2021FA - COGNITION 01:830:305:01
Course: Cognition (Psychology 305:01, Index number 0103738)
Canvas link (this page): https://rutgers.instructure.com/courses/135328
Professor: Jacob Feldman (email, website) and possibly guest lecturers.
Office hours: By Zoom, Mondays 3pm-4pm (Link in Module 0).
Teaching Assistant: Wanyi Liu.
Office hours: By Zoom, Thursdays 1pm-2pm (Link TBA).
Class time and place: Mondays and Thursdays, 11:00am—12:20pm, via Zoom.
- Zoom details (link, password) are available in Module 0. They aren't posted here for security reasons.
- To get started with Zoom at Rutgers, go to https://it.rutgers.edu/zoom/
- The first Zoom meeting of the course will be on Thursday Sept. 2 at 11:00am. See you there!
Readings: There is no textbook for this course. Readings are posted in Modules. Note that additional readings may be assigned over the course of the semester, so please be sure to check Modules a week before each topic starts.
Exams and grading
- (35% of grade) On-line quizzes: Canvas quizzes will be given weekly.
Quizzes are 45 minutes long, and will be available on-line Fridays 7am - 9pm. (See rules below.) - (25% of grade) Midterm: Monday Oct. 18, during the scheduled class time. Details and format will be discussed in class.
- (10% of grade) Written assignments: There will be two brief papers, each worth 5% of your grade. Details and deadlines will be discussed in class.
- (25% of grade) Final exam: Thursday, Dec. 16, 8am
- (5% of grade): Professor's fudge factor.
Policies
Slides and lecture video recording will be posted after each class. The slides (PDF) can be found in the appropriate Module, and the lecture recordings in Media Gallery [Update: due to temporary technical problems, some lectures may be uploaded in other ways; see Announcements]. Note that the slides are often incomprehensible if haven't seen the lecture that goes with them. Attending the Zoom lectures is essential to doing well in this course!
“Graduation insurance.” If this is your last semester and you need to pass this course in order to graduate on time, email me before the midterm. If you don’t ask before the midterm, “graduation insurance” will not be offered.
Final grades are final. Once grades are assigned after the final exam, grade changes will not be considered. Don’t even ask. If you are having trouble with the material before that, email me or come to office hours.
Academic integrity. Cheating and other violations of academic integrity will not be tolerated in this course. The university’s policy on academic integrity can be found here.
COVID slack. These are trying times. Remote education poses challenges for all of us. Please be patient as we do our best to provide a meaningful educational experience, and we will try to be patient with you as you navigate the difficulties the pandemic has imposed on all of us.
Schedule of topics
Rules for on-line quizzes
1. Quizzes are open-book. You may consult your class notes, textbook, or other non-class sources.
2. However, your answers must be your own. You must not communicate in any way, shape or form with other humans during the period the quiz is open. No other students may be in the room with you when you work on the quiz.
3. You may not share the questions with anyone else after seeing them. That includes any method of communication: verbal, text, phone, semaphore, smoke signals, etc. Once you know the questions, keep them to yourself.
4. Once you open the quiz, you have 45 minutes to finish.
5. Makeups are available for documented medical problems or work conflicts only. You must let me know about the problem before the quiz closes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which is more important, the lectures or the readings?
A: The lectures are my best attempt to explain the material I think is important. The readings supplement the lectures. They are both fair game for exams, but the lectures are better guide to what will be on the exams. But be advised that if you do not do the reading you wilil not do well in this class.
Q. Do you post the slides?
A. Yes. I post the lecture slides after class, but not before. However the slides are sometimes very sketchy, and you will not really be able to understand them if you haven’t attended class.
Q. Do I have to attend the lecture in real time, or can I just watch the recordings?
A. Barring unforeseen technical problems, all the Zoom lecture recordings will be posted after each lecture (in Media Gallery [Update: see note above], usually by the end of the day of the lecture). There is some class participation so I strongly recommend you attend in real time if at all possible. However watching the lecture recordings is much better than nothing.
Q: Do I have to come to class?
A. You are an adult; make your own choices. But if you don’t come to class, you have little chance of getting better than a D. You can’t realistically do well in this class without attending regularly.
Q. Do I have to do the reading?
A. You are an adult; make your own choices. But if you don’t do the reading, you will not learn very much, and you will not do very well.
Q: Will [insert topic, fact, phenomenon] be on the exam?
A. Maybe. I try to test ideas I think are important. Most questions on exams are about “big ideas.” But naturally the questions range in importance from broad concepts to narrower facts and terms. Everything taught in the course is fair game. But the more important it is, the more likely it is to be on the exams. The lectures are my best attempt to explain what I think is important.
Q: Is the final exam cumulative?
A. Yes. The midterm will cover everything from the beginning of the course until the midterm. The final exam will cover everything from the beginning of the course until the end of the course, drawing more heavily from material from the second half of the course. As mentioned above, the exact format of the exams has not yet been determined but we will let you know as soon as we know.