The present study piloted a cognitive exercise program in a college classroom to enhance learning of lecture material. Undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology (N = 68) completed variations of letter-number cancelation tasks with spoken instructions in 5-min sessions prior to lecture during four nonconsecutive class periods.…

When people perceive the world, what they see is based on the physics of light reflecting off surfaces and entering their eyes. Their brain then processes the raw data so that photoreceptor activity becomes perceptual awareness. Most textbooks and chapters on sensation and perception follow this formula, building student understanding of…

The use of multimedia-driven instruction in college courses is an emerging practice designed to increase students' knowledge. However, limited research has validated the effectiveness of using multimedia to teach students about functional behavioral assessments (FBAs). To test the effectiveness of a multimedia tool called Content Acquisition…

In this article the authors argue that distinguishing between rationality and intelligence helps explain how people can be, at the same time, intelligent and irrational (Stanovich, 2009). As such, researchers need to study separately the individual differences in cognitive skills that underlie intelligence and the individual differences in…

Stress management and coping techniques are not only relevant in many psychology courses but also personally relevant for undergraduate students. In this article, the authors describe an activity designed to provide students with practice evaluating and challenging negative self-talk. Students responded to scenarios individually, were paired with…

In the past decade, the psychological study of creativity has accelerated greatly. To facilitate the teaching of creativity, I provide an overview of the recent literature. The overview begins by discussing recent empirical results and research trends. This discussion specifically treats creativity's cognitive, differential, developmental, and…

The Monty Hall dilemma (MHD) is a remarkably difficult probability problem with a counterintuitive solution. Undergraduate students used an interactive digital learning object that provided a set-based, animated explanation of the solution to the MHD and let them play games designed to increase understanding of the solution. More than 60% of users…

Theories and research related to the unconscious can be found in every area of psychology, but there is no course devoted to the topic in the undergraduate curriculum. A capstone course on the unconscious is described. The course integrates topics across the major fields of psychology. Themes in the course include the existence of mental processes…

This article describes an in-class exercise that illustrates the advantage of semantic over nonsemantic study habits. The exercise includes a survey of students' current study strategies, followed by the presentation of an abbreviated version of Craik and Tulving's(1975) classic levels-of-processing experiment. We observed significant benefits of…

We experimentally investigated the effect of crib sheet construction and use on student learning and exam performance. Students expected to use their prepared crib sheets during testing; however, unexpectedly they first completed a pretest without their crib sheets. Students scored significantly better on the same questions with crib sheets…

Discusses the uses and benefits of Narrative Assisted Instruction (NAI). This technique uses a story or narrative to illustrate specific content instruction thereby increasing student motivation, comprehension, and memory of the material. Uses NAI to illustrate these concepts by recounting the story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron. (MJP)

Describes a demonstration for college-level cognitive psychology classes of Miller's "Magical Number Seven" concept of the limitation of sensory capacity for processing information. Students report on the number of pennies they observed in a box after viewing the coins for two seconds. Demonstration results consistently support Miller's…

Asserts that case studies and discussion method pedagogy are replacing lecture and small-group discussion as the primary higher-level teaching method. Describes and discusses the case study approach as a technique for teaching critical thinking skills. Presents 11 arguments for using these pedagogies. (CFR)

Defines and discusses a definition of critical thinking. Maintains that college students improve their learning effectiveness when they are engaged actively and invested personally. Describes student evaluation techniques used to enhance thinking skills. (CFR)

Describes a classroom activity featuring a simple stay-switch probability game. Contends that the exercise helps students see the importance of empirically validating beliefs. Includes full instructions for conducting and discussing the exercise. (CFR)