Cognitive Psychology (10 ECTS)
By Tia Hansen (TH) & Johan Trettvik (JT) (co-chairs), Rune Nørager (RN), Laura Petrini (LP) and
Radka Antalíková (RA)
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of how people perceive, think and remember; in current
terminology: how we pick up, represent and process information about the world and ourselves in
it. As such, cognition is involved in all human endeavours and relevant for all areas of psychology.
As a specific set of themes for study, cognition was the first field to be investigated with scientific
methods and is still a very lively research field today, both basic and applied. The course outlines
history, main approaches and methods of cognitive psychology while exemplifying with specific
areas. The course is roughly organized by the two dominant subfields of cognition research –
launching from perception and ending with memory – and taught by active researchers within these
fields. Vital questions asked and methods employed to answer them are exemplified, important
findings and controversies are outlined, and some links to smaller subfields and practical
applications are shown, such as problem solving, cognitive artefacts, pain perception, false
memories, identity issues and cross-cultural perspectives.
Readings:
The course requires 1000 pages of reading, of which about half are in the text book (Matlin, 2005)
while the other half are in a compendium or available for copying. Be aware that the latter are more
difficult readings than the textbook; they are in-depth sources for specific themes within the course,
and most are original pieces of work that exemplify classical as well as current research in the field.
All exams questions will require knowledge of both text book material and in-depth sources.
Suggestions for optional further reading can be obtained by asking the relevant lecturer.
Lecture schedule:
#
1
Theme
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
By
JT
2
Introduction to perception
JT
3
4
The ecological approach to perception I JT
The ecological approach to perception
II
Perception and thinking, basic and
JT
applied
5
6
7
8
9
Basic cognitive functions, comparative
psychology, and cultural artefacts I
Basic cognitive functions, comparative
psychology, and cultural artefacts II
Basic cognitive functions, comparative
psychology, and cultural artefacts III
Pain Perception
Associated literature
Matlin (entire book; suggested reading is
chapters not covered in other lectures).
Hock. Galotti. Sternberg. Green.
In Matlin: Chapters 2, 3.
Bærentsen & Trettvik. Gibson 1972.
Warren &Whang. Steenbergen et al.
RN
In Matlin: Chapters 11, 12
Barsalou. Holyoak & Thagard. O'Regan.
Vicente & Burns.
In Matlin: Chapter 13 on language. Condry
& Spelke. Spelke & Kinzler.
Wilson. Velichovsky.
RN
Gibson, 1966. Bærentsen.
LP
Craig et al. Dar & Leventhal. Li et al.
RN
10
TH
13
Introduction to memory in life and
science
Autobiographical memory
Meta-memory and implications for
practice
Life-long memory
14
Memory functions
15
16
Cross-cultural perspectives
Nature, nurture, and Cognitive
Psychology in conclusion
RA/
TH
RA
TH
11
12
TH
TH
TH
Ogden.
In Matlin: Chapters 4, 5, 8.
Tulving. Neisser.
Larsen. Schooler & Eich.
In Matlin: Chapter 6
Loftus & Palmer. Hyman & Kleinknecht.
In Matlin: Chapter 13 on memory.
Brown et al.
Bluck & Alea. Pillemer et al.
Wang & Conway. Santamaria et al.
Herrmann et al.
List of required readings:
Barsalou, L.W. (1999). Perceptual symbol systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 577-609.
[33 pages].
Bluck, S. & Alea, N. (2002). Exploring the functions of autobiographical memory: Why do I
remember the autumn? In J. D. Webster & B. K. Haight (Eds.), Critical advances in
reminiscence work: From theory to application (pp. 61-75). New York: Springer. [15 pages]
Brown, N. R., Lee, P. J., Krslak, M., Conrad, F. G., Hansen, T. G. B., Havelka, J., & Reddon, J. R.
(2009). Living in history: How war, terrorism, and natural disaster affect the organization of
autobiographical memory. Psychological Science, 20(4), 399-405. [7 pages]
Bærentsen, K. B. & Trettvik, J. (2002). An Activity Theory approach to affordance. In O. W.
Bertelsen, S. Bødker & K. Kuuti (Eds.), NordiCHI 2002. Proceedings of the Second Nordic
Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. October 19-23, 2002, Aarhus, Denmark (pp.
51-60). ACM-SIGCHI, Aarhus. [10 pages] .
Bærentsen, K.B. (2000). Intuitive user interfaces. Scandinavian journal o0f information systrems,
12, 29-60. (31 pages).
Collins, S.H., Ruina, A., Tedrake, R. & Wisse, M. (2005). Efficient bipedal robots based on
passive-dynamic walkers. Sciencemag, 307, 1082-1085. (3 pages).
Condry, K.F. & Spelke, E.S. (2008). The development of language and abstract concepts: the case
of natural number. Journal of experimental psychology. 137, 1, 22-38. (18 pages)
Craig, A. D., Reiman, E. M., Evans, A., & Bushnell, M. C. (1996). Functional imaging of an
illusion of pain. Nature, 384(6606), 258-260. [3 pages].
Dar, R. & Leventhal, H. (2005). Schematic processes in pain perception. Cognitive Therapy and
Research, 17(4), 341-357. [17 pages].
Galotti, K. M. (1999). Cognitive psychology in and out of the laboratory (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth. [Excerpt: Paradigms of cognitive psychology, pp. 28-34 = 7 pages]
Gibson, J.J. (1966). The senses considered as perceptual systems. Greenwood Press, USA. Kap. 16.
(25 pages)
Gibson, J. J. (1972). A theory of direct visual perception. In J.R. Royce & Wm.W. Rozeboom
(Eds.), The psychology of knowing (pp. 215-240). N.Y.: Gordon & Breach. [26 sider].
Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception (Kap. 8 & 14; pp. 127-143 &
238-262). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum. [42 pages].
Gilmore, C. K., McCarthy, S. E., & Spelke, E. S. (2007). Symbolic arithmetic knowledge without
instruction. Nature, 447, 589-592 (3 pages)
Green, C.D. (1996): Where did the word ‘cognitive’ come from anyway? Canadian Psychology,
37(1), 31-39 [9 pages]
Herrmann, E., Call, J., Hernández-Lloreda, M. V., Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans have
evolved specialized skills of social cognition: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Science,
317(5843), 1360-1366. [7 pages].
Hock, R. R. (1999). Forty studies that changed psychology. Explorations into the history of
psychological research (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. [Excerpt: Watson
and Skinner, pp. 69-82 = 14 pages]
Holyoak, K. J. & Thagard, P. (1997). The analogical mind. American Psychologist. 52(1), 35-44.
[10 pages]
Hyman, I. E., Jr. & Kleinknecht, E. E. (1999). False childhood memories. Research, theory,
applications. In L. M. William & V. L. Banyard (Eds.), Trauma & memory (pp. 175-188).
London: Sage. [14 pages]
Larsen, S. F. (1987). Remembering and the archaeology metaphor. Metaphor and Symbolic
Activity, 2(3), 187-199. [13 pages]
Li X, Petrini L, Wang L, Defrin R, Arendt-Nielsen L. (2009). The importance of stimulus
parameters to thermal grill illusion. Neurophysiologie Clinique, 39 (6): 275-282. [8 pages]
Loftus, E. F., & Palmer, J. C. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the
interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal
Behavior, 13(5), 585-589. [5 pages]
Matlin, M. W. (2005). Cognition (6th ed.. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. [510 pages] – OR more
recent edition.
Neisser, U. (1986). Nested structure in autobiographical memory. In D. C. Rubin (Ed.),
Autobiographical memory (pp. 71-81). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. [11
pages]
Ogden J. Pain. In Health Psychology. A Textbook. (4th Ed.), pp.:285-306. [22 pages]
O'Regan, J. K. (1992). Solving the 'real' mysteries of visual perception: The world as an outside
memory. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 46, 461-488. [18 pages].
Pillemer, D. B., Ivcevic, Z., Gooze, R. A., & Collins, K. A. (2007). Self-esteem memories: Feeling
good about achievement success, feeling bad about relationship distress. Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(9), 1292-1305. [14 pages].
Santamaria, A., de la Mata, M. L., Hansen, T. G. B., & Ruiz, L. (2010). Cultural self-construals of
Mexican, Spanish, and Danish college students: Beyond independent and interdependent
self. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 41(3), 471-477. [7 sider]
Schooler, J. W. & Eich, E. (2000). Memory for emotional events. In E. Tulving & F. I. M. Craik
(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of memory (pp. 379-392). New York, NY: Oxford University
Press. [14 pages]
Spelke, E. S., & Kinzler, K. D. (2007). Core knowledge. Developmental Science, 10, 89-96. (7
pages)
Steenbergen, B., Kamp, J. van der, Smithsman, A. W. & Carson, R. G. (1997): Spoon Handling in
Two-to-Four-Year-Old Children. Ecological Psychology, 9(2), 113-129 [17 pages]
Sternberg, R. J. (1999). Cognitive psychology (2nd ed.). Orlando, USA: Harcourt Brace. [Excerpt on
methods: Pp. 13-20 = 7 pages]
Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology, 26(1), 1-12. [12 pages]
Velichkovsky, B. M. (1990). The vertical dimension of mental functioning. Psychological research,
52, 282-289. (7 pages)
Vicente, K. J. & Burns, C. M.(1996). Evidence for direct perception from cognition in the wild,
Ecological Psychology, 8(3), 269-280 [12 pages]
Wang, Q., & Conway, M. A. (2006). Autobiographical memory, self, and culture. In L.-G. Nilsson
& N. Ohta (Eds.), Memory and society: Psychological perspectives. (pp. 18-36): Psychology
Press: New York. [19 pages].
Warren, W. H., & Whang, S. (1987). Visual guidance of walking through apertures: Body-scaled
information for affordances. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and
Performance, 13, 371-383 [13 sider]
Wilson, M. (2002). Six views of embodied cognition. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 9, 4, 625636. (11 pages).
Total page count: 1009 pages.