MOOC: A PRACTICAL COURSE IN PSYCHOPHYSICS AND VISUAL PERCEPTION

The aim of this MOOC is to provide hands-on training for both teachers and students of visual perception and related subjects. Specifically designed software to carry out experiments covering different aspects of human vision is provided. These lab experiences can be carried out easily at home with a computer and therefore may be used in both distance learning and to complement or reinforce lab work for students in face-to-face teaching.

Performing controlled experiments to evaluate visual function involves working with specifically designed visual stimuli. That is, the spatio-temporal and chromatic characteristics of the stimuli must be controlled, as well as the color reproduction characteristics of the display (a screen or a printed plate, for instance) and the adaptation conditions (illumination). Moreover, to measure the subject’s response to a given parameter, this parameter must be changed following a well-defined pattern (a psychophysical method), to obtain a repeatable result. All these aspects are taken into account in a teaching laboratory, but are hard to ensure that students working at home would be able to replicate even basic experiments, particularly without the help of adequate software.

Our aim has been to develop a basic software for visual experiments with controlled stimuli, suitable for learning basic and clinical psychophysics outside the classroom. Given that potential users will probably not have a colorimetric characterized device, the experiments chosen are robust, that is, the measured effects are first-order and can be seen even under certain reasonable distortions of the experimental conditions. Although in experiments where the emphasis in put on the results, stored stimuli and fixed psychophysical procedures are used, so that the student has no control on the basic design, the software for many simple experiments allow the user to define certain parameters of the stimulus or to control the psychophysical method. In this way, we try to familiarize the students with the more commonly used representation spaces for the characteristics of visual stimuli and to make easier the understanding of the rationale behind the design of psychophysical tests for basing vison research and clinical practice.

This virtual lab tool may also simplify the work of teachers of basic vision sciences without the programming skills necessary to create software for their laboratory classes. Taking our basic material as a starting point, materials for the classroom and for autonomous learning may be designed, adapted both to the specific needs of the students and teachers.

Students of vision sciences may use the course to improve their understanding of basic concepts of visual psychophysics by the performance of simple experiments at home. These experiments may either complement or substitute face-to-face lab classes. Students are encouraged to design their own experiments, and to integrate knowledge from different subjects in their studies.

The course may also appeal to a wider public, without specialized knowledge in visual psychophysics but curious about the visual system. The theoretical basis of each experiment is provided in different guides and videos and relevant bibliography is also suggested. The possibility of working online and the advantage of not needing sophisticated equipment may encourage people outside the university to approach vision sciences.