For example, students are given the blind spot phenomenon to demonstrate to themselves and to study. Students put an object at a certain angle from their left eye, then close their right eye. Students then apply a formula to determine the visual angle on the retina and the relative approximate location of the blind spot. For example, with the blind spot experience, students record their data and observations, describe the experience, then explain what the demonstration revealed and what they learned about the blind spot, the optic perceptual system, and how that system processes information. Included in the journals are informal notes of conditions and experiences while they are happening, to ensure that students don't forget observations that may later prove critical in explaining phenomena.
Students hand in their journals weekly.
The instructor and teaching assistant read them and return them with comments. While students are not required to revise, they should show improvement in writing and analytical skills with each successive journal report. At the end of the semester, the journals are graded as a whole and as a record of progression in writing about perceptual analysis. Not only does this activity encourage students to think analytically and write in the manner of a perceptionist, but it also exposes them to the many levels of analysis employed in explaining perceptual phenomena. The weekly writings, as miniature versions of a research report, provide successive practice and a gradual building of confidence.