Psy 260: Survey in Cognition
and Perception
Dr. Susan Brennan
Psy 260: Cognition & Perception
Graduate TAs
Undergrad TA:
Luciane Pereira-Pasarin
Vera Hau
Rachel Turetsky
 Syllabus, supplementary materials,
announcements, and updated information
will be posted on Blackboard.
 http://blackboard.sunysb.edu
Using Blackboard
 Your Blackboard user ID is the same as
your Net ID.
 Find your ID from your SOLAR account.
Under Personal Portfolio, go to link:
"Get Your NetID". (It's often, but not
always, your first initial and first 7 letters of
your last name.)
 Password: your SBU ID number
(or whatever you’ve changed it
to).
Required Texts
 Reed, Cognition: Theory and
Applications (6th Ed.)
 Francis et al., CogLab (classic
experiments, simulated)
Exams
 Two midterms, each covering a different
part of the course: Oct 24th, Dec 12th.
 Final Exam (cumulative): 12/19 5 PM
 No make-up or alternative times.
Check your calendar now!
Simulated Experiments
(CogLab)
 Nine individual experiments (you
choose from a set of related expts).
You run yourself as a subject and
collect your own data.
 Interpret your data. If your data don't
match the classic results, explain what
you think led to the unusual pattern.
 Print out your data and turn in the paper
copy by the deadline.
Grading

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Higher midterm score 100 pts possible
Final exam Slide 0
100 pts possible
9 CogLabs
90 pts possible
Pop quizzes
for extra credit
You are expected to attend class
and to take both midterms.
What does psychology mean to you?
"Cognitive psychology refers to
all processes by which the
sensory input is transformed,
reduced, elaborated, stored,
recovered, and used."
(Ulrich Neisser, 1967)
 Cognitive Psychology
 Clinical Psychology
 Social/Health Psychology
 Personality Psychology
 Biopsychology
Scientific psychology
(A whirlwind history)
 Nature vs. Nurture
 Kant: the skeptic
Scientific psychology
(A whirlwind history)
 Nature vs. Nurture
 Kant: the skeptic
 Structuralism
 H. von Helmholtz
 Wundt: introspection
 Hermann Ebbinghaus
Structuralism
 Late 1800s
 Goal: Find fundamental elements of
thought.
 Method: Introspection.
 Problem: Introspection is limited to
current, mid-level cognitive processes.
And it's biased.
Scientific psychology
(A whirlwind history)
 Nature vs. Nurture
 Kant: the skeptic
 Structuralism
 H. von Helmholtz
 Wundt: introspection
 Hermann Ebbinghaus
 Functionalism
 W. James: the critic
Scientific psychology
(A whirlwind history)
 Nature vs. Nurture
 Kant: the skeptic
 Structuralism
 H. von Helmholtz
 Wundt: introspection
 Hermann Ebbinghaus
 Functionalism
 W. James: the critic
 Gestalt psychology
Scientific psychology
(A whirlwind history)
 Nature vs. Nurture
 Kant: the skeptic
 Structuralism
 H. von Helmholtz
 Wundt: introspection
 Hermann Ebbinghaus
 Functionalism
 W. James: the critic
 Gestalt psychology
 Behaviorism
 John Watson
 B. F. Skinner
Behaviorism
 Early & Mid 1900s
 Goal: Eliminate explanations based on
the mind.
 Method: Study behavior. Learning is
defined as a change in behavior.
 But is that all there is?
Scientific psychology
(A whirlwind history)
 Nature vs. Nurture
 Kant: the skeptic
 Structuralism
 H. von Helmholtz
 Wundt: introspection
 Hermann Ebbinghaus
 Functionalism
 W. James: the critic
 Gestalt psychology
 Behaviorism
 John Watson
 B. F. Skinner
 Cognitive Revolution
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George Miller
Donald Broadbent
Allen Newell
Herb Simon
Piaget
Chomsky
Cognitive Psychology (that’s us)
 1950s onward
 Input  Processing  Output
 Person responds to stimulus as he or
she interprets it.
 Method: We study behavior, assuming
that it reflects cognition.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Figure 1.3 (p. 9)
Source: Adapted from Biological Psychology (5th ed.), by J. W. Kalat.
Human information processing
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Perception
Attention
Memory (sensory, STM, LTM)
“Higher level” processes
- Language
- Categorization
- Reasoning
- Mental imagery
- Problem solving
- Judgment
Figure 1.1 (p. 3)
Stages of an information-processing
model
Bottom-up processing
Top-down processing
Human information processing




Perception
Attention
Memory (sensory, STM, LTM)
“Higher level” processes
- Language
- Categorization
- Reasoning
- Mental imagery
- Problem solving
- Judgment