Course Syllabus

 

  

Syllabus Fall 2016

 

Instructor Contact

Instructor	Dr. Marisol Parra-Tatge
Office Hours	Virtual office hours by appointment
Phone	321-682-4320
E-mail	Via the Inbox in Canvas (Webcourses)

Graduate Teaching Assistant Contact

Teaching Assistant	Matthew L. LaPalme
Office   Hours	Virtual office hours by appointment
E-mail	Via Inbox in Canvas

Course Information

Course Name	Cognitive Psychology
Course ID & Section	EXP 3604C-0W58
Credit Hours	4

Course Description

This course aims to familiarize you with the field of Cognitive Psychology. You will be exposed to the basic principles, problems, findings, and research methodologies in the field. In addition, you will participate in Cognitive Psychology experiments and demonstrations and will critically analyze scientific articles in Cognitive Psychology. Topics will include Perception, Attention, Memory, Language, Knowledge, Problem Solving, Reasoning, and Decision Making.  

Prerequisite

General Psychology (PSY 2012).

Course Objectives

By the end of this course you will:

• Know the major theories, concepts, and research findings in the areas of Perception, Attention, Memory, Language, Knowledge, Problem Solving, Reasoning and Decision Making.
• Understand the methodologies used in Cognitive Psychology to comprehend cognitive phenomena,
• Understand the real world implications of research findings in Cognitive Psychology.
• Think critically about issues in Cognitive Psychology.
• Understand the neurological correlates of Cognition.

Student Accessibility Statement

It is my goal  that this class be an accessible and welcoming experience for all students, including those with disabilities that may impact learning in this class. If anyone believes the design of this course poses barriers to effectively participating and/or demonstrating learning in this course, please contact me (with or without a Student Accessibility Services (SAS) accommodation letter) to discuss reasonable options or adjustments. I may suggest the possibility/necessity of your contacting SAS (Ferrell Commons 185; 407-823-2371; sas@ucf.edu) to talk about academic accommodations. You are welcome to talk to me at any point in the semester about course design concerns, but it is always best if we can talk at least one week prior to the need for any modifications. 

Required Text and CogLab Registration Code

E. Bruce Goldstein, Cognitive Psychology:  Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (3^rd Edition), Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-8400-3355-0. The 3rd edition is required because the lectures, activities, quizzes, and exams are based on the third edition. 

When the textbook is new, it comes with a free CogLab Registration Code.  Both the textbook and the CogLab  Registration Code are required.

You can purchase  a used book and purchase the CogLab Registration Code separately. For the CogLab Registration code use ISBN number 1-285-46108-8. However, do not purchase used CogLab Registration Codes!  If the registration code has already been used, it will not work for you. Click on the following link for more CogLab Purchase Information.doc

You will use the Coglab Registration Code to open a CogLab account. See Instructions for getting started with CogLab 5.doc under the Files tab on the left, Your CogLab account will give you access to the CogLab experiments assigned for this course. Based on your performance on these CogLab experiments you will complete the CogLab assignments described below. You need to open your CogLab account the first week of classes. 

Course Requirements

• Internet Connection
• Power Point Viewer
• Adobe Reader
• Adobe Flash Player
• Java Script

Missed Assignments/Make-Ups

You are expected to submit your CogLab reports, group assignments,  discussions, exams, quizzes, and the web search on time. Do not wait until the last minute to complete your work. Late work will not be accepted. No Exception. In addition, there will be no make-ups for CogLab reports, the web search, group assignments, discussions, or quizzes, and the deadlines for CogLab reports, the web search, group assignments, discussions, quizzes or exams will not be extended.  No exception. A make-up exam may be given at the discretion of your instructor in case of a documented emergency. Your instructor must receive appropriate documentation before the test day or within one week of the test day.

Evaluation and Grading

Exam and Quizzes

You will complete three multiple choice noncumulative exams. Each exam will be worth 130 points. Exams will be based on the assigned textbook chapters.

You will also complete weekly multiple choice quizzes (11 quizzes). Each quiz will consist of 10 questions and will be worth  20 points. Quizzes will be based on the assigned textbook chapters.

Both the exams and quizzes will be closed book and closed notes. You will have a restricted amount of time to complete them and you won’t be able to pause them or to save them to complete them later. Thus, prepare for them, and complete them only when you know you are ready.

Quizzes and Exams will open at 11:00 am the Thursday before their Thursday due date and will close at 11:59 pm on their Thursday due date.

Syllabus quiz. 

The syllabus quiz will be worth 10 points. It will include information contained in the Syllabus and Course Expectations. The syllabus quiz has no time limit and you will have unlimited attempts to complete it.

Please note that as of fall 2014, all faculty members are required to document students' academic activity at the beginning of each course. In order to document that you began this course, please complete the Syllabus Quiz by the end of the first week of classes or as soon as possible after adding the course. Failure to do so will result in a delay in the disbursement of your financial aid.

Web Search

You will be required to find a visual illusion on the web and write a brief report describing the illusion and providing a likely explanation for the perceptual phenomenon. The Web Search will be worth 30 points. 

The Web Search will  open  the Thursday before its Thursday due date at 11:00 am and will close at 11:59 pm on its Thursday due date. It must be submitted by the due date.

CogLab Assignments

You will be required to complete 6 CogLab experiments and to type a brief Lab report based on your performance in the experiments. Each CogLab assignment will be worth 30 points. Instructions for each of the CogLab assignments will be provided in Webcourses. You will receive full credit only if you (a) conduct the experiment before the due date (b) Submit the CogLab Report before the due date, and (c) fully address the questions. Completing just the experiment without submitting the CogLab Report, or completing the CogLab report without completing the experiment will result in a grade of zero.

CogLab assignments will  open  the Thursday before their Thursday due date at 11:00 am and will close at 11:59 pm on their Thursday due date. They must be submitted by the due date.

Group Assignments 

At the beginning of the semester you will be assigned to a group of 4 or 5 students. You will work together throughout the semester completing group assignments. In the group assignments you will be analyzing scientific articles.There will be 4 group assignments throughout this semester. Each group assignment will be worth 30 points.

Note that that group assignments are to be completed in groups not individually. Since part of your final grade will depend on these group assignments, teamwork skills are essential for this class. 

Note also that it is one paper per group (including the names of the member who contributed to the entire assignment). Group assignments (or parts of the group assignment) completed by individual students will not be accepted.

Each member of a group is expected to contribute to the completion of the entire group assignment (not just to parts or section of the assignment) in a timely manner. As a result, each member of your group is equally responsible for the final product and all of the members of your group will receive the same grade unless they have not contributed to the assignment.

If a member of your group does not contribute to the group assignment, or at the last minute add chunks of text  to an assignment other members of the group have already completed, please do not include his/her name on the paper. That student will receive a grade of zero.

It is your responsibility to contact the members of your group by the Monday before the Thursday due date to decide when and how you will be working on the assignment. It is also your responsibility  to make sure your name is on the paper. If your name is not on the paper, I will assume you did not contribute to the assignment.  All the members of the group who contributed to the group assignment will receive the same grade. 

In order to find your group, go to Courses & Groups in the Global Navigation Menu on top of the page. Open the drop-down menu. Your group will be to the right of your course enrollment. Your group has its own homepage with discussion, collaborations, files (tabs on the menu on the left of the homepage) etc.  By clicking on the People tab on the menu on the left of your group's homepage, you will be able to see the names of the members of your group.

In order to complete a group assignment, use Collaborations( Collaborations tab on the menu on the left of your group's homepage). To start a collaboration, go to Collaborations (in your group's homepage). Click on Start a New Collaboration. select Google Docs from the drop down menu in Collaborate Using. Give the assignment a title (e.g., group assignment 1). In the description part, you can put the title of the assigned article. Then, include the members of your group from the list on the left. Finally, click on Start Collaboration. The collaboration you created will show as a link. In order to participate, click on that link. In Google docs you and the members of your group can work on the same document at the same time. Once your group has completed the paper, you can upload the Google document to the submission page.  Alternatively, you can save the file as docx document and upload that file to the submission page. You must submit only one paper per group. Remember to put the names of members of the group who contributed to the assignment on the paper. Please note that in order to use Collaborations all the members of your group will need a Google's account.

Group assignments will open at 11:00 am the Thursday before their Thursday due date and will close at 11:59 pm on their Thursday due date. They must be submitted by the due date.

Discussions

There will be 2 discussions. The first discussion is the introduction discussion. You will introduce yourself to the rest of the class. The introduction discussion will be worth 10 points. 

The second discussion in Module 10 is a whole class discussion on Eyewitness Testimony. You will post a comment and respond to the comments of at least one of your classmates. 

In order to significantly contribute to the whole group discussion, you must complete the assigned readings and watch the assigned video before posting your response. The whole class discussion will be worth 40 points. 

The discussions will open at 11:00 am the Thursday before their Thursday due date and will close at 11:59 pm on their Thursday due date. The discussions must be submitted by the due date.  

Important: Your CogLab reports, the web search, the group assignments and the discussions  must be written in your own words. That is, you must not copy and paste and you must not use quotations.  We are assuming that the parts that you copy or quote from a particular source are not present in a particular assignment and you will not receive credit for these parts. Furthermore if you use information or ideas from a particular source that you are paraphrasing, you must give credit to that source using an in-text citation and listing the source in your references (Follow APA style). Failure to do that constitutes plagiarism and will result in a grade of zero. Note that we use turnitin.com to detect plagiarism

Letter grades will be assigned on the basis of the ranges of scores below. Note that I do not round up for the final grades. 

Letter Grade	Points
A	900-1000/ 90% and above
B	800-899/80%-89.99%
C	700-799/70%-79.99%
D	600-699/60%-69.99%
F	599 or less/ less than 60%

 

 

	Points	Percentage
Exams	390	39%
Quizzes  (Including the syllabus quiz)	230	23%
CogLabs	180	18%
Web Search	30	3%
Group Assignments	120	12%
Whole Class Discussion	40	4%
Introduction Discussion	10	1%
Total	1000	100%

Grade Complaints

If you have a complaint, question, or concern about your grade for a particular CogLab report, group assignment, discussion, quiz, exam or the websearch, you need to contact the TA via Inbox in Webcourses (and copy me) within one week of the day that the grades for that CogLab report, group assignment, discussion, quiz, exam or the websearch are posted on Webcourses. After that deadline (i.e., one week after the grades are posted on Webcourses) the grades will be considered definitive and no grade complaints or concerns will be considered. No exceptions. 

Plagiarism

Many incidents of plagiarism result from students’ lack of understanding about what constitutes plagiarism. However, you are expected to familiarize yourself with UCF’s policy on plagiarism. All work you submit must be your own scholarly and creative efforts.  UCF’s Golden Rule defines plagiarism as follows: “whereby another’s work is used or appropriated without any indication of the source, thereby attempting to convey the impression that such work is the student’s own.” 

In this course we use turnitin.com to detect plagiarism. Turnitin.com is an automated system which instructors can use to quickly and easily compare each student's assignment with billions of web sites, as well as an enormous database of student papers that grows with each submission. After the assignment is processed, as an instructor I receive a report from turnitin.com that states if and how another author's work was used in the assignment. For a more detailed look at this process, visit http://www.turnitin.com.

Academic Integrity

Plagiarism and Cheating of any kind on an examination, quiz, or assignment will result at least in an "F" for that assignment (and may, depending on the severity of the case, lead to an "F" for the entire course) and may be subject to appropriate referral to the Office of Student Conduct for further action. See the UCF Golden Rule for further information. I will assume for this course that you will adhere to the academic creed of this University and will maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. In other words, don't cheat by giving answers to others or taking them from anyone else. I will also adhere to the highest standards of academic integrity, so please do not ask me to change (or expect me to change) your grade illegitimately or to bend or break rules for one person that will not apply to everyone.

Copyright

This course may contain copyright protected materials such as audio or video clips, images, text materials, etc. These items are being used with regard to the Fair Use doctrine in order to enhance the learning environment. Please do not copy, duplicate, download or distribute these items. The use of these materials is strictly reserved for this online classroom environment and your use only. All copyright materials are credited to the copyright holder.

Third-Party Software and FERPA

During this course you might have the opportunity to use public online services and/or software applications sometimes called third-party software such as a blog or wiki. While some of these could be required assignments, you need not make any personally identifying information on a public site. Do not post or provide any private information about yourself or your classmates. Where appropriate you may use a pseudonym or nickname. Some written assignments posted publicly may require personal reflection/comments, but the assignments will not require you to disclose any personally identity-sensitive information. If you have any concerns about this, please contact your instructor.