Dr. Elizabeth Marvin (Professor)
Office: Meliora 322
E-mail:
- preferred mode of communication
Phone: 275-1812 [or at ESM: 274-1076]
Office Hours: Tuesday, 2-3 after class or by appointment
Undergraduate TAs (students will be divided into discussion groups, alphabetically). TA office hours to be announced. TA assignments by alphabet:
Dr. Marvin – grad students and Take 5 students
Kelly Guerrieri -
- last name A-L
Varsha Nair -
- last name M-Z
Required Textbook
Thompson, W. F. (2009). Music, Thought, and Feeling: Understanding the Psychology of Music. NY: Oxford
University Press. (Required)
Downloads require NetID and password, and are only available for students registered for the course.
If you need learning assistance, please attend office hours and speak with me or any of the teaching assistants. If you require assistance in learning to organize your time, take notes, or write the term paper, contact Learning Assistance Services in Lattimore 107 (275-9049). We are happy to assist with accommodations.
Student Learning Objectives
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:
Describe ways that study of music cognition aids our understanding of human cognition and development more generally.
Compare aspects of musical structure, as a cognitive system, with other systems such as language, visual pattern perception, auditory scene analysis, and so on.
Apply a basic understanding of theories of evolution, the physical properties of sound, principles of human development and learning, structure of the auditory system and brain, and theories of emotion, to the study of music.
Understand the design of behavioral experiments, be able to critique experimental designs for confounds, to draw conclusions from data presented in experimental studies, and to extrapolate from these data ideas for future studies.
Demonstrate this knowledge by comparing and contrasting a series of published music-cognitive experiments that test a single issue, writing a professional APA-style literature-review paper that explores their contents and findings.
Expectations
I expect a lively and fruitful exchange of ideas centered around the topics/readings assigned. One of the joys of an interdisciplinary course is the interchange of ideas from students who come from very different backgrounds. To that end, I expect you to attend class regularly and to be an active participant in our discussions. I expect courteous and professional interaction with your peers and teaching personnel during these discussions. It is essential that you keep pace with the readings to ensure fruitful discussion.
I hope to build smaller learning groups within the context of a large class. The teaching assistants will each be responsible for groups of about 20 students, interacting in an online discussion group, answering questions by e-mail, and being available for questions and meetings as needed.
In advance of each examination, students will prepare a list of terms with definitions, for an in-class review, and will brain-storm possible essay questions. Participation in the review discussion is part of the class participation grade.
I expect the highest level of academic integrity. You may discuss readings with classmates and study together for exams. However:
Examinations are to be your own work, and are closed-book, closed-notes tests.
For the research project, you will not copy abstracts or portions of any paper without proper citation and attribution. Cutting-and-pasting from any online publication into any assignment with your name on it constitutes plagiarism.
Any evidence of cheating on an exam or copying materials into a paper without attribution will be referred to the Board on Academic Honesty for investigation.
If you do not understand the principles of academic integrity, visit this website and speak with one of the instructors if you have further questions.
Academic Calendars
The River Campus and Eastman calendars differ. I have done my best to reconcile the two. The first day of class corresponds with the Eastman calendar (starts after Labor Day); the last day of class corresponds to the River Campus calendar. The third midterm conforms to the River Campus final exam schedule.
Assessing Your Learning
Three "midterm" exams (non-cumulative, 20% each): 60%
Research paper (APA-style literature review): 20%
Paper preparatory assignments: 10%
Title and list of 4 (or 8) potential articles (APA style)
Outline of topics; list of final 3 articles chosen (or 6) with a few sentences for each (summary, justify choice)
Class participation (online quizzes 8%; on-line discussion 2%): 10%
Extra credit opportunity: you may earn 1-2 points extra (on your final average) by watching 1-2 online lectures on music cognition. Lectures are provided on Blackboard or you may choose a new one, with prior approval by me. Lectures must be 50 minutes or longer; you turn in a one-page single-spaced summary.
Paper
You will write a research paper (ca. 4-5 pages of content for undergrads; 8-10 for grads) that reviews the literature on a music-cognitive topic of your choice. Articles chosen for the research review—3 articles (undergrads) or 6 articles (grads)—should be drawn from experimental studies published in professional journals. The paper will not only summarize the research, but will critique the strengths and weaknesses of publications, and hypothesize areas for future research.
The final paper will be completed in distinct stages, with grades assigned at various "check" points in the process. Because of the size of the class and the nature of individualized research, we must adhere to this schedule.
Paper upload deadlines follow (upload directly to Blackboard):
Title & article list: October 9
Outline, annotated article list: November 6
Final paper due: November 29 (no late papers without grade penalty)
Exams
Three "midterm" examinations will be given—a combination of terms (multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank) and short essays that require you to synthesize information, compare and contrast articles, etc. Examinations are non-cumulative. Exams may not be taken at any time other than that scheduled, except for documented illness, disability, or family emergency. If you are ill, you must e-mail your TA prior to the scheduled exam to arrange for a make-up exam. Make-up exams will differ from the regular exam by including fewer multiple choice and more essay questions.
September 27, November 1, December 18 (during exam week)
Class Participation
Class is part lecture, part discussion (in class and online). To optimize your learning, you will attend regularly and participate in discussions. Because not everyone is comfortable speaking in a large-class setting, we will also have online discussion groups. Postings contribute to class participation grade.
To ensure class preparation, weekly online quizzes will help you stay up-to-date with readings. These are posted Monday and are due each Thursday before class (except exam weeks and paper due-day).
Online Quizzes: September 6, 13, 20; October 4, 11, 18, 25; November 8.
Guidelines for the literature-review paper
Stage 1: Project title & article list – Due October 4
5 points: 1 for title; 2 for APA style; 2 for appropriate articles chosen.
Decide on a general area you wish to research. Then consult search engines, at UR library system → click on "articles" and type some keywords, including the word "experiment." Articles must come from scientific research journals (not books, not web). Also click "databases" and "Brain & Cognitive Sciences" and proceed with any of these links.
Try Google Scholar: → type keywords and "experiment." Don't pay for articles; go back to UR library site to download.
Find 4-8 articles that seem appropriate, and come up with a title for your project.
Stage 2: Title, outline, revised article list with 2-3 sentences describing each
(brief summary and justify your choice) – Due November 6
5 points: 2 for title and outline; 3 for articles in APA style & justification
After reading articles choose the best 3 (undergrads) or 6 (grads); identify "themes" or issues – what issues do the articles have in common? What research methods do they share? What flaws do you see? What remains to be done?
Write an outline that is organized by topic or issue, common themes that arose in the articles. Most will begin with introduction/overview of issues and end with discussion of flaws in the studies and areas that still need to be explored.
End with references list in APA style, 2-3 sentence justification for each.
Stage 3: Final paper (title page, abstract, body, references list) – Due Nov. 29
20 points: 5 for organization, intro/conclusion, clarity of writing; 10 for accurate
discussion of articles chosen; 5 for paper format, APA citations/references.
Your paper should set the articles chosen into a context. What are the primary issues in this field? How do these authors tackle the issues? Do the articles come to similar conclusions/results, or do they differ in their findings? Where do you see flaws or issues not resolved? Be sure that you are thorough in describing the studies (who are the subjects, how many, what tasks are they asked to complete, what are the findings), but don't limit your paper to article description.
APA-style citation format (don't use anything different):
Schellenberg, E.G., & Trehub, S.E. (2003). Good pitch memory is wide spread. Psychological Science, 14 (3), 262-266.
Levitin, D. J. (1999). Experimental design in psychoacoustic research. In P. Cook (Ed.), Music, cognition, and computerized sound (pp. 299-328). Cambridge: MIT Press.