Gordon E. Legge

Teaching Interests and Advising

Gordon teaches a course on Visual Perception (Psy. 5-031) during Fall Semester every other year--2001, 2003, ... The course introduces students to known principles andcontemporary theories of visual perception. The main topicsinclude: light and vision, image formation in the eye, sensory coding of patterns, color vision, depth perception, object recognition, and impaired vision. The course is meant for advanced undergrads and grad students. Majors from many areas will find the course interesting, including psychology, biology, computer science, engineering, art, and design.

Gordon teaches a course on The Psychology of Human-Machine Interaction(Psy. 5-051) during Fall Semester in even years--2000, 2002, ... The course shows how psychological findings on cognition, perception and motor control can be applied to the evaluation and design of human-machine systems. Examples are taken from many sources including telepresence, lie detection, virtual reality, graphical-user interfaces, and the problems encountered by people with visual disabilities. Students are introduced to methods from information theory and signal-detection theory. An important partof the course is the team project. Teams of students work together to design an improved human-machine interface. This course is for advanced undergrads and grad students. It appeals to students from many fields including psychology, education, engineering, and computer science.

Gordon teaches a course on Perceptual Issues in Visual Impairment (Psy. 4-036) during Winter Semester in odd years--2001, 2003, ... This course applies contemporary research findings to an improved understanding of the real-world abilities of vision-impaired people. Each class session is divided between lecture and hands-on lab exercises with state-of-the-art adaptive technology. Topics include:

Prevalence of low-vision and blindness
Three dimensions of vision loss (acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual field)
Auditory and tactile perception
Brain-imaging studies
Reading and low vision
Braille reading
Synthetic speech
Adaptive technology for reading
Space perception
Navigational technology (ranging from canes to GPS)
Driving with low vision
Object recognition and face recognition
Adaptive technology for computer access
Recreational activities.

This course is designed for a variety of audiences including Psychology majors and students with related interests, people with vision impairment, students with career interests in rehabilitation or eye care (special education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, pre-optometry, pre-med, or nursing), and professionals with related interests such as special education

Gordon also teaches graduate seminars on special topics in visual perception(Psy. 8-031). During the Fall Semester 2001, Gordon Legge and Dan Kersten are co-teaching a seminar on functional studies of human visual cortex using fMRI.

Lab meetings occur weekly to discuss new findings from the lab and the research literature. Interested students from outside the lab may attend these meetings for class credit (Psy. 8-993.)

Gordon has been privileged to supervise the following Ph.D. dissertations:

Klitz T.S. The Effect of Visual Span Size and simulated Central Scotomas on Reading Performance. Univ. of Minnesota, 2000.

Beckmann P.J. Preneural Factors Limiting Letter Identification in Central and Peripheral Vision. Univ. of Minnesota, 1998.

Braje W.L. The Role of Shadows in Human Object Recognition. Univ. of Minnesota, 1997.

Tjan B.S. Ideal Observer Analysis of Object Recognition. Univ. of Minnesota, 1996.

Hilton J. The Role of Viewpoint-Invariant Properties in Visual Object Recognition. Univ. of Minnesota, 1995.

Akutsu H. Simultaneous Detection and Discrimination of Luminance Patterns. Univ. of Minnesota, 1995.

Riley V. Human Use of Automation. Univ. of Minnesota, 1994.

Isenberg L.M. Attention in Foveal and Peripheral Vision. Univ. of Minnesota, 1992.

Gu Y. Efficiency of Localizing Visual Signals in Noise. Univ. of Minnesota, 1990.

Kersten D. A Comparison of Human and Ideal Performance for the Detection of Visual Pattern. Univ. of Minnesota, 1983.

Rubin G.S. Suppression and Summation in Binocular Pattern Vision. Univ. of Minnesota, 1983.

Cheung S.H. Plasticity of the visual system following visual impairment. Univ. of Minnesota , 2005.

Ortiz A. Perceptual properties of letter recognition in central and peripheral vision. Univ. of Minnesota , 2002.

Gordon has also supervised several excellent undergraduate honors students. Three recently completed honors projects were:

Dan Owens.(Biology major). Can Reading Speed be Predicted from the Size of the Visual Span?

Steve Harland (Psychology major). A Comparison of Reading Speed for Four Types of Electronic Magnification.

Jeremy Jobling (Psychology major). Combining Color and Luminance Contours in Object Recognition.