Fall 2023
MWF 3:30 pm-4:20 pm
University Church, Room 114
Breaking news...
Instructor:
Name | Office | Phone | Office hours | |
Greg Francis | PSYCH 3186 | gfrancis@purdue.edu | 494-6934 | MWF 2:00 pm-3:00 pm |
Text: There is no textbook. Material for exams will be taken from the lectures. If you want to use a textbook, you can use any cognition text from other (present and past) sections of this course, or you can purchase a textbook online. Class notes will be available on the web (see below). The notes are reduced in size so that six slides fit on a single page. You can either download individual lectures (below) or you can download the entire set of lectures notes in a single file (51 MB). There are also optional readings in the schedule below. These readings may help if you are unsure about something or want to explore a topic further.
Class attendance: Your presence for the lectures is mandatory, and will be checked each class period. Over the course of the semester, each student may miss up to 6 lectures without penalty. Additional absences will proportionally reduce your class attendance score. This score contributes to 10% of your final class grade. Athletes and other special cases need to contact Dr. Francis.
Class home page: The home page for this course is http://www.psych.purdue.edu/~gfrancis/Classes/PSY200/indexF23.html From this page you can download lecture notes, view the class schedule, view current grades, and connect to the various homework laboratory and writing assignments. This course does not use Brightspace.
Vodcast recordings of lectures: BoilerCast recordings of the lectures will be available. At the time of syllabus preparation is not clear how the recordings will be distributed, but we will sort it out as the semester goes. The recordings are meant to be a (poor) substitute should you miss a lecture and to provide a way to go back and check on topics that you do not fully understand. The vodcast recording system does not always properly capture the lecture, and sometimes the audio is quite poor. Your best option is to attend the lecture itself and use the vodcast as a way to refresh selected topics.
Examinations: There will be four section exams and one final exam. The section exams will be in-class and the final exam will be given during the final exam period (do not plan to leave campus early, this course's final exam is sometimes scheduled for the last day of exam week). Exams 1 through 4 are each worth 15% of your class grade. The final will cover all topics of the course and is worth 15% of your class grade. Exams will be half multiple choice questions and half short-answer questions. Extensive study guides are available as links in the class schedule below. You might also find it useful to look at old exams from Spring 2016. However, the course always changes a bit from semester to semester, and your exams will be made of different (but similar) questions. Make-up exams will not be permitted unless you notify Dr. Francis at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled exam date. Missed exams will receive a grade of 0.
CogLab: CogLab is an Internet site that allows students to participate in classic experiments related to cognitive psychology. You will be given lab assignments throughout the semester. These labs are run through the Internet and can be carried out at any computer lab on campus or at a home computer. Your overall lab grade will make up 15% of your class grade. All the labs are on the Cognitive Psychology Online Laboratory (CogLab) web page at https://coglab.cengage.com. In the schedule below, individual labs are associated with different dates. You must complete each lab by 1:00 pm on the date indicated to get credit (better to do it the night before). You will receive log-in instructions in class.
Grading: Grading is on a straight scale, as described in Lecture 1. There is no rounding or curving of grades. There is no possibility of extra credit.
Teaching Assistants:
Name | Office | Office hours | |
Corey Nack | PSYCH 3192 | cnack@purdue.edu | Tuesday and Thursday, 10:00 am - 12:15 pm |
Schedule:
The links to the optional readings provide some additional background or related information. You do not need to read this material, but if you are interested in the topic, it is a place to start further exploration.
Lecture PDF / Boilercast | Date | Topic | Assignment | Optional Readings |
01, Video | August 21 | Introduction | ||
02, Video | August 23 | Brain | Brain asymmetry | The Brain from Top to Bottom, Visual contralateral processing |
03, Video | August 25 | Brain scans | ||
04, Video | August 28 | Mind reading | Video of tongue display unit | |
05, Video | August 30 | Neurons and neurotransmitters | The Mind Project | |
06, Video | September 1 | Receptive fields | Blind Spot | Receptive field tutorial |
-- | September 4 | Labor Day (No class) | ||
07, Video | September 6 | Neural networks | ||
08, Video | September 8 | Neural learning | Implicit learning | Neural Network Demo |
SG1, Video | September 11 | Review for exam | ||
-- | September 13 | SECTION EXAM 1 | ||
09, Video | September 15 | Visual perception | Muller-Lyer illusion | The Joy of Visual Perception |
10, Video | September 18 | Dynamic vision | Apparent motion, Metacontrast masking | The Joy of Visual Perception - Motion Perception |
11, Video | September 20 | Attention | Simon effect | Wikipedia Page |
12, Video | September 22 | Attention | Attentional blink, Visual search | Visual Salience |
13, Video | September 25 | Sensory memory | Partial report | |
14. Video | September 27 | Two-store model | Brown-Peterson, Serial position | Wikipedia Page, Dewey (2007) |
15, Video | September 29 | Working memory | Sternberg search | Wikipedia Page |
16, Video | October 2 | Working memory | Memory span, Phonological similarity | |
SG2, Video | October 4 | Review for exam | ||
-- | October 6 | SECTION EXAM 2 | ||
-- | October 9 | October Break (No class) | ||
17, Video | October 11 | Encoding specificity | Encoding specificity | |
18, Video | October 13 | Memory discrimination | False memory | |
19, Video | October 16 | Constructive memory | Loftus (2003) | |
20, Video | October 18 | Amnesia | Forgot it all along | Wikipedia entry on HM |
21, Video | October 20 | Improving memory 1 | Levels of processing | |
22, Video | October 23 | Improving memory 2 | Link word | |
23, Video | October 25 | Mental representation | Prototypes | |
24, Video | October 27 | Mental imagery | Mental rotation | Wikipedia Page |
SG3, Video | October 30 | Review for exam | ||
-- | November 1 | SECTION EXAM 3 | ||
25, Video | November 3 | Language instinct | African American Vernacular English | |
26, Video | November 6 | Phrase trees | MiniLing | |
27, Video | November 8 | Words | Word superiority | Wikipedia on Proto Indo European Language |
28, Video | November 10 | Parsing | Lexical decision | |
29, Video | November 13 | Speech | Categorical Perception - Discrimination | Wikipedia Page on Consonants |
30, Video | November 15 | Language development | Age of Acquisition | |
31, Video | November 17 | Language and brain | The Brain from Top to Bottom: Language-Procesing Areas, Deciphering the Chatter of Monkeys | |
32, Video | November 20 | Consciousness | The Brain from Top to Bottom: Consciousness, Searle and the Chinese Room Argument | |
-- | November 22 | Thanksgiving Break (No class) | ||
-- | November 24 | Thanksgiving Break (No class) | ||
SG4, Video | November 27 | Review for exam | ||
-- | November 29 | SECTION EXAM 4 | ||
33, Video | December 1 | Decision making | Monty Hall | How being rational can go wrong |
34, Video | December 4 | Problem solving | Wason selection | |
35, Video | December 6 | Current topics | ||
SGF, Video | December 8 | Review for final exam |