PSCH 352, Summer 2005, Prof. Kershaw
Opportunities in Cognitive Psychology

One of my goals in teaching PSCH 352 is to share my passion for cognitive psychology
with my students.  I hope that some of you have come away from this class with a desire
for more study in cognition, or with in interest to do cognitive research.  Here are some
ideas for pursuing your interest.

1) Take additional classes in cognitive psychology.
The cognitive psychology lab class,  PSCH 353, is offered almost every semester.  It is
a great hands-on class in which you will carry out some of the experiments we learned
about in our course, and get to design and complete your own experiment.  The class is
small, with a maximum enrollment around 25, so sign up as
soon as you can!

You might also consider taking graduate-level courses in cognitive psychology.  There
is usually one course offered per semester.  Examples include Psychology of Thinking,
Psychology of Language (offered Fall 2005), and Psychology of Memory.  In addition,
a Neuroscience course is being offered this fall (PSCH 484).  These types
of courses usually require more reading than an undergraduate course; approximately
2-3 articles per week.  Classes usually meet once a week for about 3 hours.  Much
of the class is discussion-oriented.  There are rarely tests; you will, however, have to
complete smaller reaction papers on a regular basis, or write a big paper (note: the
neuroscience course is new so I'm not sure about its requirements).  You will also
need to get the instructor's permission to register. 

2) Attend a cognitive psychology conference.
Attending a conference allows you to learn about current research in the field, and allows
you to meet other people who are interested in psychology.

Two upcoming cognitive psychology-oriented conferences are The Psychonomic Society
meeting (more basic cognitive psych), which will be held in mid-November in Toronto, and
the Midwestern Psychological Association conference, which is held every year (usually late
April/early May) in Chicago.  MPA is more general, but always has cognitive sessions.  Both of
these conferences have cheap registration fees, about $10-15, and you get a badge and a program.

3) Do research in cognitive psychology via PSCH 396.
A great way to get involved with cognitive psychology is to do PSCH 396, or directed research.
You will have the opportunity to collect data, do analyses, and even help to design experiments.
This looks great on your resume if you are applying for a job and especially good if you decide
to apply to graduate school.

Here are some 396 opportunities that will be available for the fall.  Please contact the researcher
directly.

Project: Working Memory, Problem Solving, and Learning
Researcher: Dr. Jennifer Wiley
Description: Several graduate students will be running projects looking at differences in problem
solving and learning due to individual differences in WM capacity.  Research assistants will be
expected to contribute 3-9 hours (1-3 credit hours) per week.  Assistants will receive training in
administering working memory tests.  RAs will be responsible for helping collect, enter, and organize
data. Each will help with both working memory data collection as well as another study on problem
solving or learning, so they get a range of experiences. They will also participate in lab meetings a few
times throughout the semester and see data analyses and results of the projects.  RAs should have
completed, at minimum, PSCH 242 (Research Methods) and 352.  Enrollment or completion of
PSCH 343 (Stats) is also preferred but not required. Our studies are relevant for students
interested in decision making, problem solving and educational interventions.  If you are interested,
please contact Chris Sanchez at csanch4@uic.edu or Jennifer Wiley at jwiley@uic.edu


Projects with Dr. Gary Raney and Frances Daniel
Project 1:  The Effects of Repetition on Comprehension
It is well known that reading a text more than once generally makes it easier to understand. However,
repetition (rereading a text) does not benefit everyone equally.   For example, consider the following
situation.  Suppose a student who has never taken a Biology class and a student who has had 5 Biology
classes read a passage about photosynthesis.  If the students reread the passage, both would receive
a rereading benefit.  However, the student who has less experience with Biology might only benefit by
remembering the words better whereas the student who has a lot of experience with Biology might be
able to apply the concepts in the passage to help him/her grow plants in a greenhouse.  The goal of this
research is to understand how rereading influences comprehension of passages.      
  
Project 2:  Metacomprehension
This project explores how readers evaluate their own learning from text. Consider the following situation
as an example. Suppose you are about to take a test and a friend asks you if you are ready for the test.
Depending on how well you think you learned the material, you will tell your friend that you expect to get
an A, B, C, or D. Your prediction represents a metacomprehension judgment and the accuracy of your
prediction reflects how well you can evaluate your own learning. This research is aimed at determining
whether readers can develop strategies for improving their ability to predict how well they will perform
on a test if they are given practice and feedback. 

Project 3: How prior knowledge influences text comprehension:
When reading a magazine article you are likely to come across some information you already know and
some information you don't know. You could read faster or slower depending on how well you know the
information. This is a reading strategy. You might think that having prior knowledge about a text is helpful,
but this is not always true. What if your prior knowledge is incorrect or incomplete? In this case, your prior
knowledge could interfere with your ability to understand a text. This project explores how prior knowledge
influences text comprehension. The purpose of this research is to develop and test programs for teaching
students to use effective reading strategies.

Project 4: Memory for memory: 
When you read a text, what do you remember; the words, the meaning of individual phrases and sentences,
or the overall meaning? Research shows that memory for words is poor, memory for the meaning of phrases
is better, and memory for the overall meaning is best. We evaluate memory using a "memory for memory" task.
In this task, people read a text and then recall the text. At a later time (from a few minutes to several days), they
are asked to remember exactly what they initially recalled. How well the second recall matches the first recall is
a measure of memory. Our research demonstrates that memory for wording is much more durable than
predicted by past research.

What the RA will do (and # of hrs/credit hrs you expect them to put in)?
Research assistants will be involved in all stages of the research process. Research assistants will be involved in
a variety of activities such as conducting experiments, coding written data, literature searches, and data entry. 
Students may volunteer or participate for credit. Students who participate for credit will work 6 to 9 hours
a week (2-3 credits). 

Contact info:
If you are interested in working in Dr. Raney's language lab, please contact Frances Daniel via email at
fdanie2@uic.edu.
More information about the research we perform is available on Dr. Raney's website
http://tigger.uic.edu/~geraney/research%20description.htm. 
You can download an application at http://tigger.uic.edu/~geraney/helpwanted.htm.


Project: How do analogies influence the understanding of science concepts?
Researcher: Jason Braasch (Advisor: Susan Goldman)
Description: Evaporation is just like when you are heating water in a pot on the stove.  Huh!?!  We have
all come across analogies in life that may have thrown us for a loop.  Analogies can be very helpful when
they draw on concepts or relationships that help you to understand the unknown information (and particularly
when they give explanations across the two concepts). However, there are also times that analogies, in
textbooks for example, may actually impede our progress towards understanding the science concepts. 
This is the topic of interest on my project: What makes analogies helpful for some people and not as
helpful for others?  This is a part of Master's Thesis and this particular position will include a wide
spectrum of research duties including: helping to set up the experiment, running subjects, as well as
entering and analyzing data.   In wanting your 396 experience to be a productive and rich experience, we
would like it if you could take 3-4 credit hours (which translates to 9-12 hours a week). It is also preferred
that you would have previously went through the methods/statistics courses, but we can talk even if this is
not the case.  If you are interested in cognition, specifically in the way that our representations guide our
learning processes, this project would be a fun one to work on.  Hope to talk to you very soon. 

Contact: Jason Braasch
BSB 2040 (labspace), BSB 1029 (graduate student office space)
jbraasch@uic.edu
773.218.4503


Project:  Insight Problem Solving Projects
Researcher: Trina Kershaw (Advisor: Stellan Ohlsson)
Description:  We are interested in the multiple difficulties that people can face when attempting to solve
insight problems.  At present, we are addressing our interests in 2 ways: 1) collecting data on a
particular problem in which people are given various types of hints to help them solve the problem. 
2) Analyzing a set of protocols that chart how people solve a different problem.  These protocols
will be coded for the types of moves that people make and the types of errors they make.  The
results of this analysis will help us to gain a better understanding of the problem solving process
and how people correct their errors.

One research assistant is needed to assist in various aspects of this project: both in collecting data
and assisting in the analysis of other data.  We would prefer someone who can sign up for 2-3 credit
hours (6-9 hours a week).  You must be available during normal school hours and be able to keep a
consistent schedule throughout the semester.  If you are interested, please contact Trina Kershaw
at tkersh1@uic.edu


Project: Effects of expertise on negative transfer in learning
Researcher: Trina Kershaw (Advisor: Stellan Ohlsson)
Description: Have you ever mistakenly used words from another language during a conversation or
attempted to drive in Europe (if you learned to drive in the US)?  Oftentimes knowledge we have
can get in the way of doing a new task.  I am interested in how these types of negative transfer effects
can be studied in a controlled environment, such as in the lab.  In this study, participants will practice
typing tasks across several days on an altered keyboard layout.  It is expected that this task will be
difficult for everyone, but in particular for those people who are very good typists.

One to two research assistants are needed for this project.  You would be expected to help collect
data by setting participants up to use computer programs.  You should be comfortable with using
computers.  I would prefer RAs that are available for at least 2 credit hours (6 hours/week).  You
must be available during normal school hours and be able to keep a consistent schedule throughout
the semester.  Data collection is expected to take place only during the fall semester, but I would
prefer students who can also commit to the project during the spring semester.  If you are interested,
please contact Trina Kershaw at tkersh1@uic.edu

4) Consider going to grad school for cognitive psychology!
If you are interested in graduate school in cognitive psychology, please talk to Trina, Jordan, or Greg
about getting into grad school, what program to choose, etc.