Psychology 403.
DATE
Tues Aug. 26
&
Laboratory in Cognitive Psychology
Lecture and Laboratory Activity and Assignment Schedule
MAJOR CONCEPTS
PART I. Using Statistics
-review of descriptive statistics
central tendency & variability
tabular & graphic summaries of the data
Thurs Aug. 28
-review of inferential statistics
-some basics of statistical hypothesis testing
NHST (Null Hypothesis Significance Testing)
null & experimental or alternate hypothesis
1-tailed and 2-tailed tests
alpha level
critical value
p (statistical significance)
effect size
magnitude of effect vs. level of statistical
significance
confidence intervals
type I & II errors
z-test
t-test
degrees of freedom
between vs. within subject designs
Tues Sept. 2
&
Thurs Sept. 4
(Intro to Excel basics)
-RT paradigm
additive factors logic
measures of speed and accuracy
speed-accuracy trade-off
-Basics of lab report writing
LECTURE TOPICS
READINGS from: RESEARCH METHODS in
Psychology
-Introduction to Course Procedures and
Chap. 1, Introduction, pp. 1-13.
General Course Overview
Chap. 2, The Scientific Method, pp. 14-43.
-Research Ethics- the use of human subjects: Chap. 3, Ethical Issues in the Conduct of
a brief introduction
Psychological Research, pp. 44-82. (We will
-Describing the data
return to these issues in more detail later in the
-Testing Hypotheses
course.)
Chap. 12, Data Analysis and Interpretation: Part I
Describing Data, Confidence Intervals,
Correlation, pp. 360-400.
Chap. 13, Data Analysis and Interpretation: Part II
Test of Statistical Significance and the Analysis
Story, pp. 401-441. (These chapters review most
of the statistical concepts that we will use, and for
the most part should be a review of material
covered in Psy 295. Not all sections of Psy 295
cover exactly the same material, so you may find a
some things here that are new. Our goal is for you
to understand the material more deeply than your
first time through it in Psy 295).
-Introduction to Excel (briefly)- extra help is
available
-Reaction time paradigm
measurement of cognitive processing
speed-accuracy trade-offs
-Issues in experimental design
independent, dependent & control variables
experimental design considerations
No Experiment this week
(Every week that there is an experiment you are to
turn in, by e-mail, a statement of the hypothesis,
identification of the independent, dependent, and
control variables, and predictions of how the
dependent variables should dependent upon the
independent variables if the hypothesis is true.
See the course webpage for a sample of the
assignment for the first experiment.)
Exp 1: Line length discrimination under speed or
accuracy instructions (to be conducted on
Tues)
-Line Length Discrimination: an illustration of
the reaction time paradigm (and the
relationships between measures of speed
and accuracy)
-Comparison of two means; z-tests and ttests
-Effect size (Cohen's d)
-Confidence intervals
LAB EXPERIMENT, READING, & ASSIGNMENT
Chap. 14, Communication in Psychology, pp. 444Handout on the Line Length Discrimination
490. (This assignment will be relevant to all of the
experiment.
writing that you do in the course.)
*(by e-mail turn in the hypothesis & predictions for
the line-length experiment)
-Detailed consideration of what must be in the
first lab report
Tues Sept. 9
&
Thurs Sept. 11
Fall, 2003
Chap. 7, Independent Groups Designs, pp. 195-234.
(Although this experiment is a repeated measures
design, many basic topics in data analysis are
introduced in this chapter on the independent
groups design.)
Chap. 8, Repeated Measures Designs, pp. 235-258.
Chap. 12, Data Analysis and Interpretation: Part I
Describing Data, Confidence Intervals,
Correlation, see especially pp. 373-375 (Measures
of Effect Size); pp. 375-382 (Confidence Intervals)
Chap. 13, Data Analysis and Interpretation: Part II
Test of Statistical Significance and the Analysis
Story, see especially, pp. 408-414 (t-tests, effect
sizes & power).
RESEARCH METHODS... = RESEARCH METHODS in Psychology by Shaughnessy, Zechmeister & Zechmeister, 2002.
* = new writing assignment
¤ = assignment to be turned in
*write a full lab report on Line Length
Discrimination- Title, abstract, introduction,
method, results, discussion (There will be a
handout and we will go over the contents of the
full report in detail in class next week.)
No Experiment this week
DATE
Tues Sept. 16
&
MAJOR CONCEPTS
-linear regression
equation for a line
slope & intercept
R2 (coefficient of determination)
LECTURE TOPICS
-Mental Rotation
-Linear regression
Thurs Sept. 18
READINGS from: RESEARCH METHODS in
Psychology
LAB EXPERIMENT, READING, & ASSIGNMENT
Note: This book does not contain any information on ¤(hand in Line Length Discrimination) Due Tues
linear regression, but the material on correlation
(pp. 388-397) is closely related. The material will Shepard, S. & Metzler, D. (1988) Mental rotation:
be presented in class, and you are urged to
Effects of dimensionality of objects and type of
consult your textbook from Psy 295 if you still have
task. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
it.
Human Perception & Performance, 14, 3-11.
(This paper is related to the experiment for this
week, and is an example of what a research
paper in the published literature might look
like.)
Handout on the Mental Rotation experiment
Exp 2: Mental Rotation
*write a brief lab report- (See the handout
explaining what should be included in a "brief"
lab report.)
Thurs Sept. 18
-- QUIZ--(1/2 hour) at beginning of class
Tues Sept. 23
-The Stroop Effect
-1-way ANOVA, 3 levels
F test
&
variance ratios
random vs. effect variance
Thurs Sept. 25 degrees of freedom
main effect
randomized vs. repeated measures (between
vs. within subject) designs
multiple comparisons between pairs of means
Tues Sept. 30 -2-way ANOVA
&
main effects & interactions
Thurs Oct. 2
Tues Oct. 7
&
Thurs Oct. 9
-subject rights
mechanisms for protecting subject rights
informed consent
cost-benefit considerations
community standards
-Finding relevant psychological literature
general issues in literature searches
using PsychINFO, ISI databases
-Comparisons of more than 2 meansAnalysis of Variance (ANOVA)
(quiz will cover material from the readings, lectures
and laboratory to date)
Chap. 13, Data Analysis and Interpretation: Part II
Test of Statistical Significance and the Analysis
Story, see especially pp. 414-420; pp. 425-427,
ANOVA (Although this covers the between
subjects design, and we are doing a within
subjects design, it is a useful introduction.) and pp.
427-431 for a brief introduction to ANOVA in a
repeated measures design.
-Perceptual Matching
Chap. 13, Complex Designs, pp. 432-437.
-Simultaneous examination of the effects of 2
independent variables (2-way ANOVA)
-Scanning Short-Term Memory
Chap. 3, Ethical Issues in the Conduct of
Psychological Research, pp. 44-82.
-Ethical Issues in the use of human and
animal subjects
-Tools for searching the scientific literature
Using PsychINFO & ISI databases on-line
¤(hand in Mental Rotation) Due Thurs
Handout on the Stroop experiment
Exp 3: Color Stroop Effect
*write a brief lab report- (See the handout
explaining what should be included in a "brief"
lab report.)
¤(hand in Stroop) Due Thurs
Exp 4: Perceptual Matching
*write a brief lab report- (See the handout
explaining what should be included in a "brief"
lab report.)
¤(hand in Perceptual Matching) Due Thurs
Exp 5: Scanning Short-Term Memory
*No lab report required. We will discuss the
results of the experiment in class.
Tues Oct. 14
&
Thurs Oct. 16
Thurs Oct. 16
Tues Oct. 21
&
No Exp: Begin Independent Project
Between subjects ANOVA
--FIRST MIDTERM EXAM--Organization in Memory
-Intro to Signal Detection Theory: an
application of statistical hypothesis testing
Thurs Oct. 23
RESEARCH METHODS... = RESEARCH METHODS in Psychology by Shaughnessy, Zechmeister & Zechmeister, 2002.
* = new writing assignment
¤ = assignment to be turned in
¤(hand in Independent Project assignment) Due
Thurs
Exp 6: Organization in Memory
*write a brief lab report- (See the handout
explaining what should be included in a "brief"
lab report.)
DATE
Tues Oct. 28
&
Thurs Oct. 30
Tues Nov. 4
MAJOR CONCEPTS
&
Thurs Nov. 13
Tues Nov. 18
&
READINGS from: RESEARCH METHODS in
Psychology
LAB EXPERIMENT, READING, & ASSIGNMENT
-signal detection theory concepts
signal, noise, sensitivity (d'), criterion (ß), bias,
yes-no paradigm, ROC curve
-Intro to Signal Detection Theory: an
application of statistical hypothesis testing,
continued
¤(hand in Organization in Memory)
-signal detection theory as an application of
principles of statistical hypothesis testing
-Signal Detection Theory
-Intro to Signal Detection Theory: an
application of statistical hypothesis testing,
continued
PART II. Conceptual Underpinnings of
Statistical Hypothesis Testing
-descriptive statistics
relation to measurement
central tendency, variability, relationships
among data
-normal distributions
mean, sd, variance
standard scores
-distributions derived from normal distributions
-NHST
-statistical power
-confidence intervals
-effect size
-t distribution
-normal (and almost normal) distributions)
-expectations about samples from normal
distributions
-differences between 2 means: z & t-tests
¤(hand in Independent Project assignement) Due
Thurs
Exp 7: Signal Detection Theory
*write a full lab report- Title, abstract, introduction,
method, results, discussion
No Exp: Continue Independent Project
-F distribution
-random, effect, & total variance
-main effects
-interactions
-differences between 3 or more means with
one factor: 1-way analysis of variance
(ANOVA)
-differences between means with 2 or more
factors: n-way ANOVA
-sources of variance estimates for main
effects in between subjects designs
-sources of variance estimates for
interactions in between subjects designs
&
Thurs Nov. 6
Tues Nov. 11
LECTURE TOPICS
Thurs Apr Nov.
20
No Exp: Continue Independent Project
Review chapters 12. & 13.
Tues Nov. 25
¤(hand in Signal Detection Theory)
No Exp: Continue Independent Project
Exp 8: Independent Project
gather data
Thurs. Nov. 27
Tues Dec. 2
---HOLIDAY- THANKSGIVING---
Thurs Dec. 4
Mon Dec. 8
5:00 p.m.
Fri. Dec. 12
10-12
--REVIEW & COURSE EVALUATION---DEADLINE FOR TURNING IN
INDEPENDENT PROJECT---SECOND MIDTERM EXAM--
(Independent Project
Gather data if not finished in previous week)
¤--FINAL PROJECT REPORT DUE--
Note: The assignments and lecture topics are subject to change as the term progresses. Changes will be announced in class, and students are responsible for being aware of any changes.
Psy403S0Psy403S03LecSched&Assign2LecSched&Assign
RESEARCH METHODS... = RESEARCH METHODS in Psychology by Shaughnessy, Zechmeister & Zechmeister, 2002.
* = new writing assignment
¤ = assignment to be turned in