Aubyn Fulton, Ph.D.

PSYCHOLOGY OF

LEARNING & COGNITION

Winter, 2000



 

 

PSYCHOLOGY OF

LEARNING & COGNITION

Winter, 2000

 

Instructor:         Aubyn Fulton

Phone:              Office ‑ 6536; Home ‑ 2991

EMAIL:           afulton@puc.edu

Home Page:      www.puc.edu/Faculty/Aubyn_Fulton/fulton/courses

Office Hours:    As posted (or see www.puc.edu/Faculty/Aubyn_Fulton/fulton/sched.htm)

Class Time:       9:00 ‑ 9:50, MWF     LAB Time: 2:00 ‑ 4:50, TH

Credit Hours:    4.0

 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Schwartz, B. & Robbins, S. Psychology of Learning & Behavior. New York: Norton, 1995. (S&R)

            Schacter, D. Searching For Memory. New York: Basic Books, 1996. (S)

            Skinner, B.F. Walden Two. New York: Macmillan, 1976.

 

RECOMMENDED TEXT

Publication Manual of the APA. 4th ed. Washington D.C.: APA, 1994.

 

GENERAL COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the quarter, the student will:

  1. Demonstrate understanding of traditional and current theories of learning & memory.

2.      Demonstrate knowledge of research related to animal and human learning, cognition.

3.      Demonstrate the ability to design, execute and report an experiment in the field of learning or memory.

4.      Demonstrate an understanding of the broader philosophical and social implications of learning theories and cognitive metaphors.

 

EVALUATION:

EXAMINATIONS: Two exams will be given as noted in the schedule covering assigned reading from the text, lectures and class discussions. The second exam will be given during finals week, and will be a comprehensive test covering all assigned materials. Unless arrangements are made with the instructor IN ADVANCE, midterms that are missed and taken late will be penalized 10% penalty per day taken late. Any arrangement for taking the Final exam at a later or earlier date must be made through the Academic Dean’s office, well in advance.

 

RESEARCH PROJECT: Each student will participate in the design, execution and write‑up of a group research project, following guidelines to be passed‑out in class. Each student will turn in each section of the paper, as noted in the class schedule. Each student will submit a formal APA‑style paper describing this project at 9:00 am on Monday, March 13. Each group will be responsible for an oral/visual presentation of their project on Thursday, March 16, at 5:00 (Please make arrangements to avoid schedule conflicts now).

 

BOOK REVIEW: Students will read B.F. Skinner's classic novel Walden Two. A five page, typed, critical book review will be due at the START of class Thursday, February 17. This review will identify and summarize Skinner's key arguments (NOT THE PLOT), and, most importantly, evaluate these arguments and their implications. Students are expected to take a clear position in reference to Skinner's book, and defend their position with empirical, rational or practical arguments. Papers containing more than 25% summary will be heavily penalized. Papers will also be graded on clarity and quality of writing style (including spelling, punctuation and sentence structure). Late papers will be penalized 10% for every day late. While students may consult secondary sources if they like, their papers must be their own work. The minimum penalty for papers that appear to be based to a significant extent on secondary sources (e.g. “Cliff’s Notes”, internet pages or paper-writing services) will be zero credit.

 

PARTICIPATION: Students are expected to keep current with the assigned reading. Each class period students will be chosen at random to respond to discussion questions provided by the instructor on the assigned texts. Students who are consistently unable to respond meaningfully can expect to have their final grade lowered by one half a letter grade.

 

ATTENDANCE: Prompt attendance at all class sessions is expected and required. Attendance will be taken at 9:00. Students who arrive after attendance is taken may, at their request, be marked tardy. Two tardies will be considered the equivalent of one absence. As circumstances may arise which make attendance impossible, four absences or less will not adversely effect grades. Students missing more than four class sessions can expect to have their final grade reduced.

 

GRADING:

Grades are based on the percentage of the top score, and are assigned at the discretion of the instructor. However, any student reaching one of the following percentages will be guaranteed the corresponding grade:

 

95% of the top score = A‑

85% of the top score = B‑

70% of the top score = C‑

60% of the top score = D‑

 

Approximate weighing of evaluation categories is as follows:

Midterm Examination:               60 points

Final Examination:                     85 points

Book Review:                           20 points

Research Reports:                    20 points

Group Oral Report:                  20 points

Abstract & Paper:                    25 points

TOTAL:                                 230 points

 

Tentative Course Schedule

 

WEEK 1

1/10 Mon         Housekeeping & Introduction

1/12 Wed         S&R 1 Science & Behavior Theory

1/13 Thu          LAB #1: APA Style & Research Projects

S&R 2 Habituation

1/14 Fri            S&R 3 Pavlovian Conditioning: Basic Phenomena

 

WEEK 2

1/17 Mon         NO CLASS!!! MLK'S BIRTHDAY

1/19 Wed         S&R 4 Pavlovian Conditioning: Causal Factors

1/20 Thu          LAB #2: Emotional Stroop Effect (Read: articles on reserve in the library)
                Review Literature, Identify a hypothesis, Outline methodology                       

1/21 Fri            S&R 5 Pavlovian Conditioning: Explanations

 

WEEK 3

1/24 Mon         S&R 6 Pavlovian Conditioning: Storage & Response Output

1/26 Wed        S&R 7 Operant Conditioning: Basic Phenomena

1/27 Thu          LAB #3: False Memory (Read: articles on reserve in the library)

                                        Review Literature, Identify a hypothesis, Outline methodology           

1/28 Fri            S&R 8  Operant Conditioning: Causal Factors & Explanations

 

WEEK 4

1/31 Mon         S&R 9    Aversive Control of Behavior: Punishment & Avoidance

2/2 Wed           S&R 10  The Maintenance of Behavior

2/3 Thu            LAB #4: The Misinformation Effect: Implantation vs. Modification (Read: reserve articles) Review Literature, Identify a hypothesis, Outline methodology

2/4 Fri              S&R 10  The Maintenance of Behavior

 

WEEK 5

2/7 Mon           S&R 11: Stimulus Control of Operant Behavior

                        DUE:   Introduction & Method Sections

2/9 Wed           S&R 11: Stimulus Control of Operant Behavior

2/10 Thu          MIDTERM EXAM #1: S&R 1‑11, lectures & class discussion

2/11 Fri            NO CLASS MID‑QUARTER VACATION

 

WEEK 6

2/14 Mon         S1: On Remembering

2/16 Wed         S1: Tip-of-the-Tongue (article on reserve)

2/17 Thu          WALDEN TWO Discussion

                        Walden Two Book Review DUE

                        Film Segment: Total Recall

2/18 Fri            S2: Building Memories

WEEK 7

2/21 Mon         S2: State-Dependent Memory (article on reserve)

2/23 Wed         S3: Of Time & Autobiography

2/24 Thu          LAB #6: DATA ANALYSIS (Lab may go till 6:00 PM Today)

2/25 Fri            S3: Of Time & Autobiography

 

WEEK 8

2/28 Mon         S4: Reflections in a Curved Mirror

3/1   Wed        S4: Reflections in a Curved Mirror

3/2 Thu            S5: Amnesia & the Brain

3/3 Fri              S6: Implicit Memory

 

WEEK 9

3/6 Mon           S6: Implicit Memory

DUE: Results & Discussion

3/8 Wed           S7: Emotional Memories

3/9 Thu            LAB #7: Oral Prep (Power point Presentations)  

DUE: First Draft of Power point Slides (one set per group)                         

3/10 Fri            S7: Emotional Memories

 

WEEK 10

3/13   Mon       S8: Psychogenic Amnesia

DUE: FINAL DRAFT

3/15 Wed         S8: Psychogenic Amnesia

3/16 Thu          S9: Memory Wars                    

                        Oral Presentation Review (Symposium at 5:00 TODAY)  

3/17 Fri            S9: Memory Wars                    

 

WEEK 11

3/22 WED       FINAL EXAM: Comprehensive, emphasis on S1-9 and assigned articles,

9:00 – 11:45

                       

 

 

 

Psychology of Learning

RESEARCH PROJECT

Winter, 2000

Aubyn Fulton

 

Working in teams of three or four, each student will fully participate in the planning, execution, analysis, write‑up and presentation of an empirical research project in the area of human learning or memory. By "full participation" I mean that each student will participate in each phase of the project; teams are NOT to divide the labor such that one student collects data, another analyzes it and another writes it up. Students may divide up the labor at each phase, as long as all team members are fully involved in each phase.

 

Each student will turn in their own copy of the Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion sections, as noted below and in the class schedule. While students may consult with group members, it is expected that the drafts submitted by each student will reflect their own work. Students who turn in drafts that are essentially copies of another group member’s work can expect to be given a zero for the assignment. Each group will be responsible for one 15‑minute oral presentation of their project, in which all group members must participate equally. Students will also turn in an individually produced APA‑style Abstract summarizing their project.

 

The schedule for the various phases of the project, and points allocated to each phase, will be as follows:

 

1. Introduction & Method DUE: Monday, 2/7  (10 points)

Introduction: Two to three pages clearly stating the purpose of your research project, why it is important or interesting, and summarizing ALL of the relevant literature. You cannot do an adequate job on this section without first identifying and then *reading* at least four or five complete journal articles in your area. A trip to the library at UC Berkeley may be required. You should conclude with a clear statement of your hypotheses, and definition of your independent and dependent variables.

 

Method: Two to three pages clearly describing how your data is to be collected (write it in the past tense). Include subsections on Participants, Apparatus and Procedure. All measures should be briefly described, including their form, psychometric qualities, and source where they can be located. If you are constructing your own measures, be sure to describe process and give examples. Include a copy of all measures in an attached appendix. Procedure section must be detailed.

 

Make sure there is a Title page, a title at the beginning of the Introduction, and a References sections at the end (all in APA‑Style of course). Be prepared to run subjects by Monday 2/7 (this means have all necessary measures/apparatus ready).

 

3. Data Collection & File: DUE: Thursday, 2/24 (5 point penalty if not ready)

All data MUST be collected (and all data entered in an SPSS data file) by Wednesday, 2/23. Each group must consult with the instructor about their data codebook prior to entering their data. Bring to Lab on Thursday, 2/24 a copy of your SPSS for windows data file saved to a 3 2" floppy disk (one for each group ‑ VIRUS FREE, PLEASE). This lab often runs long, as we will stay until the data for all groups is analyzed. Make arrangements to stay until 6:00 PM if necessary. It is each student=s responsibility to understand their data analysis, and to be ready to prepare relevant tables and graphs, by the end of this lab.

 

4. Results & Discussion: DUE: Monday, 3/6 (10 points)

Results: Two to three page summary of the most important findings. The focus here is on the actual numbers ‑ do not address the meaning of the numbers here for your hypothesis (you will do this in your discussion section). Begin with descriptive data (Gender and other relevant demographic data on your sample, total sample scores on relevant variables), and then review data that bears on each hypothesis, (whether the findings were significant or not); then review any other findings that do not directly bear upon your hypotheses, but are potentially interesting. Include actual numbers (correlation or mean scores, then statistical tests and significance levels) following APA style. If you have lots of correlations or mean differences to report, summarize them in a table. Provide a separate graph to illustrate each of your most important findings (which will be used in your oral report).

 

Discussion: Two to three pages explaining the significance of your findings for your hypotheses, and underlying theory. Do not cite the actual numbers (you did that in your Results section). After explaining the results that bear on your hypotheses, explain the significance of any other interesting findings. Show how your findings support or contradict previous findings, and provide some theoretical explanation. What new questions do your data raise? This is also the place for you to identify any methodological mistakes you believe you made, and explain how you would fix them if you did it again (if you do this yourself I will not penalize you as much for making them).

 

Include a Title Page at the beginning and a References Section at the end (including references from Introduction and Method Sections) and tables, figure captions, figures and appendices.

 

5. Abstract and Final Draft of Paper: Monday, 3/13 (25 points)

A 150 word (not one word longer) Abstract that follows APA‑style requirements in every respect. This is much harder to do well than it seems, and requires several drafts. With your first draft focus on summarizing each section of your paper as well as possible. With subsequent drafts focus on distilling the most important features of each section in order to reach size limits.

 

Include your Abstract within a Final Draft of your paper. You may re‑write each of the previous sections in light of feedback from the instructor. The Final Draft should include the following, each of which conforms to APA Style requirements:

   *     Cover Page: 2 points

   *     Abstract:  10 points

   *     Text of Paper (Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion) : 2 points each

   *     References: 2 points

   *     Appendices: (1 point subtracted if needed and not present)

   *     Tables: 1 point

   *     Figure Captions: 1 point

   *     Figures: 1 point

 

6. Oral Presentations: Thursday, March 16, 6:00 ‑ 7:30 PM (20 points)

Each team will have 15 minutes to summarize research project to the class. All team members must participate. Each team member should be prepared to answer any question about any phase of the project, from class members and the instructor. NOTE: These oral presentations will be made to a fairly large audience of students from the General Psychology course. All student presenters must be dressed professionally (e.g. men in ties and sports jackets or suits, women in corresponding attire). Presentations will be judged in part in terms of how clear, understandable, organized, and "professional" they are. Presentations should be rehearsed fully.

 

Adequate Oral Presentations will include Power point‑type slides summarizing key aspects of Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion sections. Introduction Slides should include brief and easily understood explanations of key theories, and variables (dependent and independent) and a clear statement of all hypotheses. Results section should include a separate slide showing a graph illustrating each key finding.

 

In addition to slides, Presenters should prepare a handout (for class members and instructor only) summarizing key elements from the paper, especially key theories, variables, hypotheses, sample description, summary of procedure, key findings and their implications. Your classmates will be tested on this information on the Final Examination, so be sure to make your presentation clear and easy to understand

 

All written work must conform to APA style. The manual is available for purchase from the Bookstore, or APA. A copy is available for review in the department. (Note: It is recommended that psychology majors have their own copy of the APA style manual). Everything must be a typed, double-spaced, with 1” margin all around. Use a basic font (courier, universal, or CG times) with size of 12 point. Do not use bold, shading or other "fancy" type.

 

Each group is responsible for obtaining their research subjects. Students in General Psychology will be available for this purpose, but will not be sufficient for all needs. Students in other introductory Behavioral Science Department courses may be available, at the discretion of each instructor. Each group should contact the instructor of any class they want to recruit subjects in well in advance. Each group is also responsible for preparing and obtaining appropriate informed consent from each participant.