Contact Information
General Course Information
Topic calendar: Section 1: Lecture: MWF 11:15-12:05; GAMB rm. 250
Topic calendar: Section 2: Lecture: MWF, 9:05-9:55; PSC rm. 208
Course Handouts

Textbook: Lieberman, D. A. (1993). Learning: Behavior and cognition. Second edition. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.

Course Prerequisites: Psych 101 or SCCC 130

Course Description & Objective. The purpose of the class is to explore various issues involving how people learn information and behaviors, and their ability to remember that information. The bulk of the class (approximately 3/4) will focus on learning. Clearly, this covers a lot of ground, so it is important that you keep up with the readings and attend the lectures. By the end of the course, we will have covered factual and theoretical explanations about classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, and information processing.

Course Requirements (grading). Your grade will be based on your performance on three exams and quizzes. While the exams are not technically cumulative, a competent understanding of previous material will be helpful in your performance on later tests. This is because material later in the course builds upon the earlier work. Each exam will count for 1/4 of your overall grade (for a total of 3/4). The format of the exams will be primarily multiple choice, however there may also be some short answer questions. Exam make-ups for excused absences will be during the time scheduled for the final exam. This is the only chance for a makeup. The makeup will consist of a longer more comprehensive version of the final exam.

The remaining 1/4 of your grade will come from quizzes. There will be approximately 10 quizzes, roughly corresponding to 1 per chapter, with weeks off when there is an exam scheduled. The quizzes will be administered at the end of classes (typically on the first class beginning the next chapter). They'll consist of a few short answers or definition types of questions. The main purpose of the quizzes is to help you keep up with the readings and lectures. The average of your top 7 quiz scores (we'll drop your lowest 3 scores) will make up the final quarter of your grade. Quizzes cannot me made up.

Some form of extra credit will be available. The details of will be dicussed on a separate handout.

Section 1 (MWF @ 11:15)

Tentative topic calendar
Why and How Learning is Studied	Lieberman, 1 & 2
Classical Conditioning: The Basics	Lieberman, 3 & 4
Classical Conditioning: Theories	Lieberman, 5
******************* Exam 1: Feb. 16 *******************
Instrumental Conditioning: The Basics	Lieberman, 6 & 7
Instrumental Conditioning: Some Applications	Lieberman, 8
**************************** SPRING BREAK- March 8 - 15 no class ****************************
Theories of Reinforcement	Lieberman, 9
********************* Exam 2: March 27 *********************
Associative Learning: Theoretical Issues	Lieberman, 10 & 11
Information Processing	Lieberman, 12
Associative Learning And Cognition	Lieberman, 13
***************************** Final Exam: Wed, April 29, 2PM *****************************

The Final Exam will be administered only on the assigned date and time. DO NOT MAKE TRAVEL PLANS (OR HAVE ANYONE ELSE MAKE TRAVEL PLANS FOR YOU) THAT INCLUDE ABSENCE FROM THIS EXAM.

Course Handouts

• Participant Pool Guidelines
  
• Additional Sources of Extra Credit
  
• Chapter 4 Handout: Contingencies
  
• Review sheet for Exam 1
  
• Review sheet for Exam 2
  
• Review sheet for Exam 3
  
• Quiz and Exam scores for section 1
  
• Quiz and Exam scores for section 2