Introduction to Cognition and Perception (Psych 2145, Section 100)
T/R 9:30 - 10:45am, Fall 2001
Room: Muen E0046
Department of Psychology, Muenzinger
Class Web Site: http://psych.colorado.edu/~oreilly/introcog.html

Text: Willingham (2001). Cognition: The Thinking Animal. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Goals: The ability to engage in complex cognition is what differentiates us from other species in the animal kingdom. It is central to what makes us human, and it supports everything we do in school, work, conversation, etc. Cognition is what allows you to read these words and make sense of what they say, and remember what they said a few hours and (possibly) days later. The average person usually takes all of this for granted, but in fact the mysteries of how the brain carries out all of these cognitive processes are deep and fascinating. In this course, we explore all major aspects of cognition including perception (e.g., the process of reading words or identifying objects), attention (e.g., focusing on one word at a time out of many on the page), memory (e.g., remembering the words later), decision making (e.g., should I take this course or another one?), problem solving (e.g., figuring out what you need to do to graduate), and language (e.g., making sense of these words). We approach these topics using a variety of methods, including behavioral studies, neural imaging and recording studies, and computational models.

Requirements and Details:

• You are expected to read the assigned chapters in the textbook. The lectures are designed to compliment the textbook, not duplicate it, so you will find both reading the text and attending lectures beneficial.
• There is no need to take notes in lecture -- copies of the lecture slides are available online at the course website (http://psych.colorado.edu/~oreilly/introcog.html), and will be posted the night before each lecture, so you can print them out in the morning before class (or anytime thereafter). The lecture is there to stimulate your thinking, which can't happen if you are slavishly writing stuff down. You will be responsible for material covered in lecture that is not in the book.
• There will be short (10min) in-class ``pop'' quizzes at randomly scheduled times. These don't count very much to your overall grade (15%) but provide important and frequent feedback on your overall comprehension of the course material, and provide an incentive to attend class. You can drop 3 out of the 11 quizzes, to accommodate times when you need to miss class.
• There will be 3 midterm exams during the semester, and a final exam. The midterm exams cover specific chapters of material, and the final exam is comprehensive, covering the entire semester. You will be able to drop one midterm grade (only two of the midterms will count). There will be no makeup tests - if you need to miss a test for any reason, you will just count that as the one you drop. If you're on a CU sports team and absolutely have to miss more than two exams, inform us within the first 2 weeks of the semester. There will be in-class review sessions before each test, where we will go over problems and answer questions. The TA may also organize additional review sessions as necessary.

Evaluation: Your grade will be computed based on the following percentages:

The scale is a standard one: 100-93 = A, 93-90 = A-, 90-87 = B+, 87-83 = B, etc.. Numbers on the boundary round up, e.g., 93 = A.

Special Accommodations: I encourage students with disabilities, including invisible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury and attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, to discuss with me appropriate accommodations that might be helpful. This must be done within the first 2 weeks of the semester, and you will have to provide documentation to the Disability Services Office in Willard 322 (phone 303-492-8671).

Schedule:

 
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