COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY SYLLABUS - PSY 340
Fall 2006 (20073)
Section 010: MWF 12:00 - 12:50; 283 Old Main
Professor: Dr. Robert S. Ryan
Office: 385 Old Main
Office hours: Mon. 10 am - 12 noon; Wed. 10 am - 12 noon, & 5 pm - 6 pm. You are welcome to drop in at my office, 385 Old Main, any time to try to catch me. I can usually take a few minutes to help you unless I am tied up with something very important or time sensitive. You can either drop in during office hours, or any time I'm not teaching or in a meeting. If you are trying to catch me at some time other than office hours, and you are going out of your way to make a trip, then you should call me at 683-4457 right before you want to come, so that you do not waste a trip if I am not in. If you want to come during office hours it is still important to call first to be sure I am available. I could be with another student.
Phone: 610-683-4457
E-mail: rryan@kutztown.edu
Website: http://faculty.kutztown.edu/rryan
Required Text: Reisberg (2001). Cognition: Exploring the Science of the Mind (3rd ed.). New York: Norton.
Course description: Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental representations and processes. Cognitive psychology, for example, focuses on how people take in, mentally represent, and store information; how they perceive and process that information; and how these processes affect everyday behavior. Its diverse topics include attention, pattern recognition, learning, memory, language processing, problem solving, and reasoning. The discoveries of cognitive psychologists are used in a variety of disciplines, including applied psychology, psychiatry, engineering, computer science, and linguistics. The goal of this course is to provide a foundation in many of the major areas within cognitive psychology. PREREQUISITES: PSY 011 with a C or better and PSY 200 with a C or better.
Course objectives: This course will deal with the state of the art in understanding human thinking processes from an information processing perspective. The general objectives for the course are that the student will:
Summary
of
class policies and Study
Tips.
(For complete class policies, see
http://faculty.kutztown.edu/rryan/policies.htm)
Academic Honesty: It is my intention to uphold the academic honesty policy of Kutztown University and all other student conduct standards as described in the online student handbook, "The Key". "Academic dishonesty involves any attempt to obtain academic credit or influence the grading process by means unauthorized by the course instructor". It is the responsibility of students to be aware of this policy and abide by it at all times.
Students with Disabilities: The Office of Human Diversity, located in 220 Stratton Administration Center, provides many services for students with disabilities. If you have a documented disability please let me know as soon as possible so that I may provide whatever accommodation you require.
Attendance: Attendance records are kept to help identify students at risk. No points towards your grade are added or subtracted due to attendance, but poor attendance will surely hurt your ability to do well on tests.
If you miss a class: If you miss a class, see me the next day. You may have missed an unannounced quiz or oral quizzing, and it is important to make it up immediately.
Excusable absences: Any time you miss a test you are given a grade of zero. To replace the zero with a grade, first, you should make up the test immediately (the next day). Secondly, however, in order to be allowed to have your grade count, you must provide written documentation that your absence was necessary.
Grading: The grade for the course comes from the various quizes, tests, and exams you will be given. These may consist of any combination of objective (multiple choice; true/false) and subjective (short answer; essay) questions. They may be oral or written, announced or unannounced. Therefore, you must keep up with learning the material as it is presented. Grades come from these sources only. There is no extra credit beyond the research participation (or alternative) extra credit described below.
The grade on any individual test will be shown as a percentage grade. It can be converted to a letter grade according to the following breakdown:
90% - 100% = A
80% - 89% = B
70% - 79% = C
60% - 69% = D
< 60 = F
Calculating grades: Your grade for the course is a weighted average of the various test grades that you will receive. See Class Policies to learn how to work with weighted average grades.
Research Extra Credit: Peer reviewed research journals present detailed descriptions of studies that researchers have conducted. Therefore, a good way to learn about how research in psychology is done, and what is learned from it, is to read such an article and to turn in a report summarizing it. The report is to describe the research as if you were a person who had participated in the research as a subject. However, because you will not have experienced what the subjects experienced first hand, you will need to carefully read several sections of the paper, particularly the method section, which will explain in detail the subjects' experience. Some papers are quite readable even for an introductory student, but others are far too technical. You will need to see me for help in selecting a paper that will provide a learning experience equal to that of actual participation, but one that will be appropriate for your ability.
You can earn up to 3 additional percentage points on your final course grade by reading and summarizing research studies. Some journal articles contain reports of more than one study. Therefore, you may be able to earn more than one point from any given journal article. In order to receive the credit, you must turn in the report by the day of the final exam. Be sure to read the information on my web site about writing the report (click here for the information ) before writing it. Each report will be worth one additional percentage point on your final course grade.
There are also studies conducted here at Kutztown University. Some students taking General Psychology are required to participate in some number of them (or to do some alternative) as part of their course requirements. They participate by signing up for the studies through a new web based subject pool sign up system. There may even be opportunities for you to earn your extra credit points by actually participating as a subject in such studies if there are enough opportunities available. However, you should not try to sign up for such a study, and you will not be given credit for participating unless you are told in advance that such an opportunity is available for you. (One way you could create such opportunities for yourself and other students would be to volunteer to work with a professor and design a study yourself, and then post it on the web based sign up system.)
Schedule of Topics, Readings, and Tests. There will be four announced tests, including the final exam, each weighted equally. If there are no unannounced tests, then each of the four announced tests will be worth 25% of the grade. If there are any unannounced tests, then the weights of the announced tests will all be reduced equally by a small amount, and the unannounced test(s) will make up the difference. Each announced test will be on the material covered since the previous announced test. Anything from the assigned chapters in the text, and anything from the lectures, including any class activities, will be fair game for the tests. Although the tests will not be cumulative in content, the nature of the material is sometimes cumulative. That is, explanations of new topics sometimes make use of your understanding of previous topics.
Schedule of Topics
Week |
Date |
Lecture Topic and Reading Assignment |
|
1 |
Wednesday 8/30 | Introduction.
Syllabus. The learning objectives. Reading: Ch. 1 - The Science of the Mind |
| Friday 9/1 | ||
|
2 |
TUESDAY 9/5 | Reading: Ch 2 - The Neural Basis for Cognition (Example: The visual system) |
| Wednesday 9/6 | ||
| Friday 9/8 | ||
| 3 |
Monday 9/11 | Reading:
Ch 3 - Recognizing Objects in the World Reading: Ch 4 - Paying Attention The Brain: Visual Information Processing-Retinotopic mapping; Line and grating detectors |
| Wednesday 9/13 | ||
| Friday 9/15 | ||
| 4 |
Monday 9/18 | Review Test 1 - Ch 1 - 4 |
| Wednesday 9/20 | ||
| Friday 9/22 | ||
5 | Monday 9/25 | Feedback on Test 1 Reading :Ch 5 - The Acquisition of Memories and the Working Memory System |
| Wednesday 9/27 | ||
| Friday 9/29 | ||
| 6 |
Monday 10/2 | Reading: Ch 6 - Interconnections Between
Acquisition and Retrieval Friday 10/6 - Last day to withdraw without "W". |
| Wednesday 10/4 | ||
| Friday 10/6 | ||
|
7 | Monday 10/9 | Columbus Day - NO CLASS |
| Wednesday 10/11 | Review | |
| Friday 10/13 | Test 2 - Ch 5 - 7 | |
8 | Monday 10/16 |
Feedback on Test 2 |
| Wednesday10/18 | ||
| Friday 10/20 | ||
|
9 | Monday 10/23 | Reading: Ch 9 -
Concepts and Generic Knowledge
Set clocks back one hour Sunday night, 10/29/06. |
| Wednesday 10/25 | ||
| Friday 10/27 | ||
| 10 |
Monday 10/30 | Reading: Ch 10 - Language |
| Wednesday 11/1 | ||
| Friday 11/3 | ||
11 | Monday 11/6 | Reading: Ch 11 - Visual Knowledge |
| Wednesday 11/8 | ||
| Friday 11/10 | ||
| 12 |
Monday 11/13 | Test 3 -
Ch 8 - 11 Feedback on Test 3 Reading: Ch 12 - Judgment: Drawing Conclusions from Evidence |
| Wednesday 11/15 | ||
| Friday 11/17 | ||
|
13 |
Monday 11/20 | Reading: Ch 13 - Reasoning: Thinking Through the Implications of What You Know |
| Wednesday 11/22 | HAPPY THANKSGIVING - NO CLASS!!!! |
|
| Friday 11/24 | ||
| 14 |
Monday 11/27 | Continue Ch
13 |
| Wednesday 11/29 | Reading: Ch 14 - Solving Problems | |
| Friday 12/1 | ||
| 15 |
Monday 12/4 | Reading: Ch 15 - Conscious Thought,
Unconscious Thought |
| Wednesday 12/6 | ||
| Friday 12/8 | ||
16 | Week of Mon
12/11 |
FINAL EXAM: Ch 12 -15 |