Psychology 353: Laboratory in Cognition and Memory
Spring 2005 Syllabus
T/TH 2-350p
Call #: 20952
Instructor: Christopher A. Sanchez, M.A.
Office: BSB 1029
Office Hours: M 1-2p (or by appointment)
Email: csanch4@uic.edu
Course Description/Goals:
The goal of this course is to better familiarize you with not only some of the general concepts in cognitive psychology, but also with what it means to be an experimental psychologist. For this reason, concurrent registration in (or prior completion of) Psychology 352: Cognition and Memory is required.
In the first half of the semester, you will gain experience reading several first-hand sources (e.g., journal articles), and also participate in several ‘practice’ experiments which will hopefully help you develop a better understanding of the nuances of experimental design. We will analyze the data from these practice experiments, and use any results we find to write various portions of a psychological publication. These experiences will culminate in you designing and analyzing data from an experiment you will develop (on your own or in pairs) for the final project in the last part of the semester. Please do not feel intimidated by this final project, as there will be ample class time for you to work on the project, along with several exercises throughout the beginning of the semester which will assist you in your progression.
This class is designed for the student who is interested in eventually pursuing a graduate degree in psychology, and the skills you will be exposed to here should prove valuable for your future education. Even if you are not interested in pursuing a graduate degree, you should find this class interesting if you enjoy such topics as memory, learning and problem solving, or even experimentation in general.
Required:
The primary readings for this class will be journal articles which will be available on the course web page for you to download and print at your leisure (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free of charge to download and is also on all computers on the UIC campus).
Strongly recommended:
American Psychological Association.
(2000). Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association
(5th ed.).
All of your assignments MUST conform to APA style. Thus, especially for those who are interested in pursuing
a graduate degree in psychology, this book is strongly recommended (but not
required). This book
is usually available in the bookstore for other classes, however, will NOT
be available under this course number. I urge
you to visit some online merchants (e.g., Amazon.com, Borders.com) if you
intend to purchase this book, as they are usually cheaper than the UIC bookstore.
Grading:
Grades will be based on the following breakdown:
15% Attendance
25% 4 Quizzes and Paper presentation
5% Assignment 1
10% Assignment 2
10% Assignment 3
10% Assignment 4
25% Final Paper and Presentation
Attendance is very important in this class. If you do not come to class, you will miss any exercises or class discussions on how to complete assignments which will ultimately help you with your final project. Your attendance is also mandatory for all in-class experiments. Quizzes will be based on the required readings, and assignments will consist of your write-ups of class experiments. Also, it is my policy to not offer make-up quizzes or accept late papers except under the most extreme circumstances, in which case you will have to provide some kind of documentation supporting your claim. Excuses such as ‘my computer crashed’ or ‘my bus was late’ are NOT acceptable reasons for missing a quiz, assignment or experiment. More information will be given on the assignments/paper as they are assigned.
Final Grades will be on a 100 point scale (there will be no curve):
100-90% A
89-80% B
79-70% C
69-60% D
59-0% E
Students with Disabilities:
Reasonable accommodations will be made, but requests must
be made during the first two weeks of classes.
Students with disabilities who require accommodations for access and
participation in this course must be registered with the Office of Disability
Services (ODS). Please contact ODS at 312-413-2103
or 312-413-0123 to register or for more information.
Campus Policy on the Observance of Religious Holidays:
Students who wish to observe their religious holidays shall notify the faculty member by the tenth day of the semester of the date when they will be absent unless the religious holiday is observed on or before the tenth day of the semester. In such cases, the student shall notify the faculty member at least five days in advance of the date when he/she will be absent. The faculty member shall make every reasonable effort to honor the request, not penalize the student for missing the class, and if an examination or project is due during the absence, give the student an exam or assignment equivalent to the one completed by those students in attendance. If the student feels aggrieved, he/she may request remedy through the campus grievance procedure.
Plagiarism/Cheating:
Plagiarism is defined as the use (or submission)
of another’s ideas, thoughts, or writing, without proper acknowledgment (quotation
marks, citation, etc.). If you are ever unsure about what constitutes plagiarism,
ask questions.
Any form of plagiarism or cheating will not be
tolerated. Students who are found to have plagiarized
work or cheat on any assignment/quiz may be subject to various disciplinary
actions including a failing grade on the particular assignment, failure of
the entire course, and possible expulsion from the University. For more information
about the violation of Academic Integrity and its consequences please see
the UIC Department of Student Judicial Affairs (http://www.uic.edu/depts
/sja/integrit.htm).
Course Schedule:
01/11 Introductions
Syllabus & Course Overview
Assignment: Get UIC network accounts before next class
01/13 Lecture 1: Cognition and Experimentation
Participate in Experiment 1
Reading Assignment 1:
01/18 Lecture 2: Text processing
Quiz on Reading Assignment 1
Article discussion
Coding Scheme
01/20 Introduction to SPSS and Excel
Enter Data from Experiment 1 & Analyze
01/25 Lecture 3: APA style for Title Page and Abstract
Assignment 1: Title page and
Abstract for Experiment 1
01/27 Participate in Experiment 2
Reading assignment 2: Spector
& Biederman, 1976
Lecture 4: Attention and cognitive control
02/01
Writing assignment 1 due
Quiz on
Article discussion
Enter Data and Analyze Experiment 2
02/03 Lecture 5: APA style for Method section
Writing assignment 2: Title, Abstract, Method for Experiment
2
02/08 Participate in Experiment 3
Reading assignment 3: Bower & Karlin,
1974
02/10
Writing assignment 2 due
Enter Data & Analyze Experiment 3
Quiz on reading 3
Article Discussion
02/15 Lecture 6: APA style for Results, & Figures
Writing assignment 3: Title, Method, Results, Figure &
Figure Caption for
Experiment 3
02/17 Participate in Experiment 4
Reading Assignment 4: Metcalfe &
Wiebe, 1987; Wiley, 1998
Lecture 7: Problem solving
02/22
Writing assignment 3 due
Quiz on reading 4 (Wiley, 1998)
Article discussion
Enter Data & Analyze Experiment 4
02/24 Lecture 8: How to write and Introduction and Discussion; Plagiarism
Writing assignment 4: Title, Introduction and Discussion
for Experiment 4
Start thinking about a final project
03/01 How to pick a project – Final project worksheet
Lecture 9: How to use PSYCHINFO
like to do for your final project and email me
these references by next class. I will either
approve or not approve them. Once approved choose
1 article to present to the class (< 5 minutes) on 03/15.
03/03
Writing assignment 4 due
Final Project worksheet due
Schedule meeting times with me and article presentations
Writing assignment 5: Write proposal and develop materials