What is Real?

(4 Credits)

Is there something you believe that helps you to act effectively, relieves stress, makes you a better person—but that you sometimes think may just be an illusion? Recent work in many disciplines indicates that the things we take for granted—what we see, hear, feel, etc.—are arguably illusions. Visual illusions are well-documented and frequently amusing but there are "cognitive illusions" as well: we frequently find consistent patterns in human decision making that are frankly erroneous. We are confident—and we are wrong. The claims that we have an accurate picture of the world and that we make decisions that lead us to the goals we intend are under attack. This seminar covers the main issues, theories, and experimental results in perceptual organization, decision making, and related work in cognitive neuroscience. Readings come from such fields as psychology, economics, biology, neuroscience, and even physics, but the course requires no specific background in any of these disciplines.