Syllabus, Spring 2023
Boston University
Lectures: MWF 2:30–3:20pm in SCI 113
Discussion sections on Fridays as follows:
Joseph T. McGuire, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological & Brain
Sciences
Email: jtmcg@bu.edu
Office hours:
- In person on Thursdays, 2–3pm, at 677 Beacon St, Room 212 (swipe
through the front door with your BU ID)
- Individual Zoom meeting slots available through the signup link on
Blackboard
- Other times by appointment (email to schedule)
Marcos Coli
Email: mcoli@bu.edu
Office hours: See Blackboard.
This course is about how the human mind processes information. We will explore perception, attention, memory, knowledge, language, decision making, and problem solving. The goals of the course are for you to develop a working understanding of (1) major findings and open questions in cognitive psychology, and (2) the tools and methods we can use to investigate those topics empirically.
Prerequisite: PS101, General Psychology.
We will use the following materials:
Course grades will be calculated as follows:
Overall percentage scores will be converted to course grades as follows: 93.33–100 = A, 90–93.33 = A-, 86.67–90 = B+, 83.33–86.67 = B, etc.
A weekly batch of work, consisting of readings, a CogLab assignment, and discussion questions, is due by 11:00am every Friday (Boston time). You should complete the readings and assignments throughout the week leading up to the due date.
The topics we discuss in class will complement the readings rather than duplicate them, so it’s important to attend class. We will take attendance using a sign-in sheet. You are automatically allowed up to four absences without penalty.
Electronic devices are allowed in class for note-taking, but please consider your note-taking strategy carefully. Some cognitive psychology research suggests taking notes on paper leads to better results (it probably varies from person to person and class to class). If you use a device, please take proactive steps to minimize distractions; for example, suspend notifications and close/hide other apps. Lecture slides will be posted on Blackboard shortly after each class to reduce the need to copy down information from the slides.
We will have five exams, tentatively on the dates listed in the schedule below. The first four exams will take place during class and the fifth exam will take place during our final exam slot, which the university has tentatively scheduled for Tuesday May 9 at 3pm.
Exams are cumulative and cover material from lectures, readings, CogLabs, and discussion sections. Your lowest exam score counts for 8% of your final grade and the other four count for 16% each.
Exams will be administered in class as electronic Blackboard exams with a built-in time limit. You will need to bring a charged laptop or similar device to class on exam days. (If that’s a problem, let us know and we can make other arrangements.) The questions will ask you to read graphs, interpret data, and reason about psychological theory and experimental design. Exams will be open-book and open-notes. You are not permitted to communicate or collaborate with others during the exams and you are not permitted to share or post the exam questions.
Discussion sections give you a chance to consider the week’s readings and CogLab experiments more deeply and interactively. You are free to attend section at a time other than your enrolled time (we will revisit this policy if it becomes problematic). You may miss up to two section meetings without penalty, but you are still expected to complete the discussion questions and CogLab every week as described below.
Each week, please come up with two discussion questions related to different topics from the week’s readings or CogLabs. Explicitly number the two questions (mark them “1” and “2”). Write 2 to 3 sentences for each question, giving some context for your question and/or considering potential answers.
You have a lot of freedom in what you write your questions about. For example, you could consider any of the following:
The assignment is meant to help you collect your thoughts about what you want to talk about during discussion sections. We encourage you to bring up your questions in class! A secondary purpose is to give us general feedback about what everyone is finding interesting or puzzling. The weekly discussion questions are not the right place for questions that need a direct response from us (such as requests to review specific points, or questions about course logistics)—for those kinds of things, please send us an email or ask in class or office hours.
Submit each week’s discussion questions via the Blackboard assignment by Friday at 11:00am, beginning Jan. 27. Questions submitted between 11:00am and 11:59pm Friday are eligible for half credit.
The CogLab website gives you hands-on experience with classic cognitive psychology experiments. You can see what the experiment is like, read some background information, view your data, and view data from the whole class and users around the world.
Complete each week’s CogLab assignment by Friday at 11am, starting Jan. 27. The first week’s assignment (Jan. 27) may be submitted late without penalty. For subsequent weeks, late submissions will not receive credit. However, since CogLabs are covered on exams, you may still find it beneficial to complete the assignment even if the deadline has passed.
Detailed instructions for joining the course’s CogLab group are posted on Blackboard. After you log in, you can view the list of assigned labs and due dates by clicking “Access your account” -> “Assignments.” The CogLab server automatically keeps track of your completed assignments and each assignment is graded all-or-none. To receive credit, you must complete the entire experiment, having followed the instructions. If, for some reason, the CogLab server fails to record the completion of an experiment, you must repeat the experiment before the deadline to earn credit.
You are responsible for adhering to the Boston University Academic Conduct Code. Please make sure you are familiar with that document, as it describes how academic misconduct is defined and how any instances of possible misconduct will be handled. If you become aware of academic misconduct occurring in the course, please bring it to the attention of the instructor or the teaching fellow and we will take it seriously.
BU has issued a recommendation to wear face masks in classrooms for the month of January as a precaution against COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. As the semester goes along, we will adapt our norms around masking in response to the needs of members of the class and evolving public health conditions and recommendations.
We will try to record lectures for students who may need to miss class for health-related reasons. If you are feeling unwell, please stay home and let us know by email. We’ll work out a way for you to keep up with class activities. If a recording is made available to you, please refrain from sharing it outside the class in consideration of your classmates’ privacy.
Members of the class have a wide range of personal and academic backgrounds and it’s important to us to establish a learning space where everyone feels they belong. If you have concerns or suggestions regarding the inclusivity of the course, we would like to hear them. If there is feedback you prefer to send anonymously to Dr. McGuire during the semester, a web submission form is available for that purpose (see Blackboard for the link).
Friday Jan. 20: Course introduction.
Monday Jan. 23: History and precursors of cognitive psychology.
Wednesday Jan. 25: Cognition, neuroscience, and levels of description.
Friday Jan. 27: Mental chronometry.
Monday Jan. 30: Visual perception.
Wednesday Feb. 1: Vision as inference.
Friday Feb. 3: Face recognition.
Monday Feb. 6: Auditory perception.
Wednesday Feb. 8: Attention.
Friday Feb. 10: Visual search.
Monday Feb. 13: EXAM #1.
Wednesday Feb. 15: Short-term memory.
Friday Feb. 17: Working memory.
Classes do not meet on Monday Feb. 20.
Tuesday Feb. 21: Individual differences in working memory ability.
Wednesday Feb. 22: Long-term recognition memory.
Friday Feb. 24: Long-term memory recall.
Monday Feb. 27: Amnesia.
Wednesday Mar. 1: EXAM #2.
Friday Mar. 3: How to remember things better.
Spring recess, March 4–12
Monday Mar. 13: Constructive processes in memory.
Wednesday Mar. 15: Memory consolidation.
Friday Mar. 17: Eyewitness memory and the legal system.
Monday Mar. 20: Conceptual knowledge.
Wednesday Mar. 22: Connectionist models.
Friday Mar. 24: Metacognition.
Monday Mar. 27: NO CLASS.
Wednesday Mar. 29: EXAM #3.
Friday Mar. 31: Mental imagery.
Monday Apr. 3: Numerical cognition.
Wednesday Apr. 5: Social cognition.
Friday Apr. 7: NO CLASS.
Monday Apr. 10: Language.
Wednesday Apr. 12: Phonology, morphology, and syntax.
Friday Apr. 14: Acquiring and losing language abilities.
Classes do not meet on Monday Apr. 17.
Wednesday Apr. 19: EXAM #4.
Friday Apr. 21: Prospect theory.
Monday Apr. 24: Heuristics for evaluating uncertainty.
Wednesday Apr. 26: Biases in judgment and decision making.
Friday Apr. 28: Planning, problem-solving, and expertise.
Monday May 1: Reasoning and executive control.
Wednesday May 3: Wrap up; current directions in cognitive psychology.
Tuesday May 9 at 3pm: EXAM #5 (pending finalization of BU’s exam week schedule).