SYLLABUS * COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY LAB* PSYCH 234L

SECTION 1 * FALL 2008

Professor: Dr. James P. Buchanan

Office Hours Mon 9:00-9:50 Wed 9:00-9:50 Fri 9:00-9:50 (or by appointment)

Office: AMH 221

Office Phone: 941‑4267

Home Phone: 347‑3856

EMail: buchananj1@scranton.edu

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TEXT: CogLab Manual. Students will need to set up an account to access the text’s cognitive lab web site.

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Description:

This course is designed to complement the Cognitive Psychology lecture. Students will run themselves as subjects in various computer simulations of classic cognitive experiments. Student will analyze data collected and write lab reports for selected lab exercises. Lab topics covered will include: pattern recognition, attention, memory, imagery, concepts and categorization, and problem solving.

Objectives: Students will:

(1) Gain factual knowledge of the terminology, methods, and research findings in the field of cognitive psychology.

(2) Learn how professionals in the field of cognitive psychology go about the process of gaining new knowledge.

Lab Meetings and Exercises:

Lab meeting will be 1 hour a week. Lab meeting activities will include: (1) preparation for upcoming lab assignments, (2) return of individual or group data for upcoming lab report and a discussion of data analysis for the upcoming lab report, (3) a return and discussion of the previous weeks lab report, and (4) a discussion of lab exercises as they relate to the lecture.

Labs will be done individually on the Cog Lab Online website. See the attached sheet for the lab exercise schedule. Lab data sheets are due on the scheduled day. Lab reports are due at the lab meeting following the meeting the data is returned and the lab report questions are assigned.

Lab Data Sheets and Lab Reports:

Lab data sheets turned in late will result in one point being deducted from your total points for lab reports. Lab reports turned in late will have one point deducted from your total lab points. Lab reports will be graded on a ten-point scale (A 10, A- 9, B+ 8, B 7, B- 6, C+ 5, C 4, C- 3, D+ 2, D 1, F 0). Your lab grade will be determined by your total lab points divided by the number of labs.

Cognitive Psychology Lab - Fall 2008

Lab Exercise Schedule

1. Word Superiority - Due Sept. 5*

2. Stroop Effects - Due Sept. 19*

3. Attentional Blink – Due Sept. 19*

4. Spatial Cueing - Due Sept. 24

5. Change Detection – Due Sept. 24

6. Partial Report - Due Sept. 26*

7. Metacontrast Masking - Due Oct. 3

8. STM - Memory Span - Due Oct. 3*

9. Brown & Peterson - Due Oct. 6

10. Phonological Similarity – Due Oct. 6

11. Operational Span - Due Oct. 10

12. Stermberg's Task - Due Oct. 10*

13. Memory Processes - Serial Position - Due Oct. 15*

14. Encoding Specificity - Due Oct. 17*

15. Levels of Processing - Due Oct. 24*

16. Von Restroff Effect - Due Oct. 27

17. False Memory - Due Oct. 27

18. Lexical Decision Task - Due Nov. 4*

19. Prototypes - Due Nov. 7

20. Implicit Learning - Due Nov. 12

21. Mental Rotations - Due Nov. 14*

22. Link-Word - Due Nov. 21

Due date is when printout of data is due. The lab write-up will usually be due seven days after the data is returned to you and the lab report questions are assigned.

* Write-ups due for these labs.