Instructors: Professor Mark E. Bouton Professor John T. Green Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA): Scott Schepers Learning, Cognition & Behavior (PSYC 104) Spring 2015 Learning, Cognition & Behavior syllabus, page 1 Contact Email: LCB@uvm.edu Please use this e-mail address whenever you need to contact a professor or the GTA about the course. Meeting Time & Location: Given E, Room E131 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 11:45 am-12:35 pm Prerequisite: General Psychology (PSYC 001) Course Description: This course will examine the behavioral and cognitive principles underlying learning, memory, and action inside and outside the laboratory. We will discuss associative learning and conditioning, biological constraints, mechanisms of remembering and forgetting, attention, and motivation. We ll also throw in some neuroscience so we can think about how the nervous system accomplishes all of this. This is a science course and, as such, we will discuss theories and core concepts related to learning, cognition, and behavior and will emphasize empirical evidence in the form of experiments, methodology, and data. We will include discussion of both recent data and theory as well as classic experiments that form the basis for current thinking about a particular topic. The material covered in this course is relevant and important for all areas of Psychological Science; indeed, other areas of Psychological Science such as Clinical, Developmental, and Social Psychology draw heavily upon learning theory and cognitive psychology for mechanistic explanations of mental disorders, cognitive development, and social interactions. One thing we want to emphasize from the start is that we will be discussing both human and non-human animal research in terms of both learning and cognition. All too often, cognition is equated with human research and learning is equated with animal research. In fact, there is quite a bit of research on both animal cognition and human learning. We hope to interweave these to show you that: (1) learning and cognition are intimately intertwined; and (2) fundamental principles of learning and cognition may not be so different in humans and non-human animals. By the end of the course, we hope you will appreciate the depth and complexity of the science underlying what we know (or think we know!) about learning and cognition. Learning Goals: By the end of the course, you should understand the core concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in the experimental psychology of learning, memory, and cognition. Textbook: We are using a custom textbook available only at the UVM bookstore that combines selected chapters from two textbooks: Levy, J. C. (2013). Adaptive learning and the human condition. Boston: Pearson. Radvansky, G. A., & Ashcraft, M. H. (2014). Cognition (6 th edition). Boston: Pearson. Additional Readings (available on the Blackboard course site): Baldwin, J. D., & Baldwin, J. I. (2001). Behavior principles in everyday life (fourth edition). Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (Chapters 1-3).
Learning, Cognition & Behavior syllabus, page 2 Hogarth, L., Balleine, B. W., Corbit, L. H., & Killcross, S. (2013). Associative learning mechanisms underpinning the transition from recreational drug use to addiction. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1282, 12-24. Radvansky (2011). Human memory (second edition). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. (Chapter 6). Watson, de Wit, Hommel, & Wiers (2012). Motivational mechanisms and outcome expectancies underlying the approach bias toward addictive substances. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 2-12. Attendance: Lecture attendance is very strongly encouraged, since material will be presented that is *not* in the readings or on the Powerpoint slides that will be posted on Blackboard. We will also be using clickers in lectures, and class answers will be worth course points. Please be on time! Clickers: You must have a clicker, and bring it to all classes (beginning on a date to be presented in class). Laptop Policy: Laptop use during lectures is prohibited except by instructor permission only. Cell phone use is always prohibited. Evaluation: Quiz 1 Quiz 2 Quiz 3 Quiz 4 Final Exam (cumulative) In-Class Clicker Questions Homework Assignments (HWs) * 60 points 40 points 600 points Quizzes and Final Exam: The format will be multiple-choice and brief answer and will cover lectures and readings. If it helps your grade, your cumulative final exam score will be used to replace your lowest score on Quizzes 1-4. The instructors will make this determination for you. If you have a medical condition that may interfere with taking an exam sometime in the semester, you *must* contact us at LCB@uvm.edu within the first two weeks of class to discuss it. You must have an ACCESS letter to take an exam in the EPC and you must have met with Professor Green to discuss your requested accommodations. Exams at the EPC must be scheduled at least 3 days prior to the exam date and must be scheduled for the same day and start time as for students taking the exam in our class meeting room. Quiz Review Sessions: The graduate teaching assistant (Scott Schepers) will lead one review session prior to each exam at a time to be announced. Please also plan to take advantage of weekly office hours with Mr. Schepers, the undergraduate TAs, and/or the course instructors for help with the course material. Make-up Quizzes: Must be arranged with Mr. Schepers (LCB@uvm.edu) at least 48 hours prior to the exam and will be administered only if a medical excuse is provided. In-Class Clicker Questions: Beginning on a date to be announced, there will be clicker questions inserted in each lecture. Simply registering an answer to a question will be worth 0.85 course points. If the answer is correct, you will receive an additional 0.15 point (a total of 1 point is thus available for each question). At the end of the semester, the percentage of the total available clicker points you earned will be multiplied by 60 and added to your grade. Clicker questions are thus worth a potential 10% of the course grade. Points will not be awarded if you do not come to class so be sure to come to lectures and be ready to participate! You are allowed to miss 2 classes without penalty. Homework Assignments (HWs): There will be a total of 5 homework assignments that will cover text or
Learning, Cognition & Behavior syllabus, page 3 supplemental readings (e.g., Baldwin & Baldwin, 2001). Each homework assignment will be worth 8 points and will be due by 5 pm on the designated due date (see the last page of the syllabus). Homework assignments will be available on Blackboard. Your completed homework assignment will be uploaded to Blackboard. We will provide more instructions prior to the first homework assignment. Extra-Credit: You can earn up to 6 points of extra credit by participating in one or more research studies. Extra credit points are added to your total accumulated points and, at the end of the semester, your total accumulated points are divided by 600. Please note that there may not always be research studies available and studies often have eligibility requirements. All research extra credit must be completed by Friday, April 24. Study lists and signups will be posted and managed using the UVM Sona Systems webpage. Please see Blackboard posts for further details. Powerpoint slides from class will be available on Blackboard 24 hours before each class. Just point your browser to: bb.uvm.edu and log in using your UVM NetID and password. PLEASE NOTE: The posted slides will never contain all of the information from lecture. They are not class notes; they are intended to facilitate the lecture only. We strongly recommend that you print each set of slides out before each class and take notes on the print-out during lecture. General Grading Rubric (PLEASE NOTE: Grades are based on quality of work, and not just effort!): A = Excellent grasp of important concepts and methods. Clearly demonstrates hard work and effort. B = Solid grasp of important concepts and methods. Obvious hard work and effort. C = Grasp of some concepts and methods but also some deficiencies. Work and effort adequate. D = Not enough effort or not a well-organized effort put in to trying to learn the material and convey that understanding. F = Lack of understanding of material. Little evidence of effort and/or any organization to effort. Tips for Studying Effectively 1. Deep Processing: Outline textbook chapters. This will force you to read carefully and pay attention to what you re reading. In addition, it will force you to link together ideas, definitions, and concepts, which will deepen your understanding and lead to much better retention. Your outline can then serve as a study guide and you ll find studying for exams to be relatively painless! 2. Retrieval Practice: Read-recite-review. Read it. Put your book and notes aside and recite it. Review what you don t know. Research shows that just re-reading (even over and over) is not very effective for retention! Course Policies Religious Holidays: Students have the right to practice the religion of their choice. Each semester students should submit in writing to their instructors by the end of the second full week of classes their documented religious holiday schedule for the semester. Faculty must permit students who miss work for the purpose of religious observance to make up this work. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting accommodations, please contact UVM s ACCESS Office (Accommodation, Consultation, Collaboration & Educational Support Services) by phone (656-7753) or email (access@uvm.edu). Please note that you must schedule a meeting with Professor Green within the first two weeks to receive approval for any requested accommodations; all accommodations are made at our discretion. Important Dates: The Add/Drop deadline is Monday, January 26. If you drop the course before this deadline, it will be removed from your transcript. The Withdrawal deadline is Friday, March 27. If you withdraw from the course before this deadline, it will remain on your transcript with a grade of W.
Learning, Cognition & Behavior syllabus, page 4 UVM Department of Psychological Science Code of Classroom Conduct: Faculty and students will conduct themselves at all times in a manner that maintains, promotes, and enhances the high-quality academic experience befitting courses at the University of Vermont. The essential characteristic of this policy is respect of others. Student responsibilities Students are expected to attend every class, arriving promptly and remaining alert and involved until dismissed by the instructor. Leaving and then re-entering the classroom is strongly discouraged. Students are expected to be prepared for class. This means doing the readings and completing the assignments ahead of time. It also means having thought about the readings and being prepared to engage in discussion and pose meaningful questions in class. Following Department of Psychology policy, using laptop computers or other web-enabled devices in class is not allowed. This policy may be waived for an individual at a professor s discretion. Faculty and student responsibilities Faculty and students will promote academic discourse and the free exchange of ideas by listening respectfully to all individuals in the class. Faculty and students will treat all members of the learning community with respect and will not discriminate on the basis of characteristics that include race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or gender identity or expression. Mutual respect includes turning off cell phones or other web-enabled devices prior to the beginning of class, refraining from leaving the room in the middle of class, and, when given permission to use a laptop, using it for course-related activities only. UVM Code of Academic Integrity: All academic work (e.g., homework assignments, written and oral reports, use of library materials, creative projects, performances, in-class and take-home exams, extra-credit projects) must satisfy the following standards of academic integrity: All ideas, arguments, and phrases, submitted without attribution to other sources, must be the creative product of the student. Thus, all text passages taken from the works of other authors must be properly cited. The same applies to paraphrased text, opinions, data, examples, illustrations, and all other creative work. Violations of this standard constitute plagiarism. Students may only collaborate within the limits prescribed by their instructors. Students may not complete any portion of an assignment (including answers to clicker questions), report, project, experiment or exam for another student. Students may not claim as their own work any portion of an assignment, report, project, experiment or exam that was completed by another student, even with that other student s knowledge and consent. Students may not provide information about an exam (or portions of an exam) to another student without the authorization of the instructor. Students may not seek or accept information provided about an exam (or portions of an exam) from another student without the authorization of the instructor. Violations of this standard constitute collusion. Students must adhere to the guidelines provided by their instructors for completing coursework. For example, students must only use materials approved by their instructor when completing an assignment or exam. Students may not present the same (or substantially the same) work for more than one course without obtaining approval from the instructor of each course. Students must adhere to all course reserves regulations, including library course reserves, which are designed to allow students access to all course materials. Students will not intentionally deny others free and open access to any materials reserved for a course. Violations of this standard constitute cheating. Policy on intellectual property rights Consistent with the University s policy on intellectual property rights, it is the Psychology Department's policy that teaching and curricular materials (including but not limited to classroom lectures, syllabi, class notes, exams, handouts, and presentations) are the property of the instructor. Therefore, electronic recording and/or transmission of teaching and curricular materials is prohibited without the express written permission of the instructor
Learning, Cognition & Behavior syllabus, page 5 Class Schedule: Every effort will be made to stay on schedule. While there may be minor changes in the syllabus, the examination schedule will almost certainly not be changed. Week Dates Topic Readings for the Week Homework Due Dates 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Jan 12 Jan 14 Jan 16 Jan 19 Jan 21 Jan 23 Jan 26 Jan 28 Jan 30 Feb 2 Feb 4 Feb 6 Feb 9 Feb 11 Feb 13 Feb 16 Feb 18 Feb 20 Feb 23 Feb 25 Feb 27 Mar 2 Mar 4 Mar 6 Mar 9 Mar 11 Mar 13 Mar 16 Mar 18 Mar 20 Mar 23 Mar 25 Mar 27 Mar 30 Apr 1 Apr 3 Apr 6 Apr 8 Apr 10 Apr 13 Apr 15 Apr 17 Apr 20 Apr 22 Apr 24 Apr 27 Apr 29 May 1 Fri, May 1, 7:30 am- 10:15 am Syllabus & Preliminaries Conditioning and Learning 1 Conditioning and Learning 2 no class Martin Luther King Day Classical Conditioning with Drugs Cognition in Conditioning Choice and Operant Behavior Extinction Biological Constraints on Learning Cognition in Instrumental Learning Animal Cognition QUIZ 1 Remembering and Forgetting Reconsolidation and Reconstruction Better Memory Through Retrieval Practice no class Presidents Day Types of Long-Term Memory Memory Processes: Encoding Memory Processes: Consolidation & Retrieval Semantic Memory Storage Networks QUIZ 2 Measuring Brain Structure and Function Memory and the Hippocampus Brain Substrates of Memory Consolidation Implicit Memory and Repetition Priming Procedural Memory Skill Learning Short-Term Memory Working Memory QUIZ 3 Types of Attention Selective Attention Attention and Automaticity Baldwin & Baldwin (2001), ch 1, 2, and 3 Levy, ch 3, 4, and 5 (pp. 29-80) Levy, ch 6, 7, and 9 (pp. 81-121 and 142-154) HW 1 (1/30) Radvansky & Ashcraft, ch 6 (pp 172-203) Radvansky & Ashcraft, ch 7 (pp. 211-228) HW 2 (2/20) Radvansky & Ashcraft, ch 2 and 6 (pp. 41-57 and pp. 203-210) Radvansky (2011), ch 6 Radvansky & Ashcraft, ch 5 (pp. 137-166) Radvansky & Ashcraft, ch 4 HW 3 (3/20) Attention and Learning 1 Attention and Learning 2 Mental Representations HW 4 (4/10) Actions and Habits Actions and Habits: Brain Substrates QUIZ 4 Motivated Behavior 1 Motivated Behavior 2 Impulsivity and Self Control Addiction and Contingency Management Why Behavior Change is Difficult FINAL EXAM FINAL EXAM (cumulative) Hogarth, Balleine, Corbit, & Killcross (2013), pp 12-16 & 19 Hogarth et al (2013), pp. 16-24 Watson, de Wit, Hommel, & Wiers (2012), all HW 5 (4/24) FINAL EXAM COVERS THE ENTIRE SEMESTER