KSU Psychology: Cognitive Open Seminar - Spring, 2007
From GPNWiki
Note: Meets on Friday from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM in BH 449
Contents |
March 30
Teaching a Robot to Recognize Objects by Dr. David Gustafson
The presenter is from CIS.
March 9
'Immediate and Displaced Experience: An Analysis of Two Cognitive Worlds in Chisukwa' by Tiffany L. Kershner
In complex tense systems, such as those found in African Bantu languages, different degrees of remoteness are mapped as successive time intervals situated progressively farther from the speech event. The tense system in Chisukwa, an endangered Bantu language of less than 1000 speakers spoken in northern Malawi, is typical in this regard, with apparent recent past (-aa-) and remote (-ka-) past markers. However, while -aa- refers frequently to recent past events, it may also have a "remote" reading. Likewise, while -ka- typically has remote past use, it may be used to refer to recent events. Descriptions such as "recent" and "remote", then, do not effectively capture the difference between these two markers. It is only through analysis of narratives and conversations that the true interpretations of these markers are revealed. This study of Chisukwa provides evidence for a multi-dimensional conceptualization of time and cognitive space; that is, speakers organize their experiences into two cognitive worlds, one that typically encodes events that are conceptually active or "real" in the speaker's mind, and another that encodes events that are conceptually not active or "not real".
February 16
Research Psychology and the Popular Media: Is There Any Common Ground? by Professor Richard Harris
I will talk about communicating research results to the general public, as I have been thinking a lot about this lately in conjunction with the barrage of interest in my romantic movies study for Valentine's Day.
Some topics will include:
- Scientific illiteracy
- Scientist's "truth" versus the reporter's "news"
- Problems in communicating with the press
- Popular views of psychology and what to do about that
February 9
Short-term Memory Decay in Children and Adults by Manpreet Rai
The Brown-Peterson task (Brown, 1958; Peterson & Peterson, 1959) is a widely used procedure to test short term memory decay. The Brown-Peterson task presents participants with items to be recalled with short periods of distraction between the stimuli presentation and recall. The memory decay curves found by this procedure are quite well replicated to the present day. Numerous studies have used the Brown-Peterson task to test the short term memory of adults, but little work has been done with children. This paper reviews some of the theoretical background on short term memory and forgetting, the use of the Brown-Peterson task on adults in clinical settings, and an extension of short term memory theory to children. The Brown-Peterson task can be used as a method to learn more about children's short term memory. It was predicted that younger children should show a steeper (decreasing faster) decay curve than adults. Mixed-factorial analysis of variance tests showed a main effect of time, group, and interaction of time and group, and that younger children did indeed have a steeper decay curve than adults. However, when children were told to subvocally rehearse the items to be recalled, their results were virtually the same as for adults. This suggests that children have the same memory capabilities as adults but they just do not realize the complexity of those capabilities.
February 2
Working with Individuals with Learning Disabilities by Nicole Peck
The topic of this Friday's presentation is working with individuals with learning disabilities (LD); specifically, I will focus on reading/writing disabilities (RD), since those are by far the most common type of LDs.
The first part of the presentation will cover the cognitive aspects of LDs, how someone is diagnosed with an RD, and generally what it is like to experience an RD. The latter part will involve the practical aspects of working with students with RD. This will include tips you could use while working with students as well as what legal obligations instructors have (and do not have) to students with documented disabilities. While I will bring a presentation, I also think that this should be a discussion-oriented topic. I am interested (and I bet the Disability Support Services (DSS) office would be interested) in any ideas/suggestions you have concerning ways to help students with RDs, from a cognitive psychology perspective.
My personal experience on the topic includes two years working as a GA in the K-State DSS office; also, my master's thesis investigated the desired learning environments of students with reading disabilities. I will provide hand-outs from the DSS office on campus.
January 19
How to Evaluate Performance that is Better than Perfect by Professor James Shanteau
