Discover how your brain stores and uses different types of memory, like remembering events, facts, and everyday skills. Learn why our memories can be surprisingly unreliable, how false memories happen, and what this means for learning, studying, and making decisions.
How We Think and Learn: The Brain, Decisions, and Bias
This is a Level 1 course from the Psychology minor, part of the Open Bachelor’s programme. It is worth 6 ECTS and takes place in Term 1 in Lisbon.
Course Summary
Do you think your memory is reliable and your decisions rational? Think again. In this module, you will explore the different types of memory, uncover their limited reliability, and examine real-world implications of these limitations. You will also discover the different forms of reasoning, and investigate how emotions, heuristics, and cognitive and implicit biases can influence or distort our evaluations and judgments.
We will investigate the different ways we make good and bad decisions as well as the best strategies to solve problems. Discover how you are not always the rational agent you believe you are, and apply this knowledge and theories to improve your learning and decision making abilities and to foster your critical thinking skills and approach challenges with greater insight.
Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
| Description | Mapped to Human Intelligence | |
|---|---|---|
| CLO 1 | Describe and explain the main cognitive models and neural mechanisms underlying memory, learning, reasoning, and decision-making | CI3 – Mastery of Theoretical Foundations |
| CLO 2 | Apply concepts of cognitive biases, heuristics, or reconstructive memory to everyday thinking and behaviour | CI4 – Mastery in Knowledge Application |
| CLO 3 | Evaluate and assess individuals’ decision-making skills and strategies to gain real-world insights | PI4 – Decision Making |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Weighting of Course Grade | Group Assessment? | Invigilated? | CLOs Mapped | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1 | Evaluative – Quiz | 20% | No | Yes | CLOs 1 & 2 |
| Assessment 2 | Practical – Simulation | 40% | No | No | CLOs 2 & 3 |
| Assessment 3 | Practical – Case Study | 40% | No | Yes | CLOs 1 & 2 |
- Assessment 1 Description: Combination of multiple-choice and short answer questions testing understanding of cognitive models and neural mechanisms and their application to real-life situations, administered around mid-point of the course.
- Assessment 2 Description: Students will first individually participate in a simulated environment (such as a problem-solving video-game or a decision-making role-play) designed to elicit decision-making or problem-solving under uncertainty or constraints. Based on this experience, they will submit a reflective report (written or video format), evaluating their own decision-making or problem-solving strategies, biases, and outcomes, with reference to relevant cognitive psychology theories and models.
- Assessment 3 Description: Individually, in an invigilated setting, students will write an analysis of a case study (real-life events, or results from experiments) to display their ability to identify relevant key concepts and models and to apply them to explain the events/data observed in the case study.
Indicative List
of Topics
Discover how the brain balances intuition and analysis when making decisions. Study dual-process theories, emotional influences, and cognitive shortcuts, and learn how biases like framing, anchoring, and confirmation shape our judgments.
Examine how emotions influence moral reasoning and social behaviour. Use neuroscience to understand empathy, fairness, and the role of brain systems in moral dilemmas and real-world decisions.
Learn how the brain processes feedback, predicts rewards, and adapts to new situations. Analyse the neural mechanisms behind reinforcement learning, habit formation, and insight, and use this knowledge to sharpen your own problem-solving skills.
Study how we monitor our own thinking, detect errors, and adjust strategies. Build metacognitive awareness using neuroscience-backed tools to strengthen your critical thinking, learning, and decision-making in everyday life.
