Syllabus

BCSC 260: Syllabus

Spring 2024

Time & Location

Tuesday/Thursday 3:25-4:40 PM, Gavett 206

Personnel

Instructor: Dr. Elise Piazza (Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Neuroscience)

Office hours (by appointment, Meliora 319)

Recitation Sessions

Recitations will serve as review sessions for the 3 midterms (in addition to the in-class review). The TAs will present review slides and activities and give you opportunities to go into certain material in more depth than in the lectures. Recitations are optional but strongly encouraged!

Slack will be the preferred mode of communication for the course. Each student will be added to the Slack account and can post questions and homework responses on the various channels. Please keep discussion on Slack supportive and positive!

Suggested (but Optional) Textbook

Thompson, W. F. (2015). Music, Thought, and Feeling: Understanding the Psychology of Music. 2nd edition; NY: Oxford University Press. (NOTE: PDFs of individual chapters are posted on Blackboard under “Learning Modules → Thompson book chapters”)

Student Learning Objectives

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

  • Describe ways that study of music cognition aids our understanding of human cognition and development more generally.
  • Compare aspects of musical structure, as a cognitive system, with other systems such as language, visual pattern perception, and auditory scene analysis.
  • Apply a basic understanding of theories of evolution, the physical properties of sound, principles of human development and learning, structure of the auditory system and brain, and theories of emotion, to the study of music.
  • Understand the design of behavioral experiments, be able to critique experimental designs for confounds, draw conclusions from data presented in experimental studies, and extrapolate from these data ideas for future studies.
  • Demonstrate this knowledge by comparing and contrasting published music-cognitive experiments that explore a single issue, writing a paper in APA style that explores and critiques their contents and findings.

Expectations for student participation

To optimize your learning, you will:

  • Attend class and participate in discussions in class, on Slack, and occasionally in office hour or recitation sections
  • Come prepared to class, having read homework articles and completed assignments before class
  • Download and review lecture slides (optional). Slides will be posted in pdf form before each class

Course Requirements and Deadlines

  1. Three non-cumulative exams. Matching, multiple choice, and short answer. These will be closed-book, in class on 2/13, 3/21, and 4/30.
  2. Two mini literature reviews (summary/critique/synthesis of homework articles and those discussed in class): due 2/22 and 4/2
  3. Proposal of final paper (title + article list): due 4/11
  4. Final paper critiquing experiment articles on a music cognition topic of your choice: due 5/7
    Your final paper should contextualize, summarize, compare, and critique the articles read. Number of articles: 2 for undergraduates; 4 for graduates. Length: 4-5 pages for undergrads; 6-8 pages for grads (+ title page and refs.). You may be within +/-0.5 pages of the limit; anything lower or higher will be penalized. Assignments #2-4 above should be uploaded directly to Blackboard.
    (No late papers without grade penalty; see lateness policy below!)
  5. Article homework assignments
    You will be asked to read a series of articles, listed in the class schedule below. Articles will be posted on Blackboard under “Learning Modules → Readings (articles)”. For each reading, you will complete 2 assignments (below). The max # of points per homework will vary, but this will amount to 15% of your final grade.
    • Reflective Slack posts: You should post 1 substantive comment and/or question about each article on the Slack discussion channel for your assigned discussion group. Posts should include meaningful content about the article (not simply “it was great!”) You will also be expected to respond to at least 1 other student’s post. You will be assigned to the same Slack discussion group of students for the entirety of the class. Please begin each post by writing the article citation (e.g., Schlaug (2001)) so we know what you’re writing about.
    • Quizzes: You will receive a link (via e-mail) to a Google survey containing quiz questions about the paper and other recent material from class. You must complete each quiz on your own.
    • BOTH the reflective Slack posts and quizzes are due on the date listed in the syllabus (“hw due”), BEFORE THE START OF CLASS
    • You are allowed ONE homework pass (which gets you out of BOTH the Slack posts AND the quiz) for a single article during the semester. Whenever you choose to use it, just post the words “TAKING A BREAK” in the “#homework-passes” Slack channel sometime before the deadline.
  6. Participation
    Although this is a lecture course, you will be expected to actively participate in several ways. In addition to discussing the assigned articles on Slack (see above), there will be many opportunities for in-class discussion and everyone is expected to participate regularly. There are other ways to gain participation points: attending office hours and recitations, attending Eastman/UR Music Cognition symposia (let us know you went!), e-mail correspondence w/ TAs/prof.

Final Grade Breakdown

  • Three “midterm” exams (non-cumulative, 15% each): 45%
  • Two mini literature reviews (6% each): 12%
  • Final paper proposal (title and list of articles, APA style): 3%
  • Final paper (on your chosen topic): article comparison and critique, topic of your choice (APA-style): 20%
  • Article homework (reflective Slack posts + quizzes): 15%
  • Other participation (in-class discussion, e-mail, office hours, recitations, etc.): 5%

Attendance, Grading Rubrics, And Late Policies

Attendance in this course is required and will be verified with a QR code during class. Each unexplained absence will count 1 pt against your overall grade.

Grading rubric: Final paper proposal (paper title & article list) – Due 4/11

3 points: 1 for title; 1 for APA style; 1 for appropriate articles chosen.

  1. Decide on a general area you wish to research. Articles must come from scientific research journals (not books, not websites, not news media). AND, articles must be original research, NOT review articles/meta-analyses (see examples in Lecture 1)
  2. Try Google Scholar → type keywords and “experiment.” Don’t pay for articles (click “all N versions” to find free PDFs)! Or download the articles when you are on the UR campus (or VPN) so that the library’s subscription (likely) covers it. If you encounter issues, ask us!
  3. Read abstracts and find articles that seem appropriate, including at least one “extra” article in case we decide to eliminate one. Come up with a title for your project.
  4. Read the template posted on Blackboard carefully and see APA examples below!

Grading rubric: Final paper (title page, body, reference list) – Due 5/7

20 points: 8 for accurate/cogent discussion of articles chosen, with critique or comparison; 8 for organization, intro/conclusion, clarity of writing; 4 for paper format, APA citations/references.

Your title page should also include this honor pledge: “I affirm that I have not given or received any unauthorized help on this assignment, and that this work is my own.”

APA-style citation format (don’t use anything different than this):
Schellenberg, E.G., & Trehub, S.E. (2003). Good pitch memory is widespread. Psychological Science, 14 (3), 262-266.
Levitin, D. J. (1999). Experimental design in psychoacoustic research. In P. Cook (Ed.), Music, cognition, and computerized sound (pp. 299-328). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Late Policies

Any homework assignment (Slack post or quiz) submitted up to 24 hours late gets half credit. (After that, 0 credit). Note: you are allowed to attempt the quiz TWO TIMES (and we will take the higher score), but you must complete this within 24 hrs to get full credit.

Any paper assignment (mini papers, paper proposal, or final paper) submitted up to 2 days (48 hrs) late gets half credit. (After that, 0 credit).

We are willing to grant extensions ONLY IF you submit a request (by e-mail to Dr. Piazza) at least 3 days before a deadline and you have a reasonable excuse (e.g., illness, family emergency).

Other Information

Academic Honesty: The course Blackboard site has a section on academic honesty, including a PowerPoint presentation on the topic. Visit this website, especially the section on "Tips and Pitfalls" for advice.

You (and I) are bound by the policies on this site. Remember: cutting-and-pasting from an online article into your paper is a violation of academic honesty, as much as cheating on an exam. In describing experiments, you should paraphrase in your own words, rather than quote.

On the Use of Generative AI: Students may use AI programs (e.g., ChatGPT) only to help clarify concepts taught in this course. (For example, one might ask an AI program: “I don’t understand the concept of ‘natural selection’. Please provide some examples of this concept). However, since analytical/critical thinking, reading and writing skills are major learning objectives of the course, all course assignments must be completed by a student without the assistance of AI programs.

Learning Assistance: If you have a disability for which you may be requesting an academic accommodation, please reach out to Dr. Piazza early on in the course about your specific needs and the access coordinator for your school to establish eligibility for academic accommodations. The TAs and I are happy to help with any questions/issues you may have about this.
AS&E students
Eastman students