This course on sense and perception has truly opened my eyes to the wonderful processes that work together to create what we perceive as "the world". Being a psychology major, it seems normal to wonder about how the brain takes in so much information, constantly and consistently, 24/7, and is able to process it all in a very methodical and precise fashion, and result in the wonderful experience of life, full of sight and sound and all the other senses. The textbook, lecture slides, and blog posts have broken down the course significantly and resulted in a cohesive and comprehensive way of understanding the complex process of perception.

The course started off with basic elements - stimuli, transduction, neurons and their signaling patterns, vision and the elements of sight, sound and speech, and the rest of the senses. Each of these topics, while separate, all tie together in a very simple way and "join forces" to become - perception. It is truly fascinating to now understand the small, complex, and numerous signaling and processing that goes on "behind the scenes" to create how we see and interpret the environments around us. Even the simple idea of how we recognize objects is fascinating. A simple answer could be "so what, we recognize them because we see them all the time" is now an explanation of processes that go from what we see (which entails detection of the stimuli, because our attention was focused on it, and what we were seeing was falling directly on our fovea, etc etc) to how we perceive it (signals sent to the brain which follow many paths to many areas of the cortex and lobes where each is processed and joined together).

It is hard to say what areas of the course were my favorite topics because they were all truly interesting and broadened my understanding as a student as well as a psychology major. I must say that although it may sound corny, my appreciation of my senses has grown immensely after this course. I have always appreciated colors and sounds and smells before, but looking back I have somewhat taken them for granted. My favorite food now tastes better, my favorite color is now more beautiful than before, and the sound of my favorite song is one I can listen to over and over again. Understanding how complex and intricate the process of perception is has answered many questions I have pondered over many times. Before this course, questions like "Would I rather be blind or deaf?" were easy to answer - neither. Now that I know how fascinating and valuable these senses are, the answer is still neither, but for different reasons. This course has definitely given me a different outlook on life and I find myself enjoying my surroundings more because I now truly value my brain.