This course is designed to be an exploration of the basic concepts and contemporary topics in cognitive psychology.  Topics to be covered include perception, attention, pattern recognition, consciousness, memory, the representation of knowledge, language, cognitive development, thinking and artificial intelligence. Traditionally, cognitive psychologists have studied these topics without full consideration of the biological mechanisms underlying each of these areas.  As such, we will also examine the current research from within the area of cognitive neuroscience for a better understanding of the role these biological mechanisms play in cognition. 

By the end of the course the student should have an understanding of how cognitive psychology emerged as a field, how it has studied the areas listed above, and the current state of these fields.