unplanned absences include sickness and family emergencies. These require appropriate documentation (from Student Health, a hospital, etc.). If you know you have to miss a class for some other reason (e.g. a University sponsored activity or a job interview), you must inform me beforehand and show reasonable documentation. I will not accept any reason for an absence if you knew of it prior to class and did not discuss it with me in advance.

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