I worry now that I may accidentally have induced someone into the Ways of Skiving.
If you want to be really keen, read Eysenck and Keane's 'Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook'. It turns up in PS3007 (second semester) and features heavily - I didn't keep up with the reading, and suspect (I don't know yet!) that I suffered for it when it came to exams because there were some things I THOUGHT I understood but really didn't. Bear in mind that the textbook can get quite involved and also that Dr Quinn will slag the book off quite a lot, as it's certainly not perfect.
You're correct that research papers can be very specific - but the lectures should give you enough information to make sense of them, and then they in turn supplement the lectures by clarifying or developing on some points.
If you really want I can send you any reading lists I acquired over the year for the various modules, but reading in advance really isn't necessary and in some cases might just confuse matters!
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If Jack Bauer was put in a room with Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Nina Myers and handed a gun with two bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.
If Jack Bauer was put in a room with Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Nina Myers and handed a gun with two bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.