Psych 341: Introduction to Memory and Cognition PSYCHOLOGY 341: INTRODUCTION TO MEMORY AND COGNITION Fall 2010 Dr. Kevin Murnane BPS 1243 BPS 1123E 12:30 – 1:45 Tu Th OH: By appointment [email protected] Syllabus Subject matter: Psychology 341 is an advanced introduction to the field of cognitive psychology. The foundational metaphor in cognitive psychology has been that human mentality can be understood as an information processing system. Research in the field tends to focus on the fundamental operations and processes through which people encode, store, retrieve and use information. Topics of interest that will be covered in the course, time permitting, include object perception attention, memory, the organization of knowledge, concepts and categorization, language, decision making and problem solving. Course presentation will stress the theories that structure the different areas of topical interest mentioned above and the data which either support or argue against these theories. Schedule and format: The course meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from August 31 through December 9. Class periods are 75 minutes long and begin at 12:30. Office hours will be by appointment. Please, do not call me at home. The best way to contact me is by email. Text: The text for the course is Cognitive Psychology (5th ed.) by Robert J. Sternberg. Requirements: You are responsible for everything covered in lecture. Please come to class on time. Class begins at 12:30. Grading: Grades will be based on three equally-weighted exams. Each exam will cover the material presented since the previous exam and each exam will count for one third of the final course grade. MAKE-UP OR EARLY EXAMS WILL ONLY BE GIVEN IN EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES. Classroom participation may be used to improve final grades. Final Grades: Final course grades are final. Final course grades will not be changed for any reason except a data entry error or a mathematical error in calculating the grade. No exceptions. If you need to achieve a particular grade in this course in order to maintain your G.P.A., keep your scholarship, retain US residency, major in psychology or for any other reason, you will need to achieve that grade on the exams.Psych 341: Introduction to Memory and Cognition Grading Scale: The grading scale for the class is as follows. A + = 100 - 97.5 B + = < 90 - 87.5 C + = < 80 - 77.5 D + = < 70 - 67.5 A = < 97.5 - 92.5 B = < 87.5 - 82.5 C = < 77.5 - 72.5 D = < 67.5 - 62.5 A - = < 92.5 - 90 B - = < 82.5 - 80 C - = < 72.5 - 70 D - = < 62.5 - 60 A grade of less than 60 is an F. Cut off points are absolute. It does not matter how close you come; if your grade is below the cut off, you get the lower grade. Exceptions to the rules. If you wish to request that an exception to any of the rules or requirements for the course be made for you, send an email to Dr.Murnane that is CCed to your TA. In that email explain the exception you are requesting and the reasons why you think this exception should be made for you. Dr. Murnane will make a decision based on the information in your email and will reply to both you and your TA so everyone involved has a record of the request and the decision. All exceptions to any class rules or requirements must be approved by Dr. Murnane. Your TA cannot approve exceptions, please do not ask them to do so. Requests for an exception must be CCed to your TA if you want Dr. Murnane to respond to your email with a decision. Cheating: Cheating is a serious transgression and will be met with the maximum possible response. No excuses, no second