Syllabus of Cognitive Psychology (PSY102RE) for Fall 2012
Instructor
Roberto Cabeza, Ph.D.
Teaching Assistants (TAs)
Erik Wing
Vijeth Iyengar
Office: B255 LSRC
cabeza@duke.edu
Office: B254 LSRC
Office: B254 LSRC
erik.wing@duke.edu
vijeth.iyengar@duke.edu
Lecture:
Instructor’s office hours:
MW 3:05-4:20 pm
WF 11am-noon
Soc/Psy 130
Roberto Cabeza
Sections:
M 6:30-7:20 pm
Tu 10:20-11:10 am
Tu 1:40-2:30 pm
W 10:20-11:10 am
Old Chem 123
Languages 109
Soc Sci 228
Old Chem 123
Vijeth Iyengar
Vijeth Iyengar
Erik Wing
Erik Wing
01D
02D
03D
04D
Course objectives
1. To provide students with a general overview of research on human cognitive abilities
2. To expose students to recent findings and ideas concerning the neural bases of cognitive functions,
particularly to those provided by neuropsychology and functional neuroimaging research.
3. To train students in reading original articles in experimental cognitive psychology
Evaluation
1. Quizzes: 32% (16 quizzes at 2% each)
Memory research has shown that many short study sessions (distributed learning) lead to better memory
performance than a few long study sessions (massed learning). Moreover, information acquired through distributed
learning persists for a long time, whereas information acquired through massed learning decays rapidly. To promote
distributed learning, there will be a short quiz at the end of every lecture. The first quiz (in Lecture #2) will be for
practice, and will not be computed for the final grade. Of the remaining 23 quizzes, only the best 16 scores will be
computed. Therefore, students may miss up to 7 quizzes without jeopardizing their final grade. For this reason, and
because each quiz is worth so little, there will not be make-up exams for quizzes (with the exception of people who
miss three or more quizzes for serious illness and have a doctor's note).
2. Written Exams: 54% (3 exams at 18% each)
Each exam will cover about a third of the course materials and will consist of multiple-choice and short-answer
questions. Make-up exams will be allowed with a Dean’s excuse, and should be taken within one week of the
original exam. You will arrange the make-up exams with the TA in charge of your section.
3. Participation in sections and lectures: 14%
There is ample evidence that active participation during the learning process leads to better retention than passive,
receptive learning. To promote active learning, participation in sections and lectures will be globally evaluated by
the TAs and the instructor from 0 (no participation) to 14 (highest level of participation).
Materials
Textbook: Willingham, D. W. (2007). Cognition: The Thinking Animal (3rd Ed.). Prentice Hall.
Book for sections: Foer, J. (2011). Moonwalking with Einstein. Penguin Books
Movie: Memento (2000). Director: Christopher Nolan (available in video rental stores and at Lilly)
Additional materials for lectures and sections will be available at Sakai
IMPORTANT NOTE
The contents of the syllabus may change during the term. These changes will be announced in
class and/or via Sakai. Students are responsible for keeping up with the changes.
Class Schedule
Mon Wed Lec#
8-27
8-29
9-3
9-5
9-10
9-12
9-17
9-19
9-24
9-26
Topic
1
Introduction
Syllabus
2
Cognitive psychology
W - Ch. 1
3
Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience
W - Ch. 2
4
Visual perception (MDRS)
W - Ch. 3: 67-87
5
Object identification & navigation
W - Ch. 3: 88-106
6
Attention: Introduction & patients
W - Ch. 4: 107-119
7
Attention: ERP & fMRI studies
W - Ch. 4: 120-142
8
Sensory and primary memory
W - Ch. 5: 143-161
9
Working memory
W - Ch. 5: 162 - 171
10 Memory Encoding
EXAM 1: Lectures 2-9
10-1
10-3
10-8
10-10
10-22
10-24
10-29
10-31
11-7
11-12
11-14
11-19
13 Seven sins of memory
Schacter (1999)
W - Ch. 8: 233-259
15 Amnesia
Movie: Memento (Nolan 2001)
16 Memory systems
W - Ch. 8: 260-270
17 Imagery & perception
W - Ch. 9: 271-287
18 Imagery tests
W - Ch. 9: 288-301
12-5
F – Ch. 4
F – Ch. 5
W - Ch. 6-9 + Schacter ‘99 + F Ch. 6-8
No sections
F – Ch. 6
No sections
F – Ch. 7
F – Ch. 8
No sections
19 Motor control
W - Ch. 10:312-333 (without first section)
20 Decision Making
W - Ch. 11: 335-353
21 Reasoning
W - Ch. 11: 354-371
22 Problem solving
W - Ch. 12: 372-388 (including Analogy) F – Ch. 10
THANKSGIVING
F – Ch. 9
No lecture
W - Ch. 12: 388-409
F – Ch. 11
24 Language (lecture by Michele Diaz) W - Ch. 13: 411-421, W - Ch. 14: 442-459
EXAM 3: Lectures 19-24
12-3
No lecture
14 Semantic memory
23 Creativity
11-28
W - Ch. 1-5 & F 1-5
W - Ch. 7: 218-232
11-21
11-26
F – Ch. 3
W - Ch. 6
12 Forgetting
EXAM 2: Lectures 10-18
11-5
F – Ch. 2
W - Ch. 7: 201-217
FALL BREAK
Sections
F – Ch. 1
11 Memory Retrieval
10-15
10-17
Lecture Readings
25 Language
W - Ch. 10-14 + F 9-11
W - Ch. 14:459-468
No sections