Psychology 331.07 Syllabus
Studies in Experimental Psychology: Cognitive Processes

ISU Dept. of Psychology

Dr. Cutting's Pages:

Teaching

Psycholinguistics Lab

Contact Information Instructor: J. Cooper Cutting Office: De Garmo 443 Phone: 438-2999 e-mail: jccutti@ilstu.edu office hours: M 9-10, Tu 11-12, & by appointment

General Course Information Where: Section 01 DeGarmo 8C When: MW 11-12:50 Mallard Page: here

Required		Optional
Solso and MacLin (2002). Experimental Psychology: A case approach, 7th edition. Allyn and Bacon.	Surprenant, Francis, and Neath (2005). CogLab: Reader. Wadsworth. CogLab website	American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4thEdition.).Washington, DC: Author. (optional).

Course Description & Objective.

This course is an individualized advanced research course focusing on the area of cognitive processes. Students are expected to have completed Research Methods in Psycholgoy (PSY 231) and a basic Statistics course (PSY 138 or 240) and thus have proficiency with the basics of experimental design and statistical analysis. It is strongly suggested that you have taken (or are currently enrolled in) at least one of the following psychology courses: learning (PSY 360), perception (PSY 361), cognitive (PSY 366), human memory (PSY 368), or psycholinguistics (PSY 369).

The main course objectives include: reviewing the literature, ethical guidelines, specification of a (testable) research idea, the development and execution of a research plan (including collecting data within the limits imposed by the class format), analysis and presentation of the results (including both a verbal and written presentation).

Roughly the first half of the course covers the "nuts and bolts" of putting together a research project. In addition to reviewing basic issues in research methodology, each student group (roughly two to three students in each group) will design a research project relating to an issue within the domain of cognitive science. Classes for this portion of the course will consist of discussions and/or exercises related to the assigned readings. So it is critical that students read the assigned chapters prior to class. Occasionally, homework maybe assigned to facilitate in-class discussions.

The second half of the course consists of conducting the research projects, analyzing the results, and presentation of the results (in an oral conference style talk and as a written APA style manuscript). Classes for this portion of the course will be largely geared to assist the groups with their research projects. This includes a large chunk of classes that have been set aside for data collection.

Course Requirements.

Each student will be evaluated based on several exercises, class participation a midterm, and the planning, execution, and presentation (both written and oral) of a research project. The grading is broken down below.
Class participation (20% of grade) - based on class attendance and active participation in discussions and an oral presentation of a research article.

Exercises (25%)

Annotated bibliography (5%) - a list of relevant references with brief summaries
Peer reviews (5%) - Research proposals will be randomly distributed to students for review.
The grades on this reflect the quality of the reviews, not the proposals being reviewed (those get a separate grade)

Experiment subject approval requests (5%) - each research project must apply for human subject approval
Project progress reports (5 of them, each 2%) - periodically each group will be required to give a progress report, both orally and written. This will serve two purposes:
1) to share the experiences and problems of the different stages of the research effort across groups
2) to ensure that the groups are not falling behind

Midterm (20%) - take home, covers the material from the textbook

Research project (35%) - one of each of these per group

Proposal (10%) - includes literature review, the design of the experiment(s) hypotheses/predictions, and the references.
Oral Presentation (10%) - A 15 to 20 min. presentation of the research project, including the results and implications. These may be done with overheads or PowerPoint (if the equipment is available).
APA style manuscript (15%) - A complete write-up of the research project using APA format.

Class Policies

Active participation is the central requirement for the class. Students will be expected to participate in a variety of ways, including several written and oral presentations and discussions. If you are going to miss a class, then you will miss an opportunity for participation. So it is critically important that you notify me AS SOON AS YOU KNOW that you'll be absent and WHY. Call, e-mail, or talk to me in person. Opportunity to make-up the missed work requires prior notification of the absence and an excused absence (that is one that you instructor accepts as reasonable and legitimate). How and when the work will be made up will be determined by the instructor.

To ensure a smooth flow of discussions, the following policies are established: Students are encouraged to listen with an open mind, respect the contributions of others, and avoid personal attacks. Students will often be faced with alternative viewpoints from the professor or their peers. Thus, students should be prepared to defend their own positions with empirical data, obtained from the assigned readings, and reasoned argument.

You are expected to do your own work. Plagiarism and cheating of any sort will not be tolerated. Either behavior will result in a grade of 'F'. Note that plagiarism includes situations where you meet with other students for group discussions and are asked write a summary. Unless otherwise instructed, this means that each participant in the group must write their own summary. Making up false excuses for absences will also be considered cheating and may result in a grade of 'F' for missed work.

And finally, if you have any questions regarding anything in the syllabus and or the course in general, please feel free to ask. Talk to me in class, via phone, or e-mail. Don't just assume that you know (or should know) the answer, I may not have been clear enough or may have forgotten to mention something.

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