Psychology 3139B-001
Cognitive Science
If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.
Revised Jan 10, 2022
WESTERN UNIVERSITY
LONDON CANADA
Department of Psychology
2021 - 2022
Psychology 3139B Section 001
Cognitive Science
- CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
Cognitive Science combines psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, neuropsychology, linguistics, philosophy, and anthropology to study how people think. Students will learn about how cognitive scientists approach problems in a diverse, integrated manner to help us understand how people learn and process, for example, concepts and language.
Antirequisite: Not Applicable
Prerequisite(s): Psychology 2820E or both Psychology 2800E and Psychology 2810, and one of Psychology 2115A/B, Psychology 2134A/B, Psychology 2135A/B, Psychology 2220A/B, Psychology 2221A/B or Neuroscience 2000.
Lecture/discussion hours: 3
Course weight: 0.5
Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Marieke Mur
Office and Phone Number: WIRB 4148, 519-661-2111 x85058
Office Hours: By appointment only
Email: mmur@uwo.ca
Teaching Assistant: Nima Zargarnezhad
Office: WIRB 4th floor
Office Hours: By appointment only
Email: nzargarn@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Classes: Thursday, 3:30 – 6:30 pm, Zoom
Delivery Method: Online synchronous. If delivery moves to in-person, classes will be held in UCC-67.
Course delivery with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic
Although the intent is for this course to be delivered in-person, the changing COVID-19 landscape may necessitate some or all of the course to be delivered online, either synchronously (i.e., at the times indicated in the timetable) or asynchronously (e.g., posted on OWL for students to view at their convenience). The grading scheme will not change. Any assessments affected will be conducted online as determined by the course instructor.
When deemed necessary, tests and examinations in this course will be conducted using a remote proctoring service. By taking this course, you are consenting to the use of this software and acknowledge that you will be required to provide personal information (including some biometric data) and the session will be recorded. Completion of this course will require you to have a reliable internet connection and a device that meets the technical requirements for this service. More information about this remote proctoring service, including technical requirements, is available on Western’s Remote Proctoring website at: https://remoteproctoring.uwo.ca
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness @Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Student Accessibility Services (formerly known as Services for Students with Disabilities) at 519-661-2147.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
This course will not use a textbook. Assigned readings will be journal articles, which will be posted on the course website.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES & LEARNING OUTCOMES
The primary objective of this course is to provide students with an introduction to Cognitive Science, an exciting approach to studying how people think that combines psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, and anthropology. This course will emphasize the following three fields: neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence.
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Learning Outcome |
Learning Activity |
Assessment |
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Identify the major disciplines that make up cognitive science and their unique contribution to cognitive science.
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Lectures Readings Class discussion |
Midterm and final exams In-class participation |
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Evaluate the methodologies and interpretations of evidence in cognitive science.
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Lectures Readings Writing independent paper Class discussion |
Midterm and final exams Independent paper In-class participation |
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Apply concepts and methodologies from cognitive science to everyday problems.
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Lectures Readings Class discussion |
Midterm and final exams In-class participation |
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Develop critical thinking and writing skills that are applicable across academic and non-academic settings.
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Writing independent paper Class discussion |
Independent paper In-class participation |
5.0 EVALUATION
Students will be evaluated in the following manner:
In-class participation: 5%
Independent paper: 25%
Midterm exam: 30%
Final exam: 40%
5.1 POLICY ON MISSING COURSEWORK
Late papers will incur a penalty of 10% per day, including weekends. Please see section 6.0 for information on missing exams.
This course is exempt from the Senate requirement that students receive assessment of their work accounting for at least 15% of their final grade at least three full days before the date of the deadline for withdrawal from a course without academic penalty.
The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level to 2099-level courses
72% 2100-2999-level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows Western’s grading guidelines, which are as follows (see: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf
A+ 90-100 One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A 80-89 Superior work that is clearly above average
B 70-79 Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C 60-69 Competent work, meeting requirements
D 50-59 Fair work, minimally acceptable
F below 50 Fail
Note that in the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components.
Policy on Grade Rounding: Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered. To maximize your grade, do your best on each and every assessment within the course.
6.0 ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE
Midterm exam: Thursday, March 3, 2022
Independent paper: Friday, March 18, 2022
Final exam: TBA (April 10 - 30, 2022)
Independent paper (25%)
The goal of this assignment is to practice and improve your critical thinking and writing skills. You will select a research question in cognitive science from a small number of options and address this question using scientific literature. In writing the paper, you are required to integrate evidence across two of the following disciplines: neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence.
Midterm and final exams (30% and 40%, respectively)
The midterm and final exams will consist of multiple choice, short answer, and short essay questions. Exam questions will be based on lecture materials and course readings. The final exam is cumulative, in that it will include questions about material from across the course.
Students must work independently on exams and papers. You may take the exam only once. Evidence of working with others, sharing test items, etc., will be formally pursued as academic misconduct.
Because the final is cumulative, a make-up exam will not be offered for the midterm. A make-up will be offered for the final exam. It will take place after the originally scheduled exam and the exact time/date will be announced once the final exam schedule has been released. Please ensure that any travel plans you make during the semester allow you to complete the make-up final in the event that you need to miss the main exam time for one reason or another.
What to do if you need to miss an exam: You may opt to self-report or request that academic counselling excuse you from the midterm. Note, however, that if you decide to miss the midterm, the final exam will be worth 70% of the final course grade. Please think very carefully about whether you really must skip the midterm before you make your decision. If you miss the midterm and have an approved accommodation or self-reported absence, I will assign you a score based on your grade on the final exam questions that cover the same material as the midterm. In that case, your final exam grade will be based on the previously untested content from that exam.
To excuse yourself from the registrar-scheduled final exam session, you must seek accommodation with academic counselling by providing the course details, exam date and adequate documentation of your excuse (please do not pass excuse documentation to the course staff). If your accommodation is approved, you should contact Dr. Mur via email. Importantly, the make-up exam will consist of a new set of questions, of similar difficulty and format as the original items.
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
Updates to the schedule and course readings will be announced in class and posted to the course website.
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Date |
Topic |
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Jan 13, 2022 |
Introduction History of cognitive science Disciplines contributing to cognitive science
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Jan 20, 2022 |
Representation and computation Building models of the mind
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Jan 27, 2022 |
Perception
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Feb 3, 2022 |
Concepts and categories
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Feb 10, 2022 |
Language
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Feb 17, 2022 |
Executive function: attention
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Feb 24, 2022 |
Reading week – no class
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Mar 3, 2022 |
Midterm exam
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Mar 10, 2022 |
Executive function: working memory
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Mar 17, 2022 |
Action * Independent paper due on Mar 18, 11:59 pm
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Mar 24, 2022 |
Learning and memory
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Mar 31, 2022 |
Intelligent agents
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Apr 7, 2022 |
Conclusion
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Apr 10 - 30, 2022 |
Final exam
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8.0 Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron peoples, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum.
With this, we respect the longstanding relationships that Indigenous Nations have to this land, as they are the original caretakers. We acknowledge historical and ongoing injustices that Indigenous Peoples (e.g. First Nations, Métis and Inuit) endure in Canada, and we accept responsibility as a public institution to contribute toward revealing and correcting miseducation, as well as renewing respectful relationships with Indigenous communities through our teaching, research and community service.
9.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offences. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offences because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offence are described at the following link: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf
As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offences. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).
Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.
In classes that involve the use of a personal response system (PRS), data collected using the PRS will only be used in a manner consistent to that described in this outline. It is the instructor’s responsibility to make every effort to ensure that data remain confidential. However, students should be aware that as with all forms of electronic communication, privacy is not guaranteed. Your PRS login credentials are for your sole use only. Students attempting to use another student’s credentials to submit data through the PRS may be subject to academic misconduct proceedings.
Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
10.0 POLICY ON THE USE OF EXAM PROCTORING SOFTWARE
When examinations and tests cannot be given in person (e.g., in courses coded as Distance Studies; in the event of a lockdown order), they may be conducted using either a monitoring platform such as Zoom or a remote proctoring service, such as Proctorio. If Zoom is used for exam invigilation, you will be required to keep your camera on for the entire session, hold up your student card for identification purposes, and share your screen with the invigilator if asked to do so at any time during the exam. The exam session using Zoom will not be recorded.*
If a remote proctoring service is used, the service will require you to provide personal information (including some biometric data). The session will be recorded. The instructor will alert you to the use of this software as close as possible to the start of the term, however, in the event that in-person exams are unexpectedly canceled, you may only be given notice of the use of a proctoring service a short time in advance. More information about remote proctoring is available in the Online Proctoring Guidelines. Please ensure you are familiar with any proctoring service’s technical requirements before the exam. Additional guidance is available at the following link: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/onlineproctorguidelines.pdf
* Please note that Zoom servers are located outside Canada. If you would prefer to use only your first name or a nickname to login to Zoom, please provide this information to the instructor in advance of the test or examination. See this link for technical requirements: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us
11.0 POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR ILLNESS OR OTHER ABSENCES
Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
https://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/PolicyPages.cfm?PolicyCategoryID=1&Command=showCategory&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12
If you experience an extenuating circumstance (e.g., illness, injury) sufficiently significant to temporarily make you unable to meet academic requirements, you may request accommodation through the following routes:
- Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
- For medical absences, submitting a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner in order to be eligible for Academic Consideration;
- For non-medical absences, submitting appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in their Faculty of registration in order to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation. The self-reported absence form must be submitted before the exam/coursework deadline in order to be valid. It may NOT be used for absences longer than 48 hours; coursework/tests/exams/etc., worth more than 30% of the final grade; or exams scheduled in the December or April final-exam periods:
https://www.registrar.uwo.ca/faculty_academic_counselling.html
Students seeking academic consideration:
- are advised to consider carefully the implications of postponing tests or midterm exams or delaying handing in work;
- are encouraged to make appropriate decisions based on their specific circumstances, recognizing that minor ailments (upset stomach) or upsets (argument with a friend) are not normally an appropriate basis for a self-reported absence;
- must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hoursafter the end of the period covered by either the self-reported absence or SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence
Students seeking accommodation for religious purposes are advised to contact Academic Counselling at least three weeks prior to the religious event and as soon as possible after the start of the term.
12.0 Contingency Plan for Return to Lockdown: IN-Person & Blended classes
In the event of a COVID-19 resurgence or any other event that necessitates the course delivery moving away from face-to-face interaction, all remaining course content will be delivered entirely online, either synchronously (i.e., at the times indicated in the timetable) or asynchronously (e.g., posted on OWL for students to view at their convenience). The grading scheme will not change. Any remaining assessments will also be conducted online, as determined by the course instructor.
13.0 STATEMENTS CONCERNING ONLINE ETIQUETTE
In courses involving online interactions, the Psychology Department expects students to honour the following rules of etiquette:
- please “arrive” to class on time
- please use your computer and/or laptop if possible (as opposed to a cell phone or tablet)
- please ensure that you are in a private location to protect the confidentiality of discussions in the event that a class discussion deals with sensitive or personal material
- to minimize background noise, kindly mute your microphone for the entire class until you are invited to speak, unless directed otherwise
- In classes larger than 30 participants please turn off your video camera for the entire class unless you are invited to speak
- In classes of 30 students or fewer, where video chat procedures are being used, please be prepared to turn your video camera off at the instructor’s request if the internet connection becomes unstable
- Unless invited by your instructor, do not share your screen in the meeting
The course instructor will act as moderator for the class and will deal with any questions from participants. To participate please consider the following:
- If you wish to speak, use the “raise hand” function and wait for the instructor to acknowledge you before beginning your comment or question.
- Please remember to unmute your microphone and turn on your video camera before speaking.
- Self-identify when speaking.
- Please remember to mute your mic and turn off your video camera after speaking (unless directed otherwise).
General considerations of “netiquette”:
- Keep in mind the different cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the students in the course.
- Be courteous toward the instructor, your colleagues, and authors whose work you are discussing.
- Be respectful of the diversity of viewpoints that you will encounter in the class and in your readings. The exchange of diverse ideas and opinions is part of the scholarly environment. “Flaming” is never appropriate.
- Be professional and scholarly in all online postings. Use proper grammar and spelling. Cite the ideas of others appropriately.
Note that disruptive behaviour of any type during online classes, including inappropriate use of the chat function, is unacceptable. Students found guilty of Zoom-bombing a class or of other serious online offenses may be subject to disciplinary measures under the Code of Student Conduct.
14.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar: https://registrar.uwo.ca
Student Development Services: www.sdc.uwo.ca
Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:
https://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html
- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2021-2022 Calendar References
If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf
Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca).
Copyright Statement: Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.
Policy on the Recording of Synchronous Sessions: Some or all of the remote learning sessions for this course (if scheduled) may be recorded. The data captured during these recordings may include your image, voice recordings, chat logs and personal identifiers (name displayed on the screen). The recordings will be used for educational purposes related to this course, including evaluations. The recordings may be disclosed to other individuals participating in the course for their private or group study purposes. Please contact the instructor if you have any concerns related to session recordings. Participants in this course are not permitted to privately record the sessions, except where recording is an approved accommodation, or the student has the prior written permission of the instructor.
