Cognition course calendar

General Overview

Through the course of the semester, we are going to examine the entire information processing stream, from the point at which you begin to perceive the presence of information until you make decisions about how to act on that information. As such, we are going to take a bottom-up approach to understanding the human cognitive system.
This calendar is tentative. I reserve the right to modify it at any time.
DateTopicReading
Feb. 1 Introduction: The Information Processing Hypothesis
Feb. 3 Methodologies in Cognitive Science Sternberg: Chapter 1
Feb. 6-10 Cognitive Neuroscience Sternberg: Chapter 2
Reaction Paper 1: Newsome & Pare (1988)
Note that you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read this paper
Feb. 13-17 Sensation & Perception Sternberg: Chapter 4

Homework 1 due Feb. 17
Feb. 20-24 Attention Sternberg: Chapter 3
Feb. 27-Mar. 3 Working Memory Sternberg: Chapters 5 & 6

Mar. 6-10 Semantic Memory Representation Sternberg: Chapters 7

Homework 2 due Mar. 10
Mar. 13-17

Spring Break
Mar. 20-22 Semantic Memory Structure Sternberg: Chapters 8

March 24

Midterm Exam!!

Mar. 27-Apr. 3 Language Sternberg: Chapters 9 & 10

Apr. 5-12 Problem Solving Sternberg: Chapter 11

Homework 3 due April 10

Reaction Paper 3: Kotovsky & Simon (1990): "Why Are Some Problems Really Hard?"
Apr. 14 & 17 No class - Easter break
Apr. 19-26 Reasoning and Decision making Sternberg: Chapter 12
Apr. 28 Human Intelligence Sternberg: Chapter 14, pp.483-510
May 1-12 Cognitive Modeling And Artificial Intelligence Sternberg: Chapter 14, pp.511-521

Homework 4 due May 10

May 17

Final Exam!!

1:30-3:30pm