Prospectus

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Attention: Theory and Practice

Course
2021-2022

Entry requirements

Cognitive Psychology or a similar course is required.

Description

Attention, one of the most colourful concepts in psychology, refers to a whole range of characteristics of human experience and behaviour: it is selective in expressing our preferences, integrative in binding numerous aspects of stimulus information to coherent events, inhibitory in suppressing unwanted thoughts and actions, limited in restricting our multi-tasking abilities, and executive in controlling our actions. The course covers the history of research on attention, methods to analyse attentional processes, the neural basis of attention and attention disorders, individual differences and applied issues, such as the impact of mental workload on performance or the design of visual displays.

Course objectives

The student will acquire general knowledge of:

  • Theories of human attention;

  • Methods to measure attention or effects of attention on brain and behaviour; and

  • The usefulness of this above knowledge in applied settings.

Timetable

For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable

Registration

NOTE As of the academic year 2021-2022, you must register for all courses in uSis. You do this twice a year: once for the courses you want to take in semester 1 and once for the courses you want to take in semester 2.
Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from July. Registration for courses in the first semester is possible from December.
The exact date on which the registration starts will be published on the website of the Student Service Center (SSC). First year Bachelor students as well as premaster students will be registered by the Student Service Center; they do not need to register themselves.

The registration period for all courses closes five calendar days before the start of the course.
Also read the complete registration procedure

Elective

Elective students have to enroll for each course separately. For admission requirements contact your study advisor.

Mode of instruction

8 2-hour lectures.
Weblectures will be made available.

Assessment method

A written exam consisting of 40 multiple-choice questions (70%) and 5 essay questions (30%).

The Institute of Psychology uses fixed rules for grade calculation and compulsory attendance. It also follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of these three policies.

Reading list

Johnson, A. & Proctor, R.W. (2004). Attention: Theory and practice. Thousands Oaks, California: Sage Publications. (Order in time, or purchase from the Labyrint book service!)

Contact information

Dr. Arko Ghosh a.ghosh@fsw.leidenuniv.nl