Foundations of Cognitive Psychology History of Cognitive Psychology Ancient Questions (The Greeks) (Western) Philosophical Context Psychological Context What is Cognitive Psychology? What is Psychology? What is Cognitive Psychology? What are its Methods? Science of the Mind (Cognitive Psych.) vs. Science of the Brain (Neuroscience) Basic Overview of the Brain Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary Connectionism

Foundations of Cognitive Psychology History of Cognitive Psychology Ancient Questions (The Greeks) (Western) Philosophical Context Psychological Context What is Cognitive Psychology? What is Psychology? What is Cognitive Psychology? What are its Methods? Science of the Mind (Cognitive Psych.) vs. Science of the Brain (Neuroscience) Basic Overview of the Brain Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary Connectionism

Ancient Questions (The Greeks) Platonic dialogue the Meno  First extended discussion of nature of knowledge o Where does knowledge come from? o What does it consist of? o How is it represented in the mind?  Extended dialogue btwn Socrates & young slave  Socrates ‘demonstrates’ that boy possesses within him all the knowledge necessary to compute various geometrical relationships  abstract math = knowledge par excellence  Understanding of all domains implanted in soul at birth  Task of instructor: to bring this innate knowledge to conscious awareness

(Western) Philosophical Context Middle Ages  Aristotle was cornerstone of discussion  Discussions about knowledge were purview of theologians Renaissance & Enlightenment Period  Descartes, Locke, Kant  Discussions now drew on findings from newly established empirical sciences End of 19th Century  Proliferation of ‘new sciences’ and ‘philosophical specialties’  Several deal with ‘nature of the human mind’

Psychological Context Still asking questions that intrigued Greeks  What does it mean to know?  Where does knowledge come from? But now armed with:  empirical methods  better tools (i.e. computer) Behaviorism ( s)  Mentalistic talk is gibberish  Focus on… Stimulus  Response (Associations) o Law of Exercise. Responses to a situation which are followed by rewarding state of affairs will be strengthened & become habitual o Law of Effect. Connections become strengthened with practice & weakened when practice is discontinued Cognitive Psychology develops in response to Behaviorism

Foundations of Cognitive Psychology History of Cognitive Psychology Ancient Questions (The Greeks) (Western) Philosophical Context Psychological Context What is Cognitive Psychology? What is Psychology? What is Cognitive Psychology? What are its Methods? Science of the Mind (Cognitive Psych.) vs. Science of the Brain (Neuroscience) Basic Overview of the Brain Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary Connectionism

What is Psychology? The Freud/Skinner misconception  Many think they are representative of the field when they are not  Less than 10% of APA membership fall under either paradigm  Represent, in some ways, the two extremes Freud (Psychoanalysis) Heavy on theory Light on behavioral data Majority of Psychologists: Study of both ‘psyche’ and ‘behavior’ Skinner (Behaviorism) Light on theory Heavy on behavioral data

What is Psychology? Data basis for evaluating theories is behavior From the observation of behavioral patterns, theories containing hypothetical concepts* are constructed. *don’t always refer to conscious mental events They are then changed based on further behavioral observation. This process is not remarkable – same process as in other sciences.

What is Psychology? A data-based scientific discipline Then what is a “science”?  NOT defined by subject matter  NOT defined by use of particular methods/tools  NOT defined by specific concrete procedures  IS a way of thinking about & observing world Defining Features of A Science 1. Use of systematic empiricism 2. Production of public knowledge 3. Examination of solvable problems

What is Psychology? Use of systematic empiricism  Empiricism: practice of relying on observation  Systematic: Observations are structured so that the results of the observation reveal something about the underlying nature of the world (typically theory driven) Production of public knowledge  Findings are submitted to scientific community for criticism & empirical testing (peer-review)  Notion of ‘replication’  Leads to cumulative growth of knowledge (researchers build on what is already known) Examination of solvable problems  The type of questions addressed are ones that are potentially answerable given currently available empirical techniques

What is Psychology? Q. Does psychology ‘thingify’ people? Science has encroached on many (most) areas that once were the province of philosophy, religion, literature, art… BUT… scientific study of topics once relegated to other fields does not necessarily mean denigration of humanity (e.g. Health Care) Important to parse out those questions that can be answered via science & those that simply cannot.

What is Cognitive Psychology? Five Key Features: 1.Posits a level of analysis wholly separate from the biological or neurological 2.Faith that central to any understanding of the human mind is the computer 3.Deliberate decision to de-emphasize certain factors that may be important but complicate things (emotion, history/culture, role of context) 4.Faith in interdisciplinary studies (philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, anthropology, neuroscience) 5.Claim that a key ingredient in contemporary cognitive psych. is the agenda of issues which have long exercised epistemologists in the Western philosophical tradition

We stopped here & will continue with the rest tomorrow.

What are its Methods? Information processing analyses Computer simulation Response latencies (subtractive technique) Eye fixations (attention) Verbal reports: think aloud & retrospective Sorting (categories) Discourse analysis Ethnographic methodologies Design experiments Coding of verbal protocols

Foundations of Cognitive Psychology History of Cognitive Psychology Ancient Questions (The Greeks) (Western) Philosophical Context Psychological Context What is Cognitive Psychology? What is Psychology? What is Cognitive Psychology? What are its Methods? Science of the Mind (Cognitive Psych.) vs. Science of the Brain (Neuroscience) Basic Overview of the Brain Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary Connectionism

Overview of the Brain - Graphic

Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary "brain-based education" is wildly popular, however… It builds a bridge too far. Findings about the brain How individual learn (complex tasks) Best practices in education neurosciencecog. psych.education

Why Cog.Psych. is Necessary Example of a Bridge Too Far: Claims about the educational significance of brain laterality (right brain vs. left brain)  Neuroscientific Findings:  Categorical & coordinate spatial reasoning are performed by distinct subsystems in the brain. oSubsystem in brain's left hemisphere performs  categorical spatial reasoning. oSubsystem in brain's right hemisphere processes coordinate spatial relationships.  Thus, research points to differences in the information-processing abilities & biases of the brain hemispheres.

Why Cog.Psych. Is Necessary Example of a Bridge Too Far (con’t.): Claims about the educational significance of brain laterality (right brain vs. left brain) Gloss of Findings:  The left hemisphere is logical, analytical, rational, serial processor (e.g., speech, reading, & writing)  The right hemisphere is intuitive, creative visual, spatial, parallel processor (e.g., recognition of faces, places) THEREFORE…  Schools are left-hemisphere dominant when they should engage both hemispheres.  To involve the right hemisphere in learning, teachers should encourage spatial reasoning, for example.

Why Cog.Psych. Is Necessary Example of a Bridge Too Far (con’t.): Claims about the educational significance of brain laterality (right brain vs. left brain) Problems:  It is subsystems not total hemispheres that are specialized in important ways.  Complex tasks (of the type we do in school) involve multiple types of processing, often spanning both hemispheres  Thus, the tasks of educational interest are often not confined to one hemisphere or the other

Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary The take-home point:  We do not know enough about brain functioning to link that understanding directly, in any meaningful way, to educational practice.  And what we do know about the brain is too fine grained to be of much use. However...  there are two shorter bridges already in place that indirectly link brain function with educational practice: o50 year old bridge between education & cognitive psychology o20 year old bridge between cognitive psychology & neuroscience.

Activity 1)Recall a personal learning event 2)Describe your model of cognition