Module manager: Professor Richard Wilkie
Email: r.m.wilkie@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
Successful completion of all pass for progression modules in Level 2 of: BSc Psychology or MPsyc, BSc Advanced Psychology or BA Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Thought (and its International and Industrial variants)
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Students will specialise in conceptual and theoretical issues relating to 'The Spatial World'.
This research oriented module addresses the fundamental issue of how we successfully interact with the world around us, with particular emphasis on the skills of locomotion and navigation control.
The key elements of this module will examine the nature of the sensory information supporting these activities, how sensory information is processed (with reference to the underlying neuronal brain structures), and finally how our understanding of brain structures impacts upon our view of how we achieve real-world interactions.
On completion of this module students should be able to:
- demonstrate an understanding of the sensory inputs which are used for controlling locomotion and navigation, and how these could be integrated.
- show awareness of the different frames of reference which are used for different real-world interactions, and be familiar with the reasons for this.
- show how neuropsychology provides useful evidence for understanding how sensory information is processed and represented.
- evaluate experimental evidence (both animal and human) for distinct functional neural structures (e.g. cell and stream specialisation)
- show an understanding of recent behavioural & neuroscience research which examines locomotion (and interception) and navigation (and spatial memory).
- critical and independent evaluation of individual journal articles.
- Sensory Integration
- Spatial Coordinate Frames (Egocentric vs Allocentric)
- Spatial Neurons
- Space and Memory
- Navigation
- Perception/Action Streams
- Locomotion
Lectures will be delivered online.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-line Learning | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| Lecture | 10 | 1.5 | 15 |
| Private study hours | 129 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 21 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 150 | ||
- 3 hours preparation for each lecture: 30 hours
- Preparation for online tutorials (including directed reading): 16 hours
- Preparation for and writing of 3 page research-style essay (including directed reading): 56 hours
- Preparation for end of semester MCQ exam (including directed reading): 30 hours.
Contribution to live online seminars.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Essay | Length = 3 pages | 60 |
| Tutorial Performance | Submission No 1, length = 300 words | 0 |
| Tutorial Performance | Submission No 1, length = 300 words | 0 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 60 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated.
| Exam type | Exam duration | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Online Time-Limited assessment | 1.0 Hrs 0 Mins | 40 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Exams) | 40 | |
The exam will test your breadth of understanding across the module material. It is a 1 hour high-level MCQ exam, with approximately 2 minutes to complete each question.
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 18/12/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team