ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY FALL, 2001
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY - PSY 3280 - COURSE OUTLINE
Miguel Roig, Ph.D..
OFFICE HOURS: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 10:05 am to 11:05 pm, Rosati Hall.
REQUIRED TEXT: Reed, S. K. (2000). Cognition (5th ed.), Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
COURSE OUTLINE. This course offers the student a broad overview of the field of cognitive psychology. We will study basic theory and research in cognitive psychology, and the various applications that have evolved from the study of human cognition. The emphasis of the course will be on the traditional areas of investigation, such as memory, attention, mental imagery and language.
CLASS EXAMINATIONS AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS. There will be 5 regular examinations and each exam will cover three chapters. During the semester, if you miss an exam for whatever reason, you may make it up ONLY during the week of final exams (either right after the last exam or during two other dates that will be announced when the final exam schedule is made public). However, only 2 make-up exams will be allowed in addition to exam no. 5. If you choose to write a paper (see below) the grade for the paper may be used to substitute the lowest exam score. Most lecture material, as well as, exam questions will be taken from the textbook readings. However, certain sections of textbook material will not be covered in class lectures.
Although class participation is not going to be formally graded (or the lack of it penalized), it is strongly encouraged. Please note, however, that class participation constitutes asking a question or making a comment when the student raises his or her hand and the instructor calls on the student. No other interaction between students will be tolerated. The instructor reserves the right to dismiss from class any student who talks to other classmates while the instructor is lecturing.
E-mail distribution list: During the first week of classes, you are to send me an e-mail message with your full name, student number, and course section (e.g., PSY 3280, MWF: 1:25 PM-2:20 PM). The primary reason for sending me an e-mail is to include your e-mail address in our class e-mail distribution list. This list consists of the e-mail addresses of all of the members of the class and will make it easy for me to send pertinent messages (e.g., announcements, related course material) to the entire class. Please use whichever e-mail address (school or home) you consult most frequently. You should know that each of you has a St. Johns University e-mail address which consists of your first initial, followed by the first 4 letters of your last name followed by the last 3 numbers of your social security number @stjohns.edu. Thus, for example, if your name was Juan Gonzales and your social security number was 150-57-4643, your e-mail address at St. Johns would be jgonz643@stjohns.edu. For all e-mail correspondence with me, you must indicate your full name and course number and section in your signature. Also, please avoid using cyberlingo (e.g., "dats for u 2 know" which translates to "thats for you to know"); in your e-mail correspondence with me as I do not acknowledge or respond to messages using such language. Write your messages using proper English and follow correct grammatical practices.
MONITORING YOUR GRADES - You should always know your academic standing for this course. The following is the grading system used in all of my classes.
00.00 - 56.99 ------ F+ 63.00 - 69.99 ----- D+ 80.00 - 84.99 ----- B 85.00 -
89.99 --- B+
57.00 - 62.99 ------ D 70.00 - 74.99 ----- C
75.00 - 79.99 ----- C+ 90.00 - 100. ---- A
The following are some of the words which are frequently misspelled or misused: effects/ effects, conclusion, experimenter, results, hypothesis/hypotheses, theory, dependent/ independent, repetition, study/experiment. Be sure that you to spell them correctly. Any misuse of these terms in an assignment will automatically result in 10% reduction of the grade in that assignment.
GENERAL CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR: It is expected that students conduct themselves as respectful adults and in accordance with university tradition: to remain silent while I am lecturing or while a fellow student is asking a question: To clean up your area if you have littered it, etc. Please turn off your beeper or cell phone before coming to class, or turn it on to vibrate if the device has such a feature. No smoking, food, or beverages are allowed in class.
TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE. Please note that we will adhere to following schedule as best as closely as possible. By the same token, however, you should expect a certain degree of flexibility in what gets covered when. So, be sure to be up to date on what is being covered in class each day and come prepared. Underlined dates represent exam dates.
M W F
M W F
09- 05 07 - Course overview and chapt. 1. 11-
02 - Chapt. 8.
09- 10, 12, 14 - Chapts. 1 and 2. 11-
05, 07, 09 - Chapts. 8 & 9.
09- 17, 19, 21 - Chapts. 2 and 3. 11-
12, 14, 16 - Chapt. 10.
09- 24, 26, 28 - Chapts. 3 and 4. 11-
19 - Chapt. 11.
11-
26, 28, 30 - Chapts. 11 - 12.
10- NS, 10, 12 - Chapt. 4.
10- 15, 17, 19 - Chapts. 5 and 6. 12-
03, 05, 07 - Chapts. 13 - 14.
10- 22, 24, 26 - Chapts. 6. 12-
10, - Chapt. 14.
10- 29, 31 - Chapt. 7. 12- 13-19 - FINAL EXAM
THE PAPER. The paper must be a review of the research literature on a
particular topic within the fields of Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive
Neuropsychology, Cognitive Science, or Artificial Intelligence. The review must
be current and the paper must be word-processed in APA style and between 10 to
12 pages in length (excluding references, with 1 inch margins and default
font). Please note that the paper is due November 14th. Late papers and papers
or papers that do not meet the length requirement will not be graded. When
writing a paper for this course, you must always paraphrase or summarize
material from your original sources and all sources must be Primary Sources of
information (i.e., journal articles. You are not to use book chapters, magazine
or encyclopedia articles nor on-line sources, though sources may, of course be
located through the various on-line search engines (e.g., Psychlit, Pubmed).
For specific instructions for handing in the paper point your browser here. For my general
grading criteria point your browser here.
For an introductory guide on APA style see Paul C. Smith's hypertext
research paper. For additional tips on writing papers in psychology you may
want to point your browser here).
POSSIBLE TOPICS FOR THE PAPER
the role of imagery and memory
tip of the tongue phenomenon.
memory and emotions
mnemonic devices
memory in the elderly
episodic vs. semantic memory
repetition and memory
encoding specificity
feature integration research
review of masking experiments
cognitive maps
problem solving
Kosslyn-Pylyshyn debate on the nature of internal representation
studies in mental rotation
studies of imagery in chess players
cognition in animals
creativity
communication in animals
eye witness testimony
hemispheric specialization
any topic in human factors research
speech perception by machines
MY POLICY ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
Sign and return to the professor by the
second week of class. Note: You may not be given credit for this course unless
I have this portion of the course outline in my possession (Cut with scissors along
the dotted line; ripped stubs are not acceptable). CHANGES: I reserve the right
to change or add to assignments and make changes to this course outline, for
good reason and with adequate notice.
I _____________________________________ have
received a copy of the course outline for Introduction to Psychology (PSY
2030). I have read the course outline and have reviewed the on-line version at http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm. I have been given an opportunity to discuss and ask
questions about the content of these documents and understand and agree to the
requirements of this course.
Students signature________________________
Date: _________ Student No.: _____________