PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 1 Assignment
Attention and Perception
Prior to completing this assignment, please read Chapter 3 carefully. View the video The Study of Attention (Links to an external site.), and review the article Driven to Distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellular Telephone. Then complete the following experiments:
Stroop
Selective Attention
Ambiguous Figures
Muller-Lyer
Attention in its different forms (e.g., selective attention, divided attention, etc.) and perception are both essential aspects of cognition. The goal of this assignment is to introduce you to the topics of attention and perception and the procedures used to study them. Keep in mind that each experiment illustrates a procedure or task that is used by scientists to understand attention and/or perception.
Your paper must begin with an introduction to the topic and must address the four bullet points below. In your paper,
Reflect on your experience as the subject in the experiments—did your performance surprise you? Why or why not?
Describe what your performance on the selected task tells you about attention and perception.
Describe the extent to which the results of each experiment or procedure apply to real-life experiences and settings. Support your points with evidence from at least one peer-reviewed research article.
The Attention and Perception Paper
Must be two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least one peer-reviewed source in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 2 Assignment
Understanding Memory Loss
Memory loss is frightening. The purpose of this assignment is to make you think of memory loss realistically. Complete the steps listed below:
Watch the video, Living Without a Memory (Links to an external site.), which provides an overview of memory and discusses actual cases of memory loss.
Select a movie that has featured a character with memory loss. Describe the main features of the impairment exhibited by the movie character.
Engage your critical thinking skills. How accurately is memory loss featured in the selected movie? Specifically, does the memory loss in the movie resemble actual cases? Is appropriate terminology used? Is the prognosis realistic?
Note that statements regarding the accuracy or inaccuracy of the memory loss illustrated in the movie are to be supported by evidence collected by cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists (i.e., experts). Thus, review the literature on memory loss and use at least two peer-reviewed articles that can answer the questions above. Although your opinion is valuable and always welcome, it needs to be supported by scientific evidence.
Express your thoughts about how the movie could have more realistically depicted memory loss, its cause(s), time-course, and prognosis.
Describe the memory loss featured in the selected movie as well as discussing its accuracy Keep in mind that accuracy refers to the description of symptoms, potential cause(s), prognosis and actual time-course.
Your paper must begin with an introduction to the selected topic in which you define all concepts that will be discussed in the paper. You must also include a conclusion expressing your thoughts about how the movie could have more realistically depicted memory loss, its causes, time-course, and prognosis.
The Understanding Memory Loss Paper:
Must be four to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least two peer-reviewed source in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 3 Assignment
Memory Errors in Real Life
Laypersons are often unaware of the extent to which memory errors (including memory of events that did not occur and memory distortions) are commonplace and widespread. The purpose of this assignment is to make you think of not only memory errors in real life, but also the reasons behind their occurrence. Consider the steps listed below:
Read the “Adaptive Constructive Processes and the Future of Memory” and “A Range of Memory Possibilities: The Challenge of the false Memory Debate for Clinicians and Researchers” articles, which offer an overview of memory errors and their origins.
Keep in mind that your textbook is another valuable source of information regarding memory errors.
Select a case mentioned in a news article where memory errors have been known or can be assumed to have occurred (e.g., eyewitness testimony, instances of recovered memories of traumatic experiences, etc.).
Describe the main features of the errors, their consequences, and their possible sources (i.e., what are the features of human memory that make the errors possible?).
Engage your critical thinking skills:
Explain what cognitive psychology suggests that people do to decrease the occurrence of the memory errors that you discuss in your paper. If these errors cannot be avoided, what does cognitive psychology suggest that people do to prevent the often damaging consequences of such errors?
Note that statements regarding the inaccuracy of human memory, and strategies to decrease the occurrence of errors and their consequences are to be supported by scientific evidence collected by experts. Thus, review the literature on memory errors and use at least two peer-reviewed articles that can answer the questions above.
Must begin with an introduction to the selected topic in which you define all concepts that will be discussed in the paper.
Include a brief description of the memory errors featured in the selected news article as well as discussing potential sources and known or likely consequences according to the guidelines described above.
Include a conclusion expressing your thoughts about how these memory errors can be prevented or reduced, and the extent to which their often dreadful consequences can be minimized. Keep in mind that although your opinion is valuable, it needs to be supported by scientific evidence.
The Memory Errors in Real Life Paper
Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least two additional scholarly sources in addition to the course text. The articles that you are asked to read for this assignment (Madill, 2004; Schacter, 2012) can be mentioned in your paper and can be included in the reference section, but a minimum of two additional articles is required.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 4 Assignment
Understanding Experiments in Cognition
It is reasonable to admit that in four weeks you have been exposed to a great deal of information about the human mind! This assignment will give you the opportunity to examine how the knowledge that you have acquired during the past weeks may tie together. You will explore a phenomenon that interests you, highlight the methodologies used to study it, uncover the results obtained, and assess the validity of the knowledge acquired. These activities will make you aware of the intrinsic relationship between knowledge of specific mental and behavioral phenomena, as well as the limitations of the techniques used to study them. Knowledge in cognitive psychology is largely gathered by means of experiments. Thus, it is important that you become intimately familiar with this data-gathering method. The goal of the assignment is to ensure that you have a good understanding of specific cognitive psychological phenomena as well as experiments that are often used to investigate such phenomena. Abide by the instructions listed below:
Watch the video, Experimental Research Methods in Psychology (Links to an external site.), on the experimental method.
Go to the University of Arizona Global Campus Library or Google Scholar and select a peer-reviewed article on a topic of interest among those discussed in our class. If you prefer, you may select an article from the recommended resources.
Describe the main research questions that the study attempts to answer. Keep in mind that a description of the main question of the study entails an explanation of the importance of the question (i.e., illustrates the gap in the existing literature).
State the main hypothesis (prediction) made by the researchers.
Identify the key variables.
Describe the critical characteristics of both the participants and the procedures used.
Summarize the main findings. How do these findings answer the question that the researchers formulated in the introductory section of the article?
Explain the extent to which the findings answer the research question. Do the findings support their research question (or prediction)?
Illustrate the weaknesses and strengths of the selected study. For instance, ask yourself questions such as the following:
Is the technique used to understand the selected phenomenon able to gather adequate information about it?
How does this technique compare to other techniques used in cognitive psychology?
Do the findings of the selected study generalize to individuals who may be different from those who participated (young versus older adults)?
Please note that research articles often contain more than one study. Thus, in this assignment, you are given the opportunity to describe each experiment separately or focus on what you believe to be the most significant experiment.
Your paper must begin with an introduction to the selected topic in which you define the research question and all concepts that will be discussed in the paper. For instance, let us assume you select the article by Strayer and Johnston “Driven to Distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellular Telephone” as the topic of your paper. Then your task is to state the question the researchers want to answer and define the terms attention, divided attention, and distraction.
Your paper requires a brief summary of the content of the selected article according to the guidelines described above. It also requires a conclusion expressing your thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of the available evidence. If possible, suggest the course that future research should take if the answer to the selected question is less than conclusive.
The Memory Errors in Real Life Paper
Must be four to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least one peer-reviewed source (the article you chose) in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
PSY352 Cognitive Psychology
Week 5 Assignment
Questions in Psycholinguistics
Language is an important tool for storing, organizing, and retrieving information that has been acquired throughout one’s life, as well as for thinking, modifying, and sharing such information with others. Thus, researchers ask many questions about language and its use. For this assignment, complete the steps listed below:
Select one of the following topics:
Recent research has shown that bilingualism shapes the human mind. What are some of the short-term and/or long-term consequences of bilingualism on information processing? Include at least two sets of findings (e.g., speed of processing and vocabulary size) in your paper.
Human language is more than a communication system. What are the unique properties of human language that make it different from communication systems used by other species?
Most of language use in adults relies on reading, an ability that is often acquired later in life than the ability to speak and understand speech in one’s primary language. Why is learning how to read more challenging than learning how to speak in one’s primary language?
Ambiguities in the meaning of words and phrases are far from rare occurrences. Yet, both speakers and listeners (or readers) often do not appear to notice them. What are these ambiguities, and why do they often go unnoticed?
Can you “forget” words in your first language while you are learning a second language? Summarize the available evidence to explain your answer.
More than half a century ago, two researchers, Noam Chomsky and B. F. Skinner, debated the role of nature and nurture in language acquisition. What was the viewpoint of each researcher? What was the evidence upon which their contrasting viewpoints relied?
Review the literature on the selected topic. For your selected topic, use at least three peer-reviewed articles that can answer the questions related to it.
Summarize the evidence you have found and then critically examine it. Engage your critical thinking skills. For instance, ask yourself if the available evidence is sufficient to support the interpretations that researchers have proposed, and/or whether there are ambiguities and unknowns.
Begin your paper with an introduction to the selected topic in which you define all concepts that will be discussed in the paper. Include a brief summary of the content of the selected article according to the guidelines described above.
Analyze the key findings, illustrating the consistencies and inconsistencies.
Include a conclusion expressing your thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of the available evidence. If possible, suggest the course that future research should take if answers are less than conclusive.
The Questions in Psycholinguistics Final Paper
Must be five to six double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must use at least three peer-reviewed sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
