Post on 12-May-2015
Cognitive Psychology - Introduction
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Cognitive Psychology Is… The study of how people perceive, learn,
remember, and think about information.
Problem Solving
Attention
Memory Decision Making
IntelligenceLanguage
Perception
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
RationalistLogic & reasoning is key
Empiricist Experience & observation is key
Philosophical Roots
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Cognitive Methods
Experiments Psychobiological studies Self report Case studies Naturalistic Observation Computer Simulations
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
In an Experiment…
Random sample of participants Manipulate the Independent Variable
Create experimental group Create control group Randomly assign participants
Measure the Dependent Variable Same for all groups
Control all other variables Prevent confounds
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Typical Independent Variables
Manipulate stimulus materials Compare words to non-words Compare color diagrams to black and white Compare Yes questions to No questions
Control how participants process materials Use imagery to study versus repetition Vary speed of presentation of materials
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Typical Dependent Variables
Reaction Time (milliseconds) Mental events take time
Accuracy/Error analysis How well the participant does on a task
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Psychobiological Studies
Postmortem studies Examine the cortex of dyslexics after death
Brain damaged individuals and their deficits Study amnesiacs with hippocampus damage
Monitor a participant doing a cognitive task Measure brain activity while a participant is reciting a
poem
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Self Report Studies
Verbal Protocol Participants describe their conscious thoughts
while solving a story problem Diary Study
Participants keep track of memory failures Naturalistic Observation
Monitor decision making of pilots during flights
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Case Studies
Intensive studies of individuals May examine archival records, interviews,
direct observation, or participant-observations Creativity of successful individualsThe deficits of a neglected child
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Computers in Research
Analogy for human Cognition The sequence of symbol manipulation that
underlies thinking The goal: discovery of the programs in humans’
memory Computer simulations of Artificial
Intelligence Recreate human processes using computers
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science of making machines do the sort of things that are done by human minds (Boden 1987).
One major assumption of AI is that both humans and some machines are information processors.
The computer metaphor involves viewing the brain as being like a computer.
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
I/O PROCESS
If the inputs and outputs of the human and the machines are identical, then given that we understand the functioning of the artificial system, this should throw some light on how a human mind functions.
AI models assume the human mind functions in an analogous way to the computer and so in AI, computers are tools that are used to try and understand how information is processed by the human mind.
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
• Donders found that simple reaction time is shorter than recognition reaction time (RT), and that choice reaction time is longer than both.
• devised a subtraction method to analyze the time it took for mental operations to take place.
• This method provides a way to investigate the cognitive processes underlying simple perceptual-motor tasks, and formed the basis of subsequent developments
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Information processing model
One of the difficulties facing cognitive psychologists is that they are trying to study processes that are not directly observable.
Consequently they suggest that we can imagine what is going on in between input and output and make a model of this which can then be tested by experimental or other means.
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Information processing model
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
ADVANCED INFORMATION
PROCESSING MODEL
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar
Dr.V.Veera Balaji Kumar