SYLLABUS PSYCHOLOGY 312 (010) LEARNING & MOTIVATION Fall 2016 COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Mark E. Stanton, Ph.D. Office: Wolf Hall, Room 132A Phone: 831-0175 Email: [email protected] Office hours: By appointment TEACHING ASSISTANT Nick Heroux Office: Wolf Hall, Room 132 Phone: 831-0687 Email: [email protected] Office hours: By appointment PREREQUISITES: You must have successfully completed Psyc100 (General Psychology), Psyc207 (Research Methods) and Psyc209 (Measurement and Statistics), or equivalent, in order to enroll in this course. This is a departmental requirement. No exceptions. TEXTBOOK: Michael Domjan, The Principles of Learning and Behavior¸7th Edition, 2015, Wadsworth. COURSE OVERVIEW: This course covers learning and motivation as an empirical, theoretical, and applied science in psychology and neuroscience. To earn credit for the course, you must master the material in the textbook and complete in-class assignments. To excel in the course, you must complete seminars that deal with select topics in greater depth. Lectures and in-class assignments are offered to the entire class. Seminar enrollment is limited to five seminars of 8 students each (see calendar). Enrollment is first-come-first- served based on class rank and a cumulative grade of at least 70% (determined by exam performance and in-class assignments). Students can complete up to two seminars. There are no class lectures on days when seminars are being held. More information about seminar enrollment, course structure and requirements appears below. LEARNING GOALS: The learning goals are to make students knowledgeable of the phenomena and theories in the field, to acquire fluency in the “language” and analytical thinking used by professionals in this field, and to develop skills in written and oral communication. TIMES AND PLACES: Events in the course (see Course Calendar below) will take place at the following times and places. Exceptions may be announced in class, via e-mail, and on the course website (https://sakai.udel.edu/portal). Event Days Times Location Lectures MW 10:10-11:00am Sharp 120 Seminars MWF 10:10-11:00am McKinly, 004A (or Sharp 120) Unit Exams F 10:10-11:00am Sharp 120 E-MAIL, WEB-BASED, AND CLICKER COMMUNICATION: In order to take this course, you must have a registered clicker for class lectures and at least 1 group member must bring a laptop computer to class. You must also be able to send/receive emails to the course instructor or teaching assistant. You also must have a UD username and password and have access to a web browser for online access to Sakai. The instructor expects you to receive course announcements that are sent via e-mail or Sakai and grades and other feedback on your assignments are posted confidentially on Sakai, or with your permission, sent via e-mail. Grades of all individual students are posted confidentially on Sakai. In-class and seminar assignments must be submitted electronically on Sakai. Any problems in meeting course requirements due to malfunction of your computer equipment, software, etc. are your responsibility. Syllabus: Psyc312, Sect. 10, Fall 2016, Stanton Page 2 (of 4) COURSE SCHEDULE: DATE DAY LECTURE TOPIC PREPARATION ASSIGNMENT 8/31/2016 W Orientation 9/2/2016 F Historical Topics, Animal models Chapter 1 pp. 1-14 9/5/2016 M No Class, Labor Day 9/7/2016 W Defining and Studying Learning Chapter 1 pp. 14-26 9/9/2016 F 1st Test, Chps 1 (8 pts) 9/12/2016 M Habituation & Sensitization Chapter 2 pp. 29-47 9/13/2016 T (Drop/Add Deadline) 9/14/2016 W Habituation & Sensitization Chapter 2 pp. 47-56 9/16/2016 F 2nd Test, Chp 2 (8 pts) 9/19/2016 M Experimental Preparations Chapter 3 pp. 59-73 9/21/2016 W Excitatory and Inhibitory Learning Chapter 3 pp. 73-85 9/23/2016 F 3rd Test, Chp 3 (8 pts) 9/26/2016 M Classical Conditioning Mechanisms Chapter 4 pp. 87-103 9/28/2016 W Classical Conditioning Mechanisms Chapter 4 pp. 103-119 9/30/2016 F 4th Test, Chp 4 (8 pts) 10/3/2016 M Instrumental Conditioning Preparations Chapter 5 pp. 121-134 10/5/2016 W Instrumental Conditioning Fundamentals Chapter 5 pp. 134-152 10/7/2016 F 5th Test, Chp 5 (8 pts) 10/10/2016 M No Class, Seminar 1 (select participants only) Seminar 1: Associative learning theories 10/12/2016 W No Class, Seminar 1 (select participants) Yom Kippur Seminar 1: Associative learning theories 10/14/2016 F No Class, Seminar 1 (select participants only) Seminar 1: Associative learning theories 10/17/2016 M Instrumental Conditioning: Associations Chapter 7 pp. 185-196 10/19/2016 W Instrumental Conditioning: Behavioral Regulation Chapter 7 pp. 196-209 10/21/2016 F 6th Test, Chp 7 (8 pts) 10/24/2016 M Stimulus Control: Measurement & Performance Chapter 8 pp. 211-220 10/26/2016 W Stimulus Control: Learning & Contextual Factors Chapter 8 pp. 220-243 10/28/2016 F 7th Test, Chp 8 (8 pts) 10/31/2016 M No Class, Seminar 2 (select participants only) Seminar 2: Stimulus control / topic TBA 11/2/2016 W No Class, Seminar 2 (select participants only) Seminar 2: Stimulus control / topic TBA 11/4/2016 F No Class, Seminar 2 (select participants only) Seminar 2: Stimulus control / topic TBA 11/7/2016 M Extinction: Procedures, Original Learning Chapter 9 pp. 245-264 11/9/2016 W Extinction: What is learned. Chapter 9 pp. 264-271 11/11/2016 F 8th Test, Chp 9 (8 pts) 11/14/2016 M No Class, Society for Neuroscience 11/16/2016 W Avoidance/Punishment Chapter10 pp. 273-304 11/18/2016 F 9th Test, Chp 10 (8 pts) 11/21/2016 M Thankgiving break 11/23/2016 W Thankgiving break 11/25/2016 F Thankgiving break 11/28/2016 M No Class, Seminar 3 (select participants only) Seminar 3: Extinction 11/30/2016 W No Class, Seminar 3 (select participants only) Seminar 3: Extinction 12/2/2016 F No Class, Seminar 3 (select participants only) Seminar 3: Extinction 12/5/2016 M Cognition: Memory paradigms and mechanisms Chapter11 pp. 307-323 12/7/2016 W Cognition: Forgetting Chapter11 pp. 323-341 12/9/2016 F 10th Test, Chp 11 (8 pts) 12/12/2016 M Finals Begin today (and end on 12/17/16) NO CLASS FINAL Syllabus: Psyc312, Sect. 10, Fall 2016, Stanton Page 3 (of 4) COURSE COMPONENTS: Your grade will be determined from three components of the course. Each component provides an opportunity to earn points toward your final grade. CLASS PARTICIPATION (Up to 20 points toward your final grade) Each class session, will begin with five multiple-choice questions (answered via clicker, 5 min). This will be followed by a lecture (~25 min), group exercises (~15 min) and an opportunity to answer the same five multiple-choice questions (via clicker, 5 min). Class lectures and group exercises closely follow the assigned readings in the textbook. Students who have studied the textbook before coming to class will be in the best position to answer clicker questions and participate in group exercises concerning the assigned material. Group exercises will be completed by 5-6 students who will consider a discussion question and post a collective answer on Sakai at the end of the discussion period. Each group must have one member who can do this via a laptop PC that they bring to class. A weighted average of your performance on clicker questions will be computed---first time, 20%; last time 80%---and your performance on group exercises will be combined (60% questions, 40% group exercises) to determine a percentage class participation score for that class day. This will be multiplied by 1 point/day/chapter unit except for Chapter 10 participation, which will count 2 points. Your individual scores will be posted every 1-2 class days. In this way you can earn up to a maximum of 20 points toward your final grade. TEN EXAMS (Required, up to 80 points toward your final grade) There will be 10 unit exams worth 8 points each (see schedule above). The unit exams will be in multiple choice format and are based on the text, including the list of terms and study questions, for each chapter of the Domjan textbook. These unit exams will NOT be cumulative (to the extent possible). Each will focus on the material covered since the last exam (see schedule below). SEMINARS (Required for students seeking a “B” or higher, up to 10 points toward final grade). Three seminars covering different topics are offered to selected students (see Course Calendar above). Seminar enrollment is limited to 8 students each, one conducted by Dr. Stanton and the other by Mr. Heroux, yielding 16 seats per seminar. Seminar participants will read theoretical and empirical articles (~30-50 pp total), prepare a 10-15 minute seminar presentation, discuss the readings and presentations of other participants in a conventional “seminar format,” and submit a written summary of their presentation to the seminar instructor (Dr. Stanton or Mr. Heroux). Details concerning content and assignments for each seminar will be posted on the course website at least 1 week prior to the start of that seminar. Participation in a seminar itself is worth 10 points. If a seminar is under-enrolled (< 8 students), extra credit can be obtained by taking extra assignments. How to enroll in a seminar. Seminars are available only to students with a cumulative class grade of 70% or higher. Otherwise, they are filled first-come-first-serve based on class rank (accumulated points in the course, highest to lowest) after Exam 4 (Seminar 1), Exam 7 (Seminars 2), and Exam 10 (Seminar 3).