Overview
Write a paper that responds to one of the three following prompts below.
The paper is to be a maximum of 5 double-spaced pages, and no shorter than 4 full pages. Use 12 point type, Times New Roman, normal 1 inch margins. Word limit: 1400 words. Papers longer than that (in either pages or words) will not be accepted. Citations in footnotes will not count against the word limit. There is to be no prose, other than citations, in footnotes: no discussion of issues there.
All sentences are to be 16 words or less. The sentences must remain grammatical sentences after you cut words. The point is to use this restriction to help you keep your writing clear and simple. If any sentence is longer than 16 words, points will be deducted from your grade. TAs have the option of refusing to accept a paper until all sentences meet the word limit. An app for checking sentence length is: https://leviroth.github.io/burgeinator
Maximize active, transitive, not passive or intransitive, verbs. (Transitive verbs have a direct object, as in ‘Mary hits Sally’, unlike the intransitive verb in ‘Mary is a hitter of Sally’, and unlike the passive verb phrase in ‘Sally was hit by Mary’).
Do not crib words from articles or books that you read. Do not use wording from ChatBox or other web aids. These are usually produced by robots or poor students. Cribbing like that is easily checked/traced. Use of anyone else’s (or any robot’s) wording without citation is plagiarism, and will be pursued. Cite your sources. You can use quotes from cited sources, but do so sparingly; and make sure you use quotation marks around material that you quote (including from my book). Mainly use your own words. Explanations should be independent enough from your sources to show that you understand. Try to write like a scientist as far as possible.
(1) Explain what perceptual anti-individualism is. Use the readings from Origins of Objectivity to find my explication. You may quote it, if you want. But explicate it in your own words in any case. Explain how perceptual anti-individualism provides a framework for perceptual psychology. Explain why it is plausible that perceptual psychology presupposes antiindividualism about the nature of the perceptual states’ contents and about the nature of the transformation laws that the science postulates. Illustrate this latter point through one concrete example of explanation. You need not give an explanation in detail. It is enough to explain the main point of some transformation(s). You can use any of the four explanations in the book–Origins, pp. 347-366. Or you can find some other case, if you want.
(2) Describe the aspect of lightness constancy that involves distinguishing surface lightness from illumination. Lightness (non-chromatic, black-grey-white, reflectance) is a relatively constant property of the surface. Illumination is a varying property of the amount of light or shadow shining on the surface. See Origins, pp. 351-354. You need not go into great detail. It is enough to explain the main principle that enables the system to make the distinction. Describe the transition in this example from registration of stimulation (which combines lightness and illumination) to perception of a surface as a degree of lightness (thus separating lightness from illumination, a form of objectification). Explain each of the italicized notions in this prompt. Explain how differences between shadows/illumination and lightness are not distinguished in the registration of proximal stimulation. Explain why the distinguishing operation contributes to having a perceptual constancy–see Origins 388.
3) Use examples to explain the difference between mere sensory registration and perceptual representation. Explain the processing sequence in visual perception from the first sensory registration of the proximal stimulus to the formation of a perceptual state. In what ways are visual perceptual representations different from visual sensory information registrations? How does explanation in perceptual psychology differ from explanation in non-psychological sciences? Use both the book, Origins (e.g. 396-416), or the lectures (or best, both) to help frame your paper. Key terms, as always, can be found italicized in the book and the book’s index.