Instructor
Reza Habib Office: LSII, 271A Email: psyc515@gmail.com
Phone: 618-453-3547
Meetings
Lectures: Tuesday 6 - 8:30 pm LSII, 285D
Office Hours: Tuesday 11-12, 2-3:30, 5-6 LSII, 271A
(Appointment Req) Thursday 11-12, 2-3:30
Appointments: Individual appointments by email
Class Website
The address of the class website is: http://psyc515.googlepages.com. Class announcements, grades, and other course-related material will be posted there. Please check the website on a regular basis - at least once a week - in order to stay on top of the latest class-related developments.
Course Objectives
To survey and discuss theory and research on cognition and mental activity. Topics will include object recognition, attention, short- and long-term memory, knowledge, judgment and decision making, and consciousness. The principal orientation will be information processing – adopting the computer as a metaphor for the mental processes that makeup cognition. When relevant, examples of the disruption of cognitive processes will be provided from cases of brain damaged individuals.
Textbook
Goldstein, E.B. (2008). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (2nd Edition). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Surprenant, A.M., Francis, G., & Neath, I. (2005). Coglab Reader. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Vanhorn, D. (2008). Coglab Online Manual. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Evaluation
Evaluation will be based on an in-class presentation and report, a mid-term exam, a final exam, involvement in online coglab experiments, and class participation.
The in-class presentation and report will be carried out either individually or in pairs and will be worth 30% of your final grade (15% for the presentation and 15% for the report). For students presenting in pairs, both students will be assigned the same grade. For the class presentation, you (and your partner) will be required to lead a discussion on that week’s assigned readings as well as presenting and discussing the results of that week’s online coglab experiments. See section on how to lead a class discussion below. For the report, you will be required to turn in a (maximum) 5-page discussion (in essay form) of that week's readings (these could be based on, but should not be, the notes that you use for your presentation). Integrate interesting points that arise during your presentation and the results of the coglab experiments. You will have 1 week from the date of your presentation to turn in the report.
The mid-term and final exams will be worth 25% each. The mid-term will be on October 14th. The final exam will be December 2nd. Each exam will consist of a series of short-answer questions that will require you to synthesize material from the readings, lectures, and classroom discussion.
Each online coglab experiments will be worth 1/3% for a total of 10% of your grade. You have to complete the experiment all the way through to get credit for it.
In class participation will be worth 10%.
Makeup Policy, Complaints, Cheating
Once you have signed up for a presentation topic and time, you will need to provide advanced warning and appropriate documentation explaining the reason why you will be absent from your presentation. No shows without prior notice and appropriate documentation will receive a grade of 0. Late reports will lose 5% per day.
No exceptions will be made.
Requiring documentation for all absences is the fairest policy to all students.
Complaints and cheating will be handled in accordance with the policies outlined in the Student Code of Conduct (http://www.siu.edu/~docedit/policies/conduct.html. Also, see section on Academic Dishonesty below.
Persons with disability
If you have a documented disability requiring special accommodations for exams, contact me within the first two weeks of class so special arrangements can be made. Please do not wait until right before an exam.
Academic Dishonesty
We welcome you to this classroom community with the assumption that the work you do will be your own. However, distinguishing your work from the work of another can be tricky at times, for both you and your instructor. You should know that presenting another’s work as your own, even if by accident, is a serious violation of the Student Conduct Code.
The Student Conduct Code identifies the following as acts of academic dishonesty: “Plagiarism, representing the work of another as one’s own work; preparing work for another that is to be used as that person’s own work; cheating by any method or means; …soliciting, aiding, abetting, concealing, or attempting conduct in violation of this code” (p. 18). Whether quoting or paraphrasing (or even summarizing) someone else’s work, you should cite your sources; failure to do so constitutes an act of plagiarism. This policy applies to papers and speeches.
Buying a paper online, copying text from several web sites, and turning in someone else’s paper (even with a few words changed) are all examples of plagiarism when you claim such work as your own. (Note: As services selling such papers have increased in number, so have services that track plagiarism using sources from the internet.) Suspected cases of plagiarism will be investigated following Article V of the Student Conduct Code; if plagiarism is substantiated, the perpetrator may face failing the assignment, failing the course, disciplinary censure, and/or suspension from the university, depending on the details of the case (see Article III of the Student Conduct Code). As a rule of thumb: when in doubt, cite where the information is coming from. If you are uncertain whether you are citing sources sufficiently and appropriately enough to avoid plagiarism, please consult your instructor or a tutor at the Writing Center.
Emergency Procedures
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for study and work. Because some health and safety circumstances are beyond our control, we ask that you become familiar with the SIUC Emergency Response Plan and Building Emergency Response Team (BERT) program. Emergency response information is available on posters in buildings on campus, available on the BERT'S website at www.bert.siu.edu, Department of Public Safety's website www.dps.siu.edu (disaster drop down) and in the Emergency Response Guidelines pamphlet. Know how to respond to each type of emergency. Instructors will provide guidance and direction to students in the classroom in the event of an emergency affecting your location. It is important that you follow these instructions and stay with your instructor during an evacuation or sheltering emergency. The Building Emergency Response Team will provide assistance to your instructor in evacuating the building or sheltering within the facility.
How to lead a class discussion
Some of these tips come from McKeachie’s excellent book, “Teaching Tips.” Please take these recommendations into consideration to maximize the classroom experience. Although McKeachie states, “Discussion methods are among the most valuable tools in the teacher’s repertoire,” it has to be done well to be effective.
- Start with a 5 to 10 minute summary of the article(s). Assume that the students in the class have already read the paper.
- This will frame the discussion and remind people of the most important points. Don’t take more than 10 minutes.
- Do not read the article! You may read a sentence or two on occasion, but do not read longer passages. You’ll have a tendency to read it too fast and the article’s language will be more complex, so put it in your own words.
- Starting discussion – use one or more of the following multiple times.
- One of the best ways of starting a discussion is to provide a concrete, common experience. Ask questions about experiences that the audience has had that relate to the topic of the article. This approach makes the subject matter seem less abstract.
- A second technique is to use a controversy. Lay out two opposing views on a topic. Record evidence (generated by the audience) for and against the two views on the board. Attempt to guide the discussion toward a compromise (not always possible). Summarize final positions.
- Questioning
- Factual questions like “What is the span of short-term memory?” tend to be poor discussion questions. On the one hand, students are reluctant to answer when there is a clear right/wrong answer, and on the other, if they are answered they do not lead to a long discussion. In general, avoid factual questions.
- Application and interpretation questions are much better. For example, “Do you agree with the arguments for a distinction between short-term and long-term memory?” The thing to avoid here, however, is making the questions too vague – don’t ask something like “How does short-term memory apply to reading?”
- Problem questions can be used by presenting a hypothetical problem that the class can try to solve. Make the problem as concrete as possible, and don’t judge answers – just write them down on the board. Judging answers when they are produced (“Uh, no, that’s a dumb suggestion”) will inhibit discussion, but don’t be afraid to ask for clarification.
- Demonstrations & multimedia presentations
- Classroom demonstrations that involve all students helps get everyone interested in the discussion topic. Consider starting with a task that everyone participates in and then using this as a springboard for the articles. Realize, however, this demonstrations work better with some topics (e.g. decision making, false memories) than with other topics (e.g. object recognition, language). Be creative and make it fun.
- In place of a demonstration, consider a video that might help illustrate the main point of the discussion.
- Demonstrations and multimedia presentations are only useful to the extent that they help clarify the discussion topic. Using them for their own sake is often ineffective.
- Listen!
- Don’t dominate the discussion yourself. Listen carefully to student suggestions, questions, and answers and try to incorporate them into your later discussions or questions.
- Don’t cut off discussion too quickly, but don’t let it drag on. Arrange for 5-10 questions, but don’t feel compelled to use them all.
- Summarize
- Provide a take-home message – what should we learn from the article(s)?