Instructor: Lyra Stein
Email: Lyra@eden.rutgers.edu
Office: Tillett 519
Office hours: by appointment

General goals for the course

• To provide an opportunity to experience some perceptual phenomena firsthand.
• To learn how to design, conduct, analyze, and write up experiments.
• To learn how to use the software tools to analyze and plot data.

This laboratory class is meant to serve as a companion to the lecture class (Psych 301).  The conceptual and theoretical basis for the exercises and demonstrations are developed in lecture.  For this reason, concurrent or past registration in Psych 301 is required.

Grading

There are three components of the laboratory that will determine your final grade.

• Attendance: If you are absent, you will not be able to complete the assignment that is based on the day’s work.  Thus, you will lose 5 points from your final grade for each absence.
• Assignments: Assignments will be due each week. 
• Lab report: You will write up an original project that is completed over the last few weeks of the course.

Attendance: 
Students must come to class and arrive on time.  Excessive lateness prevents you from learning about the goals and content of each week’s lab project.  If you are more than 15 minutes late, you will not be allowed to participate in the laboratory, which will result in an F for the corresponding lab assignment.  

Assignments: 

Each week you will be required to complete a short assignment in class that will be handed in at the next lab class.
If you miss class for a legitimate reason (e.g., illness, religious holiday) you must bring in an official excuse note (e.g., a doctor’s note).  This will excuse you from the assignment.  Missed assignments that are not excused will be given a failing grade. 
Students who hand in assignments on time and receive a failing grade will have the option to revise the assignment within one week of the receipt of the graded assignment.  There will only be one revision of a failed assignment allowed.  The instructor will be available to meet with you during the semester to discuss the material and your performance.
The daily assignments will be graded on the “P” scale.

P+ -Excellent work
P -Good, pass

P -Minor problems, needs improvement

F -Fail, requires revision

            Scores on the daily assignments will be used to adjust the final grade on the final project.  A half letter grade will be added for 3 P+’s.  A half letter grade will be subtracted for 3 P-‘s accumulated during the semester.  If an F is not revised, it will also cause a half letter grade subtraction.
                                    3 P+’s             -Add five points
                                       P                  -No points added or subtracted
                                    3 P-‘s              -Subtract five points
                                       F                  -Subtract five points if left uncorrected
           
Every assignment will count towards your grade.  There are no tests or quizzes planned.  Grades for this course will not be curved or scaled.

The criteria for grading you work will be:

• Effort and class participation
• Demonstration of progress in understanding and using software tools
• Clarity of graphs
• Clarity of writing
• Demonstration of understanding basic perceptual concepts introduced in the labs

Final Project:
The final project is the writing of a full laboratory report based on an original experiment carried out in class during the final weeks of the semester.  These reports will be given a letter grade (A, B+, B, C, C+, D, F).

All laboratory assignments and reports must be completed by the individual student.  Collaborative reports will be graded F.

A Note about Computer Usage: 
The computers in this room have Internet access.  I am more than happy to have you use email and instant messenger before class starts.  Please do not search the Internet during PowerPoint presentations.  Usually, I will be answering many questions during these presentations that you may potentially have, which you will miss if you are instant messaging.  Also, Internet activities are distracting to me and to your classmates during presentations.  If I find that you are emailing (etc.) during presentations, you will be asked to leave and receive an F for the corresponding assignment.   

Schedule of Labs:
            The following is a schedule of the course.  Amendments may be made as the course progresses.  We will usually meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but keep the Mondays and Wednesdays open in case we need extra time.

July 9	Intro; Library methods and article summary
July 10	Line Length (Figures)
July 12	Prism Adaptation (Introduction)
July 17	Pitch Discrimination (Methods)
July 19	Center of Gravity (Methods)
July 24	Attention Shift (Results)
July 26	Extrapolation of Motion (Results)
July 31	Crowding Effect (Discussion)
August 2	The P-Illusion (Discussion, Abstract, Title Page)
August 7	Design Final Project; Find article for intro
August 8	Data Collection for Final Projects
August 9	Finish Data Collection, Data Analysis
August 13	Presentations/ Turn in Final Project