COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY SYLLABUS - PSY 340
  Spring 2024 (2242)

Section 010: TH 1:30 – 2:50; OM 281

Professor: Dr. Robert S. Ryan
Office: 385 Old Main

Office hours: Mon. 11 - 1; Tues. 12 - 1; and Wed. 11-1. Also, 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. It doesn't have to be during my office hours. You can drop in any time I'm not teaching, in a meeting, or busy with some other commitment (you can ask me to temporarily share my Google calendar with you to see my specific meetings, and other commitments). However, if you are going out of your way to see me, whether during my office hours or not, then it is always best to call me on my cell (610-698-9108) right before you want to come, just in case I am not available because of something unexpected. For example, I could be with another student who just stopped in. If you call or visit my office during a time you thought you could catch me and find that I am not there right at that moment or I don't answer the phone, don't assume I'm not available. First, knock on my door if it is closed. Also, I could have just stepped away from the office or my phone for a few minutes. So if you don't see me in my office, and I don't answer when you knock or answer the phone when you call, always wait at least a few minutes and try again.

This course requires an online homework platform called MindTap. The textbook readings will be available on MindTap

Follow the instructions below to get started.

I want every student to succeed in this course! Ask questions in class as soon as you don't understand anything (OR EMAIL ME YOUR QUESTIONS).

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, artificial intelligence (AI), 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:

Describe the impact of the cognitive approach on psychology and related disciplines, as well as its place in the history of human thought about the mind.

Describe the various approaches and methods used to understand human cognition.

Explain various theories of attention and object recognition and describe the importance of these topics for everyday perception.

Distinguish between different theories of  memory, in terms of structure, process, function, and type, and explain the empirical evidence that supports each theory.

Explain theories of human language capabilities, including linguistic acquisition, usage, and competence.

Describe human successes and failures in reasoning, problem solving, and thinking, and explain the implications of these findings for human thought.

Describe individual and cultural differences in cognition.

Explain the application of the cognitive approach to various disciplines, including engineering, education, psychiatry, medicine, and the legal system.

Explain the implications of the findings from the emerging field of cognitive neuroscience for understanding traditional cognitive psychology, for developing artificial intelligence (AI), and for the deep philosophical question of the nature of consciousness.

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. Academic dishonesty involves any attempt to obtain academic credit or influence the grading process by means unauthorized by the course instructor."  Click here for the complete academic honesty policy . The student conduct page on Kutztown's website can be found at this link: student conduct . 

Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities who need special accommodations must make their requests and submit documentation to the Disability Services Office (215 Stratton Administration Building, 610- 683-4108, direct any emails to the Provider of Services to Students with Disabilities, Ms. Linda Lantaff, lantaff@kutztown.edu). The Disabilities Services office will then provide the student with a letter to the professor asking for appropriate accommodations. The letter should be sent to Dr. Ryan immediately.

Assessment: Your grade for the course comes from the activities and tests on MindTap, an In Person Final Exam in OM 281 on Thurs. 05/09/24, and an additional required 92 points for attendance in the face-to-face classes. On MindTap there will be a 30 point Mastery Training for each of the 13 chapters. The due date will appear on MindTap right below the name of the Mastery Training. The Mastery Training presents information and gives you repeated practice answering questions about it. It tailors the questions to your performance on previous questions. It is designed to capitalize on the benefits of spaced practice. It will tell you when you should take a break. It will not let you continue to completion without breaks. In order to earn all the points you must take breaks and complete the entire activity in multiple, spaced, sessions. 

 Each chapter will have a chapter reading. You will notice that the Mastery Training is the first assignment on the list. The Mastery Training is designed to prepare you for the topic for the chapter, so it can be done before the reading. There is no due date shown for the readings. Although they can be done at any time, obviously, because the questions on the Chapter Quizzes will come from the readings, they need to be done before attempting the Chapter Quiz.

MindTap will also have a 30 point chapter quiz for each chapter. The due date will appear on MindTap right below the name of the Chapter Quiz.  The Final Exam will be non-cumulative. It will consist of 20, multiple choice questions  (1 point each) on the topic for Week 15, Daniel Dennett's "Magic of Consciousness."Some chapters (6 of them) will have demonstration activities (1pt.). The due date will appear on MindTap right below the name of the Activity. (If you see a demonstration activity that says PRACTICE, and there is no due date, ignore that it says 1 point. Every assignment that counts toward your grades will have a big orange dot and it will say COUNTS TOWARDS GRADE. (On the weekly assignments on D2L, every assignment that has points that count towards your grade will be in red font. The readings are also in red font because the end of chapter quizzes take their questions from those readings.) The MindTap assignments will add up to 786 points. The Final Exam is worth 20 points. Attendance is worth up to 92 points. That adds up to a total of 898 points for the course. Therefore, your grade will be the total number of points you earn from MindTap and attendance divided by 898, and then multiplied by 100 to give you your percentage grade. Your percentage grade will be converted to a letter grade as shown below. There will be no extra credit, and no curving of grades. The grades will be straight letters, with no pluses or minuses. Grades are not curved. You will be able to see your grades on Mind Tap.

90% - 100% = A
80% - 89% = B
70% - 79% = C
60% - 69% = D
< 60 = F

A percentage grade ending in anything less than five tenths of a point will be rounded down. A grade ending in five tenths of a point or greater will be rounded up. (For example an 89.499... is a B, but an 89.500... is an A).

Attendance: All students are required to attend the face-to-face classes as much as possible. There are 28 classes over the whole semester. Attendance will be taken in all classes. You will earn 4 points for each class you attend up to 92 points. Therefore, to earn the full 92 points you can miss no more than 5 classes. Those 92 points constitute about 10% of the 898 points for the course. As shown above, each 10% of the points moves your grade up one full letter grade.

As we all know, things happen. So if you miss a few classes just use them as part of the 5 class "grace period." Please don't email me asking to be excused for the absence and given the points. However, if you encounter a more serious problem that prevents you from attending more than 5 classes, then, by all means, email me to let me know what happened. If the reason for the absence is acceptable, you will be excused for the absence and given the points. In order to be excused, you must provide written documentation that your absence was necessary. It must come either from a University official (e.g., coach, club advisor) saying you were participating in a University sponsored activity; or from a doctor, ordering hospitalization or bed rest because of a serious injury or illness; or from a published obituary in the case of, God forbid, a death in the immediate family; or from someone at the health or counseling center saying it was necessary for you to miss class. It is always your responsibility to bring the documentation to me.

Reasons such as a minor physical illness (e.g., sore throat, headache), minor emotional distress (e.g., family or relationship problems), minor injury (e.g., broken finger, sprained ankle), or minor personal emergency (e.g., car breakdown, flooded basement) will not be considered sufficient to excuse an absence without written verification of the seriousness of the problem (e.g., from a doctor or nurse for illness or injury, or family member or counselor for a family or personal emergency).

Please understand, the purpose of the documentation is not to please me. Rather, the reason is this: Conscientious students seldom miss class or need to make up tests, and only do so when truly necessary. Such students feel it is unfair for other students to be permitted to be any less conscientious. Therefore, they are willing to provide documentation of an acceptable reason to ask for special consideration (such as a make up test) because they would want the same thing expected of others. I am assuming that you are just such a conscientious student.

If you miss a MindTap assignment: If you miss a MindTap assignment, contact me to let me know why you missed it. It is important to make it up immediately.

Communication: Kutztown email is now the standard means of communication between faculty and students. If I need to contact the whole class (especially important in the winter) I will send an email to the class list. The class list contains the Kutztown email address of everyone registered for the course. You should check your email regularly. If you do not wish to use your Kutztown email, then you need to set it to forward to whatever email you actually use. Contact Information Technology for help with your email at:
http://www.kutztown.edu/about-ku/administrative-offices/information-technology.htm

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Schedule of Topics 

(Subject to change as needed)