PSYCH 258
Cognitive Psychology
What is Cognitive Psychology? — overview of the field, including history, current research, and careers in cognitive psychology
Mind Hacks — tips and tools for using your brain; has a daily blog (RSS feed)
Psychology: The Cognitive Movement — looks at important figures in the Cognitive Revolution
Cognitive Science Society — interdisciplinary professional society for cognitive scientists
Thinking Machine 6 — play chess against a transparent “intelligence”
GoCognitive — interactive demos of cognitive phenomena and video interviews with cognitive psychologists
IBM Research: WatsonPaths Demo — video of this cognitive computing project that enables more natural interaction between physicians, data and electronic medical records
The Phineas Gage Information Page — has lots of details and pictures of this strange, sad case
Phineas Gage -- unravelling the myth — article on Gage from The Psychologist
What Really Happened to Phineas Gage? — video from SciShow Psych
Neuroscience For Kids — great basic information on neuroscience--not just for kids!
Brain: The World Inside Your Head — touring interactive museum exhibit
The Secret Life of the Brain — website for the PBS series explains the brain from birth to late adulthood
Franz Josef Gall — describes the life and work of the man responsible for phrenology
MEG Scanners Are Mega Powerful — article about magneto-encephalography technology from Wired magazine
What is Aphasia? — describes more about this communication disorder
The split brain: A tale of two halves — on the fascinating cases of split-brain syndrome, and the work of Roger Sperry
Cognitive Training Data — highlights the scientific perspectives and studies on cognitive training
How The Brain Rewires Itself — Time article on experience-dependent neural plasticity
SharpBrains — info on brain fitness and cognitive health; doesn’t sell anything
Brain Games: Do They Really Work? — online article from Scientific American
6 Ways to Boost Brainpower — Scientific American Mind magazine offers ways to fine-tune your brain
Neuroplasticity: Why You Should Care About Your BDNF — explains how you can cognitively benefit from exercise, sleep, good nutrition, and less stress
Brain Games Aim to Make Kids Smarter — Scientific American Mind article on mental fitness regimens for children (requires UAlberta credentials)
BrainPort Balance Plus — brain-training tool used to treat balance disorders
NovaVision — this vision restoration therapy applies brain plasticity
Cogmed Working Memory Training — computer-based training for attention problems caused by poor working memory
EndeavorRx — doctor-prescribed video game treatment for children with ADHD
Arrowsmith Program and Fast ForWord — apply brain plasticity to help those with learning difficulties
Creyos — sells interactive online tests to exercise your cognitive functioning
BrainHQ — PositScience’s brain fitness program online
Brain Game Center — this research group offers free cognitive and perceptual training apps
What is Gestalt Psychology? — provides a definition, describes principles, shows examples, and more
What is MICR? — Magnetic Ink Character Recognition codes are printed at the bottom of cheques
Perception in Visualization — discusses theories related to visual search
PSYCH 367: Perception websites — many links to perception topics
Dual Task Experiment — online experiment testing your ability to divide your attention between two tasks
The Multitasking Generation — Time magazine article on “Generation M” and multitasking
Multitasking: Switching costs — a Research in Action briefing from the APA
Anne Treisman — online encyclopedia article
YouTube video demos: Dichotic Listening, ok science (requires headphones)
Airport Scanner — play this baggage screening app to test your attention for rare targets (for iOS and Android)
Stroop task — try this interactive experiment
Simons Lab — online videos of inattention phenomena
Pearls Before Breakfast — Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let’s find out.
Inattentional Blindness and Change Blindness demos — from the UBC Visual Cognition Lab
Fleeting Memories — more online demos of inattention phenomena (archived)
Short term picture comprehension and memory — has RSVP examples of attentional blink with different stimuli
Change Blindness — from the Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (with demos)
Movie mistakes — you have to overcome change blindness to notice these
The Human Memory — comprehensive resource, covering types and processes of memory, memory and the brain, and disorders
World Memory Championships — check out memory world records
There Are Better Ways to Study That Will Last You a Lifetime — Daniel Willingham describes the research on studying
Gone But Not Forgotten? — explores the mystery behind infant memories and “infantile amnesia”
The Day His World Stood Still — article on the strange story of H.M.
Project H.M. — The Brain Observatory’s site about H.M., and the atlas of his brain
H.M.’s Brain and the History of Memory — listen to this NPR program on H.M. online
How Memory Works — summary from Harvard University
K.C. (part 1) — YouTube interview with Kent Cochrane, known as K.C. (see also parts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)
Don’t Forget! — archive of the Scientific American Frontiers episode on memory (has complete episode video online)
Spaced Repetition for Efficient Learning — has a review of the literature, and gives tips on how to use spaced repetition
The Memory Doctor — multi-part series on the work of renowed memory researcher Elizabth Loftus
Memories of Childhood Abuse — the APA answers questions on whether recovered memories are real
Remembering Dangerously — Skeptical Inquirer article on “repressed” memories by Elizabeth Loftus
The Misinformation Effect and False Memories — overview of the research on memory, and false memories
False Memory Archive — art project based on people’s false memories
Gary L. Wells — resources on eyewitness testimony from this former UAlberta prof
Eyewitness Memory Is a Lot More Reliable Than You Think — explains important aspects of memory that law enforcement--and the public--needs to know
The Innocence Project/Innocence Canada — these organizations support the exoneration of people who have been convicted of a crime they did not commit
The Innocence Files — Netflix series about The Innocence Project, unravelling missteps and deceit in wrongful convictions, exposing the injustice inflicted on victims and the accused
The Memory Page — includes tips on how to use your memory better
Memento — IMDB entry for the movie about anterograde amnesia
Sleep Boosts Ability To Learn Language — ScienceDaily news item about a paper published in the journal Nature
Copyright Website — many examples of alleged (accidental?) copyright infringement
George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” Copyright Case — listen and compare for yourself
Music Copyright Infringement Resource — list of lawsuits over plagiarism in music, with audio clips; see also Songs Alike
Misinformation resources:
• How Susceptible Are You to Misinformation? — take this quick test and find out
• The Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative
• Info Interventions: YouTube playlist about different prebunks
• Hit Pause: YouTube’s own effort to combat misinformation
• The Missing Human in Misinformation Fixes
Misinformation games:
• Bad News
Kosslyn Laboratory — at Harvard University
Zenon Pylyshyn — at Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science
The most common navigational mistakes we all make — Slate article on errors in mental maps
Eidetic Memory: Is It Real? — describes this amazing ability, and lists some famous people thought to have it
Do you have a photographic memory? — try this interactive test of eidetic memory
mnemonic-device.com — has lots of mnemonics, sorted by category
Memory Improvement Techniques — techniques to help your memory, including mnemonics
How to Build a Memory Palace — using the method of loci mnemonic technique
Understanding Different Fruit Types — learn surprising facts about the classification of fruits (pay attention to the defining features)
Seeds and Fruits — an online chapter on fruits, seeds, and nuts--it’s mind boggling!
Do Chairs Exist? — exploration of a simple question with a complex set of answers
Puppies Or Food? 12 Pics That Will Make You Question Reality — Puppy or bagel? Sheepdog or mop? Chihuahua or muffin? I don't know anymore!
Interactive Activation Application — downloadable app that demonstrates the interactive activation model (Mac and Windows)
Tensorflow Neural Network Playground — tinker with a neural network right in your browser
15 Google Interview Questions That Will Make You Feel Stupid — can you solve these? Or these?
Miller Analogies Test — free MAT practice questions
The Microsoft IQ Test — article about “puzzle interviews” from Wired magazine
Internet Anagram Server — use it to create your own anagrams
Tower of Hanoi — try solving this puzzle in the fewest moves (alternate version)
Missionaries and Cannibals — another version of the Hobbits & Orcs problem
Water Jars — interactive version of Luchin’s problem
Realistic Lateral Thinking Puzzles — try some of these insight questions! (And some tricky ones, too.)
50 Lateral Thinking Puzzles — more lateral thinking puzzles
META Lab — Memory, Emotion, Thought, Awareness lab website for Dr Jonathan Schooler; has info on verbal overshadowing
2001: A Space Odyssey — official and unofficial sites
Planet of the Apes: The Sacred Scrolls — PotA wiki site
Project Zero — to enhance learning, thinking, and creativity, headed by Howard Gardner
Remote Associates Test — interactive items from the RAT
TriBond® — this board game (and TV show pilot) is like the Remote Associates Test
Wuzzles — word puzzles made of words, letters, figures or symbols positioned to create disguised words, phrases, names, places, sayings etc.
Games World of Puzzles — for creative minds at play
Puzzle Prime — try some brain teasers, including insight, math, lateral thinking, and more
Matchstick Puzzles — many puzzles based on moving matchsticks (matchsticks not included)
Creativity Web — neat stuff on creativity, intelligence, problem solving,...
WagiLabs — What A Great Idea can help kids exercise their creativity
The 6 Myths of Creativity — article on Teresa Amabile’s research, from Fast Company magazine
Choiceology — podcast about improving your reasoning, judgment, and decision making
Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies — helps you identify and call out dodgy logic
Illogic Primer — explains conjunction, disjunction, conditional, and biconditional
Logical Reasoning Sample Questions — the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is based on logical reasoning
Logically Fallacious — the ultimate collection of over 300 logical fallacies
The Web’s Most Illogical Arguments — PCWorld.com explains 10 of the most common logical fallacies found on the internet
Decision Research — company helps society understand and cope with complex and risky decisions
Shortcuts — this handy guide explains dozens of cognitive biases and heuristics
You Are Not So Smart — blog about different kinds of cognitive biases
The Wason Selection Task — interactive demos of the Wason task
Cognitive Bias Cheat Sheet — categorization of over 180 cognitive illustions, biases, and heuristics (also see The Cognitive Bias Codex infographic)
Book of Odds — book on the odds of just about everything (also on X, Facebook, and YouTube)
The Paradox of Choice - Why More is Less — GoogleTalkArchive video by Professor Barry Schwartz
Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice — TED video about choice and decision making
Who wants to be a millionaire? — free online version (no actual money or prizes are awarded)
The Latte Factor® — shows how much you can save by cutting out lattes (includes interactive calculator)
Human Intelligence — traces the history of influences and development
IQ/Intelligence tests: try these intelligence tests:
• 123test
• Official IQ Test (not really “official”)
IQ Tests Go to War — try questions from actual army intelligence tests
Mensa Canada Society — think you’re smart? Join Mensa!
Chitling Test — try this interactive version of the Dove Counterbalance General Intelligence Test about Black culture
How to Think about AI — podcast miniseries from Freakonomics discussing the current state of AI
What is AI? — chapter 1 of the free online course Elements of AI
The AI Wars: lessons from the conflict that paralyzed the field — very readable story of the history of AI
Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence — HAI is a comprehensive resource on trends in AI
Turing test — explore this test of AI; annual competition is the The Loebner Prize (or chat online with Kuki)
The Trouble with the Turing Test — in-depth article on the test, plus the Chinese Room argument
Cyc® — the common sense knowledge base
Wikidata — free open-source knowledge base
ConceptNet — this multilingual semantic network can help computers understand what text really means
Read the Web — the Never-Ending Language Learning (NELL) project is teaching computers to read (also on X)
ELIZA — interactive Rogerian “therapist” chatbot
MGonz — transcript of a rude conversation with MGonz (NSFW)
CLAUDE — a shareware clone of RACTER for PCs
Cleverbot — chat with the Cleverbot AI
The Simon Laven Page — great site about chatterbots
Bad Translator — translate a phrase back and forth between languages and see what happens
The First Look at How Google’s Self-Driving Car Handles City Streets — article with videos
The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI — no one really knows how the most advanced algorithms do what they do--that could be a problem
Google Research — describes some machine intelligence projects at Google
Google’s Artificial Brain Learns to Find Cat Videos — Wired report on the abilities of Google Brain
The Artificial Intelligence Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence — discusses AI calibre, and the coming superintelligent AI
Microsoft Research shows off advances in artificial intelligence with Project Adam — includes videos on this AI’s abilities
Microsoft Challenges Google’s Artificial Brain With ‘Project Adam’ — Wired report on the abilities of Project Adam
Waymo — Google spinoff self-driving technology company
Siri Rising: The Inside Story Of Siri’s Origins — HuffPo article on the history of Apple’s Siri “personal assistant”
The Age of Intelligent Machines — book by Raymond Kurzweil, who foresaw many of the technical developments of 1990s. Then check out...
The Age of Spiritual Machines — how will our ideas of self and spirituality evolve as we merge with technology and extend our lifespans?
The AI Report — Forbes.com discusses the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence
Will IBM’s Watson Usher in a New Era of Cognitive Computing? — Scientific American article
Your Body Is a Planet — Discover magazine describes how 90% of the cells within us are not ours, but microbes
How Bacteria in Our Bodies Protect Our Health — Scientific American article on the importance of the microbiome (requires UAlberta credentials)
Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria — Frontline episode on resistant bacteria
Be Antibiotics Aware and Antibiotic/Antimicrobial Resistance — from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Challenge of Antibiotic Resistance — feature article from Scientific American magazine
Evolution of antibiotic resistance — describes the “evolutionary arms race” between bacteria and antibiotics
Antibiotic Awareness — Antibiotic Awareness Week is intended to help prevent and control the spread of bacteria that develop resistance to medications
Using Antibiotics Wisely — national campaign that helps clinicians and patients engage in conversations about unnecessary antibiotic use
Do Bugs Need Drugs? — a community project for wise use of antibiotics (see also Bugs&Drugs)
Antimicrobial Stewardship Program — dedicated to slowing the spread of antimicrobial resistance by measuring and promoting the proper use of antimicrobials
National Information Program on Antibiotics — NIPA is a Canadian program to reduce the problem of antibiotic resistance
Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance — CIPARS monitors antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance in human, animal and food sources across Canada
Antimicrobial Resistance--A Shared Responsibility — report from the Public Health Agency of Canada
APUA — Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics
Henry the Hand Foundation — don't touch the T-zone!
Why Don’t We Do It In Our Sleeves? — cough safe!
PSYCH 494: Human Factors and Ergonomics websites — many links to human factors and ergonomics topics