This course introduces students to detailed aspects of current research projects related to visual and auditory perception and cognition, thereby providing a grounding for the research project.

2 hours weekly

None

There is one piece of coursework worth 100% of the overall mark. The coursework should be a critical review on a topic relevant to the course (3000 words).

To introduce students to detailed aspects of current research projects related to visual and auditory perception and cognition. This is achieved by a series of experts in the field providing the theoretical background, details of experimental techniques (including some practical exercises) and recent results from their research field. As a result, students will be provided with a critical appreciation and technical grounding for their research projects.

By the end of this course students will be able to;

■ Reflect critically a broad range of topics in visual and auditory perception and cognition and have detailed knowledge of at least three different research techniques/paradigms.

The topics covered will be in:

a) aspects of low-level visual perception (e.g. perceptual inference of colour and physiological mechanisms of colour

vision)

b) aspects of mid-level visual perception (e.g. surface representation, binocular rivalry)

c) aspects of high-level visual perception and cognition (e.g. scene recognition, face perception, object categorisation)

d) auditory perception and cognition (e.g. soundwave structure, the mechanics of hearing, speech and voice perception).

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.