SYLLABUS

Type of information
Name of the lecturer(s)

Content
Iwona Pomianowska

Academic degree
PhD
Affiliation
LUCA - School of Arts (Campus Sint-Lukas Brussel)
Course title
Visual Perception of Film and Media
Course type (lecture,
seminar, class); number of
hours; number of ECTS

Seminar
30h
3 pt ECTS
elective course
Group of the course:
2. Cognitive Psychology

Brief course description

Main objectives of the course:
Insight into the workflow of media creation and
the investigation of factors determining the visual perception
of the media
Survey on the experimental work being done in the film
and media domains
Inventing practical solutions to improve the media creation
process
Full course description
The perception of complex visual stimulation on TV, Film
and Internet depends on the viewers perceptual capacities
and the spread of visual attention. Understanding the visual
perception of the current media is crucial in the visual media
creation process as well as in the conceptualization of visual
messages designated for the wide public. The importance of
the visual information processing cannot be underestimated
in the everyday information workflow in the age of omniscient
electronic media. It determines peoples functioning and
the adaptation to the contemporary social environment.
Therefore it is of high importance to train future cognitive
psychologist to understand the visual media creation as well as
its perception by the viewers so that they can engage themselves
in the future visual information workflow, whether it concerns

TV broadcast, Film production, graphic and Internet design

or visual advertisement. Through the cognitive psychology
of visual perception the visual media creation workflow can be
improved by adjusting it to recipients perceptual capacities,
needs, and communication styles.
The aim of the course is to analyze the issues of attention
and the visual perception that enable spectators to engage in
the visual media communication. Discussed will be the
influence of the visual design factors (color, luminance, shape,
edge orientations and motion) on the perception and visual
attention distribution over the screen while watching a filmic
material. Additionally, we will try to answer the question, how
the visual attention distribution over the shot determines
the understanding of the movie itself.
List of topics*
1. Presentation of the theoretical and practical issues concerning
the visual media creation and its perception. These problems
will concern:
a) Visual Attention, Selective Attention how do they affect
Film Perception?
b) Factors influencing the spread of the viewers visual attention
while watching the Media:
- Luminance and Colour perception
- The object-ground perceptual organization of the content of
an image
c) Motion perception how does it determine Film
Perception?
- The perception of spatial relations in movie
- The perception of 3D depth on the 2-dimensional screen
d) Social cues perception and its influence on movie perception
- Perception of the human body and the human image and
how that affets the visual attention of the viewer
- The causality perception and attribution in movies
2. Review of the experimental work being done within the film
and media domain.
3. Presentation of the most interesting examples within Film
and Media of solving particular perceptual problems
Prerequisites for
students**

This seminar is based on students practical work therefore

it is required from them to be ready to work on image materials
using a/any graphical editor, which allows on the visual
elements manipulation (e.g., a PowerPoint application).

Learning outcomes
A Learning Outcome, thus what a candidate is expected to have
learned after successfully completing a syllabus item, is as
follows:
- The students understand the fundamentals of the visual
perception of film and media and they can formulate the most
prominent problems/issues of human perception within the
visual media creation.
- The students are able to explain and illustrate the principals
of visual attention distribution over the screen while watching
a filmic material as well as the image-factors having influence
on that.
- They can recognize and identify potential problems in the
media creation process concerning the reception of the visual
information.
- They can apply knowledge and concepts on Visual Perception
to derive potential improvements into the media design in order
to facilitate the recipients understanding of the visual
message.
Assessment methods
and criteria***

Grading:
There will be a number of points, which are required to be
obtained in order to pass this class. The quantity of points
determines the grade. Attendance is obligatory.
Students will be obliged to fulfill two practical tasks. Each task
will be separately evaluated:
- A PowerPoint presentation based on one of the chapters from
the M.Livingstones book Vision and Art, The biology of
seeing
- One piece of practical homework containing a movie analysis
Grading scale:

49 50 points = 5!
46 48 points = 5
41 45 points = 4,5
36 40 points = 4
31 35 points = 3,5
26 - 30 points = 3
<25 points = failed
Presentation: There will be one obligatory presentation (15-20
minutes) on The role of visual attention in perception of
a film scene. Students will be able to choose one of the topics
concerning the human visual perception described in the book

of Margaret Livingstone Vision and Art, The biology of

vision (2002) and apply this theoretical background to their
own practice, observations and research. Further details will be
provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course. The
presentation will be given by students individually or in groups
(dependently on the number of students) during the second and
the third session. The maximum score for the presentation is 30
points.
Homework: There will be one obligatory piece of homework,
which will be based on practical work of students. It will be
based on material and information provided by the instructor
during the first session. The maximum score for this task is 20
points.
Learning activities
and teaching methods

Time management of the course: the course can be spread over

the duration of two weeks (not two weeks one after another!)
Number of course hours: 30 hours.
(preferred time period: end of December 2013/ first part of
January 2014)
Session 1:
1. Introduction to the topic of the course and organizational
information concerning the students evaluation. Scheduling
of the individual presentations.
2. Review of the practical issues concerning the visual media
creation and its perception. There will be shown a selection
of short movie fragments, which will help students to visualize
the problems of communication through the visual media and
the current challenges of viewers visual perception.
3. Work in groups. Students will be introduced to the practical
problems from the media creation process. These problems will
concern: Visual Attention, Selective Attention how do they
affect Film Perception?
Session 2:
1. Students presentations on a chosen media creation issue.
2. Presentation of the experimental work being done within
the film and media domain. A chance will be given to students
to participate in the small experiment in order to grasp the
importance of psychological research in understanding media
perception.
3. Work in groups. Students will be introduced to the practical
problems from the media creation process. These problems will
concern: Motion perception how does it determine Film
Perception?

Session 3:
1. Students presentations on a chosen media creation issue.
2. Presentation of the most interesting examples of students
practical homework.
3. Work in groups. Students will be introduced to the practical
problems from the media creation process. These problems will
concern: Social cues perception and its influence on movie
perception
4. Final evaluation.
Bibliography****
1. Livingstone, Margaret (2002). Vision and art, the biology of
seeing. Harry N. Abrams.
2. Bordwell, David & Thompson, Kristin. (2003). Film Art: An
Introduction (Ninth edition ed.). International edition: McGrawHill.
3. Malamed, Connie. (2009) Visual Language for Designers:
Principles for creating graphics that people understand.
Beverly, Massachusetts: Rockport Publishers.
Remarks
Information on Instructor:
Education:
MA Diploma in Psychology, Warsaw University
(Diploma Honorificum); Thesis on Cognitive
Psychology Visual Perception
BA Diploma in Inter-Faculty Studies of
Multimedial Forms and Editing; The Leon Schiller
State Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in
Lodz (PWSFTiTv)
Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics; School of
Computer Science and Statistics, OReilly Institute,
University of Dublin, Trinity College Dublin
PhD in Experimental Psychology, The Multisensory
Cognition Research Laboratory, Trinity College
Institute of Neuroscience, Dublin, Ireland.
Graphic Design courses at LUCA - School of Arts
(expected date of obtaining Master degree: May 2014)

Current place of work:

Colaboration with prof. Karl Verfaillie, The Experimental
Psychology Lab, The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Teaching in National Polish Film, Television and Theatre
School in Lodz
Film Editor position & Graphic Designer in VRT (Vlaamse
Radio- en Televisieomroep) the national television in
Belgium.
Contact:
iwona.pom@gmail.com
phone: +32(0)495.273.853
Teaching experience:
Teaching in National Polish Film, Television and
Theatre School in Lodz, (2008-2013). Course on
Psychophysiology of Perception (3 x 30h).
Supervision and co-supervision on bachelor thesiss
(number: 3).
Teaching at the Psychology Department, the Warsaw
University, Poland, (2009 2013). Elective course on
Visual Perception of Film and Media. Languages:
Polish (2 x 30h) and English (1 x 30h; 2x15h).
Publications:
Articles:
Pomianowska I, Germeys F, Verfaillie K and Newell FN
(2012) The role of social cues in the deployment of spatial
attention: head-body relationships automatically activate
directional spatial codes in a Simon task. Front. Integr.
Neurosci. 6:4.
Germeys, F., Pomianowska, I., De Graef, P., Zaenen, P.,
Verfaillie, K. (2010) Endogenous cueing attenuates object
substitution masking. Psychological research, 74, 422428.
Pomianowska, I., Germeys, F., Verfaillie, K., & Newell, F. N.
(2010). The role of integrated information of head and
body orientation in the analysis of social attention
direction in an adapted Stroop task. Unpublished
manuscript.
Pomianowska, I., Germeys, F., Verfaillie, K., & Newell, F. N.
(2010). The perception of where another person is
attending: Integration of head and body orientation in the

process of joint attention. Unpublished manuscript.

Published abstracts of posters and oral presentations:
Pomianowska, I., Bonroy, J., Germeys, F., & Newell, F. N.
(2009, August). The role of integrated head and body
orientation on the allocation of spatial attention. Poster
session presented at 32nd European Conference on Visual
Perception (ECVP), Regensburg, Germany.
Pomianowska, I., Newell, F. N., Kilianova, T., & Germeys F.
(2009, June). Processing of action components in human
body poses: Incongruent head-body orientations
automatically generate spatially defined codes in a Simon
task. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Belgian
Association for Psychological Science (BAPS), Brussels,
Belgium.
Pomianowska, I., Chan, J. S., & Newell, F. N. (2008, July).
Action perception from audio-visual cues: the role of
human voice and body orientation in determining locus of
attention. Poster session presented at the 9th Annual
Meeting of International Multisensory Research Forum
(IMRF), Hamburg, Germany.
Pomianowska, I., Germeys, F., & Newell, F. N. (2008, April).
Social perception from visual cues: The role of body
orientation in the computation of attention direction.
Poster session presented at the Annual Conference of The
British Psychological Society (BPS), Dublin, Republic of
Ireland.
* If it applies to your course, please link topics with appropriate readings so that students
know which article or book chapter they need to read for a given class.
** To be filled only if there are courses which are to be taken in advance or special range of
knowledge, skills or other competences should be achieved by a student before taking this
course.
*** Specify requirements for completing the course. If it finishes with an exam, write its form
(written/oral). For written form please specify if it would be a test: multiple choice or open
questions. If you think attendance should be obligatory, please make it clear in the syllabus,
for example: 2 absences are possible, the 3rd absence results in additional work and 4 or more
absences result in failing the course. This is just an example, you can set your own attendance
rules.
**** If the book you need for your course is not in our library and you would like us to buy it,
please write here: studies@psych.uw.edu.pl.