Psychology 403
Animal Navigation and Wayfinding
1996 Fall Session, Wednesday, 1830-2130
Click to see the colourful poster used to advertise this course.
Instructor
Michael Snyder
Phone: 492-5175/492-5325
E-mail: msnyder@psych.ualberta.ca
Office: BSB P-545
Office Hours: By appointment
Course Description
This course will examine the processes used by animals in navigation and wayfinding, including egocentric and geocentric spatial representations, dead reckoning, and cognitive maps. Beginning with invertebrate systems (e.g., ants, bees, octopi), the course will progress through the navigational techniques of vertebrate species (e.g., salmon, sea turtles, migratory birds). Attention will be given to the extensive laboratory studies on navigation using rats and pigeons. With regards to humans, wayfinding in pre-industrial societies, as well as issues in modern Search and Rescue, will be discussed. The course will conclude with an examination of recent advances in navigational techniques in robotics and other computer based systems.
Course Ideology
This is a fourth year seminar course. As such, students will be expected (and required) to contribute to the class. The ability to write comprehensively and communicate orally are absolutely necessary for students who wish to continue on with graduate school (one can argue that these skills are also required to the same degree in most other careers, as well). Therefore, this course will endeavour to stress these skills.
Required Text
None. Weekly readings will be required. The readings will be placed on reserve in Cameron Library for students.
Course Requirements
Class participation (10%)
- Students are expected to contribute to class discussion. One of the main purposes of seminar courses is for learned discourse, after all...
Article presentation (10%)
- Reading a "prepared" 4 to 6 page paper describing and evaluating an assigned research article. It is to be a critical review of the article.
- Click here to see the articles you can choose from.
Research topic
- Proposal (5%)
- A brief (i.e., 1 to 2 page) proposal of your research topic, including a short bibliography.
- Presenation (20%)
- You get to be the instructor and teach the rest of us about a topic you have become an expert in.
- Paper (25%)
- A 10 to 15 page detailed research paper on the topic you have been researching during the course
Final Exam (30%)
- A written, cumulative examination.
Policy on Late Assignments
Generally, I am not impressed when I receive assignments late. That being said, I am also well aware of the time constraints put upon students these days. So here is how I am going to work it for your written assignments (the research proposal and research paper): You can get one day of grace on an assignment for every day before the assignment is due in which you notify me that you will be late getting the project in, up to five days.
For example, all assignments are due in class on Wednesday. So, if you notify me on Monday that your assignment will not be available on Wednesday, you will have until Friday at 1630 hours (when the Psychology office closes) to get the work in. If you had notified me on the previous Friday you would have had until the Monday after the assignment was due (i.e., five days).
If you fail to notify me that your work will be late, of if you subsquently exceed the time extension, you will lose 10% of the assignment's grade per day that it is late.
Sorry, but this offer does notapply to the article presentation, research presentation, or final exam.
Of course, the standard rules for missing assignments concerning death in the family, major illness (i.e., not the sniffles), and the like apply. Medical forms will be required. In the case of missed presentations they will be rescheduled at my discretion. Missed final exams will be dealt with through the Registrar's Office.
This course is not marked on a curve. Rather, grades are assigned based on absolute scores. The reasons for this are threefold: First, the class size is too small to allow for a normal distribution (required for marking on a curve). Second, one does not expect a normal distribution at the fourth year level. Third, I do not want you competing against one another for nines; compete against yourself and get along with your classmates.
Grades
| Grade | Mark |
| 1 | 0-20% |
| 2 | 21-39% |
| 3 | 40-49% |
| 4 | 50-55% |
| 5 | 56-59% |
| 6 | 60-67% |
| 7 | 68-76% |
| 8 | 77-87% |
| 9 | 88-100% |
Class Schedule
Week 1: 11 September -- Introduction, history, theory, terminology
Week 2: 18 September -- Invertebrate navigation 1, select article presentation times
Week 3: 25 September -- Invertebrate navigation 2, article presentations begin
Week 4: 2 October -- Invertebrate navigation 3, article presentations, research proposals due
Week 5: 9 October -- Vertebrate navigation 1, article presenatations
Week 6: 16 October -- Vertebrate navigation 2, article presentations end, research presentations begin
Week 7: 23 October -- Vertebrate navigation 3, research presentations
Week 8: 30 October -- Experimental psychology studies of vertebrates 1,
Week 9: 6 November -- Experimental psychology studies of vertebrates 2, research presentations
Week 10: 13 November -- Human navigation 1, research presentations
Week 11: 20 November -- Human navigation 2, research presentations
Week 12: 27 November -- Computer and robotic systems, research presentations
Week 13: 4 December -- Final exam, research papers due
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