Cognitive Psychology I

This course will be a broad overview of most fundamental processes, concepts, models, research methods, and classic studies in the field of cognitive psychology. Through lectures, demonstrations, discussions in the class, and mostly – through your own reading and thinking, you will gain an understanding of principles of human cognition.

The course will cover major areas of cognitive psychology including its historical foundations, basics of neurocognition, perception, attention, knowledge, imagery, language, problem solving, decision making and motor cognition. The course will mostly have the lecture format with the majority of input coming from the lecturer, slides, and the coursebook. However, student’s active participation is encouraged through questions during the class and activity in the course online forum. The course will present only the most fundamental theories and research findings within cognitive psychology, however, students we will take a more focused view on three issues: the status of consciousness in cognitive science, the structure of concepts, and one of their own choice. They will read a discussion, review, and research paper and present their reflections on these papers in the form of a short essay. We will pay special attention to clarifying the links between theory and empirical data to raise our ability to critically evaluate scientific claims about the mental phenomena.

Main handbooks are:

 Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind,

Research, and Everyday Experience (4nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson

Wadsworth.

 Braisby, N. & Gellatly, A. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 2 nd Edition.

Oxford: Oxford University Press

 Smith, E.E. & Kosslyn, S.M. (2009). Cognitive Psychology: Mind and

Brain. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Additional reading:

 Eysenck, M.W. & Keane M.T. (2015). Cognitive Psychology:

a student’s handbook, 7 th Edition. Hove: Psychology Press

1. Introduction to the course and Cognitive Psychology

 Goldstein, chapter 1

2. Cognitive revolution

 Goldstein, chapter 1

3. How the brain gives rise to mind

 Goldstein, chapter 2

 Discussion on reading: Searle, J.R. (1980) Minds, brains, and

programs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 417-424.

 Writing assignment which is due the preceding day

4. Perceptual processes

 Goldstein, chapter 3

5. Perceptual processes

 Braisby & Gellatly, chapter 2

6. Attention

 Goldstein, chapter 4

7. Attention and consciousness

 Braisby & Gellatly, chapter 2

8. Midterm exam

9. Knowledge

 Goldstein, chapter 9

 Discussion on reading Medin, D. L. (1989). Concepts and

conceptual structure. American Psychologist, 44, 1469-1481.

 Writing assignment which is due the preceding day

10. Visual imagery

 Goldstein, chapter 10

11. Language

 Goldstein, chapter 11

12. Problem solving

 Goldstein, chapter 12

13. Reasoning and decisions

 Goldstein, chapter 13

 Presentations of Psych Science papers; readings to be

announced

 Writing assignment due on the preceding day

14. Motor cognition

 Smith & Kosslyn, chapter 11 pages 452-456; 464-473

15. Summary and revision

1. To gain an overview of the major areas of study in cognitive psychology, including their research methods.

2. To think critically about psychological theories and the connection between data and theory.

3. To evaluate the real-world implications of cognitive psychology.

Exams: 60 points

The exams will consist of a combination of multiple-choice and open

questions:

 Midterm exam - 5 open ended questions - 10 points, and 20 multiple-choice questions - 20 points (a total of 30 points) will cover introduction to cognitive psychology, brain, research

methods in cognitive psychology, perception and attention

 Final Exam - 5 open ended questions - 10 points, and 20 multiple choice questions - 20 points (a total of 30 points) will cover the remaining topics.

Tests will be designed to assess your understanding of the concepts, principles, theories, and empirical findings in cognitive psychology.

Writing assignments and discussion: 20 points

There will be four short (500-700 words) written assignments; you can obtain up to 5 points for each of them.

Questions: 20 points

To give you a rough idea on how the responses to questions will be graded, a correct response to the question that is the length of a short abstract (about 100 words), written in your own words (not a direct quotation) counts as 1 point. When to respond to the questions? The responses will receive a bonus if provided before the corresponding class. This is to incentivize reading the coursebook before the class. If you post the response after the class, the score will be reduced. This is to promote systematic learning. Responding to the questions gives you a chance to develop scientific writing skills. One of the key aspects of scientific writing is recognizing sources, that is, providing references to the sources you rely on in making an argument. If you make a direct citation you need to signal this by using quotation marks. You need to provide an unambiguous description of the sources for each post, e.g. a link or author(s) surname(s) and date of publication, unless the post only contains your own opinion, description or question. Posts without the proper use of references will not be graded.

Quizzes

After each class a short quiz (5-10 multiple-choice questions per quiz) will be provided via COME platform. In order to pass the course, you need to take all the quizzes.

Grades

The final grade depends on the number of points obtained throughout the semester. 40% of all points can be obtained by submitting questions and writing assignments. Exams (midterm

and final) cover 60% of all points.

Grade Grade Points out of 100

Outstanding 5! 95-100

Excellent 5.0 90-94

Very good 4.5 80-89

Good 4.0 70-79

Satisfactory 3.5 60-69

Sufficient 3.0 50-59

Fail 2.0 below 50

No more than 2 unexcused absences are allowed. No more than 4 absences overall are allowed

Students must respect the principles of academic integrity. Cheating and plagiarism (including copying work from other students, internet or other sources) are serious violations that are punishable and instructors are required to report all cases to the administration.