PSY425

Cognition collectively refers to a variety of higher mental processes that you use on a daily basis to think, perceive, remember, plan, and act. Cognition is central to your identity and provides you with incredible freedom of thought, allowing you to \"mentally time travel\" into the past and the future, to think creatively and problem solve, to select what you attend to and alter how you perceive your environment, to create language, and to place yourself in \"another person's shoes.\" The goal of this course is to provide you with a deeper understanding of how some of these higher mental processes work, and how they are prone to errors. This course will focus on real world examples of cognition at work. This will include cognitive demands of daily experience, such as focusing attention on a lecture and remembering to follow through with future plans. We also will discuss cognition in relation to hot topics in the public eye, including fake news, eyewitness testimony, return to play decisions in sports, substance use, and Alzheimer's disease. Through this course you will acquire knowledge that you can apply to your everyday life, and you will be better prepared for your future career and life challenges that can affect cognition.

Fall, Spring