Psychology 311-002
Learning and Cognition
Spring 2013
Instructor
Dr.
Jonathan Golding
118
Kastle Hall
111A
Kastle Hall (mailbox)
257-4395
(Dr. Golding's office)
257-9640
(Psychology Department Office)
email:
golding@uky.edu
Office
Hours: Tuesday, 10:00 – 11:00 AM or by appointment
Course
Website
www.uky.edu/~golding/PSY311Homepage.htm
The
Course
Purpose.
This
course is designed to provide you with a broad, general introduction to
learning and cognition. We will discuss basic subject matter, approaches to
doing research, and also the means by which learning and cognition are (or can
be) applied to our lives.
Goals.
There are three objectives in this course. First, you
should increase your knowledge of learning and cognition. You
should finish this course with a better understanding of psychological
approaches to studying learning and cognition, problems in studying learning
and cognition, historical antecedents, and research findings, concepts, and
methodologies.
The
second goal is to help you to continue to develop scientific values and
skills. The course should stimulate your intellectual curiosity about
learning and cognition. Also, the course should impress upon you the importance
of the scientific method, the possibility of biases in research, and the
importance of having a critical attitude toward all generalizations.
Finally,
the course should aid in your personal development. The knowledge
that you gain from this course should increase your tolerance of the learning
and cognition of others, give you a better understanding of the forces that
limit your ability to learn and use your cognitive abilities, stimulate your
curiosity to explain why people think and behave as they do, and allow you to
be more critical of the "truth" often expressed by
"experts."
Specific
goals.
I would like this course to be something very special for you, to be something
you enjoy, look forward to, and will remember long after you leave the
University of Kentucky. For this goal to be realized, we must all work together
to create a unique educational experience. This will mean that you must stop
thinking of yourself as a "passive academic garbage can" into which
words are dumped and only retrieved for exams. You must contribute your curiosity,
unique experiences, time, effort, and concern for constantly getting the most
out of the course while trying to improve any aspect of class that is less than
perfect. For me, this has meant rethinking my role as professor, being open to
all suggestions for change, and being willing to invest time, energy, and
enthusiasm into this course.
Course Facebook Group
The
course has a Facebook group that should help with various aspects of the class.
First, as you all know Facebook has bulletin boards, instant messaging, email,
and the ability to post videos and pictures. Thus, we can all communicate about
class in a seamless manner. Second, Facebook will allow you to connect with
other students in the class, which is an important aspect of student education.
For example, you can use the Facebook group to contact classmates about questions
regarding class assignments, class notes, and the group project as well as help
one another prepare for exams.
The
course Facebook group is:
Golding: PSY 311 Spring 2013 (University of Kentucky)
IMPORTANT: You have 2 weeks to add yourself as a “friend” to
the Facebook group.
Required
Readings
The
required readings will be research articles and chapters. These readings will
be available online from the UK Library via the PSY 311 Homepage or I will
provide you with a copy. Please note that the reading list is not
comprehensive, as a thorough coverage of the literature would require even more
readings! You should see me for additional references if you become interested
in a course topic and would like to explore it further, or if a topic of
interest is not represented in the course readings. Also, there may be other
readings that are added throughout the semester.
Classical conditioning
overview.
Note: it is ”Psych and then an upper case “A” and an
upper-case “I”
Watson,
J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of
Experimental Psychology, 3, 1-14.
Skinner,
B. F. (1992). Superstition in the pigeon. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: General, 121(3),
273-274.
Bandura,
A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through
imitation of aggressive
models.
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582.
Buckhout,
R. (1974). Eyewitness testimony. Scientific American, 231, 23-31.
Saks,
O. (1985). The man who mistook his wife for a hat (Chapters 2, 23). NY:
Summit Books.
Rundus,
D., & Atkinson, R. C. (1970). Rehearsal processes in free recall: A
procedure for direct
observation. Journal of Verbal
Learning and Verbal Behavior, 9, 99-105.
Roediger, H. L., & Crowder, R. G. (1976). A serial
position effect in recall of United States
presidents. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 8, 275-278.
presidents. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 8, 275-278.
Loftus,
E. F., & Palmer, J. C. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An
example
of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and
Verbal Behavior, 13, 585-589.
of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and
Verbal Behavior, 13, 585-589.
Ericsson,
K. A., Chase, W. G., & Faloon, S. (1980). Acquisition of a memory skill. Science,
208,
1181-1182.
Lecture
12:30
– 1:45 PM on TR in 307B Funkhouser-Building
IMPORTANT--please
note the following:
1)
My overheads and handouts are protected by state common law and federal
copyright law. They are my own original expression. Whereas you are authorized
to take notes in class based on my overheads and handouts, this authorization
extends only to making one set of notes for your own personal use, sharing one
copy of those notes with a student who is enrolled in this class for his/her
own studies, and no other use. You are not authorized to make any commercial
use of my overheads and handouts without express prior written permission from
me.
2)
Be considerate of others. Please make sure that:
all
cellular phones are on silent ring in class
NO
text messaging on cell phones is done while in class
NO
“surfing” the Web is done while in class.
The
penalty for NOT following any of the above rules may be a “0” on the current or
next in-class/out-of class activity or exam.
Class
Schedule (Subject to Change)
Date Topic Reading
due
R,
January 10 Introduction
to Course/What is Learning?
TR-Jan.
15, 17 What is
Learning?
Science/History
of Behaviorism
TR-
Jan. 22, 24 Habituation/Classical
Conditioning Classical
Conditioning
Classical
Conditioning Overview
TR-
Jan. 29, 31 Classical Conditioning Watson & Rayner
T,
February 5 Operant
Conditioning
R,
February 7 Exam
1: What is learning, Science, Classical Conditioning
T,
February 12 Operant Conditioning Skinner
Debate
1
R,
February 14 Operant Conditioning
T,
February 19 Operant Conditioning Bandura, Ross, & Ross
Debate
2
R,
February 21 Cognitive View of Learning
TR-Feb.
26, 28 Cognitive View of Learning
Eyewitness Testimony
T,
March 5 Exam 2: Operant Conditioning, Cognitive view
of Learning
R,
March 7 Eyewitness Testimony Buckhout
TR-March
12, 14 No Class, Spring Break
TR-March
19, 21 Eyewitness
Testimony
T,
March 26 Physiology
of Memory Saks
(chapters 2, 23)
Debate
3
R,
March 28 Physiology of Memory
T,
April 2 Memory Encoding
Debate
4
R,
April 4 Memory
Encoding Rundus
& Atkinson
T,
April 9 Exam
3: Eyewitness Testimony, Physiology, Memory Encoding
R-April
11 Memory
Storage Roediger
& Crowder
T,
April 16 Memory
Storage
R, April 18 Memory
Storage
Wiki-Design
Presentations
TR-April 23, 25 Memory Retrieval Loftus
& Palmer
Thursday,
May 2 EXAM 4 (Memory
Storage,
(1:00
– 2:00 PM) Memory
Retrieval)
Evaluation
Criteria (this course adheres to the university's regulations against cheating
and plagiarism.)
NOTE: Your final grade point total in
this course is from 0-100 points.
Class
Participation 15%
Writing
Activities 20%
Examinations
40%
Connections 10%
Connections 10%
Wiki
Design Project 15%
In-class debate 10%
Class
Participation. 15% of your grade is based on class participation.
Participation is defined as any meaningful spoken contribution to the entire
class (comment or question) that pertains to class material. (Note: Even if you
give an incorrect answer, your effort still will typically earn you credit.)
Each time you participate in class you will turn in a card (with your name, seat
number, and date) that day (i.e., no late cards will be accepted) to Dr.
Golding with your name on it. You must participate at least 20 times. If
you do not fulfill this requirement your final letter grade for the course will
be dropped 2 letter grades. That is, if you had a final grade of “A” in the
course, you will be dropped to a final grade of “C” in the course.
Each student will be required to begin
one class with a short 2-5 minute presentation of a skill that he or she
possesses (and that will not offend Dr. Golding or anyone in class). In the
past this has involved students presenting examples of their hobbies (e.g.,
photography), showing videos (e.g., horseback riding, singing), and live
performances (playing a musical instrument, riding a unicycle). Failure to fulfill this requirement will
result in your final grade being lowered by one full letter grade.
Writing
Activities. 20%
of your grade will be based on your performance in numerous activities that
will either be completed during lecture or out-of-class (e.g., via email).
These activities: (1) may be completed by you alone, or Dr. Golding may ask you
to work with one or more other students on an activity; (2) may include
discussing a particular reading, doing library research, using the Internet,
answering a survey about class, etc; and (3) are graded from 0-100. Note that there may be more than one writing activity
per class meeting.
You
must have a score above "0" on at least 80% of all
in-class/out-of-class activities. If you do not fulfill this
requirement your final letter grade for the course will be dropped 2 letter
grades. That is, if you had a final grade of “A” in the course, you will be
dropped to a final grade of “C” in the course. There will be a minimum of
20 of these activities. That is, if there are 20 activities and you
miss 5 or more activities without having an excused absence for each activity
you miss, your final letter grade for the course will be dropped 2 letter
grades. To be clear about this grading policy: your in-class/out-of-class
activities grade is based on the total number of these activities. Although you
may miss one or more activities due to an unexcused absence and still pass the
course, you will receive a 0 for each activity missed due to an unexcused absence
when your in-class/out-of-class activity grade is calculated.
Examinations.
40% of your grade will be based on examinations (10%
for each exam). The exams will be comprised of one or more of the following
types of questions: multiple-choice, short-answer essay from all course
material. The exams will be graded on a 0 to 100 scale (e.g., 90 to 100 = A).
All exams will be from 12:30 -1:30 PM, except Exam 4 which is from 1:00 – 2:00
PM. The time allotted to each exam includes the distribution and collection of
each exam.
Connections. 5% of your
grade will be based on illustrating a real-world connection between course
material and real-world events described in the news. Twice during the semester
you will be randomly asked to find a news story that pertains to class
material. The news story can be from a media web source and must be
legitimate-not TMZ, Perez Hilton or The Drudge Report. You will turn in a 1-2
page typed summary of the connection on your assigned date. The assigned date
will be within one week of when Dr. Golding gave you the initial assignment. In
addition, you must be prepared to talk about your article if asked to do so by
Dr. Golding.
Wiki
Design.
15% of your grade will be based on the design of an informative
wiki/web page on the Internet that deals with learning or cognition. Groups of
5 will design their wiki/web page describing practical aspects of learning. This
page must be comprehensive, based on empirical evidence, and all information
you post must be cited in APA format at the end. You and your group will
present and describe your wiki/web page to the class in a 15-minute
presentation on R, April 18. The topics of the presentations are:
Group
1) using Behaviorism to reward and punish children
Group
2) using Behaviorism to train animals
Group
3) mnemonic techniques to help the elderly
Group
4) memory strategies and studying
In-Class Debate. For this activity (worth 10% of your
grade) you will be assigned to either the pro or con side of one of 4 scheduled
debates on a controversial issue related to learning or cognition. Groups of
two or three will be asked to orally summarize the major arguments supporting
your position and to defend it. In addition, within one week after the debate all
students will provide a written summary of: (1) the major points presented
during the debate, and (2) their personal position on your topic. The topics
are as follows (dates listed in schedule):
Debate Topic 1:
Ethics of advertising that uses behavioristic principles
Debate Topic 2:
Language as a result of reinforcement/punishment
Debate Topic 3:
Ethics surrounding cognition enhancing drugs
Debate Topic 4:
Repression as a “cognitive” phenomenon
Extra
Credit
The
possibility of extra credit will be discussed during the course of the
semester.
Grades
90-100 A
80-89.99 B
70-79.99 C
60-69.99 D
Below
60 E
Attendance
Policy
Attendance
must be discussed with regard to lecture and exams. First, attendance at
lectures is not a specific course requirement. However, you are strongly
encouraged to be present for lectures. Moreover, whether you are present or
not, you will be responsible for material covered, written activities, and/or
relevant announcements. It is most unlikely that you will be able to do well in
this course without regular lecture attendance.
Second,
attendance at exams is a specific course requirement. Make-up exams will only
be offered in the case of an "excused" absence. Excused absences are
defined by the University of Kentucky Bulletin--you should consult the Bulletin
for a description of what is an excused absence. An excused absence from an
exam must be verified by presenting documentation to me. If you know before the
excused absence is to occur that you will be absent, then present documentation
to me ahead of time. An unexcused absence
is any case that does not meet the University's definition. An unexcused
absence from a lecture exam will result in a grade of 0 for that particular
exam.
Make-Up
Policy
You
have the right to make up work due to an excused absence. The following conditions
apply to making up the work due to an excused absence:
Work Make-up
Time frame
Exam within 3 school
days of returning to lecture
Writing Activity day
of returning to lecture
Connections day
of returning to lecture
Wiki Design Project day of returning to
lecture
In-class debate day of returning
to lecture
Failure to make up any
work by following the above conditions will result in a grade of zero (0).
Failure to make up an excused
lecture exam or other graded work by following the conditions specified above
will result in a grade of zero (0) for that exam or graded work.
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