Cognitive Psychology: Exploring the Mind

Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes. It is about how we pay attention to information around us and perceive the world, how we mentally represent concepts, how we remember and forget things, and how we understand and use language to communicate our thoughts. Mental processes are, however, intangible and difficult to measure directly so cognitive psychologists have developed experimental methods to study these mental processes indirectly by measuring response latency and response accuracy. This course provides a basic introduction to several important areas in cognitive psychology. There is a strong emphasis on linking cognitive theories and findings to everyday life. For example, consider how you have no trouble singing a song you learned when you were a child yet you can’t remember the name of the person you were introduced to 5 minutes ago? What about the fact that yuo dno’t hvae ayn porbelm raedign tihs evne thghou teh wrods aer qiuet jmulbed up? There will be opportunities to gain first-hand experience in experimental psychology using cognitive test kits and web-based demonstrations of classic experiments using Coglab (online cognition lab https://coglab.cengage.com/). The course also provides opportunities to collect data through experiments, interpret the statistical test results, and write up formal experimental reports. These different methods of empirical scientific research help us to better understand important concepts in cognitive psychology and uncover the myths of the human mind.

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