Cognitive Psychology
Tues-Thurs 1:15-2:30
Room 420-040

Instructor: Barbara Tversky
344 Jordan Hall
Office Hours: Fridays 2-3pm, and after class

Teaching Assistants	Room	Office Hours
Max Abelev	200 Jordan Hall	Mondays, 4:30-6:30
I-Chant Chiang	316 Jordan Hall	Wednesdays, 2-3pm
Nick Davidenko	312 Jordan Hall	Tuesdays, 4;30-5:30
Natalia Engavatov	375 Jordan Hall	Thursdays, 3-4pm
Danny Oppenheimer	342 Jordan Hall	Mondays, 10-11am
Lauren Shapiro	200 Jordan Hall	Thursdays, 11am-12pm

Course Secretary: Cecilia Harris, 318 Jordan Hall

Text

Anderson, J. R. (1995). Cognitive Psychology and its Implications. 5th Edition. Freeman. Chapters refer to text. E-numbers are relevant experiments at Tresidder LaIR.

Goals

There are several goals to this class. We'd like you to learn the important findings in cognition, and the conceptual frameworks used to think about them. We'd also like you to learn how that knowledge is acquired, that is, how research is conducted. To these ends, you will participate in several modes of learning: read a textbook and some articles, listen to lectures, participate in sections, run yourself in experiments, develop an experimental design. You will notice that the readings for the course are light. This is to give you time to develop your own experimental design, which will demand both knowledge and creativity on your part. The experimental design may be done in groups, which we encourage. You are also advised to solicit the help of the TAs or instructor after you've thought about your design, but before you've embarked on it in earnest. On average, projects that had input from TAs or the instructor have been better than those that didn't. Now a little more detail:

Sections

Once during the quarter, instead of a lecture, you will break into sections for informal discussions around an article that will be on reserve at Green Library. Sign-up sheets for the sections will be posted. Your ticket to the section is a page of your thoughts and reactions on the article. The purpose of this is to stimulate a lively discussion on complex and/or controversial issues, something more difficult to accomplish in lecture.

Laboratory in Cognitive Psychology (5% of grade)

This is a package of 21 self-running classic experiments in cognitive psychology, developed by former students in the class with the instructor. They are on the website . They are copyrighted, so you may use them, but not distribute them. The programs are for the most part self-explanatory. Each module runs you as a subject in a classic experiment and summarizes your data in a discussion that explains the phenomenon under investigation. You can print out the entire discussion, or just your own data. Each experiment takes about 15 minutes to run.

You are required to complete 15 out of 21 experiments, though you are strongly advised to do them all. Many of the experiments and most of the phenomena underlying them are discussed in the text. Previous students have said that it is much easier to understand an experiment and its implications after participating in it. The experiments teach you first-hand how we learn about cognitive processes. They also give you ideas for your own projects, especially the experimental design. On the syllabus, the experiments related to a topic are listed after that topic. In past years, students who postponed doing the experiments until the last few days had many problems and learned very little from the experience. On the other hand, students who did them ahead of time and not all at once actually reported that they enjoyed them!

To complete the assignment, turn in print-outs of your data. It's OK to turn in the entire discussion. These will be returned to you to use for study. The print-outs are due on March 5th. If you have any difficulties, contact mabelev@psych.stanford.edu , or in office hour or after class).

Exams

There will be two exams during the quarter, the first worth 25% of your grade, the second worth 20% of your grade. There will also be a final, worth 25% of your grade. Both the midterm exams and most of the final will consist of short-answer questions. A typical question will ask you to describe a phenomenon and give evidence for it or an example of it (here, too, the experiments are helpful). The exams are designed to be completed in less than the time allotted, but extra time will be given if you need it. Answers will be posted when the exams are returned. If you do badly on an exam, please read the answers, trying to understand the differences between your answers and the answers we suggest, and then come to see one of us for help on how you can do better. Past experience indicates that this is effective.

Experimental Design (25%)

A separate handout will be distributed about this assignment. You may not use an assignment submitted to another class. If you are retaking this class, you may NOT turn in the same paper you (or anyone else) turned in during a previous year.

Late Policy

Points will be taken off for late papers unless there is a medical emergency. This is in fairness to the over-burdened students who do manage to get their work in on time.

TA's and Instructor

Please respect office hours. We have tried to distribute office hours over days and times to be more accessible to you. In addition, the instructor is available after class on most days. We are also happy to schedule special times if you cannot come to any of the available times. Do plan ahead. There would be a problem if each of you wanted to see one of us just before the project is due.

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