Illusions, like the Müller-Lyer, are widely known but why they occur is not completely understood. We investigate the illusion by computer presentation.

The Quick Time movie below illustrates a dynamic version of the illusion. The central line is always the same size!

Prism adaptation is less widely known, but it illustrates the ability of the perceptual-motor system to adapt to distortions of the optical stimulus. For example, when people first look through prisms that displace the visual world to the right they stumble, bump into walls, and miss when reaching for doorknobs. Such errors eventually disappear and the person may make similar errors when the prisms are removed! Prism adaptation has recently been found to be therapeutic for patients with left unilateral neglect.

Students who join my research team gain direct experience in psychological research in these areas. Such "hands on" experience adds meaning to the basic methodological and statistical concepts learned in research methods courses and illustrates basic principles of perception learned in lecture courses. There is no substitute for actually doing research in understanding what psychology is all about! In addition, for those students who plan to continue graduate student in psychology, documented experience of actually doing research is an invaluable addition to their application credentials. One of my goals for my research team members is public presentation of the research, either through journal publication or presentation at a professional convention or at the Undergraduate Research Symposia sponsored by the ISU Graduate School. (Link to a list of student publications, convention papers, and local reports from the Lab.)

And students can get course credit for this! Psychology 290.01 involves only data collection and provides direct experience in conducting psychological research. Psychology 390 additionally requires an additional written research report or public presentation that involves the student in the conceptual rationale for the research. For a student to register for one of these courses a Plan of Study needs to be submitted to the Department. Once the Plan has been approved, then the student can register anytime up to about the 5th week of the semester. Typically, a Plan of Study must be prepared toward the end of the semester preceding the one in which you wish to register for one of these courses. One of the nice things about such courses is that the student's time commitment is flexible. Time spent in data collection is determined by the joint schedules of members of the research team and regular meetings of the entire team are limited to about once a month.

Students who join my research team receive the following valuable experiences:

Computer Skills: Because many of the experiments are controlled by computer students receive the necessary instruction.

Reading and understanding research articles: Monthly meeting are spent studying the background and rationale for the research.

Training in Research Ethics: Understanding ethical research procedures is necessary for testing participants in the experiments.

Writing Skills: Students may write a paper summarizing the research done during the semester.

Training in Research Methods: Students need to understand the purpose, design, and expected results of the experiments, as well as how research methods can be applied to real world problems.

Data Analysis Procedures: Understanding analysis of the data after an experiment is necessary.

Research Presentation Skills: Some students may choose to present their work for public viewing.

Knowledge of Perception: Doing research enhances students' understanding of the basic processes that provide information about the world in which we live and work.

Knowledge of Human Performance: How research can contribute to understanding perceptual-motor adaptation to an increasingly technological world.