PSYC2016 Perception, Cognition & Intelligence – Full Course Summaries)

Description

This is a complete PSYC2016 subject summary, not a slide dump or raw lecture notes. It rewrites the entire unit into exam-style explanations, tables and self-tests you can use straight for MCQs, short answers and essays. VISION (L01–L10) L01: Light & Optics – The Physical Foundation of Vision Electromagnetic spectrum, why visible light is “special,” ambient optic array (Gibson), evolutionary eye designs (compound, pinhole, lens, mirror), and the infrared self-emission problem in mammals. L02: Eye Anatomy & Photoreceptors Cornea, pupil, lens, retina, fovea vs periphery, rods vs cones, duplex system, dark adaptation curves, and what “visual acuity” actually depends on. L03: Trichromacy & Colour Vision Young–Helmholtz trichromatic theory, S/M/L cone sensitivities, dimensionality reduction, why colour is a ratio code not a wavelength, intro to metamers. L04: Weighted Sums & Principle of Univariance Photoreceptors as scalar devices, intensity–wavelength ambiguity, why a single cone type can’t encode colour, need for comparing multiple channels. L05: Metamers & Limits of Trichromacy Metamer examples, colour matches, why different spectra produce identical percepts, colour deficiencies (protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia) and their perceptual consequences. L06: CIE Chromaticity Diagram & Colour Gamuts x–y chromaticity space, spectral locus, white point, additive primaries, monitor/TV colour gamuts, how devices fake “all” colours with three guns. L07: Receptive Fields & Physical vs Perceived Brightness Centre–surround receptive fields, lateral inhibition, simultaneous contrast and Mach bands, why the image on the retina ≠ what we see. L08: Hermann Grid & Convolution Filters Classic Hermann Grid illusion, problems with the original explanation, spatial frequency / convolution view of the visual system, edge-detection filters. L09: Redundancy Reduction & Colour Opponent Cells Opponent-process coding (L–M, S–(L+M), black–white), redundancy reduction, efficient coding, and why opponent cells explain afterimages and unique hues. L10: Perceptual Constancy & Visual Illusions Lightness and colour constancy, size and shape constancy, the role of context and assumptions, canonical illusions (checker shadow, Adelson) as “rational” inferences gone wrong. AUDITION & CONSCIOUSNESS (L11–L15) L11: Audition I – Sound and Timbre Physical vs psychological properties of sound (frequency, amplitude, complexity), Fourier decomposition, outer/middle/inner ear, timbre as spectral envelope. L12: Hair Cells, Frequency Coding & Deafness Inner vs outer hair cells, place vs temporal coding, phase locking limits, tonotopic mapping, conductive vs sensorineural vs central hearing loss, audiograms. L13: Spatial Hearing & Sound Localization ITDs and ILDs, head-related transfer functions (HRTFs), cone of confusion, spectral cues from the pinna, duplex theory of localization. L14: Consciousness I – Foundations What we mean by “consciousness,” phenomenal vs access consciousness, classic philosophical problems, how we can study consciousness scientifically. L15: Consciousness II – NCCs & Models Neural correlates of consciousness, blindsight, neglect, split-brain findings, major models (global workspace, higher-order, etc.) and their predictions. ATTENTION (L16–L20) L16: Attention I – Bottlenecks & Overt/Covert Why attention is needed, spotlight vs filter metaphors, early vs late selection, dichotic listening, overt vs covert attention shifts. L17: Attention II – Mechanisms (How & Why We Attend) Endogenous vs exogenous attention, spatial vs object-based selection, load theory, mind-wandering and resource limits. L18: Visual Search & Feature Integration Theory Feature vs conjunction search, parallel vs serial search slopes, Treisman’s Feature Integration Theory, binding problem, illusory conjunctions. L19: Change Blindness & Inattentional Blindness Flicker and “door” paradigms, inattentional blindness (gorilla), why large changes are missed, what this reveals about visual representations and real-world implications (driving, eyewitnesses). L20: Selection History & Value-Modulated Attention Selection history as a third source of control (beyond bottom-up/top-down), value-modulated attentional capture (VMAC), reward learning and attentional bias. MEMORY (L21–L26) L21: Memory I – Cognitive Foundations Basic memory architecture, encoding–storage–retrieval, evidence for multiple systems, classic case studies (HM, KF) and what they show. L22: Memory II – Memory Systems & Working Memory Sensory memory (iconic/echoic), STM vs LTM, Baddeley’s working memory model (phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, episodic buffer), Cowan’s embedded-processes model. L23: Memory III – WM Individual Differences & LTM Systems Working memory capacity (WMC), simple vs complex span tasks, attention control account, episodic vs semantic LTM, how WMC relates to reasoning and comprehension. L24: Memory IV – Explicit vs Implicit & Process Declarative vs non-declarative systems, priming, skill learning, conditioning, process dissociation, how to separate conscious and unconscious influences. L25: Memory V – Neuroscience, Network Models & PDP MTL and hippocampus, consolidation and reconsolidation, distributed representations, connectionist/PDP models of memory, pattern completion and pattern separation. L26: Memory VI – Embodied Cognition, Episodic vs Semantic Embodied memory effects (sensorimotor grounding), how episodic and semantic memory interact, autobiographical memory, simulation accounts of remembering. THINKING & DECISION MAKING (L27–L32) L27: Thinking I – Introduction to Higher-Order Cognition Defining thinking as operating on representations, four aspects and five themes, where perception ends and thinking begins, why representation matters. L28: Thinking II – Problem Solving Well- vs ill-defined problems, Gestalt insights (restructuring, “aha!”), functional fixedness, mental set, classic candle and nine-dot problems. L29: Thinking III – Problem-Solving Methods Problem-space framework (states, operators, constraints), generate-and-test, difference reduction (hill climbing), means–ends analysis, CSP theory (constraint satisfaction and search). L30: Thinking IV – Decision Making Under Uncertainty Normative models (expected value, expected utility), risk vs uncertainty, diminishing marginal utility, framing simple gambles. L31: Thinking V – Heuristics and Biases Heuristics as fast, frugal rules; substitution principle; representativeness, availability, anchoring; when heuristics work vs when they fail. L32: Thinking VI – Decision-Making Biases & Bounded Rationality Overconfidence, outcome bias, hyperbolic discounting, certainty effect, amount effect, bounded rationality and ecological rationality. INTELLIGENCE (L33–L38 + Tutorials) L33: Intelligence I – History Galton and individual differences, Binet and mental age, Spearman vs Thurstone, factor analysis origins, early IQ tests. L34: General Intelligence (g) Hierarchical factor models, g as common variance, evidence for g (positive manifold), criticisms and alternatives. L35: Successful Intelligence (Sternberg) Analytic, creative, practical intelligence; real-world success criteria; how successful intelligence broadens what “smart” means. L36: Emotional Intelligence (Hot vs Cold) Ability vs trait EI, tests and scoring, overlaps with personality and g, controversies over incremental validity. L37: PPIK Theory & Expertise Ackerman’s PPIK model (Personality, Processing, Interests, Knowledge), lifespan development of abilities, what actually underpins expertise. L38: Fluid & Crystallised Intelligence + CHC Theory Fluid vs crystallised intelligence (Gf, Gc) plus other broad abilities, Cattell–Horn–Carroll three-stratum model, test examples, heritability vs malleability and implications for education. Tutorials T02 – Colour Constancy Tutorial: “What Cameras Can’t Do”. Uses everyday scenes and illusions to show why illumination × reflectance is an inverse problem and why the brain beats cameras at estimating the light source. Walks through local vs global contrast, shadow vs paint, and classic “same RGB, different perceived colour” demos. Ends with questions that map directly onto Vision L07–L10: what evidence shows constancy is an inference, not familiarity? T03 – Auditory Perception: Time vs Frequency & Streaming. Introduces time-domain vs frequency-domain representations (waveforms vs spectra) and when each reveals the “real” structure of a sound. Covers auditory scene analysis: streaming cues (pitch, timbre, location, temporal proximity) and why some sequences fuse while others split into separate “voices.” Links to Audition lectures by asking you to reason from spectrogram-style patterns to perceived pitch, timbre and separate sound sources. T05 – Visual Attention: Limits, Selection & Real-World Consequences. Revisits feature vs conjunction search, search slopes, and capacity limits using applied tasks ( “airport security / radiology” style examples). Connects change blindness, inattentional blindness and load to real-world failures (driving, eyewitness error, case-study style vignettes). Pushes you to articulate why “seeing” ≠ encoding, and how attentional limits justify design choices in safety-critical environments. T06 – Long-Term Episodic Memory: Reminiscence Bump, SSCT vs CB. Breaks down the reminiscence bump: age windows, novelty/identity accounts, and life-script theories. Compares Standard Systems Consolidation Theory (SSCT) vs Contextual Binding using HM and everyday memory patterns. Includes applied questions like “which theory better explains these patient and lifespan patterns?” → directly feeding into Memory L21–L26 SAQs. T07 – Problem Solving: Insight vs Incremental Approaches. Contrasts insight problems (representation change, “aha!”) with incremental/algorithmic problems (stepwise progress you can feel). Uses classic riddles and algebra-style tasks to show when analytic thinking helps vs hurts, referencing research like De Caro, Van Stockum & Wieth. Trains you to explain why incubation, framing and constraint relaxation change performance – perfect material for Thinking/Problem-Solving SAQs. T08 – Decision Making: Heuristics & Biases. Concrete scenarios for anchoring, availability, representativeness, loss aversion, framing, and outcome bias. Has you identify the heuristic, show the systematic distortion, then propose realistic debiasing strategies (reframing, checklists, counter-anchors). Emphasises both negative implications (manipulation, bad financial choices) and positive ecological rationality – ideal for full-mark decision-making answers. T10 – Intelligence Tutorial: SAQ Revision & Broad Ability Classification. Works through implicit theories of intelligence across cultures ( Western vs Confucian emphases) and what that means for test validity. Gives SAQ-style prompts on Sternberg’s method (collecting lay conceptions), plus critiques of IQ’s narrow focus (speed, verbal, problem solving). Includes broad ability classification drills: sorting example items into Gf, Gc, Gv, EI, and designing good Gf-style tasks—directly mirroring PSYC2016 exam patterns. Goodluck xoxo