Robert Jacobs (Instructor)
Office: Meliora 416
Phone: 585-275-0753
E-mail:
Adam Danz (TA)
Office: Meliora 246
Phone: 585-273-3522
Email:
David Kleinschmidt (TA)
Office: Meliora 421
Phone: 585-275-6281
Email:
Reading Materials and Assignments
All readings may be accessed via Blackboard. You must be enrolled in the course
to view the readings.
Aslin, R. N. & Newport, E. L. (2012). Statistical learning: From acquiring specific items to forming general rules. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 170-176.
Behrmann, M. & Avidan, G. (2005). Congenital prosopagnosia: Face-blind from birth. Trends in
Cognitive Science, 9, 180-187.
Boroditsky, L. (2010). Lost in translation: Do the languages we speak shape the way we think?
[Article from The Wall Street Journal (July 24, 2010)]
Busey, T. A. & Loftus, G. R. (2007). Cognitive science and the law. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 11, 111-117.
Dawson, M. R. W. (1998). Understanding Cognitive Science. Malden, MA: Blackwell
Publishers. [pp. 243-270]
Dennett, D. C. (1998). Brainchildren: Essays on Designing Minds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
[Chapter 1 titled "Can Machines Think?"]
Ernst, M. O. & Bülthoff, H. H. (2004). Merging the senses into a robust percept. Trends in
Cognitive Sciences, 8, 162-169.
Gardner, H. (2011). The theory of multiple intelligences: In a nutshell. In D. J. Levitin (Ed.),
Foundations of Cognitive Psychology: Core Readings. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Gleitman, L. R. & Newport, E. L. (1995). The invention of language by children: Environmental and biological influences on the acquisition of language. In L. R. Gleitman & M. Liberman (Eds.), An Invitation to Cognitive Science: Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Green, C. S. & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video games modify visual selective attention. Nature,
423, 534-537.
Hayhoe, M. & Ballard, D. (2005). Eye movements in natural behavior. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 9, 188-194.
Holt, L. L. & Lotto, A. J. (2008). Speech perception within an auditory cognitive science
framework. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 42-46.
Medin, D. L. (1989). Concepts and conceptual structure. American Psychologist, 44, 1469-1481.
Neisser, U. (1997). Rising scores on intelligence tests. American Scientist, 85, 440-447.
Pinker, S. (1994). The Language Instinct. New York: William Morrow. [pp. 83-103]
Pinker, S. (1997). How the Mind Works. New York: W. W. Norton. [pp. 3-21 & Chapter 4]
Roediger III, H. L. & McDermott, K. B. (2000). Tricks of memory. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 9, 123-127.
Tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science,
185, 1124-1131.
Wolfe, J. M. (2003). Moving towards solutions to some enduring controversies in visual search.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 70-76.
Laurie Santos: A Monkey Economy as Irrational as Ours
Exams
There are three "midterm" exams (Exams I, II, and III). These exams are not cumulative. Exam I covers the materials from classes 1-7; Exam II covers the materials from classes 9-17; Exam III covers the materials from classes 19-26.
There is a final exam (Exam IV). It covers all the materials in the course. The final exam is scheduled for Friday, May 10 at 7:15pm.
Each exam will consist of 40-50 multiple-choice questions. Answers to questions must be written on "scantron" answer sheets using a #2 pencil. Remember to bring #2 pencils to each exam.
Exams may only be missed in the event of an emergency. If you are unable to take an exam at the scheduled time for a legitimate reason, and you know in advance, contact the instructor. You will need to present appropriate documentation supporting your reason for missing the exam. If you miss an exam due to an unexpected illness or emergency, contact the instructor as soon as possible. Again, you will need to present appropriate documentation.
Recitation Sections
Recitation sections will occur (nearly) every week of the semester (times and locations to be announced). Attendance is strongly recommended.
Office Hours
The instructor will stay an extra 5-10 minutes at the end of each class to answer questions.
The teaching assistants will have regularly scheduled office hours (times and locations to be announced).
The instructor will have regularly scheduled office hours (time and location to be announced).
Grading Policy
The final course grade is based on relative performance; that is, a student's exam scores can only be interpreted relative to other students' scores.
Each exam counts for 25% of a student's final course grade.
Each student's exam answers must come solely from that student. The use of books, notes, etc. during an exam is not permitted. Cases of suspected cheating will not be evaluated directly by the instructor, but will be referred to the College Board on Academic Honesty.