Cognitive Psychology Page
Professor Will Langston
 
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Messages 2/16/12
  • Imagery
  • Episodic Long Term Memory (Part I)
  • Complete CogLab exercises for Mental Rotation, Serial Position, and Levels of Processing
Syllabus [Top]
Course Notes Course notes, powerpoints, and demonstrations: (NOTE:  You are encouraged to print the notes before class. To keep it fresh, and not spoil the demonstrations, maybe wait to print the powerpoints until after class.)
  • CogPsy Notes 1 -- Introduction/History
    • Complete CogLab exercises for Attentional Blink and Muller-Lyer Illusion
    • PowerPoint for notes 1
    • Reading:
      • Barlow, D. H., & Nock, M. K. (2009). Why can't we be more idiographic in our research? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 19-21. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01088.x
      • Daniel, D. B., & Poole, D. A. (2009). Learning for life: An ecological approach to pedagogical research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 91-96. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01095.x
    • Challenges to the paradigm:
      • Proulx, T., & Heine, S. J. (2009). Connections from Kafka: Exposure to meaning threats improves implicit learning of an artificial grammar. Psychological Science, 20, 1125-1131. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02414.x
      • Valla, J. M., & Ceci, S. J. (2011). Can sex differences in science be tied to the long reach of prenatal hormones? Brain organization theory, digit ratio (2D/4D), and sex differences in preferences and cognition. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 134-146. doi:10.1177/1745691611400236
      • Park, L. E., Young, A. F., Troisi, J. D., & Pinkus, R. T. (2011). Effects of everyday romantic goal pursuit on women's attitudes toward math and science. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1259-1273. doi:10.1177/0146167211408436
      • Taylor, V. J., & Walton, G. M. (2011). Stereotype threat undermines academic learning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1055-1067. doi:10.1177/0146167211406506
  • CogPsy Notes 2 -- Pattern Recognition
    • Complete CogLab exercises for Partial Report and Word Superiority
    • PowerPoint for notes 2
    • Links:
    • Reading:
      • Lanthier, S. N., Risko, E. F., Stolz, J. A., & Besner, D. (2009). Not all visual features are created equal: Early processing in letter and word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 16, 67-73. doi:10.3758/PBR.16.1.67
      • Becker, M. W. (2009). Panic search: Fear produces efficient visual search for nonthreatening objects. Psychological Science, 20, 435-437. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02303.x
      • Lindner, I., Echterhoff, G., Davidson, P. S. R., & Brand, M. (2010). Observation inflation: Your actions become mine. Psychological Science, 21, 1291-1299. doi:10.1177/0956797610379860
  • CogPsy Notes 3 -- Attention
  • CogPsy Notes 4 -- Short Term/Working Memory
    • Complete CogLab exercises for Memory Span, Sternberg Search, and Operation Span
    • PowerPoint for notes 4
    • Links and demonstrations:
    • Reading:
      • Ashcraft, M. H., & Krause, J. A. (2007). Working memory, math performance, and math anxiety. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 243-248.
      • Morrison, A. B., & Chein, J. M. (2011). Does working memory training work? The promise and challenges of enhancing cognition by training working memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18, 46-60. doi:10.3758/s13423-010-0034-0
      • McCabe, D. P. (2010). The influence of complex working memory span task administration methods on prediction of higher level cognition and metacognitive control of response times. Memory & Cognition, 38, 868-882. doi:10.3758/MC.38.7.868
  • CogPsy Notes 5 -- Imagery
    • Complete CogLab exercise for Mental Rotation
    • PowerPoint for notes 5
    • Links and demonstrations:
    • Reading:
      • Zwaan, R. A., & Yaxley, R. H. (2003). Spatial iconicity affects semantic relatedness judgments. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 10, 954-958.
      • Kozhevnikov, M., Louchakova, O., Josipovic, Z., & Motes, M. A. (2009). The enhancement of visuospatial processing efficiency through Buddhist Deity meditation. Psychological Science, 20, 645-653. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02345.x
  • CogPsy Notes 6 -- Episodic Long Term Memory
  • CogPsy Notes 7 -- Processing
  • CogPsy Notes 8 -- Semantic Long Term Memory
    • Complete CogLab exercise for Lexical Decision and False Memory
    • PowerPoint for notes 8
    • Links and demonstrations:
    • Reading:
      • French, C. C., & Richards, A. (1993). Clock this! An everyday example of a schema-driven error in memory. British Journal of Psychology, 84, 249-253.
      • Karpicke, J. D., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319, 966-968. doi: 10.1126/science.1152408
      • Carpenter, S. K., Pashler, H., Wixted, J. T., & Vul, E. (2008). The effects of tests on learning and forgetting. Memory & Cognition, 36, 438-448. doi:10.3758/MC.36.2.438
      • Finn, B., & Metcalfe, J. (2010). Scaffolding feedback to maximize long-term error correction. Memory & Cognition, 38, 951-961. doi:10.3758/MC.38.7.951
      • Fazio, L. K., Agarwal, P. K., Marsh, E. J., & Roediger, H. L. (2010). Memorial consequences of multiple choice testing on immediate and delayed tests. Memory & Cognition, 38, 407-418. doi:10.3758/MC.38.4.407
      • Wilson, S., Darling, S., & Sykes, J. (2011). Adaptive memory: Fitness relevant stimuli show a memory advantage in a game of pelmanism. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18, 781-786. doi:10.3758/s13423-011-0102-0
  • CogPsy Notes 9 -- Categorization
    • Complete CogLab exercise for Prototypes
    • PowerPoint for notes 9
    • Reading:
      • Kole, J. A., Healy, A. F., Fierman, D. M., & Bourne, L. E., Jr. (2010). Contextual memory and skill transfer in category search. Memory and Cognition, 38, 67-82. doi: 10.3758/MC.38.1.67
  • CogPsy Notes 10 -- Interesting Cognitive Stuff
    • PowerPoint for notes 10
    • Reading:
      • Schmader, T., Forbes, C. E., Zhang, S., & Mendes, W. B. (2009). A metacognitive perspective on the cognitive deficits experiencd in intellectually threatening environments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 584-596. doi:10.1177/0146167208330450
      • Berman, M. G., Jonides, J., & Kaplan, S. (2008). The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature. Psychological Science, 19, 1207-1212. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x
      • Rajaram, S., & Pereira-Pasarin, L. P. (2010). Collaborative memory: Cognitive research and theory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 649-663. doi:10.1177/1745691610388763
      • Barber, S. J., Rajaram, S., & Aron, A. (2010). When two is too many: Collaborative encoding impairs memory. Memory & Cognition, 38, 255-264. doi:10.3758/MC.38.3.255 (This doi seems to link to the journal and not the particular article. You will need to go to the correct volume and issue number, and then scroll to the page number for the article. The pdf will be available there.)
      • Koch, S., Holland, R. W., Hengstler, M., & van Knippenberg, A. (2009). Body locomotion as regulatory process: Stepping backward enhances cognitive control. Psychological Science, 20, 549-550. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02342.x
  • CogPsy Notes 11 -- Language--Structure
    • PowerPoint for notes 11
    • Reading:
      • Speer, N. K., Reynolds, J. R., Swallow, K. M., & Zacks, J. M. (2009). Reading stories activates neural representations of visual and motor experiences. Psychological Science, 20, 989-999. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02397.x
      • Sherman, G. D., & Clore, G. L. (2009). The color of sin: White and black are percptual symbols of moral purity and pollution. Psychological Science, 20, 1019-1025. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02403.x
  • CogPsy Notes 12 -- Language--Meaning
    • PowerPoint for notes 12
    • Reading:
      • Goldin-Meadow, S., Cook, S. W., & Mitchell, Z. A. (2009). Gesturing gives children new ideas about math. Psychological Science, 20, 267-272. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02297.x
      • Freina, L., Baroni, G., Borghi, A. M., & Nicoletti, R. (2009). Emotive concept nouns and motor responses: Attraction or repulsion? Memory and Cognition, 37, 493-499. doi:10.3758/MC.37.4.493
      • Nelson, L. D., & Simmons, J. P. (2007). Moniker maladies: When names sabotage success. Psychological Science, 18, 1106-1112. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02032.x
      • Kelly, S. D., Ozyurek, A., & Maris, E. (2010). Two sides of the same coin: Speech and gesture mutually interact to enahnce comprehension. Psychological Science, 21, 260-267. doi:10.1177/0956797609357327
      • Ziegler, J. C., et al. (2010). Orthographic depth and its impact on universal predictors of reading: A cross-language investigation. Psychological Science, 21, 551-559. doi:10.1177/0956797610363406
      • Goksun, T., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2010). Trading spaces: Carving up events for learning language. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 33-42. doi:10.1177/1745691609356783
      • McCrudden, M. T., Magliano, J. P., & Schraw, G. (2011). The effect of diagrams on online reading processes and memory. Discourse Processes, 48, 69-92. On eReserve at the library. The password is "lang6190"
      • Nittrouer, S., & Pennington, B. (2010). New approaches to the study of childhood language disorders. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 308-313. doi:10.1177/0963721410383976
  • CogPsy Notes 13 -- Reasoning and Decision Making
    • Complete CogLab exercises for Wason Selection, Decision Making, Monty Hall, and Typical Reasoning
    • PowerPoint for notes 13
    • Reading:
      • Gigerenzer, G., Gaissmaier, W., Kurz-Milcke, E., Schwartz, L. M., & Woloshin, S. (2007). Helping doctors and patients make sense of health statistics. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 8, 53-96. Editorial doi:10.1111/j.1539-6053.2008.00033_1.x Article doi:10.1111/j.1539-6053.2008.00033.x
      • Stewart, N. (2009). The cost of anchoring on credit-card minimum repayments. Psychological Science, 20, 39-41. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02255.x
      • Tykocinski, O. E. (2008). Insurance, risk, and magical thinking. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1346-1356. doi:10.1177/0146167208320556
      • Labroo, A. A., Lambotte, S., & Zhang, Y. (2009). The "name-ease" effect amd its dual impact on importance judgments. Psychological Science, 20, 1516-1522. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02477.x
      • Fischer, P., et al. (2009). The racing-game effect: Why do video racing games increase risk-taking inclinations? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1395-1409. doi:10.1177/0146167209339628
  • CogPsy Notes 14 -- Human Factors
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CogLab We will do at least one CogLab exercise most weeks.  You will need CogLab with online access code. You can buy the online only version here (recommended): http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/isbn/978-0-495-50296-8
  • To set up, go to the instructions page for our class:  StudentInstructions.html
  • You should print the instructions and follow the steps to set up your account.
  • Once you have an account, you can participate in experiments.
  • To participate, go to http://coglab.wadsworth.com/
  • Choose the experiment and follow the instructions.
CogLab experiments need to be completed before class each week.  I will use your data as part of the lecture for the week. 

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Exam Essays Everyone should submit an essay question for each exam.  Here are the properties of a good question:
  • Integrate material from more than one section of the class.
  • Have a clear answer (it should take some thinking to get the answer, but at least one obviously correct answer should exist).
  • It should take around one page of typed, double-spaced essay to answer well (it can take less as long as it meets the other criteria; it should not take more).  You're not actually giving me the answer, just the question.
  • Copying notes or book material should not be a sufficient answer, it should engage you in thinking about the material.
  • Here is a sample take-home question to give you a guide.
Procedure:
  • Submit a question by the beginning of the class before the exam (put "cognitive psychology exam essay question" in the subject line of your email).
  • I will pick 7 (I reserve the right to edit) and post those below.
  • If none of the questions address the final unit before each exam, I will pad with questions addressing that unit; that will reduce the number of student essays picked.
  • If I pick your question, you get 5 bonus points.
  • This part is intended to be take home.  You complete all 7 before the exam, 3 are on the exam.  Those 3 will be turned in.  You should bring completed essays with you.
  • The final will have all of the essays in the set of potential questions, and I will pick 4.  At least 2 of those will be from the last unit.  In other words, if you do all 7 each time, 2 of the left-overs can be used on the final.
  • The best answers (determined at my sole discretion) will get 5 bonus points.  You may get bonus points for answering your own question.
These are unclickable until it's exam time.
  • Exam 1 Essays:  Word or pdf
  • Exam 2 Essays:  Word or pdf
    • Exam 2 study guide
  • Final:  Word or pdf
    • Final study guide
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Links Some visual/perceptual illusions can be found at: http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/ and http://www.planetperplex.com/en/index.html
3-D child illusion: http://www.preventable.ca/2010/09/shifting-attitudes-with-illusions/

Human factors and design.  Here's a nice sentence diagramming problem for those who enjoy these sorts of things. 
 
Fans of spelling, etc. will enjoy this straight dope column on letter frequencies (with a "swiss cheese holes are bacteria farts" bonus). 
 
For the "Can you raed this?" text, here is a pretty good discussion of problems with the hypothesis.
Suggest a link:  Email me. 
 
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Reaction Papers I will only accept papers sent via email. Name your paper Your last name WRR #. For example, my third paper would be LangstonWRR3. (It will end in .doc or .docx)
 
Remember, reactions are the amount of material that will fit on a one page, double-spaced, typed document.  They must be emailed as an attachment.  Part of the exercise is for you to get right to your point and justify it briefly.  Sources are open, but I'd prefer some element of empirical research.  So, if you see something in the newspaper and want to react to it, try to track down the original research.  Or, find some research that supports or refutes the information in the newspaper and discuss that.  Show me that you're thinking, include some cognitive stuff, and read some of the primary literature and I will be pleased.  You may also use CogLab as a source for ideas.
 
What will get me excited about a reaction paper: 
  • React based on something else you've learned in the class ("when we discussed categorization, you said...but this article said..." or "here's another example of...")
  • React based on something you've learned in another class ("in my abnormal class we discussed schizophrenia, and this topic reminds me of that because...")
  • Relate the research to your own experience ("Sometimes when I'm studying...")
  • React to the methodology (this is tricky; "even though the authors found a significant difference, I don't think this phenomenon will matter much in the real world because..." or "this technique conflicts with what so-and-so says because...")
What won't get me excited about a reaction paper: 
  • "This article was really easy/hard to read/understand."
  • "There were only five participants in the study which seems like too few" (if there's no reason given for why it's too few), etc.
  • Two pages of summary followed by "I really liked this article."
Remember:  If you choose an article that I decide to incorporate in the class notes in the future, I will give you extra points (at least two, maybe more if it's really good).

Here's a model reaction paper.

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