Course Description and Goals

This course is designed to be a fun 1-credit laboratory course on perceptual psychology.  The lab will include classic demonstrations and short experiments in which you will participate.  These demonstrations and experiments will form the basis for discussions in which you are expected to take an active role. All class activities and assessments are designed with the following aims:

• To foster a sense of scientific exploration
• To give you direct experience with some of the classic models and results of perceptual psychology
• To improve your ability to share the results of experiments with specialist and generalist audiences

The only requirement for taking this course is simultaneous enrollment in the lecture class (PSYC 2300) with Professor Proffitt.  If you are not enrolled in (or drop) the lecture portion of PSYC 2300, then you cannot take this course.  Although many of the topics we cover in lab may overlap with material presented in the lecture, the material you will be responsible for in this course will be taken solely from what we cover in lab.  You will receive a grade independent of your lecture grade.

Assessments

Your lab grade will be based upon the following:

(1) Midterm and final quizzes (50% total: 25 points each)

(2) Brief weekly homework assignments (20% total: 2 points each)

(3) Small projects/example preparation (16% total: 4 points each)

(4) Attendance and participation (12%)

(5) Completion of the course evaluation (2%)

There are additional UVa-only syllabus items for this course. Click here to view all the public and UVa-only syllabus items. This link is restricted to UVa-members with Netbadge authentication.