LAHORE UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

PSY-201
Cognition
Spring 2020

Instructor: Yasser Hashmi Office Hours: 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Tuesdays/Thursdays
Room No: 239 E Academic Block
Units: 4

Course:

This course is an introduction to Cognitive Psychology. We will start by exploring the

history and philosophical background to this subfield of psychology. We will examine
how the idea of the mind as a machine, or information-processing device, came to be.
Connectionist and symbol-processing approaches to modeling the mind will both be
introduced.

We will then look at empirical findings regarding basic components of mental

functioning, such as perception, attention and memory. With these basics, some key
high-level functions like decision-making, problem solving and reasoning will be
explored.

Essential readings are provided in the reading package, and supplementary readings will
be made available online.

Goals:

 To introduce information-processing approaches to psychology

 To provide a framework to understand the study and modeling of cognitive processes
 To investigate different processes in the human cognitive repertoire
 To study how components of human cognitive architectures interact to affect or
produce behavior

The course will provide a history and philosophy of cognitive psychology. Following this,
a framework will be provided to help students understand the basic components of
cognitive performance, and how these cognitive processes and components are
computationally simulated and experimentally studied. The last part of the course will
examine how mental components interact to produce behavior.
Course Reading:

A reading package has been prepared with essential papers and book chapters selected
from the following sources:

Goldstein, Bruce (2015). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday
Experience.

Supplementary readings (TBA) will be made available online on the course blackboard.

Lectures:

There will be 28 classes of 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes) each.

Grading:

Quizzes (5-6 unannounced quizzes; 1 quiz to be dropped) 20%

Midterm Exam 30%
Final Exam 35%
Term Paper/Assignment 15% (5% Viva – 10% Paper)

Module Lecture Topics Source

1 1 Introduction to the Study of Bruce chp 1
Introduction Cognitive Processes
and History 2 History Bruce chp 1 + TBA

Module Lecture Topics Source

2 3 Cognitive Neuroscience Bruce chp 2

Cognitive 4 Cognitive Disorders

Neuroscience Bruce chp 2 + TBA

3 5 Perception – I Bruce chp 3

Perception
6 Perception – II Bruce chp 3

4 7 Attention– I Bruce chp 4

Attention and 8 Disorders of Attention – II Bruce chp 4
Performance
 5 9 Traditional models of STM Bruce chp 5
Short Term and 10 STM and WM Bruce chp 5
Working
Memory
11 + 12 Review for Mid-Term Exam TBA
Midterm Week + Semester Break
6 13 LTM Structure Bruce chp 6
Long term 14 LTM Structure Bruce chp 6 + TBA
Memory 15 LTM Encoding and Retrieval Bruce chp 7
(4 lectures) 16 LTM Encoding and Retrieval Bruce chp 7

7 17 Memory Errors Bruce chp 8

Memory Errors 18 Memory Errors Bruce chp 8
8 19 + 20 Multiple Knowledge Structures Bruce chp 9 + TBA
Knowledge
Module Lecture Topics Source
9 21 Visual Memory Bruce chp 10
Visual Memory
Systems 22 Visual Memory Bruce chp 10

10 23 Language Bruce chp 11

Language 24 Language Bruce chp 11+
TBA
11 25 + 26 Problem Solving Bruce chp 12
Problem
Solving
12 27+28 Judgement and Decision making Bruce chp 13
Judgement and
Decision
Making

Final Exam Week + Semester Break