Department of Psychology

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

 

Psychology  20

Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Spring 2004

 

Time:        TR  12:30pm-1:45pm                                  Place:                   101 Davie Hall

Instructor:  Dr. Ute Bayen, Assoc. Prof.                      Phone:       962-6729                                                

Office:      362 Davie                                                 Email:                    ubayen@unc.edu                                      

Mailbox:    206 Davie                                                 Office Hours:  will be announced                                            

 

Course Objectives: 

How does our mind work?  How do we remember, and why do we forget?  How do children acquire language?  Why do older adults become "forgetful" (or do they)?  Do people think logically and make rational decisions?  Can computers "think"?  How do current scientific theories answer these questions, and is there empirical evidence to support them?  These and other issues will be discussed in this comprehensive survey of the field of cognitive psychology. 

 

Required:

     Text:   Reed, S. K. (2004). Cognition. Theory and Applications (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

     CD and Manual: CogLab (2004). Wadsworth.

Optional:  Study Guide to accompany Reed’s Cognition.           (all available in Student Stores)

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Class Schedule

Jan.  8                          Introduction

Jan. 13                          Origins of Cognitive Psychology (Ch. 1, pp. 1-7; CogLab Manual pp.iii-ix)

                                    CogLab CD assignment: testing the CD and printing

Jan. 15                          Modern Cognitive Psychology and its Domains (Ch. 1, pp. 7-14)

Jan. 20                          Perception and Pattern Recognition (Ch. 2, pp. 17-30, 35-40)

                                    CogLab assignment: Word Superiority

Jan. 22                          Attention (Ch. 3)

                                    CogLab assignment: Stroop Effect

Jan. 27                          Memory Models (Ch. 5, pp. 100-103; Ch. 2, pp. 38-40)

                                    CogLab assignment: Serial Position

Jan. 29                          Sensory Memory (Ch. 2, 30-34)

                                    CogLab assignment: Partial Report

Feb. 3                           Short-Term and Working Memory (Ch.4)

                                    CogLab assignment: Sternberg Search

Feb. 5                          Exam 1

Feb. 10, 12                    Episodic Long-Term Memory (Ch. 5 and 6)  

                                    CogLab assignment: Encoding Specificity (due Feb. 10)                                   

Feb. 17                         Models of Semantic Memory (Ch. 9, pp. 213-235)

                                    CogLab assignment: Lexical Decision

Feb. 19                                    No Class, instructor in D.C. for NIH Perception and Cognition grant proposal reviews

Feb. 24                         Concepts & Categories (Ch. 8); Schemas & Scripts (Ch. 9, 235-243)                        

Feb. 26, Mar 2              Imagery (Ch. 7) 

                                    CogLab assignment: Mental Rotation (due Feb. 26)               

Mar. 4                          Language (Ch. 10)

Mar. 9, 11                   No Class (Spring Break)

Mar. 16, 18                   Language (Ch. 11)                                          

Mar. 23                       Exam 2

Mar. 25                                    Problem Solving (Ch. 12)

Mar. 30                                    Reasoning (Ch. 13, pp. 329-338)

                                    CogLab assignment: Wason Selection Task  

Apr. 1, 6                       Judgement and Decision Making (Ch. 14)

                                    CogLab assignment: Typical Reasoning         (due Apr. 1)

Apr. 8                           Cognitive Development in Children

                                    CogLab assignment: Make-Up (any of the above)

Apr. 13                         Cognitive Aging

Apr. 15                         Current Research in the Bayen Lab

Apr. 20                         Artificial Intelligence

Apr. 22                                    Exam 3

 

Apr. 29, 12 noon    Exam 4  (comprehensive Final Exam)

 

The dates listed for particular topics are approximate dates. Depending on students' interests we might spend more or less time on particular topics.

 

Lectures:

The content of lectures will range from a close correspondence with the textbook to the presentation of material not covered in the textbook at all.  Regular class attendance is expected.  If you have to miss a class session you are responsible for making up what you have missed.  Please ask one of your classmates for notes and handouts.  I cannot provide notes and handouts for missed lectures.  If, however, you must miss several classes because of prolonged illness or an emergency situation, please contact me to discuss the material you missed.

 

Class participation:

Active class participation is strongly encouraged.  Students who, at the end of the semester, have only a few points missing to reach the next higher course grade and have actively participated in class will receive the higher grade.  I will often ask your opinion on issues, and I hope we will have lively discussions.  Please also let me know when you would like repetition or clarification of a point.  Please raise your hand when you would like to answer a questions or contribute to a discussion.

 

CogLab experiments and written assignments

      The CogLab CD allows you to run demonstrations of important experiments on your computer. You will do each experiment listed in the schedule above, answer some questions about it and hand in your results and written responses.

For these assignments please do the following:

1. During the first week of classes, test your CogLab CD, make sure you fulfil the technical requirements (e.g., you have access to a computer and printer that can run the experiments and print out results, respectively). Also read the general introduction in the Manual (pp. iii to ix).

2. For each assigned experiment, read the explanation of the experiment in your CogLab manual.

3. Using the CogLab CD, click on the assigned experiment.

4. Make sure to enter your name so that the results printout will have your name on it.

5. Read the instructions on the computer screen.

6. Run the experiment (complete all trials).

7. Save your results (on your harddrive or a floppy disk from where you can print).

8. Make a printout of your results (summary results, not trial by trial). Make sure this printout has your name printed on it to prove that you did the experiment.

9. Answer in writing three questions from the “basic questions” listed in your CogLab Manual. For most experiments, there are only three basic questions in the Manual. If there are more, you may pick any three of them. Please write the title of the experiment on top of the first page and your name in the upper right corner of the first page. The papers must be typed. You may use your book (or other books) and/or your class notes to answer the questions if that is helpful. However, you may not discuss an assignment with your classmates until you have handed it in. 

10. To hand in the assignment, firmly staple your paper (i.e., answer to questions) and the printout of your experiment results together (no paper clips!), with your paper on top.  

11. Hand in the assignment before class on the due date.

 

      There are 10 such assignments, each worth 10 points.  You can thus earn a total of 100 points by completing them. I will read each paper, but I will not give differential grades, that is, every student who completes the experiment, answers three questions to the best of his/her ability, and hands in the assignment on time will receive 10 points. The due dates for handing in a specific homework assignment are listed in the course schedule.  The papers are due at 12:30pm (start of class). No late assignments will be accepted (no exceptions!). However, if you have to miss an assignments because of an emergency, illness, or technical difficulties you can make up this one assignment and hand it in on April 8. You can only do one such make-up assignment. I do not accept e-mailed assignments.   

 

Exams.

      There will be four exams in this class. The first three exams will include material that was covered in class, in assigned readings, and in written assignments between two exams (e.g., Exam 3 includes what was covered between Exam 2 and Exam 3). The forth exam is a comprehensive Final Exam during finals week. The final covers material from the entire course. Exams will consist of multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer questions.  All exams are closed-book.  Every one of the four exams will be graded on a 0 to 100 point scale.

      Only your three strongest exams will be counted toward your course grade. That is, I will ignore the exam on which you received the lowest number of points.  However, I will not give make-up exams. The points from your three best exams will be added up.  Thus, you can achieve a total of 300 points for exams. 

 

Course Grade.

Points from your written assignments (up to 100 points) and from your three best exams (up to 300 points) will be added up to determine your course grade. Your  course grade is determined by the percentage points you reach. Grades will be assigned as follows:

Grade               Percent

A         =             100-94

A-        =               93-90

B+        =               89-87               

B          =               86-84                           

B-        =               83-80

C+        =               79-77

C          =               76-74

C-        =               73-70

D+       =               69-67

D         =               66-60

F          =               59 or less

 

Honor Code.  The University Honor Code will be reinforced.  Any violation will be reported to the Student Attorney General.  Violations of the honor code include any form of academic dishonesty such as cheating, plagiarism, or the deliberate misrepresentation of fact.  If you have any questions regarding the Honor Code, please ask me.