Cognitive psychology investigates the mind's activity in its understanding of the surrounding world and determining what actions are the most appropriate. For example, we must be able to perceive the environment around us if we are to remember past events, compare them with what is happening in the current circumstances, select the most important ones, and then store what we have learned from the experience for future use.
The aim of this course is to provide in-depth theoretical and methodological instruction in the field of cognitive psychology. In terms of content, a further aim is to provide students with an historical and thematic overview of the most important psychological movements in psychology and the fundamental cognitive processes of perception, attention, memory, decision-making, communication, and action.
The course's first part will touch the main theories of cognitive psychology and their applications in the cinematography and multimedia products. The second part of the course will deal with theoretical and methodological issues in applicative fields such as: human-technology interaction, human error studies, representation of the environment studies, system and service design, etc.
The course is divided into lecture and workshop sessions.

Arielli, E. (2003). Pensiero e progettazione. La psicologia cognitiva applicata al design e all'architettura. Milano: Bruno Mondadori.
Costa, A. (2002). Il cinema e le arti visive. Einaudi, Torino.
Fogg, J.B. (2006). Tecnologia della persuasione, Milano: Apogeo.
Manzotti, R. (2006). Psicologia della percezione artistica, Arcipelago Edizioni, Milano.
Mastandrea, S. (2003). La psicologia della percezione ' dalla sensazione alla comunicazione, Idelson-Gnocchi, Napoli.
Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional Design. Milano: Apogeo.
Thackara, J. (2008). In the bubble, Edizione Umberto Allemandi & C., Torino

The final test consists in an oral examination.
- For attending students, the exam will cover course topics and a book of one's choice from the list below;
- For non-attending students, the exam will cover two books from the list below and one book mandatory: Mastandrea, S. (2003). La psicologia della percezione ' dalla sensazione alla comunicazione, Idelson-Gnocchi, Napoli.
Moreover, a list of scientific articles will be provided during lectures for use in individual and group presentations, which will make up an integral part of the course. Arrangements can also be made to present books other than core bibliography texts.