UMGC PSYC341 Complete Course Latest 2022 January (Full)

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 1 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

Visit http://psych.hanover.edu/research/exponnet.html and try one of the experiments.  Discuss the nature of the experiment and your impression of the study (e.g., what is your interest level in finding out the outcome of the study, is it a good study question, are the questions valid in your opinion, etc.).

Option 2

Discuss some ways in which psychology is being applied to the general public and everyday problems (go beyond therapy in your answer).

 

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 2 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

Human beings are amazing visual processors. The way we can distinguish between essential and nonessential elements of the environment is quite astounding if you reflect on it. In particular, human beings are extremely adept at recognizing familiar faces. When you realize that faces are not comprised of too many elements (nose, mouth, shape of face, etc.), you begin to realize the complexity of this ability and cease to take for granted the ease with which most people make facial distinctions.

How good are you at recognizing faces? How important is context in that recognition? Can you describe a time you "knew" a face but could not place it? Are some people better at recognizing faces than others? Where do you fall on this spectrum?

Option 2

You read about bottom-up and top-down perceptual processing this week. Define each of these, and provide an example of each that has occurred (or could occur) in your life. Which of these processes do you feel you use more? Why?

 

 

 

 

 

 

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 3 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

You read about long-term memory this week. A fascinating aspect of long-term memory is the topic of false memories.  A false memory is "remembering" something that did not happen, or remembering it differently than it actually happened. This is not a disorder—it happens to every person, constantly! (I bring it up here is because your text does not address it. We just moved to a new textbook in this class, and in the many years I have taught PSY 341, the majority of students have said that false memory was their favorite topic in the class, and many students chose to write their papers on it. As such, I want to share it with you!)

For this discussion, read a little about false memory on the web (e.g., https://www.healthline.com/health/false-memory#why-we-have-them or https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-false-memory-2795193). Can you think of an example wherein you had a false memory? Why do you think you created that false memory (was it due to post-event information? Misattribution? Emotions? etc.)? Can you think of a friend of family member who has experienced a false memory?

Option 2

Several Web sites contain strategies for improving memory.  These strategies all rely on elaborative encoding techniques.  Conduct a search on the Web to identify some of these sites.  Discuss some of the memory enhancing techniques that the sites suggest.  Do you think the technique you described would be effective?

 

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 4 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

Create a decision tree for two activities you could do this weekend (as shown on p. 337-338 of the textbook). Include two actions, several possible events that would affect the value of the decision, probability of outcomes, and utility of outcomes. Which action would you choose to do? Which action does the analysis suggest that you should choose? Are they the same, and if not, why do you think they differ?

Option 2

Heuristics are cognitive "rules of thumb" that are used to simplify the process of judgement. You read about several types of heuristics in Chapter 11. Define and describe at least three of these heuristics, and give an example of how you have experienced each one in your own life. (Here is an interesting and more complete resource, in addition to the information in your readings--https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/).

Option 3

Are dual-process accounts (discussed in the Evans PDF reading) plausible? Can you think of many examples in everyday life where intuitions (Type 1 reasoning) might come into conflict with reflective (Type 2) reasoning?

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 5 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

Discuss Erikson's identity development in adolescence as well as Marcia's categorization of the four statuses of identity. Which status do you feel that you are in? How did it occur? Can you think of a friend or family member who is in a different status? How did the person develop that status, in your opinion?

Option 2

Think of 3-5 different categories (e.g., dog, furniture, emotion, etc.). Provide a definition for each category. What are the properties for each that you think are important for category membership? Are each of the properties necessary for category membership (i.e., must every member of the category possess this property?)? Are each of the properties sufficient for category membership (i.e., must anything that possesses these properties necessarily be a member of the category)? Was this assignment difficult or easy to do? Why?

 

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 6 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

You read about dementia this week. Look up how memory loss associated with Alzheimer's may be reversible (i.e., https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-info-monkey/201609/memory-loss-associated-alzheimers-may-be-reversible; http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/alzeimers-memory-loss-symptoms-reversed-dementia-disease-patients-recover-mit-study-a7884041.html;

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-info-monkey/201609/memory-loss-associated-alzheimers-may-be-reversible).  What do you think about the research in this field?  Does it look promising?  Where should it go from here?  Are there any cons associated with this research and line of inquiry?  (You need not use the links above—feel free to find other research.)

 Option 2

Think of a book or a movie that has had a character with one of the disorders you read about in the text this week (Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, aphasia, schizophrenia, depression, traumatic brain injury, OCD, hoarding, conversion disorder, etc.). Briefly describe the book or movie, and discuss the symptoms of the character who has the disorder. What the characterization of the disorder accurate? How so? Were there inaccuracies? What were they? What did you think of the portrayal of the disorder?

Option 3

Provide a fictitious account of a brain injury. Describe what happened (e.g., car crash) and the symptoms that the person is experiencing (e.g., loss of balance, personality changes, etc.). Go into enough detail that your classmates can guess what brain area was damaged (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, brain stem/cerebellum). Do NOT state in your initial post what area was damaged—you can reveal it in your interactions with classmates after they have read your initial post.

 

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 7 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

Give three examples of when you have seen (or experienced) the self-serving attributional bias, in yourself or others. Do you think that this bias was beneficial in each case? Maladaptive?

Option 2

Think about one time that you have recently experienced an emotion. Describe the situation, and list three or more aspects that characterize this situation as being emotional. Did the emotion help the situation, or hurt it? Was the emotion useful, or was it a hindrance?

Option 3

How do you think you could use mood-congruent memory (MCM) or mood-dependent memory (MDM) to improve memory in your own life (in school, in your job, with your family, etc.)?

Option 4

Can you think of a time when you paid attention to negative cues in your environment because of a fear you have (e.g., if you are afraid of stink bugs, you will notice them before anyone else)? Describe the situation. Would you say that it was intentional, or that your attention was on "autopilot" without your conscious awareness? If you have not experienced this, have you ever noticed another bias toward features in your environment that is not negative (e.g., you really like blue eyes and notice eye color immediately when introduced to new people)?

Option 5

You read about three different theories of emotion this week (James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schacter-Singer). Briefly describe each one, and then opine as to the one you feel resonates best with your thoughts and experience.

 

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Week 8 Discussion

Choose one of the topics below to use for this discussion.  Please make sure your initial post is 2-3 paragraphs in length.  Feel free to use supporting documentation (other resources) as well.

Option 1

When are you most conscious—while you are calm, angry, happy, or moved; while absorbed in a movie, video game, or athletic activity; while engaged in a spirited conversation, making decisions, meditating, reflecting, trying to solve a difficult problem, daydreaming, or feeling creative? How do these considerations shed light on what consciousness is? Relate your observations to your readings about consciousness this week.

Option 2

How has this semester been for you?   What do you think it has been most valuable to learn?  What topic(s) did you find most interesting?  How can the concepts and topics in this class be applied to your work and personal life?

 

PSYC341 Memory and Cognition

Research Paper

Instructions

The project for this course is a written paper that reviews, in depth, a topic in cognition and memory. You may choose your own topic but it must be related to cognitive psychology.  Examples of appropriate topics include false memories, attention span, problem-solving, and decision-making.

Your paper should summarize fundamental issues, questions, and controversies and present current research on the topic. To accomplish this, you will have to use a minimum of five recent research articles (published within the past five years) to illustrate relevant points. You may use any of a number of electronic databases to find research articles that deal with your topic, including the library and the Internet. The one requirement for your selected research articles is that they must have appeared in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. (You may wish to consult the library staff or your instructor to determine whether a particular journal is peer-reviewed.) You may not use the course text or newspaper or magazine articles as one of your five references, but they are sometimes useful when they lead you to an appropriate research article. Avoid simply repeating the articles in summary form; use them within the text of your paper to illustrate important points.   This paper should focus on current research, as opposed to background information that could be found in a textbook.

Your paper is to be seven to ten pages, or about 1,800 words, in length, excluding title page and reference page. It must be typed, double spaced, with one-inch margins, and fully referenced in the format specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (see http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx). Check the Course Schedule in this syllabus for the due date.

The text of your paper should be preceded by an abstract (about 100 words) that summarizes the key points in the paper (i.e., a statement of the problem, major findings, and conclusions).

The paper will be graded on content, organization, and writing mechanics and style. The following rubric will be used to assign points associated with each main topic.