Fall 2019
Class: SCC 246: MWF 9:20-10:30 AM | Instructor: John H. Krantz, Ph.D. |
Lab: SCC 148: R 9:45-11:45 AM | Office: Science Center 151 |
Text: Cognitive Psychology: In and Out of the Laboratory, 6th Ed., Kathleen Galotti | Phone: x7316; Calendar email: krantzj@hanover.edu |
Sep 8
I have finally determined office hours. They are listed above on
the syllabus.
Sep 2
Welcome to the Cognition. I hope you had an enjoyable summer.
All changes to the course will be posted here as well as announced in
class. In addition, if new resources become available, you will be
able to find them here. Also, read
this paper about replication in psychology. We will discuss this
paper in class on Friday, Sep 6.
What is this course that you are embarking upon? What is cognition? In the most basic terms cognition is the action of the brain or mind to understand the world around us and to determine an appropriate action. To unpack that bare bones definition, there are many activities that are required. For example, you need to perceive the world around you, remember past events to compare present events to, select the important parts of the world to attend to, store what has been learned from the current experience for later use, understand and transmit language, etc.
Course Objectives: My primary goal for this course is to develop your ability to think soundly and well using the material of cognitive psychology. As part of this goal you will need to comprehend the substance and methods of cognitive psychology.
Major Objectives: In the context of this major, this course is an upper level lab based course. As such the department has specified some goals for you. First, the department wants to develop a more independent level of thinking as you progress through the major. Thus, there will be less structure to the course and you will be given some responsibility for assignments. As part of this goal, you will also be asked to develop your own cognitive theory. Second, the department wants to have you prepared more for an independent research project which forms the senior capstone experience. Thus, you will be asked to design and implement a small research project to present at the end of the semester.
I want you to consider the text book not so much as a document as to the current nature of cognitive psychology, which is its attempt, but as a theory of cognitive psychology, which is what it is. The author tries to present several theories about cognitive psychology but definitely has an overall sense of how cognition works that guides his presentation. It would be dishonest to do otherwise, to present a theory or idea that he believes is demonstrably false just for the sake of balance. So as you read, read with your critical mind awake critiquing the ideas and using the evidence you have at hand to determine what you think is correct. A truism in science is that most major discoveries are made by those new in the field that have unjaundiced eyes. Thus your inexperience may be a great benefit is seeing what those more experienced may miss or misunderstand. In addition, wherever possible you will be given as set of studies to do (the data are due by 3:00 pm on the Friday before they are discussed). We will used the data from our class as a jumping off point for discussion.
Class Behavior Rules
Day/Date | Topic | Reading/Assignment |
Week 1 |
Cognitive
Psychology: History, Methods, and Paradigms Discussion of Replication Paper on Friday Statistical Decision Making |
Ch. 1 |
Week
2 |
The Brain: An Overview of Structure and Function |
Ch. 2 |
Week
3 |
Perception: Recognizing Patterns and Objects |
Ch. 3 |
Week
4 |
Attention: Deploying Cognitive Resources | Ch 4 CogLab: Brown-Peterson, Memory Span, Sternberg Search, Suffix Effect, Serial Position Effect, Phonological Similarity Data by Friday. |
Week
5 |
Working Memory: Forming and Using New Memory Traces |
Ch 5 |
Week
6 |
Retrieving Memories from Long-Term Storage |
Ch 6 |
Week
7 |
The Reconstructive Nature of Memory/Knowledge Representation: Storing and Organizing Information in Long Term Memory |
Ch 7 & 8 |
F | ||
Week 8 |
Winter Break | |
Week
9 WFM |
Visual Imagery and Spatial Cognition | Ch 9 CogLab: Lexical Decision, Categorical Perception-Identification, Word Superiority Effect Data by Friday |
Week
10 |
Language | Ch 10 CogLab: Prototypes, Typical Reasoning, Monty Hall, Risky Decisions, Wason Selection Task Data by Friday |
Week
11 |
Thinking and Problem Solving | Ch 11 Illustration of McClelland and Rumelhart's Theory Cog Lab: Decision Making Data by Friday |
Week
12 WFM |
Reasoning and Decision Making |
Ch 12
|
Week 13 MWF |
Individual Differences in Cognition | Ch 14 Other Source: Basic Hebbian Learning Data by Friday. |
Week
14 MWF |
Artificial Intelligence | |
Lab Period | Laboratory/Article |
Lab 1 | Stroop I/Stroop, J. R. (1933) Studies of Interference in Serial Verbal Reactions |
Lab 2 | Stroop II |
Lab 3 | Stroop III |
Lab 4 | Stroop Report due/Project Idea Due/Human Subject Form Draft Needed/CITI Training/Discuss Projects |
Lab 5 | DRM False Memory I//Roediger & McDermott (1995) Creating False Memories: Remembering Words Not Presented in Lists |
Lab 6 | DRM False Memory II |
Lab 7 | DRM False Memory III |
Lab 8 | Lab Paper Due/Final Project Time |
Lab 9 | Final Project Time |
Lab 10 | Final Project Time |
Lab 11 | Final Project Time |
Lab 12 | Final Project Time/Practice Presentation/Draft of Paper Due |
Last Lab | Project Presentations |
In Class Data
Most weeks you will be required to collect some data from cognition related experiments. That data will be due the Friday of the week before we use that data by 2:30 pm. Most of the experments are in the CogLab cd's and are listed as such above. There are a few experiments that draw on other sites, they have links indicated above. You will need to enter the data in class excel sheets on the class sharepoint site. This data is central to our class discussions and lack of participation in the data collection is a serious lack of class participation. Data entry is worth a total of 100 points.
Exams
Over the course of the semester there will be two exams. These exams will be in an mixed format of Multiple Choice, short answer, and essays. Each exam is cumulative and therefore each exam is worth more points. The points are awarded as follows:
Laboratories and Their Reports
For the first laboratory, we are going to focus on two skills that many psychology students struggle with: Data representation and interpretation. These are arts and do not follow abosolute rules though there are better and worse ways to do each. To do these skills takes time and thought and cannot be well done at the last minute. For this lab you will hand in a full APA paper written in APA format. The data are to be clearly presented, analyzed and interpreted. TAKE TIME ON THIS STEP. This assignment is worth 75 points.
For the second laboratory you write of a brief paper describing the lab and the results from the lab. The format of the reports will be APA. You have had APA format before so you are expected to be familiar with writing papers in this format. This is a more complicated study so take your time on the data analysis and, in particular, the data interpretation. The labs are to be submitted in a Word format on the due date indicated. This lab report is worth 100 points.
Please download Jamovi which is an open source statistics program that is easier to use than SPSS. The web address is jamovi.org.
Lab 1 75 points Lab 2 100 points
Final Laboratory Project
In teams of two or three, you will design and conduct an experiment in the realm of cognitive psychology. To prepare you for this project, you need to develop teams and develop an idea for the project by the lab period set aside to discuss the projects. During this lab the class will act a research group. Each team will present their project idea and the whole class will discuss the project, anticipate projects and suggest solutions and improvements. At the end of the term you will present the project in written, and oral formats. The paper is due on Thursday of dead week. The paper will be submitted in a Word format by 5:00 pm that day. For your assistance, here is a link to past PowerPoints, and in some cases papers, from past projects.
The points for the various parts of this project are:
Initial Presentation of Idea 25 points Oral Presentation 75 points Written Version 75 points
- Additional Forms
- Human Subject Application - required at the time initial presentation
- Sign-up Sheet - as an example that might be helpful
To help ensure that students actively participate there is a participation grade of 100 points. Attendance alone cannot but provide for half of these points. As stated above, sharing of your views and critiquing the ideas of others is a necessary part of this class. These behaviors are necessary for the remainder of the class participation grade.
An assignment is late 1 minute after the beginning of class. One letter grade will be subtracted for the first day late and another letter grade for each additional day. No assignment will be accepted more than three days late. The one exception to this rule is for homework. No late homework will be accepted at all.
Grades will be converted to percentiles and letter grades will be assigned as follows:
Grade |
Percentage Range |
A |
100 - >93% |
A- |
93 - 90% |
B+ |
<90 - 87% |
B |
<87 - >83% |
B- |
83 - 80% |
C+ |
<80% - 77% |
C |
<77 - > 73% |
C- |
73 - 70% |
D+ |
<70 - 67% |
D |
<67 - 60% |
F |
< 60% |
Statement on Self-Care:
Your success in this course and throughout your college career
depends heavily on your personal health and wellbeing. Stress is a
common part of the college experience, and it often can be compounded by
unexpected life changes outside the classroom. Your other professors
and I strongly encourage you to take care of yourself throughout the term,
before the demands of midterms and finals reach their peak. Before
circumstances and conditions become overwhelming, please don’t hesitate to
speak with me about any difficulty you may be having that may affect your
academic performance. Please know as well that there are a number of
support services on campus available to assist you, as needed. You
can make appointments with Health Services by calling x-6102.
Appointments for Counseling Services can be made online at any time
through MyHanover.
Health Services
Christy-Ownbey, CPNP-PC, Director of Health Services
866-7082 or ownbey@hanover.edu
Counseling Services
Catherine LeSaux, LCSW, Director of Counseling Services
866-7399 or lesaux@hanover.edu
Sara Crafton, LMHC, Staff Counselor
866-7074 or crafton@hanover.edu
Chaplain’s Office
Reverend Catherine Y. E. Knott, Th. M., Ph.D., College Chaplain
866-7087 or knott@hanover.edu
Gladish Center for Teaching and Learning
Katy Lowe Schneider, Director & Associate Dean for Student Success
866-7215 or lowe@hanover.edu
Levett Career Center
Margaret Krantz, Senior Director of Career & Professional Development
866-7126 or krantzm@hanover.edu