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The History and

Methods of CognitivePsychology

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What is Cognitive Psychology?

The branch of psychology that studies how

we perceive, attend, recognize,

remember

what happens in our minds

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Cognitive activities

Perception

Attention

Memory Language

Reasoning/decision making

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Some elements of cognitions

Often complex

Occur rapidly

Occur automatically (unconsciously) May occur with other cognitions

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What is the mind ?

How can we studythe inner workings of themind when we cant see the mind?

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Variables that could change a

cognitionAge

How well rested the subject is

Cultural background

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Experimental Design

Hypothesis

Independent

Variable

Dependent

Variable

Test

or Experiment

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Methods of Experimentation

Introspection

Naturalistic observation

Controlled observation Clinical interviews

Experiments (and quasi-experiments)

Brain imaging

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Methods

Introspection

InsightEcological validity

Experimenter controlObserver bias

Can you really do something while doing it?

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Types of Experiments

Naturalistic observation

Ecological validity

Little experimenter controlObserver bias

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Methods

Experiments

Experimenter control

Isolate causal factors

May not be ecologically valid

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Methods

Controlled observation /Clinical interviews

Ecological validity

Only some experimentercontrol

Observer bias

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Methods

Brain Imaging

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Methods

Brain ImagingCAT/MRIshows anatomy

Magnetic fields, not usable on some subjects

Small, noisy location for subject

Does not show function

PET - shows function Brain activity averaged over time

fMRIshows anatomy and function Similar to MRI

EEG/ERPoverall general electrical activity of brain

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The history of studying cognitions

Greeks

17-19 c.

Empiricism

Schools of psychology

Nativism

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Schools of psychology

Structuralism

Functionalism

Behaviorism Gestalt psychology

Genetic epistemology

Individual differences

Cognitive psychology (cognitive revolution)

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Schools of psychology

Structuralism

Attempted to find simplest units of the mind

(like a period table of elements)

More complex behaviors explained by

combining different elements (research never

really got this far)

Method: Introspection

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Schools of psychology

Functionalism

Asked the question Why?

Why does the mind work the way it does?

Why does this behavior help a person adapt to

their environment?

Method: Observations in real life

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Schools of psychology

Behaviorism

Goal: to predict and control behavior

Method: Observation of only visible,

measurable behaviors

(mental states cannot

be studied)

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Schools of psychology

Gestalt psychology

The mind is not divisible

The mind is a whole entity, and imposes itsown structure on how to interpret stimuli

It is the relationship between elements thatmatters

Method: Experimentation with perception,problem solving

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Figure 1-1 (p. 11)Examples of Gestaltfigures.

Gestalt psychology

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Schools of psychology

Genetic epistemologythe mindchanges over time

The mind goes through different stages,

which can be separated from each other bythe different cognitive abilities present at each

stage (Piaget)

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Schools of psychology

Individual differences

Tried to determine if a mental characteristic

(eg., intelligence) was inherited or acquired

later from the environment

Type of statistics typical used in cognitive

psychology developed

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Schools of psychology

Cognitive psychology

Proposed that mental states could be studied

(reaction to behaviorists)

Some results

Human factors engineering

Limited-capacity processors

The magical number seven, plus or minus two

Linguistics

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More results

Localization of function / plasticity of nervous

system

Computer metaphor / artificial intelligence

Cognitive neuroscience

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Paradigms of Cognitive Psychology

Information Processing

Connectionism

Evolution Ecology

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Figure 1-4 (p. 29)A typical information-processing model.

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Figure 1-5 (p. 31)A typical connectionist model.

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Paradigms of Cognitive Psychology

Evolution

Our minds are biological systems which evolve and

adapt to our environment, and is subject to the laws

of natural selection For each type of problem, we therefore have special-

purpose programs to solve them

Ecology

Cognition occurs in the context of culture, not in a

vacuum

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Outline

Syllabus

What is cognitive psychology?

Elements of cognition What are experiments?

History of cognitive psychology

Current methods of study

Paradigms of cognitive psychology