Courses listed here will explore the many topics related to our perceptions and emotions. Particular attention (no pun intended) will be paid to courses which highlight the myriad of ways these two subjects address common cognitive processes. The rating represents the breadth of material available, the effectiveness of the lecturer, and the accessibility of the website and lecture topics in general. If you have comments or suggestions, feel free to email me at eric@psychlectures.com. Enjoy!
Introduction to Sensation and Perception
Prof. David Peterzell, Spring 2009 – UCSD podcasts
[mp3 audio]
Human Emotion
Dacher Keltner, Fall 2006 – UC Berkeley Webcasts
“This course will examine two different theoretical perspectives on emotion: (1) the differential emotions approach with its strong evolutionary grounding, and (2) the social constructionist approach. Next, the course will investigate empirical research on many facets of emotion including facial expression, physiology, appraisal, and the lexicon of emotion. Finally, we will consider more specific topics including social interaction, culture, gender, personality, and psychopathology.”
[mp3 audio]
Neural Basis of Vision and Audition
Prof. M. Christian Brown & Prof. Peter Schiller, Fall 2006 – MIT OpenCourseWare
“This course examines the neural bases of visual and auditory processing for perception and sensorimotor control, focusing on physiological and anatomical studies of the mammalian nervous system as well as behavioral studies of animals and humans. Visual pattern, color and depth perception, auditory responses and speech coding, and spatial localization are studied.”
[syllabus] – [required readings] – [lecture notes] – [assignments] – [downloadable content]
Sensation and Perception
Prof. Edward Adelson, Fall 2006 – MIT OpenCourseWare
“This course examines the neural bases of visual and auditory processing for perception and sensorimotor control, focusing on physiological and anatomical studies of the mammalian nervous system as well as behavioral studies of animals and humans. Visual pattern, color and depth perception, auditory responses and speech coding, and spatial localization are studied.”
[syllabus] – [calendar] – [lecture notes] – [assignments] – [related resources] – [downloadable content]
Affect: Biological, Psychological, and Social Aspects of Feelings
Prof. Stephan Chorover & Dr. Jovan Ristic, Spring 2005 – MIT OpenCourseWare
“Affect is to cognition and behavior as feeling is to thinking and acting, or as values are to beliefs and practices. This course considers these relations, both at the psychological level of organization and in terms of their neurobiological and sociocultural counterparts. In this class, diverse aspects of the current scientific paradigm which is based largely on a distrust of emotions is explored as well as other perspectives within a broader human-ecological context. Relevant issues are approached both experientially and theoretically through discussions in class and in study groups, and through field trips and assigned readings.”
[syllabus] – [calendar] – [required readings] – [lecture notes] – [assignments] – [downloadable content]
Functional MRI of High-Level Vision
Prof. Nancy Kanwisher, Fall 2004 – MIT OpenCourseWare
“Fundamental questions about the human brain can now be answered using straightforward applications of fMRI. This is particularly true in the area of high-level vision, the study of how we interpret and use visual information (including object recognition, visual attention, perceptual awareness, visually guided action, visual memory, and other topics). Students will read, present to the class, and critique current neuroimaging articles, as well as write detailed proposals for experiments of their own. This course covers the basics of fMRI, the strengths and limitations of fMRI compared to other techniques, and the design and analysis of fMRI experiments, focusing primarily on experiments on high-level vision. Upon completion, students should be able to understand and critique published fMRI papers, have a good grasp on what is known about high-level vision from fMRI, and design their own fMRI experiments.”
[syllabus] – [calendar] – [required readings] – [assignments] – [downloadable content]
Affective Priming at Short and Extremely Short Exposures
Prof. Suzanne Corkin, Spring 2003 – MIT OpenCourseWare
“This course is an investigation of affective priming and creation of rigorously counterbalanced, fully computerized testing paradigm. Includes background readings, study design, counterbalancing, study execution, data analysis, presentation of poster, and final paper.”
[syllabus] – [calendar] – [required readings] – [assignments] – [related resources] – [downloadable content]
