Written exam (Lecture), Oral presentation (seminar)

The module consists of 2 parts:
1) the lecture "Psychophysical Methods" (every winter term)
2) one of three seminars at choice ("Spatial Vision", "Colour Vision & Material Perception", or "Theories of Vision"), with each seminar being offered triennally in the summer term.

To complete the module, students have to take the compulsory lecture "Psychophysical Methods" first (in the winter term), followed by one of the three seminars (in the summer term).

The contents of the lecture and the seminars are:
1) Lecture "Psychophysical Methods":
Linear systems theory, psychophysical methods and experimental design, signal detection theory, diffusion models
for reaction times, psychometric function estimation.

2a) Seminar "Spatial Vision": Optics of the eye, absolute thresholds, adaptation, contrast sensitivity function, spatial frequency selectivity, contrast gain-control, early visual representation of the world.

2b) Seminar "Colour Vision & Material Perception": Spectral composition of light, wavelength encoding, colour matching, trichromacy, colour appearance, colour constancy, material properties & perception.

2c) Seminar "Theories of Vision": Inverse optics, Gibson’s direct perception, vision as (unconscious) inference, the interface theory of vision, vision as predictive coding, the efficient coding hypothesis.

The students can classify and critically reflect the central behavioural limits, concepts and psychophysical methods in sensory psychology. They have in-depth knowledge of the state-of-the-art models and their theoretical foundations in one specific subdomain of sensory psychology (spatial vision,
colour vision, material perception or theories of vision). They have consolidated their ability to discuss, critically reflect and present scientific work.

Literatur / Literature: Wird zu Beginn jeder Veranstaltung angekündigt. / Will be announced at the beginning of each course.

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen / Prerequisites: Grundlagenwissen in Mathematik und Statistik; dringend empfohlen wird zudem Grundlagenwissen über die Prinzipien visueller Wahrnehmung. / Basic knowledge in mathematics and statistics is required; basic knowledge of the fundamentals of visual perception is strongly recommended.