An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

1
An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

• Chapter 1

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Introduction

• Important Terms
• cognition
• cognitive psychology
• cognitive approach
• Study of mental processes -- memory, perception,
  language, learning, problem solving,

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Introduction

• Why learn about cognition?
• Cognition occupies a major portion of human
  psychology
• Cognitive psychology will help you appreciate
  many other areas of psychology, as well as
  disciplines outside psychology
• Cognitive psychology provides an "owner's manual"
  for your mind

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A Brief History of Cognitive Psychology

• The Origins of Cognitive Psychology
• Aristotle
• empirical evidence
• Wilhelm Wundt
• Introspection objective reports of experiences
• Early Memory Researchers
• Ebbinghaus memory abilities
• Mary Whiton Calkins - recency effect
• first woman president of APA

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A Brief History of Cognitive Psychology

• The Origins of Cognitive Psychology
• William James
• Principles of Psychology - function
• tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
• Behaviorism
• behaviorist approach objective, observable
• Watson
• Skinner
• operational definition

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A Brief History of Cognitive Psychology

• The Origins of Cognitive Psychology
• The Gestalt Approach
• Gestalt psychology - organization
• Frederic C. Bartlett
• memory as active, constructive process

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A Brief History of Cognitive Psychology

• The Emergence of Modern Cognitive Psychology
• 1956 the MIT symposium
• Ulric Neisser's Cognitive Psychology
• Factors Contributing to the Rise of Cognitive
  Psychology
• Disappointment with Behaviorism
• Linguistics Noam Chomsky
• Memory research
• Developmental psychology Jean Piaget
• object permanence

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A Brief History of Cognitive Psychology

• The Emergence of Modern Cognitive Psychology
• The Information-Processing Approach
• a mental process can be compared with the
  operations of a computer
• a mental process can be interpreted as
  information progressing through the system in a
  series of stages, one step at a time

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A Brief History of Cognitive Psychology

• The Emergence of Modern Cognitive Psychology
• The Information-Processing Approach
• Atkinson-Shiffrin model
• Sensory Memory
• Short-term Memory (Working Memory)
• Long-term Memory

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Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
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Current Issues in Cognitive Psychology

• ecological validity
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• social cognitive neuroscience
• Brain Lesions
• Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan) several
  seconds
• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) 1
  second
• Event-Related Potential Technique (ERP)
  fraction of a second
• Single-Cell Recording Technique

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Current Issues in Cognitive Psychology

• Artificial Intelligence
• The Computer Metaphor
• structures and processes
• Pure AI
• Efficiency, maybe different
• Computer Simulation/Computer Modeling
• take human limitations into account

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Current Issues in Cognitive Psychology

• Artificial Intelligence
• The Parallel Distributed Processing Approach
• parallel distributed processing (PDP) - -
  connectionism
• cerebral cortex - - neural networks
• serial processing
• parallel processing

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Current Issues in Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive Science
• Interdisciplinarycognitive psychology,
  neuroscience, and artificial intelligence PLUS
  philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, sociology,
  and economics
• Focus on internal representations

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An Overview of Your Textbook

• Preview of the Chapters
• Five Themes in the Book
• Theme 1 Cognitive processes are active, rather
  than passive.
• Theme 2 Cognitive processes are remarkably
  efficient and accurate.

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An Overview of Your Textbook

• Five Themes in the Book
• Theme 3 Cognitive processes handle positive
  information better than negative information.
• Theme 4 Cognitive processes are interrelated
  with one another they do not operate in
  isolation.
• Theme 5 Many cognitive processes rely on both
  bottom-up and top-down processing.

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An Overview of Your Textbook
How to Use Your Book

• Chapter Outline
• Chapter Preview
• Opening Paragraph
• Demonstrations
• Individual Differences Feature
• Applications

• New Terms and List at End of Chapter
• In-Depth Feature
• Section Summaries
• End-of-Chapter Review
• Recommended Readings
• Glossary