Cognitive Psychology
Winter 2015/16
c Gary Andrew Clarke
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Course information
Class Schedule
Instructor
Office hours
Textbook
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M/T/Th/F 5th period (11:45 am–12:35 pm)
Room O101
Alan Jern
Office: B103A
Email: jern@rose-hulman.edu
M/T/Th 9th period, and by appointment
John R. Anderson, Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications (8th edition)
Overview and objectives
Cognitive psychology is the study of the mind. This course will provide an overview of the science of
how the mind works, including how people perceive, learn, think, remember, use language, reason,
and make decisions. The primary focus will be on psychological theories, computational models, and
experimental evidence related to these aspects of cognition. However, we will frequently discuss
everyday applications of concepts and principles from cognitive psychology. At the end of this
course, you should be able to:
1. Formulate and defend a position on what the mind is and how it works
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2. Apply basic cognitive psychology concepts to everyday situations
3. Understand the research methods in cognitive psychology and identify their strengths and
weaknesses
4. Describe prominent theories of cognition and recall key experimental results that support
these theories
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Assessment
Component
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Final paper
Homeworks (6)
Reading responses (5)
Participation
Total
3.1
Weight
15%
15%
15%
20%
25%
5%
5%
100%
Exams (45%)
There will be three exams. There is no final exam. Each exam will cover only material since the
previous exam. All exams are closed-book and closed-notes.
3.2
Final paper (20%)
The goal of the final paper is for you to integrate what you’ve learned over the entire quarter. Full
details about this assignment are posted online.
Assignment
Paper outline
Final paper
Total
3.3
Weight
5%
15%
20%
Homeworks (25%)
There will be six homework assignments. Each assignment will include a series of short answer
questions based primarily on additional readings that will be posted online.
3.4
Reading responses (5%)
On some class days, we will discuss additional readings not in the textbook. To encourage you
come to class prepared to discuss each article, I will post a question or prompt about the article on
Moodle that you must respond to before class that day. Your reading responses need not be longer
than two paragraphs.
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3.5
Participation (5%)
This class would be boring for all of us without any interaction. Accordingly, I expect you to be
an active participant. In addition to asking and answering questions in class, there will be many
opportunities for you to participate, including in-class experiments, activities, and discussions.
As long as you show good attendance and make a reasonable effort to contribute to the class
when appropriate, you will receive full participation credit. I will warn you in advance by email if
I feel your behavior is deficient in either of these respects. That means that if you don’t hear from
me, you can assume you are on track to receive full credit. If you continue to make an inadequate
participation effort after a warning, you will receive a 0 for the participation component of your
grade.
3.6
Final grade
Grades will be assigned as follows.
Percentage
≥ 90%
87–89%
80–86%
77–79%
70–76%
67–69%
60–66%
< 60%
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4.1
Grade
A
B+
B
C+
C
D+
D
F
Course policies
Late assignments
For the entire course, you will have two free late days that can be used for homework assignments ONLY. Homeworks will be considered one day late if they are submitted any time after
the start of class on the due date up to 24 hours later. Homeworks will be considered two days
late if they are submitted any time between 24 and 48 hours after the the start of class on the due
date. You don’t need to notify me in advance if you plan to use one of your late days—I will keep
track of your late days and notify you by email when you have no late days remaining.
Any assignments submitted after your late days are exhausted will not be accepted. The purpose
for this policy is to ensure that I can grade your homework and post keys in a timely fashion.
4.2
Academic integrity
Academic misconduct will be addressed according to the policies described in the Rose-Hulman
student handbook. Academic misconduct includes: (1) submitting work that is not your own; (2)
copying ideas, words, or graphics from any source without appropriate citation; (3) misrepresenting
your work or yourself (i.e., deliberately submitting the wrong assignment or lying to explain a late
assignment); (4) collaborating with other students when this is not permitted; and (5) submitting
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the same work for credit in two courses without prior consent of both instructors. If you are unsure
whether something qualifies as academic misconduct, please check with me before engaging in the
behavior.
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Course schedule
The following schedule lists topics, readings, and due dates for the whole term. The page numbers
refer to the 8th edition of textbook. I don’t anticipate any major deviations from this schedule,
but it is subject to change. Schedule changes will be announced in class and will be posted online.
I will give you plenty of notice when such changes are made.
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Date
11/30
12/1
12/3
12/4
12/7
12/8
12/10
12/11
12/14
12/15
12/17
12/18
1/4
1/5
1/7
1/8
1/11
1/12
1/14
1/15
1/18
1/19
1/21
1/22
1/25
1/26
1/28
1/29
2/1
2/2
2/4
2/5
2/8
2/9
2/11
2/12
2/15
2/16
Topic
Introduction
Levels of analysis
Foundations
Neuroscience
Neuroscience
Perception
Perception
Perception
Attention
Attention
Review
Exam 1
Attention
Memory
Memory
Memory
Memory
Memory
Memory
Concepts
Concepts
Problem solving
Problem solving
Review
Exam 2
Reasoning
Reasoning
Decision-making
Decision-making
Decision-making
Language
Language
Social cognition
Consciousness
Artificial intelligence
Review
Reading
pp 1–3
pp 9–10, Marr
Stanovich
pp 10–19
pp 19–22
pp 27–35
pp 35–43, 47–48
pp 43–47
pp 53–58
pp 58–69
Conference: No class
Conference: No class
pp 69–77
pp 124–131
pp 141–145
pp 169–179
pp 165–169
pp 97–106
pp 109–114, 145–148
pp 114–116, 118–119
Goldstone
pp 181–199
pp 199–207
Due
Response
HW 1
HW 2
HW 3
Response
HW 4
pp 237–251
pp 251–255, 262–271
pp 271–279
Kahneman
pp 281–283, 291–300
pp 300–311
Chalmers
Turing & Commentary
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HW 5
Response
Paper outline
HW 6
Response
Response
Week
Finals
Date
2/18
2/19
2/23
Topic
Exam 3
Conclusion
Reading
Due
Paper
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