PSY274 Human Mind and Cognition

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2012
Extent and Intensity
1/1. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Michaela Porubanová (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Michaela Porubanová
Department of Psychology – Faculty of Social Studies
Supplier department: Department of Psychology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Wed 18:00–19:40 U32
Prerequisites (in Czech)
class conducted in English
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 9 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
- to learn the basic concepts and mechanisms of human cognition - to understand the experimental evidence supporting understanding of cognition - to be able to critically evaluate research in cognition
Syllabus
  • Topics covered: The class is focused on introductory topics in psychology, more concretely on topics in cognition and mind. How do we process information, manipulate and transform into a meaningful, coherent entity? How do we retrieve information retained in our memory? What are some memory biases? How does brain relate to mind (mind-body problem)? How does brain give rise to consciousness? Those, but more questions will be answered in the class. Introduction to Cognition. Philosophical and psychological underpinnings of study of mind and human cognitive faculties (Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, gestalt); research methods in cognitive psychology. Perception and Vision. Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processing in Perception. Object recognition. Perceptual organization. Color perception. Optical illusions. Attention. Broadbent´s theory. Treisman´s theory. Selective attention. Divided attention. Stroop´s attention. Automatic processing. Inattentional blindness. Memory. Short-term memory vs Long term memory. Working memory. Eye witness testimony. Theories of forgetting. Theories of recall. Consciousness. Theories of consciousness. Current approches to understanding consciousness (Chalmers, Noe, Ramachandran, Logothesis etc.). Consciousness versus attention. Language. Language production vs. language comprehrension. Speech perception and reading. Thinking and Reasoning. Theoretical approaches to reasoning. Deductive vs inductive reasoning. Theories of emotional processing. Judgment and Decision Making. Theories of decision making. Representativeness heuristic. Availability heuristics. Support theory. Cognition and emotion. Emotions and their influence on cognitive processing. Emotions versus memory. Emotion, attention and perception. Free will. Perspective from philosophy of mind.
Literature
  • literature provided in the class (based on the textbook of Eysenck & Keane, Cognitive Psychology).
Teaching methods
lecture, seminar, class discussion, 1 individual class project, 2 quizzes, 1 final exam
Assessment methods
1 individual class project, 1 essay, 2 quizzes, 1 final exam
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Information on course enrolment limitations: international students only, if the capacity is not reached, domestic students can register
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2012/PSY274