Course details

8.3445

Tracing the Mind by Hand

 S
SS 2020 Dr. phil. Timo Röttger HYBRID
2h/wk
4 ECTS 		B.Sc modules:
CS-BWP-CNP - Cognitive (Neuro-)Psychology
CS-BWP-MCS - Methods of Cognitive Science
KOGW-WPM-KNP - Cognitive (Neuro-)Psychology
M.Sc modules:
CS-MWP-CNP - Cognitive (Neuro-)Psychology

Doctorate program 		Sat: 9-12
Sat: 13-16

Summary: Over the last decades, cognitive science has witnessed an incredible expansion of their tool sets to explore the nature of the mind. Among many other methods, researchers have started to trace peoples’ hand movements while they perform diverse tasks in order to learn about the underlying cognitive processes involved. A popular and particularly inexpensive method to do so is mouse tracking. Mouse tracking and related methods exploit hand movements as a source of on-line behavioral response data that can be tracked continuously over hundreds of milliseconds. Introducing the mouse tracking method as an accessible, but not flawless, experimental instrument for cognitive scientists, we will work through seminal studies on the topic and will critically evaluate their claims about how manual response tracking is related to cognition and its possible neurological substrate. We will shed light on the nature of the method from a conceptual, technical, and analytical perspective. Finally, we will offer a hands-on introduction to designing mouse tracking studies using the open source software OpenSesame. This class aims at creating a foundational understanding of manual response tracking as a tool for experimental cognitive psychology and hopes to transfer the required know-how to immediately use this method to explore scientific questions. Date and Time: Block seminar Saturday 09. May 2020 9:00-12:00 & 13.30-16:30 Saturday 13. June 9:00-12:00 & 13.30-16:30 Saturday 27. June 9:00-12:00 & 13.30-16:30