200099 SE Seminar in Applied Psychology: Mind and Brain (2024S)

[AIMS]
This course is an introduction to research on auditory cognition. We will cover all relevant topics from basic psychoacoustic and neuroscientific methods to selective hearing in complex auditory scenes like cocktail parties. After completing the course, students should have gained an overview of the current state of research as well as hot topics in the field. They will have familiarized themselves with literature on auditory cognition and trained their presentation and discussion skills.

[CONTENTS]
The course will cover five broad topics of auditory cognition (units 3 to 12). The detailed schedule is as follows:
1. unit (8.3.): Introduction and organization
2. unit (15.3.): Excursion to the Lab of the Acoustics Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/ari) at Georg-Coch-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna
3./4. unit (22.3./12.4.): Space perception and virtual auditory environments (Klingel)
5./6. unit (19./26.4.): Selective hearing and auditory EEG (Baumgartner)
7./8. unit (3./10.5.): Belief updating and pupillometry (Fleischmann)
9./10. unit (17./24.5.): Pitch perception, auditory dysfunction and cochlear implants (Lindenbeck)
11./12. unit (7.6./14.6.): Music perception and cochlear implants (Augsten)
13./14. unit (21.6./28.6.): Feedback, recaps, and extra topics based on students’ interests

[METHODS]
Each of the five topics will be covered in two units. In the first unit, an introductory lecture on the topic will be given and the students are encouraged to ask questions and engage in discussions. In the second unit, students will present papers and moderate the discussion following their presentations. Other students will be selected to also read the papers in detail and act as expert questioners to push the discussion. Half of the expert questioners will also write a short review statement about the paper that will further be discussed on Moodle. The other expert questioners will push also the online discussion.