Discipline: Psychology Fall 2013 PSYC 2150: Introduction to Cognition Lower Division Faculty Name: John Mueller SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS Pre-requisites: Introductory Psychology (or permission) COURSE DESCRIPTION This course provides a general introduction to cognitive psychology as the study of human learning, memory, and thinking, in particular the mental representations and processes involved in the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of knowledge. The course will begin with an overview of how these issues were addressed in the past, in terms of instincts and reflexes, then basic behavioristic learning principles, such as reinforcement. With this foundation the course will explore how developments in a variety of fields (e.g., linguistics, philosophy of mind, computer science, biology, medical technology, and psychology) have produced a "cognitive revolution." To a limited extent, we examine how the study of failures in cognition for specific populations (e.g., individuals with amnesia or dementia, normal elderly individuals) can enhance our understanding of normal cognitive functioning. There will be some opportunity to discuss how research and theory in cognitive psychology can be applied to real-world problems (e.g., study skills, ergonomics, teaching). There will be a consideration of how modern man functions in a complex world with a cognitive architecture developed by evolutionary pressures in simpler ancient settings. COURSE OBJECTIVES Students will learn to appreciate the logic of research methods and the interpretation of research findings associated with various theories of learning and cognition. The goals of this course are to, from a scientific perspective, educate students about some of the major paradigms, theoretical issues, and methodological approaches in cognitive psychology, and provide the student with the foundation to identify the practical relevance of research findings from cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychologists seek to understand processes that we cannot directly observe, thus students will engage in careful consideration of methodologies and achieve insights into the interplay between phenomena and theory. Student should also be able to extrapolate research findings to the everyday world, and to evaluate the efforts of others trying to do the same (e.g., educators and policy makers).
TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE The anticipated schedule of topics, arranged by phase of voyage, with chapters in the WILLINGHAM text indicated as W#. (Some rescheduling may be required as port opportunities arise, if our itinerary changes, or if cross-course conflicts become apparent.) Depart Date Class Day Assignment Destination Southampton Aug ** 1 Overview, orientation St. Petersburg 2 Antecedents to Cognitive Psychology: Wm. James, plus 3 Cognitive Theoretical Approaches (W1) 4 Research Methods in Cognition (W2) 5 Visual Perception (W3) 6 Attentional Processes & Theories (W4) 7 Sensory Memory (W5) 8 Primary Memory (W5) 9 Memory: Encoding (W6) 10 Memory: Retrieval (W7) 11 Review, integration 12 Exam 1: W1-7 13 Memory: Storage (W8) 14 Visual Imagery (W9) 15 Motor Control (W10) 16 Decision Making and Reasoning (W11) 17 Heuristics, plus 18 Problem Solving (W12) 19 Language: Structure (W13) 20 Language: Processing (W14) 21 Culture and Cognition 22 Memory: Loss (Schacter, Seven Sins) 23 Cognition and Education (Willingham: Schools & Trust) 24 Review, reflection, and integration Final Exam: W1-14, emphasis 8-14 Publisher's Student Companion resource web page: <http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_willingham_cognition_3/> This is a web site that includes many study aids (e.g., flashcards, Tutorial Quizzes, crossword puzzles, and more) which can help you gauge how well you understand the material. I encourage you to take advantage of the free materials at this site, and perhaps download some things before boarding (on-ship Internet is slow and expensive). There will also be materials placed in the course folder on the ship's server system. Note: There is not enough time in class to cover everything discussed in the book; classes
will be used to highlight important topics and go into more depth on difficult concepts, as well as having discussions. Classes will also cover some material not covered directly in the book. The exams will have questions from all course material, which includes the assigned textbook and all class activities. You are responsible for all class content and announcements whether you are present or not. It is important that you complete reading assignments before coming to class because class activities assume you are already familiar with the material. Some rescheduling may be required as port opportunities arise, or as cross-course conflicts become apparent. FIELD WORK The Field Lab is planned to consist of one of two projects, involving an 8-hour exercise in a port. The exercise will culminate in a short paper (about 5 pages), due roughly 2 weeks after departing that port, worth 20% of the course. At this stage the two projects being considered are as follows: (1) A visit to and tour of St. Petersburg State University, Petersburg, Russia, particularly the Psychology Department. This will start with an hour of breakfast orientation on ship, travel to campus, tour facilities and talk with staff and students, lunch on campus, travel back, and an hour of debriefing on ship. This institution is relevant, for one thing, as the university where Ivan Pavlov earned his degree. Pavlov was a preeminent early leader in learning psychology, and there are connections with other Russian psychologists who helped form early psychology (e.g., Bekhterev, Luria, Vygotsky). (2) A visit to and tour of the University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, particularly the Cognitive Neuropsychology Lab. This will start with an hour of breakfast orientation on ship, travel to Brussels and on to the Leuven campus, tour facilities and talk with staff and students, lunch on campus or in town, travel back, and an hour of debriefing on ship. There are other aspects of the international ports that will be blended into class meetings, actually "themes" in that the question extends across ports, and the differences become more apparent as more ports are experienced. For example, different cultures have different strategies for educating children, values attached to credentials from universities, attitudes about vocational training relative to formal education, implementation of educational technology, influence of laboratory research on classroom practices, and other practices. These discussions will be incorporated into the day-to-day class meetings. METHODS OF EVALUATION 30% - Exam 1: Willingham chapters 1-7, as in the table above. Mixed format: short essay (with choice, e.g., pick 2 of 3), compare and contrast, define, probably some true/false and/or multiple choice and/or completion, etc. Roughly mid-voyage (TBA) 30% - Exam 2: Comprehensive final, with emphasis on remaining chapters in Willingham, similar format to first exam. 20% - Field Activity: Students will do one field work exercise of 8 hours duration in a port,
and write a short paper (5-6 pages) worth 20%, tentatively due about two weeks after departing that port. 20% Media analysis: Short paper (5-6 pages) comparing an everyday "news report" re learning, memory, education, or cognitive psychology research to the text (or journal), as to whether the popular press report is an accurate representation or not. A variant of this would make it a media report published locally in one of the ports on the trip. Further details on this assignment will be provided. The tentative due date for this would be (about 3 weeks from end of voyage, TBA). Letter grades will correspond to the SEA Registrar's standards for percent achievement. See grading note below. Participation per se is not graded, but attendance is expected. REQUIRED TEXTBOOK (1) AUTHOR: Willingham, Daniel T. TITLE: Cognition: The Thinking Animal PUBLISHER: Pearson ISBN-10: 0131736884 ISBN-13: 9780131736887 DATE/EDITION: 2007 (3 rd edition) COST: $170 (about) Publisher web page: <http://tinyurl.com/b5nvr7j> RESERVE LIBRARY LIST (in order) 1- Schacter, D. L. (2012). The Seven Sins of Memory. Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt. ISBN-13/ EAN: 9780618219193 ISBN-10: 0618219196 2- Willingham, D. T. (2010). Why Don't Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. Jossey-Bass/Wiley ISBN: 978-0-470-59196-3 3- Willingham, D. T. (2012). When Can You Trust the Experts?: How to Tell Good Science from Bad in Education. Jossey-Bass/Wiley ISBN: 978-1-1181-3027-8 GRADING Borderline grades will not be rounded up. I prefer to work with a mastery grading scheme, where there is no curve; that is, there is no upper limit on the number of As, Bs, there do not have to be any Cs, Ds, or Fs.
Percent Letter Percent Letter Percent Letter Percent Letter 96-100 A 80-84 B 67-71 C+ 54-58 D+ 90-95 A- 76-79 B- 63-66 C 50-53 D 85-89 B+ 72-75 C+ 59-62 C- 49-0 F If there is an official Semester at Sea grading scale, that will be used instead. HONOR CODE Semester at Sea students enroll in an academic program administered by the University of Virginia, and thus bind themselves to the University's honor code. The code prohibits all acts of lying, cheating, and stealing. Please consult the Voyager's Handbook for further explanation of what constitutes an honor offense. Each written assignment for this course must be pledged by the student as follows: On my honor as a student, I pledge that I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment. The pledge must be signed, or, in the case of an electronic file, signed [signed].