PSYC 3215

Why are some memories fleeting, lasting a few moments, while others last a lifetime? Students engage in an in-depth examination of memory, one of the central areas in cognitive psychology. Students learn about everything from the earliest theories of forgetting to contemporary models of encoding, storage, and retrieval. They explore how memory is shaped by attention, emotion, and context, and examine how it evolves across the lifespan. The course also investigates memory disorders such as amnesia and dementia, revealing what impaired memory can teach us about normal memory function. Students learn through lectures, critical review of the research literature, in-depth discussions of modern applications, and small group activities that facilitate learning.