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An introductory course surveying fundamental principles and findings in contemporary psychology. MJ Wraga usually teaches the first three of the lectures: Brain and Behavior, Memory and Perception.
Theory and research on current topics in cognition. The course is divided into three sections: low (e.g., attention and perception), middle, (e.g., imagery and memory) and high (e.g., decision-making, creativity) cognition. In addition to the lectures, the class is assigned one supplementary reading within each section for more in-depth focus.
This course takes an in-depth look at how human beings perceive the layout of their environment, and how the brain stores that information. Topics included distance and size perception, mental imagery, spatial representation, and spatial navigation. In the first two-thirds of the class we read and discussed primary sources from cognitive psychology. In the last third of the class, we shift the empirical focus to studies in cognitive neuroscience.
Cognitive neuroscience uses neuroimaging techniques such as PET and fMRI to examine issues related to the mind/brain. The course covers such topics as perception and encoding, cerebral lateralization and specialization, the control of action, executive function and the problem of consciousness.
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