Module Directory

This module explores the basic cognitive processes involved in thinking about the world, interacting with the world, and experiencing the world.

Often as users of these processes they just work and the complexity of the underlying operations are hidden; a kind of "user illusion". In this module, students will learn about the emerging scientific picture of how these basic processes operate, thereby gaining a better appreciation of the underlying complexity, and a renewed appreciation of the brilliance of these operations.

The aims of this module are:

• To examine different methods and techniques used in the scientific study of cognition.


• To provide a significant body of advanced knowledge about the psychological processes involved in core areas of cognitive psychology.


• To provide an advanced theoretical background to important contemporary issues in the scientific study of cognition.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of the psychological processes involved in core areas of cognitive psychology, such as perception, attention, memory, language.


2. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of different theoretical accounts of core areas of cognitive psychology, such as perception, attention, memory, language, and provide critical insight into these different theories.


3. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the different methods and techniques used in the scientific study of cognition, and the limitations of these methods.


4. Demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge from cognitive psychology to real-world issues.

This module will consider examples of human talents; such as bilingualism, as well as human limitations, such as our working memory capacities. The module will cover core areas of cognition as defined by the British Psychological Society such as perception, mental imagery, attention, memory, language, and consciousness. These will be discussed both with reference to laboratory-based experiments, and also how these processes may be disrupted and may breakdown in various conditions, such as dyslexia, amnesia, and other neuropsychological conditions. Finally, the lectures will address how basic cognitive processes apply to complex real-world behaviours.

This module covers core topics in Cognitive Psychology, such as perception, mental imagery, attention, memory, language and consciousness. The lectures will provide up to date coverage of scientific knowledge in these areas. The lectures will examine how these processes enable human expert performance, as well as how performance may break down in certain neurological disorders, as well as how these processes are engaged in everyday behaviours.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 2-hour lecture per week.
• One seminar per week.

The lectures cover the different areas of cognition. These will be supplemented by additional seminars focusing on the essay assignment.