Th 9.30-12.15, M/2/628C
Professor: Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy
Lab: M/3/507
Phone: 617-287-6393
Email: zsuzsa.kaldy@umb.edu
Website: http://psych.umb.edu/faculty/kaldy/courses/psy641/
Class blog: http://psych641-2008.blogspot.com/
Office hours: W and Th 1.30-3.00 pm
Course Description:
This graduate course is designed to introduce students to human cognitive and affective processes. The broad range of topics covers areas in the field of cognitive psychology, and presents the current thinking in this discipline. Topics include: vision, attention, memory, language, emotions, social cognition and cognitive development. We will discuss some of the most recent findings with a focus on the neuroscientific and developmental aspects of these fields.
The in-class presentations are intended to prepare students to present scientific findings at conferences.
Requirements:
1. Two paper presentations (25% each):
Based on the assigned paper and some background research (min. 5 related papers), please prepare an approx. 25-30-minute-long PowerPoint presentation. Feedback on your presentation will be provided on a rating sheet. Everyone will need to pick one a paper to present from the list of readings and prepare a presentation on it. For each topic from #3 to #11, a collaborative presentation will be scheduled. These presentations will be done in pairs and the pair will choose the paper that they want to present on and share the pdf with me by Sept 25. The main criterion is: the paper has to connect the main topic to clinical research. It has to be a research paper that reports experimental results. The presenting pair will get one rating sheet.
2. Comments (20%):
After reading the assigned papers, please formulate one comment for each paper in writing. The comment can be a discussion question or a genuine comment. We will use these comments during the paper discussions. Please post your comment on this blog no later than Thursday, 9 am. (You cannot repeat the same comment that someone has already made, so it's a good idea to post your comment as soon as you can.) http://psych641-2008.blogspot.com/
3. Final paper (30%):
Min. 10-page-long paper related to the topic of one of the journal articles discussed in class (Cannot be the one that you presented!). The paper should argue for or against the theory/position put forward in the paper. You should use a minimum of 10 references. 2 weeks before submitting the paper, a draft version is due (ideally, a 1.5-2 pages long outline).
Attendance:
I expect everyone to attend class. You can miss one class during the semester without a penalty. If you miss a class because you are sick, please bring a doctor's note. If you miss more than three classes for whatever reason, you will need to write a second paper.
Class schedule
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DATE
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TOPIC
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READINGS
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PRESENTS
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Week 1
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9/4
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Introduction, overview
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|
Zsuzsa
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Week 2
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9/11
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Abbott (2006)
Raichle (1998)
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Zsuzsa
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|
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Week 3
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9/18
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Ostrovsky, Andalman, Sinha (2004)
Goodale & Westwood (2004)
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Katia, Melody
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|
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Week 4
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9/25
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Pantev et al. (1998)
Harrison, Gordon, Mount (2005)
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Kara, Catie
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|
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Week 5
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10/2
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Tversky-Kahneman (1974)
Murphy et al, 2001 |
Christian, Sarah
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|
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Week 6
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10/9
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Hauser et al. (2002)
Senghas et al. (2004) |
Michael
Susan+Leandra |
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Week 7
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10/16
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5. Emotions
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Adolphs (2008)
Porter & ten Brinke (2008)
Goldin et al (2008) |
Anya, Danielle
Sarah+Rebecca |
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Week 8
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10/23
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6. Social cognition 1. |
Preston & de Waal (2002)
Onishi & Baillargeon (2005)+ Leslie (2005)
Lieberman (2007) |
Sarah, Susan
Christian+Katia |
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Week 9
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10/30
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7.Social cognition 2.
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Haidt (2007)
Ames et al (2008) |
Rebecca
Melody+Liza |
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Week 10
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11/6
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8. Cog. development
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Wynn (1992)
Gergely et al. (2002)
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Liza, Nick
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Week 11
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11/13
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9. Aging.
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German & Hehman (2006)
Mahncke et al (2006)
Kisley et al. (2007) |
Hercilia
Kara+Anya, Nick+Michael |
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Week 12 |
11/20
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10. Neurodevelopmental disorders 1. DRAFT PAPER DUE!
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Baron-Cohen, Leslie & Frith (1985)
Katsyri et al (2008) |
Leandra
Sara+Tamim |
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Week 13
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12/4
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11. Neurodevelopmental disorders 2.
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Karmiloff-Smith et al (2003).
McClure et al (2007)
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Tamim
Catie+Zsuzsa |
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Week 14
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12/11
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Discussion of draft papers
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Abbott, A. (2006). Neuroprosthetics: in search of the sixth sense. Nature, 442(7099):125-7. [pdf]
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7099/suppinfo/nature04970.html
Raichle ME. (1998). Behind the scenes of functional brain imaging: a historical and physiological perspective. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 95(3):765-72.[pdf]
Goodale MA, Westwood DA. (2004). An evolving view of duplex vision: separate but interacting cortical pathways for perception and action. Curr Opin Neurobiol., 14(2):203-11.[pdf]
Ostrovsky, Y., Andalman, A. & Sinha, P. (2006). Vision following extended congenital blindness. Psychological Science. 17(12):1009-1014. [pdf]
2. Plasticity
Harrison, R.V., Gordon, K.A., Mount, R.J. (2005). Is there a critical period for cochlear implantation in congenitally deaf children? Analyses of hearing and speech perception performance after implantation. Dev Psychobiol. 46(3):252-61. [pdf]
Pantev C, Oostenveld R, Engelien A, Ross B, Roberts LE, Hoke M. (1998) Increased auditory cortical representation in musicians. Nature, 392(6678):811-4. [pdf]
3. Decision making
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124-1131. [pdf]
Bechara A, Damasio H, Tranel D, Damasio AR. (1997). Deciding advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275(5304):1293-5. [pdf]
Murphy FC, Rubinsztein JS, Michael A, Rogers RD, Robbins TW, Paykel ES, Sahakian BJ. (2001). Decision-making cognition in mania and depression. Psychol Med., 4, 679-93. [pdf]
Hauser MD, Chomsky N, Fitch WT. (2002). The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298(5598):1569-79. [pdf]
Senghas A, Kita S, Ozyürek A. (2004). Children creating core properties of language: evidence from an emerging sign language in Nicaragua. Science. 17;305(5691):1779-82. [pdf]
5. Emotions
Adolphs R. (2008). Fear, faces, and the human amygdala.Curr Opin Neurobiol. 18(2):166-72. [pdf] - Anya
Porter S, ten Brinke L (2008). Reading between the lies: identifying concealed and falsified emotions in universal facial expressions. Psychol Sci. 19(5):508-14.[pdf] - Danielle
Goldin PR, McRae K, Ramel W, Gross JJ. (2008). The neural bases of emotion regulation: reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion. Biol Psychiatry. 15;63(6):577-86. [pdf]
6. Social cognition 1.
Preston SD, de Waal FB. (2002). Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. Behav Brain Sci. 25(1):1-20 [pdf]
Onishi KH, Baillargeon R. (2005). Do 15-month-old infants understand false beliefs? Science, 308(5719):255-8. [pdf] + Leslie (2005) comment [pdf]
Lieberman MD. (2007). Social cognitive neuroscience: a review of core processes. Annu Rev Psychol. 58:259-89. [pdf] SELECTED PARTS ONLY
Wynn K. (1992). Addition and subtraction by human infants. Nature, 358(6389):749-50. [pdf]
Gergely G, Bekkering H, Kiraly I. (2002). Rational imitation in preverbal infants. Nature, 415(6873):755. [pdf]
9. Aging
German TP, Hehman JA. (2006). Representational and executive selection resources in 'theory of mind': evidence from compromised belief-desire reasoning in old age. Cognition. 101(1):129-52. [pdf]
Kisley MA, Wood S, Burrows CL. (2007). Looking at the sunny side of life: age-related change in an event-related potential measure of the negativity bias. Psychol Sci. 18(9):838-43. [pdf]
Mahncke HW, Connor BB, Appelman J, Ahsanuddin ON, Hardy JL, Wood RA, Joyce NM, Boniske T, Atkins SM, Merzenich MM.( 2006). Memory enhancement in healthy older adults using a brain plasticity-based training program: a randomized, controlled study. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 103(33):12523-8. [pdf]
10. Neurodevelopmental disorders 1.
Baron-Cohen S, Leslie AM, Frith U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"? Cognition, 21(1):37-46. [pdf]
Kätsyri J, Saalasti S, Tiippana K, von Wendt L, Sams M. (2008). Impaired recognition of facial emotions from low-spatial frequencies in Asperger syndrome. Neuropsychologia. 46(7):1888-97. [pdf]
11. Neurodevelopmental disorders 2.
Karmiloff-Smith A, Brown JH, Grice S, Paterson S. (2003). Dethroning the myth: cognitive dissociations and innate modularity in Williams syndrome. Dev Neuropsychol, 23(1-2):227-42. [pdf]
McClure EB, Monk CS, Nelson EE, Parrish JM, Adler A, Blair RJ, Fromm S, Charney DS, Leibenluft E, Ernst M, Pine DS. (2007). Abnormal attention modulation of fear circuit function in pediatric generalized anxiety disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 64(1):97-106. [pdf]
Class Policies: In accordance with Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, UMass Boston attempts to accommodate all students with a documented disability. Students with these needs can find appropriate services at the Lillian Semper Ross Center for Disability Services. The Ross Center for Disability Services, located on the first floor of the McCormack building, provides language interpretation, readers, testing accommodations, and counseling. If you require any of these services, contact the Center as soon as possible at (617) 287-7430.
Student Conduct: Students are required to adhere to the University Policy on Academic Standards and Cheating, to the University Statement on Plagiarism and the Documentation of Written Work, and to the Code of Student Conduct as delineated in the catalog of Undergraduate Programs, pp. 44-45, and 48-52. The Code is available online at: http://www.umb.edu/student_services/student_rights/code_conduct.html.
Incomplete Grades: Incomplete grades can only be given if a student is in good standing and is prevented from completing the course by documented circumstances that are beyond his/her control.