PSY241 ‘Cognitive Psychology’
MO: Tom Stafford
t.stafford@shef.ac.uk
Cognition
• Definition: mental processes
• Cognition is invisible
– So what is the aim of
cognitive psychology?
• Methods and concepts
central to whole of
psychology
Structure of the course
•
•
•
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Lectures
Lab classes
Study groups
Wiki
Structure of the course: Lectures
Nikki Hunkin
Jim Stone
Rod Nicolson
Maria Panagiotidi
Tom Stafford
Megan Freeth
Yan Jing Wu
Stuart Wilson
Study groups
• Thursday of week 2, psychology computer lab
• 9am, 10am, 11am, 12am (see wiki for your group)
• Self-structured, topics etc on wiki
• Discuss in preparation for individual
contributions to the wiki
•Wiki
• Information (groups, tasks,
FAQ)
• Topic content (user created!)
Everyone has the task of adding
to the wiki every week
http://psy241.group.shef.ac.uk/psy241wiki/index.php
•Wiki
Uses markup:
` ` fantastic ``  fantastic
== heading == 
heading
How to learn
Rate Pleasantness
Check Letters
69%
68%
39%
Incidental learning
43%
Intentional learning
Hyde, T. S., & Jenkins, J. J. (1973). Recall for words as a function of semantic, graphic, and
syntactic orienting tasks. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12(5), 471–480.
Use of wiki statistically shown to
improve your grade on 241!
Stafford, Elgueta & Cameron (under review) ‘Wiki users get higher exam grades’
How to learn 2
• Spaced vs blocked practice
Bad
Better
Easier
Dempster, F. N. (1989). Spacing effects and their implications
for theory and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 1,
309-330. doi:10.1007/BF01320097
How cognitive psychology works
– Experiments
– Theory building
– Paradigms/frameworks
• Vital to distinguish evidence (data) and theory
(claims about what data means)
• Theories: abstract, predict
Kinds of questions
• Mechanism
• Computation
• Evolution
How to get a first
• Organise, not memorise
• Practice writing
• Answer a specific questions…
….by making a specific argument …
….about psychological theories…
….supported by evidence
• Read: for background, and for extra
information
• Critical perspective on question
Web resources
• Resources:
http://tomstafford.staff.shef.ac.uk/teaching/psy241/
• Wiki
– http://psy241.group.shef.ac.uk/psy241wiki
– Username: (e.g.) pca10aa, Password: 01/01/1993
– Contact me if your logon doesn’t work
• T.stafford@shef.ac.uk
Questions?
t.stafford@shef.ac.uk