Is music theory a good cognitive theory in that it predicts outcomes of cognitive psychology experiments?.
The reaction paper will test your ability to think, generate hypotheses, and, in general, apply psychological science. The task will be to take a position in a current debate in cognitive science. You will then have to support your position by drawing on the data that are available on the topic. The goal is to convince readers that the position you take is correct by presenting the relevant data on the topic. Writing that both positions are correct will automatically result in a deduction of points. Think of this as a ?debate? in which your job is to argue one of the positions. This paper will require you to go beyond Matlin’s textbook. You will need to refer to journal articles, book chapters, and, if you must, websites. Each student must read journal articles for the paper. At least three journal articles must be referenced. If you use websites, you are responsible for any misinformation you get from the website (the best websites to use are those of the researchers themselves). Your view in the reaction paper must be supported by psychological science (including neuroscience, social psychology, neurobiology). Your feelings and impressions are not relevant in this paper; rather it is scientific data that you must draw upon. You do not have to be balanced. Choose arguments that support your position, and refute arguments that may support the other position. You will be graded on your ability to do both. You may email me questions on how best to do this. APA style is encouraged but not required. Choose one topic from the list below. If the topic is pre-approved by your professor (that is, from the list below), you do not require the professors pre-approval. However, if you wish to pursue a topic not on the list below, please obtain your professors permission first. This is to insure that the topic is appropriate for cognitive psychology. Approval cannot occur after the paper has been handed in. You must also answer the question in approximately 1,000 words (about 3 pages). Papers will not be read if they contain fewer than 900 words, and will not be read if they are more than 1100 words (I am serious about this; there has to be a limit somewhere, so the bounds will be enforced) You must craft your arguments to fit into the word limit. The word limit refers to the body of your paper and does not include title page, references, and any supplementary material you add.
Reaction Paper Due: Monday, December 2, 2013 at 11:55 pm via Turnitin.com. This is an individual project. You may discuss this project with other students in the class, but you may not collaborate. Each paper must be your own. If your reaction paper is plagiarized, you will fail the course and be reported to the appropriate Dean at the University.
Topics:choose any of the topics below.
1. Blindsight: What accounts for blindsight: cortical preservation or subcortical routes?
2. Tip-of-the-tongue states: lexical retrieval failure or metacognitive awareness?
3. What does cognitive research on music perception tell us? Is music theory a good cognitive theory, in that it predicts outcomes of cognitive psychology experiments?
4. Speech perception: does it require a special mechanism or does a general auditory mechanism suffice?
5. Is the “central executive” a useful concept in our theories of working memory? Or is it a glorified “homunculus?”
6. What is survival processing (e.g.,Nairne and Pandeirada, 2011)? How does it work in memory? Is the effect based on the evolutionary mechanisms or more commonplace memory explanations?
7. Many years ago, Benjamin Whorf argued that the language we speak shapes the thoughts we have. Most psychological data dismissed the idea. However, recently, there has been a resurgence of Whorfian thinking. Does language shape the kinds of thoughts we can have? (This question is about language, not about culture).
8. Some researchers argue that silent reading involves subconscious activation of the sounds of the words. Others disagree. Who is right and why?
9. Is “insight” a valuable concept in cognitive psychology? Please make sure you at least read those who do not think it is valuable. And remember this is a cognitive psychology course, if you choose this option.
10. Are human decisions optimal? If so, why? If not, why not? You must start by efer to the literature starting with the Nobel prize winning research of Daniel Kahneman.
11. Does the Wason task reveal a flaw in human reasoning? Why or why not?
12. Is creative cognition based on expertise or insight?
13. Does neuroimaging inform cognitive theory? Or is neuroimaging irrelevant to cognitive theory? This is not about whether neuroimaging is important to neuroscience (or to medicine), but if neuroimaging data is relevant to cognitive theories. That is, does it matter if language is housed in the temporal lobe or the frontal lobe for the development of psychological (cognitive) theory? For example, can fMRI data distinguish between any of the questions posed above?
