Cognitive Processes Laboratory

Psychology 427

Fall 2004

 

Time: Monday 2-3:50 p.m.

Location: Dickey Hall 203

 

Instructor: Lindsey Schipper

Email: ljschi2@uky.edu

Website:

Office: Kastle Hall 111J

Mailbox: Kastle Hall 111 (Grad student mailboxes)

Phone: 257-6834

Office Hours: M 11am-12noon, T 2:30-3:30 pm, or by appointment

 

 

The lab section of this course is meant to provide hands on experience in cognitive psychology. Students will conduct experiments directly related to the principles learned in the lecture portion of the course. These experiments will be done online using the CogLab Online Laboratory. Students will also provide written reports of experimental data collected throughout the semester.

 

LAB MANUAL:

Goldstein, E. B., Baker, R., & MacKewn, A. (2005). Concept maps and CogLab online manual for Goldstein’s Cognitive Psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience. Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.

*This manual should come with the text for the course. It must be new, since you need a registration code to access the website.

 

ATTENDANCE:

Attendance is mandatory and will be taken at each class. More than two unexcused absences will result in a failing grade for the lab, and the students will not be allowed to pass the lecture if they fail the lab portion of the course. The criteria for an excused absence are covered in the lecture syllabus. In the event of an unexcused absence, you must get all notes and assignments from another student in the class. For an excused absence, you must notify me in advance by email (this way I have a record you are going to be absent) and I will give you the information you will miss. You must turn in the lab and/or assignments prior to your absence.

 

GRADING:

The lab portion will be worth 150 of the 500 total points for the course. As stated, students must pass the lab in order to pass the class, and less than 60% is considered failing.  Completing the assigned experiments and answering the questions for the 18 labs will be worth 5 points each, for a total of 90 points for hands on experiences. The remaining 60 points will come from 3 write-ups of the data collected from the entire class. Late labs or papers will be penalized 2 points for each day they are late. Since lab ends on Monday at 4, anything turned in by Tuesday at 4 will be 1 day late; Wednesday at 4 is 2 days late, etc.

 

COGLAB EXPERIMENTS:

Each lab period will consist of completing 1 or more of the CogLab experiments listed in the lab manual or in the online laboratory.  Some of these experiments will be completed in class, while others will be assigned to complete out of class. A User ID and initial password will be given to you. Prior to completing any experiments, you must register using your ID, password, and registration code from your lab manual. You must then change your password and provide an email address. Specific instructions on how to use the CogLab online laboratory will be provided as needed. It is strongly recommended that you read through the experiment in the lab manual or online prior to completing it, as careless responding or not following directions may result in losing all points for that lab.

 

Note: In order to understand the lab material and answer questions effectively, it is very important to keep up with the readings assigned in lecture. Without this, the experiments will not be an application of material already learned. If you are having trouble understanding a concept, please see myself or Dr. Gottlob prior to lab so that you are not losing any points for lack of understanding.

 

PAPERS:

You will write 3 short papers this semester, approximately 5 pages in length (no less than 4 pages).  They will be typed, double spaced, in 12 point font. They need to be strictly APA style, including a title page and references that do not count towards the total number of pages. The paper will include a short introduction using at least 2 scholarly sources, a thorough method section, results, and a short discussion section. The grading will be as follows: Title page/References-2 pts, Introduction-2 pts, Method-7 pts, Results-7 pts, and Discussion-2 pts.  Please see the schedule below for specific due dates.

 

Note on APA style: We will spend some time reviewing APA style in class, but will not be able to cover everything. Anything in the paper not APA style will automatically lose points, so check over the style. There are several websites available for checking style, but some are not always correct. The best way to check is to use the manual, 5th edition. If you do not own this manual and need to use it, please come by during my office hours or schedule a time with me.

 

Plagiarism: I cannot stress enough that you need to do your own work. Plagiarism is a serious offense and can result in an automatic failure of the course. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite everything!

 

Important: In order for me to grade as fairly as possible, please do not put your names on papers. Instead, you will use your CogLab # (the number assigned to you as your ID, example: CogProcesses-0).

 

TESTS:

The lab section of this course does not have any tests. However, we might take some class time to review for lecture exams if students feel it is needed. I may be able to answer some questions about the course material, but your best bet for getting accurate information is to talk with Dr. Gottlab.

 

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

The lab topics are closely related to the lecture topics for each week; however, the schedule is subject to slight changes if need be.

 

 

 

 

Date                                        Topic                                       Assignment Due

Aug 30                Intro to course, overview of CogLab                  None

                               Ch 1: Intro to Cognitive Psych                                        

 

Sept 6                 No Class, Labor Day

 

Sept 13               Experiment Basics, Exam Review              Stroop Effect Lab

                               

 

Sept 20               Experiment Basics Cont., Ch 2                 Receptive Fields Lab                             

 

 

Sept 27               Ch 3, Ch 4                                        Visual Search Lab, Signal Detection Lab

 

 

Oct 4                  Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7                              Spatial Cueing Lab, Attentional Blink Lab

                                                                                                                       

 

Oct 11                Statistics Review                             Memory Span Lab, Sternberg Search Lab,

    Serial Position Lab

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

Oct 18               Exam Review                                  Implicit Learning Lab, Encoding Specificity Lab

 

 

Oct 25                APA Style/Work on Paper #1 in class                                

                                                                                               

 

Nov 1                Ch 8                                                  Remember/Know Lab, Forgot it All Along Lab

                                                                                                Paper #1 Rough Draft

 

 

Nov 8                Ch 9                                                  Prototypes Lab, Absolute Identification Lab

                                                                                               

 

Nov 15              Ch 10                                                        Mental Rotation Lab

                                                                                                Paper #1 Due

 

 

Nov 22            Ch 11                                                          Lexical Decision Lab

 

                                                                                               

Nov 29            Ch 12                                                             Paper # 2 Due

 

 

Dec 6              Final Exam Review                           Wason Selection Task Lab, Monty Hall Lab

 

Finals Week: Paper # 3 Due by 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, Dec 13 in my mailbox