Cognitive Psychology Course Outline –Winter 2005 - Revised January 31 - no spring break

360w2005 Tuesday evening 19:00-22:00 classroom B2340 and Computer Lab A2130
Instructor: Bruce Landon, Ph.D. Office: DLC B3113
Phone: 604-777-6161
Office hours: Tuesday 18:00 +
email: Bruce_Landon@douglas.bc.ca
Homepage: Bruce-Landon.Douglas.bc.ca

 Required Reading: (articles beyond the readings book are available online from DC library)

Text: Bruning, R.H., Schraw, G.J., Norby, M.M., & Ronning, R.R, (2004). Cognitive Psychology and Instruction 4th Edition. Pearson, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Readings: Spellman, B.A., & Willingham, D.T. (2005) Current Directions in Cognitive Science (editors), Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Anderson Theory Reading: Anderson, J.R., Bothell, D., Byrne, M. D., & Libiere, C. (2002). An Integrated Theory of the Mind from http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/publications/?subtopic=39

Kahneman Reading: Kahneman, D. (2002). A Perspective on Judgment and Choice: Mapping Bounded Rationality. American Psychologist. 58 (9) pp. 697-720.

Optional Reading: Wegner, D. (2002). The Illusion of Conscious Will, MIT Press, Boston.

Revised Schedule outline to be supplemented with required articles from the library and due dates

 

01-04    chapter 1           Introduction to Cognitive Psychology (brain imagery) (course resources)

Readings           Miller, G. A., & Keller, J. (2000). Psychology and neuroscience: Making peace.

Readings           Roser, M. & Gazzaniga, M. S. (2004). Automatic brains-Interpretative minds.

Video clips        Split Brain Clip and Left Frontal Happiness clip related to readings

 

01-11    chapter 9           Classroom Contexts for Cognitive Growth (knowledge construction) eDiscussion     class discussion expectations/norms

Readings           Norenzayan, A., & Nisbett, R. E. (2000). Culture and causal cognition.

Readings           The Projective Way of Knowing: A Useful Heuristic That Sometimes Misleads

Video clips        Vygotsky teaching clip [BF 721 V94 1994]

 

01-18    chapter 2           Sensory, Short-Term, and Working Memory (attention and perception)                                           (multitasking) (UltraHal demonstration) (protothinker demonstration)

Readings           Inattentional Blindness: Looking Without Seeing

Video clips        Multitasking and Gender clip2

 

01-25    chapter 3           Long-Term Memory: Structures and Models (ACT-R) (PDP) (storytelling)

Readings           McNally, R. J.(2003). Recovering memories of trauma: A view from the laboratory.

video clips         Breaking Silence clip and False Memory clip

 

02-01    chapter 4           Encoding Processes (imagery) (metacognition) (concept maps)

Readings           Garry, M., & Polaschek, D. L. L. (2000). Imagination and memory.

Video clips        Multitasking and Gender encoding emotion clip1 [face memory]

Project title page and references section due

 

02-08    chapter 5           Retrieval Processes (reconstruction) (testing for learning) (storytelling)

                        (turingchat)

Readings           Landauer, T. K. (1998). Learning and representing verbal meaning: The latent semantic analysis theory.

Readings           Brown, V. R., & Paulus, P. B. (2002). Making group brainstorming more effective: Recommendations from an associative memory perspective.

Project introduction section due

 

02-15    chapter 6           Beliefs about Self (attitudes) (attribution) (Theory of Planned Behaviour)

Readings           Thompson, S. C. (1999). Illusions of control: How we overestimate our personal influence.

            chapter 7           Beliefs about Intelligence and Knowledge (nature-nurture) (changing beliefs)                                    (LSA)

Video clips        Intelligence theories clip

 

02-22    chapter 8           Problem Solving and Critical Thinking (expert-novice) (creativity) (decision                           making) (monty hall)

Readings           Klahr, D., & Simon, H. A. (2001). What have psychologists (and others) discovered about the process of scientific discovery?

Readings           Mellers, B. A., & McGraw, A. P. (2001). Anticipated emotions as guides to choice.

 

03-01    chapter 10         Technological Contexts for Cognitive Growth (HCI) (tools for distributed                                           cooperation)

 

03-08    chapter 11         Learning to Read (ACT-R LSA model)

Readings           Ferreira, F., Bailey, K. G. D., & Ferraro, V. (2002). Good-enough representations in language comprehension.

Article:  Bidiu, R. & Anderson, J.R. (2004) Interpretation-based processing: A unified theory of semantic sentence comprehension, Cognitive Science, 28(1), 1-44.

Project paper Method Section Due

 

03-15    chapter 12         Learning to Learn (strategies and individual differences)

Readings           Saffran, J. R. (2003). Statistical language learning: Mechanisms and constraints

 

03-22    chapter 13         Writing (proofreading and signal detection) (APAFORMAT) (summarizing)

Readings           Zwaan, R. A. (1999). Situation models: The mental leap into imagined worlds.

Complete revised Project paper due

 

03-29    chapter 14         Cognitive Approaches to Mathematics (cognitive tutor)

            chapter 15         Cognitive Approaches to Science (expert-novice)

Readings           Spellman, B. A., & Mandel, D. R. (1999). When possibility informs reality: Counterfactual thinking as a cue to causality.

 

04-05    Review for final examination

 

Course Description: PSYC 2360 Cognitive Psychology (3 credits) This course provides an introduction to the psychology of cognition and is concerned with the methods and theories relevant to thinking and related processes. Concept formation, problem solving, reasoning, decision making and the relation of language to thought will be covered. The influence of individual differences, social factors, artificial intelligence and biology will be included as well as the practical applications of research in cognition.

Douglas College Academic Plan Core Competencies:

            Independent learning and information literacy

            Oral, interpersonal and written communication skills

            Critical and creative thinking

            Teamwork

            Computational and technical skills

Douglas College Academic Plan teaching and learning environment will promote:

            Socially Responsible Citizenship

                        Graduates will have the self-awareness and requisite knowledge, skills and                                     abilities to enable them to act in an ethically and socially responsible manner as                                effective citizens of their community.

                                    A personal framework for and appreciation of ethical decision making

            Intercultural and International Perspective

                        International sources of cognition research and cognitive theory

            Breadth of Learning within Programs

                        University course transfer credit to meet breadth requirements

            Learning-Centred Environment

                        Individual contact with faculty in classes

                        Balanced and varied learning modes and methods

            Application of Learning

                        Graduates will be able to apply knowledge as effective practitioners as will as                                 simply to acquire it.

            Academic Excellence

                        Curriculum will be grounded in good research and theory, and marked by                            intellectual rigour.

           

Course objective knowledge and skills
               cognitive psychology vocabulary
                               identify key concepts and terms
                               identify key concepts in concept hierarchy
               cognitive psychology methods vocabulary
                               identify common research methods and designs
               cognitive psychology current theories
                               identification of key concepts of major theories
               cognitive psychology important researchers
                               researcher identification with concepts
               cognitive psychology historical stories
                               Nobel prize winner stories
                                              Herbert Simon
                                              Daniel Khanneman
                               Important Canadian Researcher stories
                                              John Anderson
                                              Endel Tulving
               cognitive psychology research involvement
                               participate in research demonstrations as a participant
                               as a research designer prepare research study proposal
 
prerequisite skills:
               web browser skills
                               searching in page
                               saving pages
                               saving links
               word processing skills
                               spell checking
                               grammar checking
                               autosummarize checking for adequate redundancy 
               PsychInfo and PsychArticles search skills
               APA formatted article reading skills
               library skills 
               paragraph skills
               APA format skills
               critical thinking skills (does it make sense?)
                               detecting simple mathematical error
                               detecting inconsistency
                               detecting illogical sequence
                               detecting statistical inference error
                               describing line of reasoning/inference
               making notes from PowerPoint presentation
               making notes from in class videos
 
computer related skills developed in the course
               logon skills
                               computer lab machine
                               course management system
               grade calculation skills
               draft editing skills
               paraphrasing skills
               referencing and citation skills
               email with attachment skills
               check online marks skill
               check calendar skills
               online multiple choice quiz skills
               making notes from online information

           

               skills at participating in online academic discussions



 

Research Designer Term Project Paper - The intention of the term project is that students will learn about a subtopic of Cognitive Psychology in depth by studying the scientific literature and by proposing an original experiment in the context of ACT-R theory.  The intention of the designing of an "original experiment" is help develop the student's critical thinking skills in psychology.  The term project paper will develop one of the approved topics in Cognition from the list below that have been studied in relation to the ACT-R theory. The form of the term paper is a research proposal that provides a review of the relevant current literature (10+ sources since January 1, 1994 cited in the introduction). This is similar in form to the introduction and method sections of an experimental research paper with an emphasis on clarity of thought and logical development of ideas. The method section is to include the design of an experiment or series of experiments that are proposed to clarify theoretical issues developed in the introductory section.  Papers that are plagiarized or do not integrate ACT-R theory of the mind will not be marked for credit and will be awarded a zero mark.


Limited list of potentially Approved Project topics

(for more information please see http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/publications/ )

 

10. Perception & Attention       
 11. Psychophysical Judgments       
 12. Visual Search       
 13. Eye Movements       
 14. Psychological Refractory Period       
 15. Task Switching              
 16. Stroop       
 17. Driving Behavior       
 18. Situational Awareness       
 19. Graphical User Interfaces       
20. Learning & Memory       
 21. List Memory       
 22. Fan Effect       
 23. Implicit Learning       
 24. Skill Acquisition       
 25. Cognitive Arithmetic       
 26. Category Learning       
 27. Learning by Exploration and Demonstration      
 28. Updating Memory &Prospective Memory      
 29. Causal Learning       
30. Problem Solving & Decision Making       
 31. Tower of Hanoi       
 32. Choice & Strategy Selection       
 33. Mathematical Problem Solving       
 34. Spatial Reasoning       
 35. Dynamic Systems       
 36. Use and Design of Artifacts       
 37. Game Playing       
 38. Insight and Scientific Discovery       
40. Language Processing       
 41. Parsing       
 42. Analogy & Metaphor       
 43. Learning       
 44. Sentence Memory       
50. Other areas       
 51. Cognitive Development       
 52. Individual Differences       
 53. Emotion as a dual-task
 54. Cognitive Workload       
 55. Computer Generated Forces       
 56. fMRI       
 57. Communication        
 58. Negotiation        
 59. Group Decision Making       



Essentially, this is a small version of a research proposal that would be submitted as part of a grant proposal or advanced degree requirement (title page, abstract, introduction, method, and references sections only omitting the results and discussion sections in this term project paper). In order to minimize the APA style problems all projects will use the formatted Term Project Document and just make appropriate changes and build the project inside the document where all of the margins and headings are appropriate APA style.

The intention of breaking the term project into parts is to make the task easier and to allow for feedback to guide student revisions so that in the final version demonstrates the student's Researcher Term Project Deliverables inside the basic APA style model document:
Submitted by sending 5 emails with the attachment and specific subject line

Title Page
References Section
Outline of the introduction including hypothesis statement
Outline of the Method Section including subsections
Final proofread version

Grading System Policy

Plagiarism Policy - Academic Dishonesty will result in Zero credit for assignment, quiz, or exam. Plagiarism can be avoided by not using other's work as one's own. Be careful in citing all of your sources and people appropriately.

Make-up Policy - Missed quizzes are made up on the final exam and assignments must be made up within 5 days (by Sunday night) for any credit (credit is reduced 20% per day late).

The overall intention of the marking system is to have occasions to encourage student learning and provide meaningful feedback on progress.  There are five components of the grading system which are intended to promote specific competencies.  The online discussions are intended to help students develop the skills future teamwork and to show how they are thinking about the course material.  The computer based assignments are intended to provide some hands-on experiential learning of both psychological and artificial intelligence concepts.  The quizzes are really intended to promote spaced practice style of learning complex material while the Question&Answer emails are intended to encourage students select and express important learnings from the course so that they may be available as long term memories.  The term project is intended to engage the student in an exploration of psychology in the context of Anderson's Theory of the Mind.  Lastly, the final examination is intended to provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge of Cognitive Psychology and also to make up for misunderstandings or absences on quizzes that may have during the term.

     
15% Online Contributions to discussions
15% Computer based assignments (virtual labs & Protothinker)
20% Quizzes and Q&A emails on Assigned Readings
20% Term Project (minus 20% for each day of missed deadline)
30% Closed Book Comprehensive Final Exam both in-class (25%) and personal Q&A parts (5%)

General weekly structure (10 tasks)

               Check course site and course calendar for upcoming events
               Review of materials in preparation for in-class final exam (25%)
                               Q&A for personalized in-class final exam (5%)
                                              Possible Questions for personalized essay exam
                                                             email Complete essay Questions and Answers (5%)
               Virtual Lab and ProtoThinker Assignments
                               Online reports
               Study Reading Assignments
                               recommended Online vocabulary quiz
                               recommended Online researcher quiz
                               recommended Online SelfTest of Reading Comprehension
               Preview class presentation online
               In-class Quiz (for a total of 20%)
               In-class presentation/video/discussion participation and notes
               After class discussion assignment (1.5% per for a total of 15%)
               Work on Term Project (Final version 20% for paper)
                               Online Project Progress Reports (4%)
                               (send email attachment of Project document to specified subject lines)


Optional weekly activities (5 tasks)
Remediate skill deficits
Checkout unassigned virtual labs and experiments
Collaborate with other students
Ask questions in online discussion forums
Answer questions in online discussion forums
Update personal concept map for cognitive psychology

 

Douglas College has an agreement with SFU for a one year trial to extend reciprocal borrowing privileges for our students.  In order for the student to borrow materials, s/he needs to present a valid (current semester sticker) student photo ID card.  Please let your students know that they
are now able to borrow materials from SFU.  Students are still able to order material via interlibrary loan, but they are limited to 3 interlibrary loans per class.