Cognitive Psychology Chapter 1.1 Introduction

Study Questions.• Define and briefly describe Cognitive Psychology.• Why might we consider cognitive psychology to be a scientific revolution? Why might we consider it to not be a revolution?

04/20/23• Outline»Course and Instructor

»What is Cognitive Psychology?

»Where did Cognitive Psychology come from?

◊Psychological Antecedents–Two Revolutions

◊Precursors from other disciplines

»Information processing approach

Introduction

• Course and Instructor

» Course web site• Cognitive Psychology

» Neisser’s (1968) definition:◊ Cognitive Psychology: refers to all processes by which the

sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used.

Ulric Neisser (1928 - )

http://people.stfx.ca/pamccorm/Web/220Home.html

Introduction

• Cognitive Psychology» Ascroft’s definitions:

◊ Cognition: the mental events and knowledge we use when we recognize an object, remember a name, have an idea, understand a sentence, or solve a problem.

◊ Cognitive Science: the scientific study of thought, language, and the brain - in short the study of the mind.

Introduction

True or False

A canary can breathA canary can fly

Introduction

• Studying mental processes» The sentence verification task

1500

1400

Rea

ctio

n T

ime

(ms)

A canary can fly

A canary can breath

Dependent Variable: - Measurement variable- “Y” axis- E.g, RT,

Independent Variable: - Manipulated variable- “X” axis- E.g, Sentence type

Introduction

Read the following

Paris

in the

the Spring

Paris

in the

the Spring

• Birth of Experimental Psychology» The Longitude Prize of 1714

◊ The Chronological and the Lunar Method

– John Harrison and Nevil Maskelyne

◊ Greenwich “mean” time and star-transits– The “eye and ear” method

Interpolate the transit + 4 measures

– The Royal Astronomer fires his assistant

History of Cognitive Psychology

• Birth of Experimental Psychology◊ Bessel’s solution

– Trained astronomers differed by as much 1.1 s (1820s)– Introduced correction factors (“personal equations”)

◊ Introduction of chronometers◊ Early investigations in cognitive processing

– Wundt: The personal equation as psychology– Attending to two stimuli at the same time– Willful Attention– Reaction Time


The Hipp Chronoscope (1844)

• The Birth of Experimental Psychology◊ Neurophysiology - Helmoltz

– Finite timing of nerve impulses

– Subtractive method

◊ Donders (Reaction Time and Mental Processes, 1865)– A-task: SRT

– B-task: SRT+Categorization+selection

– C-task: SRT+Categorization

◊ Wundt’s Experimental Laboratory at Leipzig– Published over 53,000 pages

– Wundt’s Structuralism


Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)

Wilhelm Wündt(1832-1920)

• The Death of Experimental Psychology» Titchener’s Structuralism

◊ Introspection as a method

» William James and Functionalism◊ First Introductory textbook◊ Influence of Darwin

» Freud’s Psychodynamics hit America◊ 1909 Clark University Lectures


Edward Bradford Titchener(1867-1927)

William James(1842-1910 )

Group photo 1909 in front of Clark University. Front row: Sigmund Freud, Granville Stanley Hall, C.G.Jung; back row: Abraham A. Brill, Ernest Jones, Sandor Ferenczi.

• The Death of Mentalism


◊ John B. Watson (1913). Psychology as the behaviourist views it.

John B. Watson(1878-1958)

“Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness. The behaviorist, in his efforts to get a unitary scheme of animal response, recognizes no dividing line between man and brute. The behavior of man, with all of its refinement and complexity, forms only a part of the behaviorist's total scheme of investigation.”



◊ On Structuralism:


“I do not wish unduly to criticize psychology. It has failed signally, I believe, during the fifty-odd years of its existence as an experimental discipline to make its place in the world as an undisputed natural science. Psychology, as it is generally thought of, has something esoteric in its methods. If you fail to reproduce my findings, it is not due to some fault in your apparatus or in the control of your stimulus, but it is due to the fact that your introspection is untrained. The attack is made upon the observer and not upon the experimental setting. In physics and in chemistry the attack is made upon the experimental conditions. The apparatus was not sensitive enough, impure chemicals were used, etc. In these sciences a better technique will give reproducible results. Psychology is otherwise. if you can't observe 3-9 states of clearness in attention, your introspection is poor. If, on the other hand, a feeling seems reasonably clear to you, your introspection is again faulty. You are seeing too much. Feelings are never clear..”



◊ On Functionalism:


“My psychological quarrel is not with the systematic and structural psychologist alone. The last fifteen years have seen the growth of what is called functional psychology. This type of psychology decries the use of elements in the static sense of the structuralists. It throws emphasis upon the biological significance of conscious processes instead of upon the analysis of conscious states into introspectively isolable elements. I have done my best to understand the difference between functional psychology and structural psychology. Instead of clarity, confusion grows upon me. The terms sensation, perception, affection, emotion, volition are used as much by the functionalist as by the structuralist. The addition of the word 'process' ('mental act as a whole', and like terms are frequently met) after each serves in some way to remove the corpse of content' and to leave 'function' in its stead. Surely if these concepts are elusive when looked at from a content standpoint, they are still more deceptive when viewed from the angle of function, and especially so when function is obtained by the introspection method...”



◊ On Studying conscious or unconscious processes:


This leads me to the point where I should like to make the argument constructive. I believe we can write a psychology, define it as [the science of behaviour], and never go back upon our definition: never use the terms consciousness, mental states, mind, content, introspectively verifiable, imagery, and the like. I believe that we can do it in a few years…. It can be done in terms of stimulus and response, in terms of habit formation, habit integrations and the like.

• Two Revolutions» Scientific Revolutions

◊ Thomas Kuhn– Normal science

– Accumulation of anomalies

– Scientific Revolutions

E.g.s, Copernicus, Darwin, & Einstein.

◊ Behaviourism and the Cognitive revolutions


Thomas Kuhn(1922-1996)


B. F. Skinner(1904 - 1990)

• Two Revolutions» Radical Behaviourism

◊ The Hull - Spence model◊ B. F. Skinner

– Antimentalism

– On Consciousness

– On Cognitive Psychology

• Two Revolutions» The Cognitive Revolution

◊ Noam Chomsky– Rebuttal of Skinner’s “Verbal Behaviour”

◊ Verbal Learning– The problem with human subjects

◊ Neobehaviourists– Spence and cognitive contamination


• A scientific revolution … or a renaissance» The Gestaltist Movement

◊ Rejection of structuralism◊ Phi phenomenon◊ Problem solving

» Psychophysics◊ Relating psychological experience to physical stimuli


• A revolution … or behaviourism + mentalism?» From behaviourism, the cognitive approach

rejected◊ Extrapolation from a small set of premises◊ Animal experimentation◊ Learning a central problem◊ Logical positivism◊ Stimulus control over all behaviour◊ Antimentalism


• A revolution … or behaviourism + mentalism?» From behaviourism, the cognitive approach took

◊ Nomothetic explanation as a goal◊ Empiricism as a method of proof◊ Laboratory control◊ Rational canons of science◊ The Law of Parsimony


• The Birth of Cognitive Psychology» WW II

◊ Human engineering

◊ Brain-damaged soldiers

◊ Advances in Communications

» Information theory and the human information processor◊ Development of servo-mechanical devices

◊ Tackling teleology (purposeful behaviour)

» The development of the computer◊ AI / Simulations


• The Birth of Cognitive Psychology» WW II and Human Engineering

◊ Limits of the behaviourist approach◊ Problems of perception, judgment, decision making, problem

solving◊ “man / machine system” concept◊ Humans as receivers, processors, and transmitters of

information.

» From human engineering, cognitive psychology has retained:

◊ Humans as information processors◊ Processing limits◊ Government interest in funding (e.g., NASA)


• The Birth of Cognitive Psychology» Advances in Communications Engineering

◊ Information theory and the human information channels

» From communications engineering, cognitive psychology retained: ◊Coding◊Limited channel capacity ◊Serial and parallel transmission / processing


• The Birth of Cognitive Psychology» The Hixon Symposium (Sept. 1948)

◊ Karl Lashley– The Problem of Serial Order in Behaviour

◊ Alan Turing: – Turing Machine

◊ Warren McCulloch & Walter Pitts: – First artificial neural network

◊ Norbert Weiner: – “Cybernetics” or the “man and the machine

◊ Claude Shannon: – Information Theory– Information as binary digits


• The Birth of Cognitive Psychology» Miller’s recollections

◊ Cognitive science as a counter-revolution◊ Birthdate of Cognitive Science: Sept. 11, 1956

– Key events in 1956:• Bruner, Goodenough, & Austin publish “A Study of Thinking”• Tanner & Swets apply signal detection theory to perception• Miller’s “magical number” paper is published• Carol publishes a volume of Whorf’s works on the effects of language on thought• Sept 11: Symposium at M.I.T. by the “Special Interest Group in Information theory”

- Newell & Simon with a “logic machine”- Rochester used a computer to test Hebb’s cell assemblies theory- Chomsky laid the foundations for “Syntactic Stuctures”- Other papers discussed the speed of perceptual processes and SDT.


George Miller (1920 - )

Cognitive Psychology Chapter 1.1 Introduction

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Transcript of Cognitive Psychology Chapter 1.1 Introduction