Lab Report 2020

PSY270H Cognitive Psychology

From polling friends in the past, many feel that listening to music doesn't impact their
ability to read/write/study, while for me it is a distractor. But does listening to music
while studying have any possible *benefits*?

We then discussed relevant findings and voted on a hypothesis:

Music only increases attention when it doesn’t interfere with the primary task (e.g., not
both verbal)

As a group, we then operationalized the variables that will be manipulated and measured
to test this hypothesis and discussed experiment design possibilities. Finally, we discussed
patterns of results that would either support or disconfirm our hypothesis.

In this written assignment, you will write a brief lab report detailing the logic of the
experiment decisions and design. You are welcome to use decisions and designs discussed
in class, but you are also welcomed to propose a somewhat different design to assess the
same hypothesis. Basically, you will be graded on the clarity of your logic, not the creativity
of your design.

The final paper should be 3-4 pages long (double spaced, 12-point font, including
references).

Your final paper should include the following sections:

Introduction:
Should provide a well-structured review of the relevant literature and motivation for the
proposed experiment. An ideal introduction would introduce the question in an accessible
manner within the first paragraph. It would then describe relevant work in the second (and
perhaps third) paragraph. For this class, it is sufficient summarize relevant content from a
cited review paper. In more advanced courses, you will be required to read, summarize,
critique, and cite primary empirical papers. In the final paragraph, an ideal introduction
would identify the open question and succinctly lay out the proposed hypothesis and
approach (e.g., overview of experiment design) to address this open question.
Roughly 1-1.5 pages

Proposed Methods:
Should first describe the proposed participants (who will be tested in the experiment; if
multiple groups are used, how will groups be matched; how many participants, etc.). It
should then describe the task that participants will perform, clearly identifying the
dependent and independent variables. The goal of a methods section is to provide enough
information for other researchers to replicate your methods, but conveyed as succinctly as
possible.
Roughly 1 page
 Predicted Results:
Describe the pattern of results that would support your hypothesis and the pattern(s) that
would not support your hypothesis. Predicted results figures are also recommended.
Roughly .5-1 page, including a figure.

Discussion of Limitations:
In the final section, you should briefly discuss potential limitations of your proposed
approach, including confounding factors, limitations of methods, and alternative
explanations. Lastly you should briefly describe some future directions that could overcome
these limitations. Note that for more advanced classes, full discussion sections include a
detailed review of how the proposed findings would fit within the broader literature (e.g.,
their relevance to competing theories, whether they call into question the interpretation of
other studies, etc.).
Roughly .5 pages

References:
You should include at least 1 review paper. Do not reference textbooks or Wikipedia pages,
but you can use them to find sources. Cite in APA style and include an APA-style reference
list.

Here are some references for APA style:

APA style only applies to the references (in text and reference section) – you do not need to
worry about formatting figures, tables, etc. in APA style.

Tense:
You should use the future tense throughout your paper because this is a proposal. This may
seem awkward in the Results and Discussion section, but just use phrases like, "If my
hypothesis is true, then ..."

Research & There is a reference librarian at Robarts who may be willing to make themsleves available for
Writing help consultation on how to begin researching your paper:
Benjamin Walsh, Reference Librarian
Robarts Library, Reference & Research Services
[email protected]  

You can also make a general booking for consultation with librarians through this website:
http://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/consultations/
For help with writing, make a booking at one of the university’s writing centres:
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/writing-centres
and have a look at their online tip sheets:
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/about-this-site/pdf-links-for-students

Turnitin.com If you are not opting out (see syllabus for details), you must submit both your term paper and your term
paper draft to turnitin. You will be able to see the originality report for your paper (after a delay), and if
any sections turn up as problematic, you may edit your paper and resubmit before the due date. Only
your last submission will be counted. You can submit to turnitin through Quercus.
Plagiarism Please see the syllabus’ section on the Academic Misconduct & Plagiarism. Most cases of plagiarism are
from students who didn’t know what they were doing was wrong. To avoid being accused of plagiarism,
make sure you know it when you see it. Please consult www.plagiarism.org for a complete breakdown of
all offences that constitute plagiarism. The following is excerpted from that website:

Sources Cited (But Still Plagiarized)