PSY-2553 Cognitive Psychology and dissemination of science - 10 stp

The course provides an introduction to cognition and dissemination of science. The course should give knowledge of cognitive functions and mechanisms with particular emphasis on human basic cognitive processes and their weaknesses. This will be elaborated on implementation/replication of classic experiments, and through the oral presentation of these.

There are about 6 lectures related to the experiment/ practical exercises.

1) Attention and perception-includes illusions/distortions/attentional blindness (2-3 hours)

2) Representation and memory-includes false memory (2-3 hours)

3) Decision making, thinking, reasoning-includes cognitive biases and heuristics (2-3 hours)

4) Individual differences and gender differences in cognition (2 hours)

5) Emotion and motivation (2-3 hours)

6) Language and language's ambiguity (2-3 hours)

In addition, an introduction on how to make a poster will be given

The planning and implementation of the experiment is done in supervised small groups. Dissemination is conducted through the poster work and oral presentations on a "student conference".

When the course is completed and passed the student has received the following learning outcomes:

Skills:

• Explain the cognitive mechanisms in attention, perception, memory, decision making, thinking and language
• Explain the distortions in perception, memory and thinking and ways to test these
• Know the factors for differences in cognition between people

Skills:

• Conduct a cognitive experiment
• Create a scientific poster
• Create the outline for an oral presentation

General skills:

• Plan, conduct and present an experiment, including
• be able to explain the background of the experiment
• defend the method
• interpret the results
• present the results precisely for a wide audience
• to apply method skills (statistics) on an "own" experiment

Lectures is in English

Exam can be answered in English or Norwegian

There are approx. 6 lectures (each at approximately two to three hours) distributed on the topics presented during the course's content. In addition, seminars and supervised lab exercise in smaller groups will be given.

Feedback on the poster work will be provided.

Exam:

Letter grade (A-F)

Two part exams  Part 1: Poster. The grading scheme for the poster will be announced at course start. Up to two students can create a poster together.

Part 2: 2-hour written exam

Part 1 counts 40% and part 2 counts 60% of the overall grade.

Both exams must be passed in order for the course to be passed.

There will not be arranged a re-sit exam for this course. Everything has to be repeated.

Coursework requirements:

Work requirements are participation in the practical exercises (4 hours) including being instructor for one experiment, and oral poster presentation

The date for the exam can be changed. The final date will be announced at your faculty early in May and early in November.

The organized part of the teaching, such as lectures, laboratory work and seminars etc., are to be understood as part of the curriculum, and exam questions will be given on the basis of this.

Moreover, an article collection of approximately 240-300 pages will be provided at the start of the course.