Psychology (PSYC): PSYC 245 Cognitive Psychology

Search Keywords

Choosing the right search words or keywords or combination of keywords can help you find the most useful sources for your topic quickly. 

SpartaCat, the library's catalog, searches in the title, summary, publication details, and table of content information for your search keywords. It does not search the text or content of the items themselves. Thus, searching for something too specific may not give you a lot of results. Searching for major concepts and broad ideas like LANGUAGE or "LANGUAGE ACQUISITION" will lead you to books that you can then use the table of contents and indexes of to find more specific information about your topic. 

In the library databases, the more specific you can be with your search, the better. Keyword searches here look for any instance of that word in the title, summary, publication information, or full-text of articles and information sources. Being precise and exact with your search keywords makes a difference. Searching for something general like LANGUAGE is likely to give you too many results.

Ask yourself, what do you want to know about your topic? Is there a certain group of people or even a location that you can concentrate on? A better search strategy would be something like: "LANGUAGE ACQUISITION" and BRAIN and TODDLERS.

Keyword Suggestions

The library has many books and access to articles about the topics you are discussing in class. 

Looking for the brain, perception, or cognition?
Try the additional search keywords: cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, visual sensory memory, pattern recognition, object recognition, face recognition, agnosia, auditory perception, synesthesia

Attention?

Try: concentration, arousal, alertness, focused attention, sustained attention, alternating attention, selective attention, limited attention automatic processing, controlled processing, cognitive overload

Memory?
Try: semantic memory, priming, false memories, eyewitness memory, forgotten memories, repressed memories, recovered memories, autobiographical memories, short-term memory, short-term working memory, working memory, episodic memory, forgetting, decay, interference, retrieval failure, retrieval clues, implicit memory, explicit memory, amnesia, dissociation

Language or music?
Try: language acquisition, language universals, Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, phonology, speech perception, syntax, Chomsky, transformational grammar, morphemes, semantics, aphasia, written language, spoken language, psycholinguistics, reading, conversation, gesture, music psychology, music cognition, music perception

Problem solving and reasoning?
Try: formal logic, syllogisms, conditional reasoning, biases, fallacies, insight, analogy, means-end analysis, decision making, critical thinking

Search Filters

In library databases, be sure to always choose the Full-Text option, so that you can access and read the full article immediately. You may also choose to check the Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) option, if your instructor requires you to find scholarly articles. Other search filters, like Publication Date or Source Type, might also help.

Remember that the APA PsycARTICLES database allows you to choose an Age Group in addition, which is especially helpful for this class. For more about this database, see the Articles in Library Databases page of this guide.