SS3712 Cognitive Psychology
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · Semester A, 2026/27SS3712 Overview
- City University of Hong Kong
- Semester A, 2026/27
- Level 3 course
- Two quizzes without notes
What the course asks you to do
Cognitive psychology turns hidden mental activity into testable claims. Across the detailed teaching materials, the recurring move is to compare accounts by finding a task on which they predict different results.
- Assessment structure An experimental report and group project carry a quarter each, while two non-cumulative quizzes carry the remaining half.
- Quiz method Revise comparisons by linking each model to the experiment and result that distinguish it from a rival.
- Report priority Explain how a classic task makes a hidden cognitive process measurable, then evaluate the inference and propose a testable adaptation.
- Project priority Connect one real-world issue to at least two cognitive domains and give each domain a distinct explanatory role.
How SS3712 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| AT1: Experimental Report | 25% | Individual report of 1,500 words, due 1 December 2026 |
| AT2: Group Project | 25% | Ten-minute original video plus five-minute live presentation |
| AT3: Two Quizzes | 50% | Two non-cumulative quizzes without books or notes, two hours each, worth 25% each |
The three published numeric weights total 100%. Quiz 1 is dated 6 October 2026 and covers the first five teaching weeks; Quiz 2 is dated 24 November 2026 and covers the topics taught after Quiz 1. The available materials do not publish a question count or section weighting, so check Canvas for later operational details.
Current SS3712 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 6 October 2026 | Quiz 1 | Covers the first five teaching weeks and lasts two hours. |
| 10 or 17 November 2026 | Group presentation | Presentation date depends on the allocated group list. |
| 24 November 2026 | Quiz 2 | Covers topics taught after Quiz 1 and lasts two hours. |
| 1 December 2026 | Experimental Report and peer evaluation | Published deadline is 11:59 pm. |
Dates are as published in the published course outline and assignment pages for Semester A, 2026/27. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What SS3712 covers
The chapters move from experimental method and neural representation through perception and attention to working memory, long-term systems, learning and everyday memory errors.
Foundations and Experimental Methods
mental chronometry, controlled contrasts, converging operations and report designHow a hidden process becomes testable
Cognitive psychology cannot observe a decision, representation or memory trace directly, so it builds controlled contrasts in which rival explanations predict different response times, errors or recall patterns.
- Mental chronometry and subtraction
- Limits of analytic introspection
- Controlled memory measurement
- Behaviourism and observable evidence
- Information-processing stages
- Converging experimental operations
Cognitive Neuroscience and Representation
local and distributed coding, correlational measures, lesions and causal interventionKeep representation and method apart
Neural activity can be selective without placing an entire concept in one cell, and a distributed pattern can represent information without every participating unit doing the same work.
- Selective neural responses
- Distributed population codes
- Structural brain measures
- Functional activation measures
- Lesion evidence
- Causal stimulation
Perception from Sensation to Interpretation
bottom-up constraints, top-down knowledge, unconscious inference and Gestalt organisationPerception combines constraints
Sensory input underdetermines the object that produced it, especially when images are incomplete, noisy or ambiguous. Perception combines stimulus structure with experience, expectations and goals.
- Sensation and perception
- Bottom-up information
- Top-down knowledge
- Unconscious inference
- Gestalt grouping
- Perception for action
Attention, Selection and Control
early selection, attenuation, late selection, perceptual load and covert attentionLocate the bottleneck with unattended effects
Attention models disagree about how much information is analysed before selection.
- Selective attention
- Early filter models
- Attenuation theory
- Late selection
- Perceptual load
- Covert and divided attention
Short-Term and Working Memory
sensory stores, chunking, specialised subsystems, manipulation and executive controlMaintenance is not the whole system
Short-term memory holds a small amount briefly, while working memory maintains information during manipulation, reasoning and control. Chunking changes the functional unit by using long-term knowledge.
- Modal memory model
- Sensory memory
- Short-term capacity
- Chunking and knowledge
- Working-memory components
- Executive attention control
Long-Term Memory Systems
serial position, episodic and semantic memory, procedural learning and primingClassify memory by its expression
Long-term memory includes conscious episodic and semantic forms as well as implicit influences such as skills and priming. Serial-position patterns reveal contributions from rehearsal and immediate availability.
- Serial-position curve
- Primacy and recency
- Episodic memory
- Semantic knowledge
- Procedural learning
- Priming and conditioning
Encoding, Retrieval and Consolidation
levels of processing, generation, testing effects, cue matching and memory stabilisationLearning depends on the route back
Encoding creates relations, retrieval uses cues to reopen them and consolidation stabilises or reorganises the trace.
- Levels of processing
- Elaboration and generation
- Organisation
- Retrieval practice
- Encoding specificity
- Consolidation and reconsolidation
Everyday Memory and Memory Errors
emotion, source monitoring, misinformation, eyewitness safeguards and amnesiaMemory errors reveal normal construction
Everyday recollection combines event information with general knowledge, later suggestion and present goals.
- Autobiographical memory
- Emotion and stress
- Constructive recollection
- Source monitoring
- Misinformation effect
- Eyewitness procedures
A definition is useful only when it directs you to a manipulation, measure and diagnostic pattern.
This guide therefore organises the subject around contrasts: bottom-up against top-down contributions to perception, early against late selection in attention, short-term storage against working-memory control, explicit against implicit long-term memory, and accurate content against correct source attribution.
How the assessment fits the content
The published assessment has three rows.
An individual experimental report is worth a quarter of the course, a group project is worth another quarter, and two non-cumulative quizzes taken without books or notes make up the remaining half. The report asks you to choose a classic experiment, explain its theoretical basis and procedure, evaluate research that uses it, discuss strengths and limitations, and propose a novel adaptation.
The group project asks you to connect a significant real-world issue to at least two cognitive domains and communicate the explanation accurately to a general audience. The quizzes test the same reasoning in compressed form.
What makes the course difficult
The difficulty is not the number of labels. It is keeping levels of explanation separate. A response-time difference is an observation, not yet a mental stage.
Brain activation is association, not yet necessity. A confident recollection is a subjective judgement, not yet evidence of accuracy. A model becomes useful when you can state what result would support it, what rival result would weaken it and which design feature permits that inference.
The guide repeatedly practises those boundaries.
The source-rich route through the syllabus
The chapter sequence follows the detailed materials available for the first teaching block. It begins with the history and method of cognitive psychology, then separates neural representation from the methods used to study it. Perception and attention supply competing process models.
Working-memory and long-term-memory chapters compare systems and task demands. Encoding, retrieval and consolidation turn those distinctions into study mechanisms. The final concept chapter shows how ordinary constructive processes create source errors and eyewitness distortion.
How to revise efficiently
Draw each chapter figure from memory before rereading.
Next, write the model comparison as a table with a row for assumptions, task, prediction and limitation. Finish with an original example and state the expected result before checking the answer. This routine uses organisation, discrimination and retrieval rather than familiarity. For the report, keep a parallel page that links every method choice to the inference it strengthens and the threat it introduces.
Worked example · free
Diagnose a slower response before naming the mental stage
- 2Subtract the detection latency from the choice latency.
- 2State the stages assumed equal across the tasks.
- 2Name one rival explanation for the difference.
Key terms
- Mental Chronometry
- The use of response time differences to estimate the duration of otherwise hidden processing stages.
- Bottom-Up Processing
- Perceptual processing driven primarily by structure available in the sensory input.
- Top-Down Processing
- The influence of knowledge, expectations and goals on the interpretation of sensory input.
- Attenuation
- Selective weakening of unattended information rather than complete filtering, allowing important items to cross the threshold.
- Perceptual Load
- The amount of perceptual capacity consumed by target processing, which influences how far distractors are processed.
- Working Memory
- A limited system that maintains information while coordinating its manipulation for reasoning and action.
- Central Executive
- The control component that allocates attention, updates goals and coordinates specialised working-memory systems.
- Episodic Memory
- Conscious memory for personally situated events accompanied by information about their context and source.
- Semantic Memory
- Knowledge of facts, meanings and concepts that can be accessed without reliving a learning episode.
- Retrieval Practice
- Attempting to produce learned information, an act that strengthens later access and reveals gaps for feedback.
- Encoding Specificity
- The principle that a retrieval cue works when it reinstates information represented during encoding.
- Source Monitoring
- The process of deciding where remembered content originated by evaluating its perceptual and contextual qualities.
SS3712 FAQ
What is the assessment structure?
The official outline gives the Experimental Report 25%, the Group Project 25% and Two Quizzes 50% in total. Each quiz is worth 25%, so the three published rows sum to 100%. The report and peer evaluation are due on 1 December 2026, while group presentations take place across the two scheduled presentation weeks.
What format are the quizzes?
The outline states that both quizzes permit no books or notes, last two hours and cover non-cumulative topic blocks. The detailed first-quiz slide names multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank and short essay questions. A question count and section weighting are not published in the available materials, so use Canvas for later operational announcements.
What should the experimental report contain?
Choose one classic cognitive experiment, explain the theory and procedure, identify the variables and what they measure, discuss at least two peer-reviewed studies that used it, evaluate strengths and limitations, and propose one novel adaptation. The report is 1,500 words excluding the listed supporting elements and uses APA-style citations and references.
What makes a strong group project?
Start with a significant real-world issue and give at least two cognitive domains different explanatory roles. The ten-minute original video should make the mechanism intuitive for a general audience, while the five-minute live introduction states the research question, importance and theoretical basis. Accuracy, integration, engagement, organisation, production and collaboration all appear in the published criteria.
How do I compare attention models?
Ask how far unattended information is processed. Early selection predicts little semantic influence, attenuation allows weakened but important material through, and later selection permits more meaning before response control. Load theory makes the answer conditional: demanding perceptual processing leaves less spare capacity for distractors than an easy target task.
Is working memory just short-term memory?
No. Short-term memory describes brief maintenance, while working memory includes maintenance plus manipulation and attentional control. Forward digit span mainly emphasises storage; backward or ordered span adds transformation. Selective interference and distractor-filtering results further show why a single undifferentiated short-term store is not enough.
Why does retrieval practice help learning?
Retrieval practice rehearses producing information from a cue, strengthens access routes and exposes omissions that feedback can repair. Repeated reading can increase fluency and recognition without producing the same delayed ability to generate an answer. The advantage depends on the later task, which is why practice should resemble the required operation without copying the final question.
Why can a confident memory still be wrong?
Confidence and accuracy depend on different influences. Repetition, feedback and commitment to an earlier choice can raise confidence after the event, while source monitoring may still assign suggested information to the original experience. Evaluate how a report was elicited, whether questions supplied details and whether confidence was recorded before feedback.
Questions students ask in each SS3712 chapter
- Why can response time reveal mental processing?
- A controlled task contrast adds or changes an operation while keeping other stages comparable. The latency difference can then estimate the added processing demand. The inference depends on that comparability, so perceptual or motor changes must be ruled out before calling the difference decision time. Chapter 01 · Foundations and Experimental Methods
- Does brain activation show where a memory is stored?
- Not by itself. Activation shows association with a task and may reflect control, difficulty, response preparation or downstream processing. Storage claims need evidence about represented content, and causal necessity needs an intervention or converging lesion pattern rather than a bright region on a scan. Chapter 02 · Cognitive Neuroscience and Representation
- Are bottom-up and top-down processing opposites?
- They describe different information sources that normally operate together. Clear sensory structure can constrain interpretation strongly, while ambiguity gives prior knowledge more influence. A good explanation identifies which source changed and predicts how their relative weight shifts under uncertainty. Chapter 03 · Perception from Sensation to Interpretation
- Where does selective attention occur?
- The answer depends on the task. Early models place selection before meaning, attenuation permits weakened important signals through, and late accounts allow more semantic analysis. Evidence from unattended influence and perceptual load determines which location is supported under specific conditions. Chapter 04 · Attention, Selection and Control
- How does working memory differ from short-term memory?
- Short-term memory describes brief maintenance, whereas working memory includes maintenance plus manipulation and attentional control. Repeating digits forward emphasises storage; reversing, sorting or updating them adds executive operations even when the item set remains the same. Chapter 05 · Short-Term and Working Memory
- What creates primacy and recency effects?
- Early items receive more rehearsal and are more likely to reach long-term memory, producing primacy. Final items remain active when immediate recall begins, producing recency. A filled delay should reduce recency more strongly because it displaces the last items. Chapter 06 · Long-Term Memory Systems
- Why is deeper processing better for memory?
- Meaning-based processing connects an item to existing knowledge and creates several routes for later access. Depth is not difficulty by itself; a demanding surface task can produce little durable learning if it does not organise meaning or relations. Chapter 07 · Encoding, Retrieval and Consolidation
- Why is memory described as constructive?
- Retrieval combines stored event fragments with knowledge, expectations and later information to produce a coherent account. This process is usually adaptive because it extracts meaning and fills gaps, but it can also create details whose content is plausible while their source is wrong. Chapter 08 · Everyday Memory and Memory Errors
How to prepare for the assessments
Build revision around discriminations rather than isolated definitions. For each topic, draw a four-column table headed account, task, predicted pattern and boundary. Close the materials and reproduce the table, then answer an original scenario in four sentences: define the construct, name the paradigm, state the diagnostic result and give one rival explanation.
Space the next attempt so retrieval requires effort, and use feedback immediately so an error is not rehearsed. For the report, keep a method ledger linking every design choice to the inference it supports and the threat it introduces. For the group project, test whether each cognitive domain explains a different part of the real-world problem.
Before a quiz, practise mixed pairs such as early versus late selection, short-term versus working memory, episodic versus semantic memory, and primacy versus recency. If you can state only one side, return to the comparison rather than rereading the whole lecture.
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