PSY 200: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Spring 2019
MWF 11:30 am-12:20 pm
Matthews Hall, Room 210

Breaking news

• 06 May: The final exam has been graded and the grade sheet is updated with a final class grade. The final was rather hard, and rechecking the questions afterwards, I realized that seven questions were overly tricky or did not have a good unique answer. To compensate, I am adding 8 points to the final exam score for everyone that took the exam. Thus, the final exam score listed on the grade sheet is higher than the grade listed on Blackboard. Overall, the class average grade (75.0) ends up being pretty typical for this class.
• 26 April: Some attendance grades were mistakenly entered in the grade sheet. I have updated it.
• 26 April: An update to grades includes scores for Exam 4, writing assignments, CogLabs, and attendance. The estimated grade is updated accordingly. Performance was much better on the fourth exam. The only outstanding grades are a couple of attendance checks and the final exam.
• 28 March: An update to grades includes scores for Exam 3, writing assignments, CogLabs, and attendance. The estimated grade is updated accordingly. Performance was better on the third exam, but a bit below what I was expecting (given past classes).
• 21 March: The last topic in Study guide 3 should have been removed (the lectures used to discuss an fMRI experiment about mental rotation, but did not this year). I corrected the study guide so that the corresponding question is not there.
• 28 February: A few students took exam 2 late, so the grade sheet has been updated for those students.
• 26 February: An update to grades includes scores for Exam 2 and combined scores for the writing assignments. The estimated grade is updated accordingly.
• 25 February: Study guide 3, Study guide 4, and Study guide for the final are available for download.
• 19 February: Details for writing assignments 3 and 4 are now available. The files can be downloaded from the course schedule, below.
• 15 February: Details for the final exam have been announced. It is scheduled for Friday, May 3, 7:00 - 9:00 pm in Matthews Hall, Room 210 (regular class room).
• 11 February: Blackboard seems to be down, which means students cannot upload their writing assignment. Instead, you can email a copy of your assignment to the TAs.
• 06 February: An update to grades includes today's CogLab assignments, a fix to the attendance calculation, and corrects a few mistakes in the writing assignment scores.
• 06 February: Scores through the first exam are available for download. Each row lists a CogLab ID and then the various scores (percentages) for that student. The estimated grade supposes that your current score for each area (e.g., exams, writing assignments) will be the value for the end of the semester. If you do better on future exams or complete more CogLab assignments, the estimated grade will go up. Compared to previous classes, the grades are not bad, although quite a few people failed to hand in the first writing assignment and one person has not signed up for CogLab.
• 03 February: The polar vortex has messed up our lecture schedule. I think the best solution is for one of the upcoming lectures to be replaced with a vodcast recording from a previous semester. The best choice seems to be lecture 14. Here is the vodcast recording from Fall 2017. You can complete it almost any time, but definitely watch it before we have lecture 15 in class. The two CogLab assignments for lecture 14 must be completed by February 15. I made changes to the schedule below to reflect when lectures will be and CogLabs are due. The due date for writing assignment #2 is unchanged.
• 29 January: Due to very cold wind chills, Purdue has canceled classes for Wednesday, 30 January. We will take exam 1 on Friday in class.
• 29 January: Study guide 2 is available for download.
• 27 January: Details for writing assignment 2 are now available. The files can be downloaded from the course schedule, below.
• 14 January: Maria's advice on writing an argumentative essay are available.
• 07 January: Details for writing assignment 1 are now available. The files can be downloaded from the course schedule, below.

Instructor:

Name	Office	Email	Phone	Office hours
Greg Francis	PSYCH 3186	gfrancis@purdue.edu	494-6934	MWF 2:00 pm-3:00 pm

Please contact me (email is best) if you cannot visit during office hours to schedule an alternative time to meet.

Text: There is no textbook. Material for exams will be taken from the lectures. If you want to use a textbook, you can use any cognition text from other (present and past) sections of this course, or you can purchase a textbook online. Class notes will be available on the web (see below). The notes are reduced in size so that six slides fit on a single page. You can either download individual lectures (below) or you can download the entire set of lectures notes in a single file (41 MB). There are also optional readings in the schedule below. These readings may help if you are unsure about something or want to explore a topic further.

Class attendance: Your presence for the lectures is mandatory, and will be checked each class period. Over the course of the semester, each student may miss up to 6 lectures without penalty. Additional absences will proportionally reduce your class attendance score. This score contributes to 5% of your final class grade. Athletes and other special cases need to contact Dr. Francis.

Class home page: The home page for this course is http://www.psych.purdue.edu/~gfrancis/Classes/PSY200/indexS19.html From this page you can download lecture notes, view the class schedule, view current grades, and connect to the various homework laboratory and writing assignments. Blackboard is also used for some aspects of the course, as discussed below.

Vodcast recordings of lectures: BoilerCast recordings of the lectures will be available as a vodcast in Blackboard. It sometimes takes a few days for the vodcast to be uploaded. The recordings are meant to be a (poor) substitute should you miss a lecture and to provide a way to go back and check on topics that you do not fully understand. The vodcast recording system does not always properly capture the lecture, and sometimes the audio is quite poor. Your best option is to attend the lecture itself and use the vodcast as a way to refresh selected topics.

Examinations: There will be four section exams and one final exam. The section exams will be in-class and the final exam will be given during the final exam period (do not plan to leave campus early, this course's final exam is sometimes scheduled for the last day of exam week). The first two exams are each worth 10% of your class grade. The last two exams and the final are each worth 15% of your class grade. The final will cover all topics of the course. Exams will be all multiple choice questions. Extensive study guides are available as links in the class schedule below. You might also find it useful to look at old exams from Fall 2017. However, the course always changes a bit from semester to semester, and your exams will be made of different (but similar) questions. Make-up exams will not be permitted unless you notify Dr. Francis at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled exam date. Missed exams will receive a grade of 0.

CogLab: CogLab is an Internet site that allows students to participate in classic experiments related to cognitive psychology. You will be given lab assignments throughout the semester. These labs are run through the Internet and can be carried out at any computer lab on campus or at a home computer. Your overall lab grade will make up 15% of your class grade. All the labs are on the Cognitive Psychology Online Laboratory (CogLab) web page at https://coglab.cengage.com. In the schedule below, individual labs are associated with different dates. You must complete each lab by 10:00 am on the date indicated to get credit (better to do it the night before). You will receive log-in instructions in class.

Writing assignments: Four times during the semester (the precise dates are listed in the schedule below), you must submit a short (3-5 pages) report related to CogLab assignments or other topics discussed in class. The details of each assignment are provided in the linked documents in the schedule, below. Each report must be typed, single space, and follow the format indicated in the linked document. The report should be free of grammar and spelling errors, and it must address all the topics indicated in the instructions. Each report will be scored on a 10 point scale. The average report score for each student across the semester will make up 15% of your class grade. Reports must by prepared in a word processing program (Microsoft Word or something similar) and be submitted through Blackboard by the start of class on the date indicated in the schedule, below. Late submissions receive a score of 0. Plagiarism (using someone else's writing as your own) will not be tolerated. Do not simply copy and paste material from any source. For short reports like this assignment, you should not be quoting text from any source, even with proper attribution. See the Purdue Online Writing Lab for details about plagiarism. Maria's advice on writing an argumentative essay are available.

Grading: Grading is on a straight scale, as described in Lecture 1. There is no rounding or curving of grades. There is no possibility of extra credit.

Teaching Assistants:

Name	Office	Email	Office hours
Michelle Coverdale	PSYCH 3143	mcoverda@purdue.edu	Tuesday, Thursday 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Maria Kon	PSYCH 3188	mkon@purdue.edu	MWF 10:15-11:15 am

Schedule:

The links to the optional readings provide some additional background or related information. You do not need to read this material, but if you are interested in the topic, it is a place to start further exploration.