Cognition

Description

Overview: The course will introduce students to some of the core topics in perception, attention, thinking, learning and memory, and to explore the key theoretical debates within these areas. This class is aligned to the British Psychological Society’s QE syllabus and covers key areas within cognition required for gaining Graduate Basis for Registration. It builds on material introduced in the second year Psychology class on Cognition and Neuropsychology, developing the areas of perception, attention and memory as well as examining mechanisms and biases in human reasoning. The aims are: i. to provide students with a broad-based knowledge and understanding of attention, perception, thinking, learning and memory. ii. to provide an historical overview of major theories and concepts. iii. to introduce students to laboratory techniques and to provide them with basic practical skills needed to assess human cognition. iv. to develop skills relating to the systematic acquisition of factual information and data. v. to develop the ability to solve problems and to analyse, interpret, and discuss factual information and data critically. The class will develop critical thinking skills through the exposition of key theoretical debates in the formal staff-led sessions and through the guided readings of key chapters and papers. The practical element of the class is designed to help students develop skills in designing experiments and thinking of ethical issues in psychological research; analysing and reporting experiments. These tasks are aimed at promoting transferable skills such as discussing and formulating arguments, summarizing, and presenting materials. On completion of this module students will: 1. Be able to critically evaluate theories and models in cognitive psychology. 2. Be able to evaluate and discuss scientific papers in the areas of perception, attention, thinking, learning and memory. 3. Be able to critically evaluate methods and paradigms commonly found in the cognition literature. 4. Be able to solve problems and to analyse, interpret, and discuss factual information and data critically. 5. Be equipped with a broad-based knowledge and understanding of perception, thinking, attention, learning and memory. 6. to provide students with an historical perspective of major theories and concepts within this area. Syllabus: 1. Attention. The Load Theory of Selective Attention and Cognitive Control will be described and different types of perceptual load paradigms will be explored. The concepts of inattentional blindness and deafness will be introduced and research in this area evaluated. Additionally, individual differences in distractibility (external distraction) and mind wandering (internal distraction) will be discussed. 2. Visual Perception. This section will focus on models of perceptual processing, as well as examples of atypical visual perception (e.g. blindsight, Anton syndrome…). It will also cover visual illusions (e.g. motion illusions, ambiguous illusions…), highlighting how the brain processes visual information and organises visual input it in cases of ambiguity or conflict. 3. Face and object perception. This section will evaluate theories of object perception and consider how we perceive and recognise faces. There will be a specific focus on how perceptions can be biased in eyewitness testimonies. 4. Learning. The concepts of implicit vs explicit learning will be introduced, bringing in the relationship with skill learning. 5. Thinking. This section will discuss three broad topics: a) Probabilistic reasoning, including dual-systems theory and ecological rationality framework; b) Problem-solving, including information processing approaches and basic AI reasoning (i.e. machine learning); c) Deductive reasoning and reasoning biases (e.g. confirmation bias). 6. Memory. Models of long term and working memory will be described and evaluated. Recent views about their link to executive functioning will be discussed. Learning Outcomes: On completion of this module students will: 1. have developed practical skills associated with carrying out experiments. 2. have developed communication and teamwork skills through peer collaboration group work. 3. have developed skills relating to the systematic acquisition of factual information and analysis of data. 4. have improved transferable skills such as discussing and formulating arguments, summarizing, and presenting material. 5. have practiced report writing skills. 6. be aware of specific examples of common biases in everyday reasoning 7. have practiced writing ethical applications for psychological research 8. have developed skills in designing research and drafting research proposals Assessment: Assessment: Two hour written examination (64%) One report (30%) SONA Credit Participation (6%). Note there is also an eyewitness assignment which is not weighted, designed to encourage both independent study and group work skills. The University and the School require students to attend lectures, seminars, tutorials, and practicals regularly and to perform satisfactorily in the associated work. Students who fail to attend regularly and submitted the coursework by two weeks following the deadline may be excluded from the degree examination in C8304 Cognition. Employability: C8304 provides students with a number of skills which are valued outside of the Undergraduate context. These include: the ability to understand and evaluate research findings in broad theoretical contexts; the ability to present and interpret numerical information in a clear and concise manner; the ability to write clearly, concisely and logically; the ability to work in a group context. Feedback: Students will receive both generic feedback on class performance and detailed, written feedback on practical reports. Generic feedback will also be provided upon completion of the eyewitness testimony report/podcast. Feedback, however, comes in many forms and at various points: when a discussion post is responded to, this is feedback; when you email a member of staff and they reply, this is feedback; a response to a question before, after, or during a lecture, is feedback! If any feedback is unclear, given the opportunity staff will be happy to clarify it.