46486 - Applied Cognitive Psychology (Lab Techniques) (1)

Learning outcomes

The goal of the course is to offer a general view of the most important issues of Cognitive Psychology. The course is also aimed at explaining the main experimental paradigms.

Course contents

The lecture aims to introduce students to the main theories and methodologies of psychology 'at the service' of daily action. The course provides an in-depth look at some of the topics addressed in the course of Cognitive Psychology, following an applicative approach.

After an overview of the paradigms and methodologies of research in experimental psychology, we will discuss the recent empirical research aimed at examining the mental processes underlying human behavior, to understand how we extract from the external environment information functional to act, or how the simple observation of an object evokes a potential action towards it.

Evidence will be examined within the Embodied perspective of cognition, which has recently shown interesting interactions between 'superior' cognitive functions (e.g. memory, language, reasoning skills) and the sensorimotor system, suggesting that most cognitive processes occur through body control systems.

The different phases of the research process (identification of the problem; planning of the experimental design; data collection; analysis and interpretation of the results; dissemination, in contexts that are not only scientific) will be explored through group simulations of the experimental work. Circumscribing the research questions and selecting the most suitable methods (e.g. behavioral; kinematic; electrophysiological; virtual reality; subjective-qualitative), the central and current themes of cognitive psychology will be addressed, such as the relationship between space, action and word in different physical and social contexts of interaction; finally the possible applications will be questioned.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of cognitive psychology ('Cognitive Psychology’, compulsory activity of the first year of Communication Sciences).

The following examination program (Readings/Bibliography) is exhaustive. The documents on the online platform are ONLY for the attending students who participate in the teamwork.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special adjustments according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the instructor but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adjustments. For more information, visit the page: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

It is recommended that students contact the University office in advance. Any proposed adjustments must be submitted at least 15 days in advance for the instructor’s approval, who will evaluate their appropriateness in relation to the learning objectives of the course.

Readings/Bibliography

The list of documents may be subject to change: do not purchase them before the beginning of the course. For attending students, more specific literature can be discussed with the professor during the course.

1) Handbook: Gnisci, A. e Pedon, A. Metodologia della ricerca psicologica, Metodologia della ricerca in Psicologia, il Mulino, 2016, CHAPTERS 2; 3; 4; 5 (excluding subchapters 4 and 5); 7 (excluding subchapter 8); 9 (excluding subchapter 4); 10 (excluding subchapter 4).

2) A scientific paper:

- Marchetti, A., Massaro, D., e Di Dio, C. (2021) Il robot è un animale sociale? La Human Robot interaction al confine tra «naturale» e «artificiale». Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 4, 865-882.

> Only for students attending the course: slides, possible other materials and information on team-works will be available on the online platform.

For students attending the course, other possible scientific articles (different from the ones reported above) will be identified during the course according to the specific interests of the students. In this regard, the databases of interest for the psychological field are: http://www2.sba.unibo.it/cgi-bin/bdati/banchedati.pl?keys=Psicologia (ad es.: PsycINFO; Pubmed; Scopus; Web of science). Per articoli in italiano: Giornale Italiano di Psicologia: https://www.rivisteweb.it/issn/0390-5349 o Sistemi Intelligenti: https://www.rivisteweb.it/issn/1120-955

Teaching methods

- Frontal lectures with the aid of Power Point presentations;

- Discussion of scientific articles chosen on the basis of students' interests;

- Practical exercises and group workshops for in-depth study of experimental paradigms;

- Construction of science dissemination sites/blogs.

Assessment methods

The examination aims to test

1. the mastery of the acquired contents;

2. the level of critical-conceptual elaboration of the proposed contents;

3. the ability to implement the theoretical contents to applied research

The exam consists of a multiple-choice questionnaire. The exam is designed to test the achievement of an organic and critical view of the course topics.
Attending students (active participation) can arrange with the lecturer to carry out group work. More info will be provided during the course.

This modality of assessment, tailored for those who have attended the whole course, can only be adopted for three exams (the non-attending modality remains valid).

Exam sessions
During the 2025/2026 academic year, exam sessions are scheduled in the following months:

January; April; June-July; September; November

Students can participate in the exams following the year of enrollment, keeping in mind that the syllabus and exam modality will be updated according to the current academic year's course.

Teaching tools

Video projector, PC, slides.

Participation in experimental sessions for in-depth exploration of consolidated and new paradigms.

Office hours

See the website of Claudia Scorolli