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Instructor: Professor Robert Goldstone
Office: 338 Psychology Bldg. Email: prism::rgoldsto
Office hours: Monday 1:30-3:30 Phone: 855-4853
Textbook: D. Medin and B. Ross Cognitive Psychology.
Readings: Mr. Copy, corner of Dunn St. and 10th
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This course is intended to give graduate students
an introductory survey to topics in cognitive psychology. Special
attention will be given to: perception, learning, attention, concept
formation, memory, language, mental representation, imagery, cognitive
modelling, unconscious processing, and problem solving. The course
does not assume any prior coursework in cognitive psychology.
On the other hand, many of the topics are highly abstract and
technical. As such, please talk to me if you are unsure of whether
you have a sufficient background for the class. Although the
course attempts to provide a survey, we will delve deeper into
the topics than possible at an undergraduate level.
Although Psych 503 is technically a lecture course,
substantial student participation is expected and warmly received.
During the first part of class, I will lecture on the day's topic.
Questions, comments, and extensions are encouraged during lectures.
On most days, the second part of the class will consist of a
discussion of the readings. You should come prepared to talk
about the readings, particularly if there is a "target"
article. The target articles are selected to 1) fill in important
details left out by the textbook, 2) give you an exposure to "classics"
of the field, and 3) keep you abreast of current trends and theories.
Breakdown of grade:
Exam I - 38%
Exam II - 38% (non-cummulative)
Grant proposal - 19%
Class participation - 5%
Exams. Exams will consist of approximately 8 essay questions that can each be answered about in two pages. You are responsible for everything covered in the textbook, readings, and in the lectures. An attempt will be made to design questions that test your knowledge of general concepts and definitions, underlying principles, and important experimental methods and results (i.e. you will never be asked how many subjects were run in an experiment). You should study and read for comprehension as opposed to brute memorization, although you will also need to learn particular names for ideas. A typical essay question might be "What problems do normative models of human decision making have? Are normative models still viable? Why or why not?" The essay exam is a take-home exam, and you will be given about three days to finish it.
Grant Proposal. Cognitive psychology, as any science, thrives on creative and rigorous research. You will write a grant proposal, in which you describe an original experiment that addresses an unanswered question in cognitive psychology. See the attached pages for a description of the grant proposal.
Disclaimer. This syllabus is not definitive. Course
policies are are subject to change at any time. You will be notified
of any changes.
Getting the most out of the class. This course should be one of the most important and interesting courses you take. The following pointers can help to ensure this.
1. Question your professor, and your book. True knowledge only comes from an active engagement of the material. Questions in class are welcome, and prolonged class discussions should be looked upon as learning opportunities rather than digressions.
2. Explain the material to yourself. Don't expect the material to seep its way into your head; you must actively carry it in.
3. Apply principles to your everyday life and your other interests.
4. Try to appreciate the deep, underlying issues. Data and experiments are important; getting the details right is critical. But, also consider the motivation, assumptions, and implications of the results.
5. View the field as ongoing investigations, not as solved puzzles.
6. Visit me outside of class. I am eager to meet any
students to discuss cognitive psychology, and psychology more
broadly construed.
Class schedule
| Tu 8/30 | Introduction, expectations, policies, overview | Chapter 1 |
| Th 9/1 | History, assumptions, and perspectives | Chapter 2 |
| Tu 9/6 | Cognitive Neuroscience
Farah, M. J. (1992). Is an object an object an object? Cognitive and neuropsychological investigations of domain-specificity in visual object recognition. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 164-169. | |
| Th 9/8 | Cognitive Neuroscience | |
| Tu 9/13 | Perception
Rock, I., & Palmer, S. (1990). The legacy of Gestalt psychology, Scientific American, December. | Chapter 5 |
| Th 9/15 | Perception | Chapter 5 |
| Tu 9/20 | Pattern Recognition
Biederman, I. (1990). "Higher-level Vision." in D. N. Osherson, S. M. Kosslyn, & J. M. Hollerbach (Eds.) An Invitation to Cognitive Science vol 2. | Chapter 5 |
| Th 9/22 | Imagery
Finke, R. A. (1986). Mental Imagery and the visual system. Scientific American, March. | Chapter 6 |
| Tu 9/27 | Attention | Chapter 4 |
| Th 9/29 | Attention
Melara, R. D., & O'Brien, T. P. (1987). Interaction between synesthetically corresponding dimensions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 116, 323-336. | Chapter 4 |
| Tu 10/4 | Unconscious processing
Jacoby, L. L., & Kelley, C. M. (1992). A process-dissociation framework for investigating unconscious influences: Freudian slips, projective tests, subliminal perception, and signal detection theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 174-179. | Chapter 4 |
| Th 10/6 | Learning | Chapter 3 |
| Tu 10/11 | Concepts & categorization
Rosch, E., Mervis, C. B., Gray, W., Johnson, D., & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 573-605. | Chapter 12 |
| Th 10/13 | Concepts & categorization | Chapter 12 |
| Tu 10/18 | Concepts & categorization | |
| Th 10/20 | Exam I | |
| Tu 10/25 | Memory
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 13, 510-518. | Chapter 7 |
| Th 10/27 | Memory
Heit, E. (1993). Modeling the effects of expectations on recognition memory. Psychological Science, 4, 244-252. | Chapter 8 |
| Tu 11/1 | Memory | |
| Th 11/3 | Problem Solving
Ross, B. H. (1987). This is like that: The use of earlier problems and the separation of similarity effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 13, 629-639. | Chapter 15 |
| Tu 11/8 | Novices & Experts
Gibson, J. J., & Gibson, E. J. (1955). Perceptual learning: Differentiation or Enrichment? Psychological Review, 62, 32-41. and reply by L. Postman. | Chapter 16 |
| Th 11/10 | Representation
Palmer, S. E. (1978). Fundamental aspects of cognitive representation. In E. Rosch & B. B. LLoyd (Eds.), Cognition and categorization. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. | Chapter 8 |
| Tu 11/15 | Language
Hunt, E., & Agnoli, F. (1991). The Whorfian hypothesis: A cognitive psychology perspective. Psychological Review, 98, 377-389. | Chapter 9 |
| Th 11/17 | Language | Chapter 10,11 |
| Tu 11/22 | Thanksgiving Break | |
| Th 11/24 | Thanksgiving Break | |
| Tu 11/29 | Reasoning, judgment, & decision making
Kahneman, D., & Miller, D. T. (1986). Norm theory: comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review, 93, 136-153. Due date for Grant proposal | Chapter 13 |
| Th 12/1 | Reasoning, judgment, & decision making | Chapter 14 |
| Tu 12/6 | Artificial Intelligence
McClelland, J. L., Rumelhart, D. E., & Hinton, G. E. (1986). The appeal of parallel distributed processing, in D.E. Rumelhart & J. L. McClelland (eds.) Parallel Distributed Processing Vol 1 (pp. 3-40). MIT Press. | |
| Th 12/8 | Wrap up |