August 27, 2015

NPSY 196B – Advanced Topics in Cognition

Fall Semester, 2015

Thursdays, 2:00 – 4:50; Volen 106

LEARNING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

a)To explore topics in cognition (working memory, executive function) in general, and with special reference to comprehension of spoken language.

b)To examine sensory-cognitive interactions, with special reference to age-elated changes in hearing acuity and cognition in adult aging.

c)To read, critique, and evaluate published research articles.

d) To exercise the ability to turn questions into testable experiments.

COURSE STRUCTURE AND GRADING

Textbook. There is no textbook for this course. Reading assignments will be original articles from the scientific literature as listed below.

Graduate Students. Undergraduates may read any two (2) of the three (3) articles under each topic. Graduate students will be expected to read all three (3) articles.

Topic Hand-Outs. On a regular basis I will post hand-outs as an orientation to the readings for that topic. They are not intended as a substitute for reading the assigned articles!

Grading. Grading will be based on three course obligations:

(1) Weekly response micro-essays. Each week students will read the assigned articles and for each article assigned write a one or two paragraph reaction to that article. This may be a criticism of something in the article, and why it matters to their conclusion, or perhaps questions that you have after reading the article. These micro-essays will be due to Professor Wingfield via e-mail by 3:00 pm on the Wednesday before class. [. Use “micro-essay” as the subject line. These will total 30% of grade.

(2) Class Participation: 20% of grade.

(3) Research Proposal: Due the last day of class will be the proposal of an experiment designed to test some element of the ELU model. The proposal should include(a) a brief background and rationale for your experiment (about 1-2 pages), the Methods you would employ and how you would analyze the data (3-4 pages), a brief conclusion (maximum of 1 page), and cited literature. This will be worth 50% of grade.

TOPICS AND READING ASIGNMENTS

Aug. 27: Introduction and Outline of the Semester

Sept. 3: Topic 1. Ease of Language Understanding in

Linköping, Sweden

Rönnberg, J., Rudner, M., Foo, C., & Lunner, T. (2008). Cognition counts: A working memory system for ease of language understanding (ELU). International Journal of Audiology, 47, S171-S177.

Rönnberg, J., Rudner, M., & Lunner, T. (2011). Cognitive hearing science: The legacy of

Stuart Gatehouse. Trends in Amplification. 20, 1-9.

Sept. 10 - Brandeis Monday- No Class

Sept 17: Topic 2. The ELU Match versus Mismatch Distinction; The “Lack of Invariance” problem in speech perception

Sommers, M. S. (1996). The structural organization of the mental lexicon and its

contribution to age-related declines in spoken-word recognition. Psychology

and Aging, 11, 333–341.

Wingfield, A., Alexander, A.H., & Cavigelli, S. (1994). Does memory constrain utilization of top-down information in spoken word recognition? Evidence from normal aging. Language and Speech, 37, 221-235.

Morton, J. (1964). A preliminary functional model for language behaviour.

International Audiology, 3, 216-225.

Sept 24: Topic 3. When Does Context Kick In?

Lash, A., Rogers, C.S., Zoller, A. & Wingfield, A. (2013). Expectation and entropy in

spoken word recognition: Effects of age and hearing acuity. Experimental Aging Research, 39, 235-253.

Marslen-Wilson, W.D., & Zwitserlood, P. (1989). Accessing spoken words: The

importance of word onsets. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 15, 576-585.

Ferreira, F., & Patson, N. D. (2007). The ‘good enough’ approach to language comprehension. Language and Linguistics Compass, 1, 71-83.

Oct. 1: Topic 4. “When Working Memory Kicks in”: but What is ‘Working Memory’?

Baddeley, A.D. (2012). Working memory: Theories, models, and controversies. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 1-29.

Engle, R. (2002). Working memory as executive attention. Current Directions in Psychological Sciences, 11, 19-23.

McCabe, D.P., Roediger, H.L., McDaniel, M.A., Balota, D.A., & Hambrick, D.Z. (2010).

The relationship between working memory capacity and executive functioning: Evidence for a common executive attention construct. Neuropsychology, 24, 222-243.

Oct. 8: Topic 5. Echoic Memory

Sperling, G. (1960). The information available in brief presentations. Psychological

Monographs: General and Applied, 74, Whole No. 498, 1-29.

Darwin, C. J., Turvey, M. T., & Crowder, R. G. (1972). Auditory analogue of the Sperling partial report procedure: Evidence for brief auditory storage. Cognitive Psychology, 3, 255-267.

Baldwin, C. L. (2007). Cognitive implications of facilitating echoic persistence. Memory &

Cognition, 35, 774- 780.

Oct. 15

Oct. 22: Topic 6. Downstream Consequences of Perceptual

Effort

Rabbitt, P. (1968). Channel capacity, intelligibility, and immediate memory. Quarterly

Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20, 241-248.

Wingfield, A., Tun, P.A., & McCoy, S.L. (2005). Hearing loss in older adulthood:

What it is and how it interacts with cognitive performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 144-148.

Wingfield, A., Peelle, J.E., & Grossman, M. (2003). Speech rate and syntactic complexity as multiplicative factors in speech comprehension by young and older adults. Journal of Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 10, 310-322.

Oct. 29: Topic 7. What is Effort?

McGarrigle, R., Munro, K.J., Dawes, P., Stewart, A.J., Moore, D.R., Barry, J.G., & Amitay, S. (2014) Listening effort and fatigue: What exactly are we

measuring? A British Society of Audiology Cognition in Hearing Special Interest group ‘white paper.’ International Journal of Audiology, 53, 433-445.

Tun, P.A., McCoy, S., & Wingfield, A. (2009). Aging, hearing acuity, and the attentional

costsof effortful listening. Psychology and Aging, 24, 761-766.

Kuchinsky, S. E., Ahlstrom, J.B., Vaden, K.I., Cute, S.L., Humes, L.E., Dubno, J.R., &

Eckert, M.A. (2013). Pupil size varies with word listening and response selection difficulty in older adults with hearing loss. Psychophysiology, 50, 23-34.

Nov. 5: Topic 8. How Do Age and Hearing Loss Affect the Brain for Speech Comprehension?

Wingfield, A., & Grossman, M. (2006). Language and the aging brain: Patterns of neural compensation revealed by functional brain imaging. Journal of Neurophysiology, 96,2830-2839.

Peelle, J.E., McMillan, C., Moore, P., Grossman, M., & Wingfield, A. (2004). Dissociable patterns of brain activity during comprehension of rapid and syntactically complex speech: Evidence from fMRI. Brain and Language, 91, 315-325.

Peelle, J.E., Troiani, V., Grossman, M., & Wingfield, A. (2011). Hearing loss in older adults affects neural systems supporting speech comprehension. Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 12638-12643. PMCID: PMC3175595

Nov 12: Topic 9. Did the ELU Model Get Better or Worse?

Rönnberg, J., Lunner, T., Zekveld, A., Sörqvist, P., Danielsson, H., Lyxell, B., et al.

(2013). The Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model: theoretical,

empirical, and clinical advances. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. 7:31. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2013.00031

Nov 19: Oral Presentations of Individual Proposals:

“Mini-Symposium”

Nov. 26. No Brandeis Classes

Dec 3: Oral Presentations of Individual Proposals:

“Mini-Symposium” (continued)

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Important Messages from the University:

“Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.).”

“If you are a student with a documented disability at Brandeis University and if you wish to request a reasonable accommodation for this class, please see me immediately. Please keep in mind that reasonable accommodations are not provided retroactively.”

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