Department of Psychology - University at Buffalo

Psychology 639

Location: 440 Park

Cognitive Processes

Syllabus

Course Goals / Course Outline / Readings / Course_Requirements

Fall 2005

Mon

12:00 - 2:50 pm

Instructor: James R. Sawusch

Office: 360 Park Hall

Email: jsawusch@buffalo.edu

Phone: (716) 645-0238

Office Hours:

Mon 3 - 5:00

or by Appointment

Course Goals

Psychology 639 is an overview of the nature of human cognition as revealed by behavioral science. The course covers topics such as the neural basis of cognition, perception, attention, memory, language, reasoning, problem solving and categorization. Both classic and contemporary data will be examined in an attempt to integrate them into a coherent overview of the nature of cognition. The course is both an overview for students whose only exposure to cognitive psychology in graduate school will be this course and a first course for those who will continue with more advanced courses. Emphasis is placed on understanding both the nature of current theories and models of human cognition and on the critical evaluation of experimental data and their relation to theories.

Tentative Course Outline:

DATE

TOPIC

READING
Aug 29 Class Overview, Intro to Cognition Chapt 1
Sept 5 Labor Day  
Sept 12 The Nature of Cognition: Approaches to cognition, the neural basis of cognition, and connectionism Chapt 2, #7, #8
Sept 19 Perception (vision, audition & speech) Chapt 3, #7, #11
Sept 26 Attention - Selective & Divided C4, #11, #3, #6
Oct 3 Attention - Selective & Divided Chapt 4, #12, #4
Oct 10 Overview of Memory; Short Paper 1 due Chapt 5
Oct 17 Acquisition, Elaboration, Reconstruction Chapt 6, 7
Oct 24 Knowledge Representation Chapt 8, 11
Oct 31 Categorization Chapt 9, #1
Nov 7 Language Part 1 Chapt 10, #5
Nov 14 Exam  
Nov 21 Language Part 2 Chapt 10, #9
Nov 28 Judgment, Reasoning and Problem Solving Chapt 12, 13, 14
Dec 5 Conscious & Unconscious Processes Chapt 15, #2, #10
Dec 12 Short Paper 2 Due  
 

Readings
Text: Reisberg, D. (2005). Cognition (3rd edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
1. Barsalou, L. W. (1992). Chapter 2. Cognitive Psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
2. Cheesman, J. and Merikle, P. M. (1984). Priming with and without awareness. Perception & Psychophysics, 36(4), 387-395.
3. Lavie, N. (1995). Perceptual load as a necessary condition for selective attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21(3), 451-468.
4. Logan, G. D. (1988). Toward an instance theory of automatization. Psychological Review, 95, 492-527.
5. Luce, P. A. & McLennan, C. T. (2005). Spoken word recogntion: The challenge of variation. In D. B. Pisoni & R. E. Remez (Eds.), The handbook of speech perception. Malden, MA: Blackwell. (pp591-609)
6. MacLeod, C. (1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 163-203.
7. Martindale, C. (1991). Chapters 1 and 2. Cognitive Psychology: A Neural-Network Approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Cole.
8. Mason, M. (2005, Ed.). Taking Sides: Clashing views on controversial issues in cognitive science. Issue 1: Are mind and brain the same. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill. (pp 2-21)
9. Mason, M. (2005, Ed.). Taking Sides: Clashing views on controversial issues in cognitive science. Issue 10: Is context stronger than frequency. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill. (pp 212-236)
10. National Research Council. (1991). Subliminal self-help. Reprinted in R. P. Honeck (Ed.), Introductory Readings for Cognitive Psychology, Guilford, CT: Dushkin Publishing.
11. Treisman, A. M. (1986). Features and objects in visual processing. Scientific American, 255, 5, 114B-125.
12. Wood, N. L. and Cowan, N. (1995). The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: Attention and memory in the classic selective listening procedure of Cherry (1953). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 124(3), 243-262.

Class Requirements

The class is a lecture-discussion format. Material is from the text, readings, and lecture. The text for the Fall, 2005 semester is Cognition (3rd edition) by Reisberg. The other readings are selected journal articles and book chapters and are on reserve at the University library. The course grade is based upon the sum of the examination and short paper scores. The scores will be transformed to percentages and the fixed scale, below, will be used to determine grades. In the event that the examination and/or papers prove to be overly difficult and scores are low (less than 25% of the class attains an average greater than or equal to 88%), then the fixed scale cut points will be lowered. (That is, the scale will be curved.) Plus and minus grades will be given for scores in the upper and lower thirds of each grade range. The scale is given in the table below.

Grade
Percent Range
A
88 and higher
B
77 - 87
C
66 - 76
D
55 - 65
E
54 and below

The Examination. The one examination will be given in class. It will cover the material in the middle half of the class (memory, categorization, language and some material on attention). The exam is short essay. The examination score is 50% of the final grade. Sample questions will be posted with the lecture notes.

Short Papers. Two short papers will be due. The due dates are in the tentative course outline, above. Two weeks before a paper is due, two questions will be distributed and you may choose either for that paper. The papers are to be a maximum of four pages in length. Each paper counts as 25% of the final grade. The paper questions are similar to the short essay questions on the exam.

Lecture Notes. The lecture notes will be posted on the web and will include sample exam questions and problems that are designed to assist you in learning and applying the concepts of the course. The notes for each topic are accessed by clicking on the topic in the course outline. If you have trouble with the sample questions or problems, or with the comments provided on the written exams, discuss them with the instructor.

The syllabus can be found at:

http://pluto.fss.buffalo.edu/classes/psy/jsawusch/psy639/639f05.html

Academic Integrity

The University has a responsibility to promote academic honesty and integrity and to develop procedures to deal effectively with instances of academic dishonesty. Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect for others' academic endeavors. By placing their name on academic work, students certify the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgments.

Students with Disabilities

Any student with a disability that may require note-takers, readers or extended time on examinations should contact the instructor and the Office of Disability Services (25 Capen Hall; phone 645-2608) during the first two weeks of class. The Office of Disability Services will provide information and review appropriate arrangements for reasonable accommodations.

revised: 22-August-2005