1. What is cognitive psychology?
Cognitive psychology is the study of perception, attention, memory, language, and thinking in humans...how we know about the world.
...the scientific study of the human mind and information processing
Related to other fields - linguistics, computer science, philosophy, development, etc.

2. Scientific Study of Info Processing...
Scientific study: Based on the experimental method, empirical, scientific.
Human information processing: People sometimes operate as information processors.
Information comes from the environment, is stored briefly, some is selected for additional processing, something is done to it, it may result in some additional behavior.

3. Some examples of questions of interest:
What is the capacity of short-term memory?
How is short-term memory searched?
How long can memories last?
How do people understand language?
What is attention?

4. Why do we study it?
Theoretical reasons - to learn more about the processes that underlie our ability to represent information about the world in memory, how language works, and how we solve problems, how we learn things, etc
Practical reasons - to develop better human-machine interfaces, develop improved teaching methods, understand where things like stereotypes come from, etc.

5. Models of Cognition Current approaches to studying cognition
The primary approach to cognitive psychology today is information processing.
The information processing approach assumes that information from the environment undergoes a series of transformations as it is processed by different cognitive systems

6. Information Processing Approach

7. Assumptions of Info Proc. Approach
Cognition occurs through series of sequential stages
each stage performs unique process on incoming info received from environment (“internal representations”) or other stages
Response is assumed to be the product of these processes

8. 2 Issues Result… What are the stages through which information passes?
In what form is the information represented in the human mind?

9. Domain of Cognitive Psych
The field draws off research, theory and expertise from at least 12 different areas
Each of these areas are covered in dif chapters throughout the book

10. Areas in Domain Cognitive Neuroscience Perception Attention Memory
Representation of Knowledge
Imagery
Language
Developmental Psychology
Thinking and concept formation
Human intelligence
Artificial Intelligence
Pattern Recognition

11. pre-20th century history of cognitive psychology
Aristotle - How do we classify objects into groups?
Descartes - What is the relationship between the mind and the body?
Locke - How much do environmental and genetic influences affect perception?
Ebbinghaus - Can we quantify how information is retained and retrieved from memory?
Bryan & Harter - What happens as a task becomes well-learned?

12. early 20th century to late 1940' s
behaviorism - rely only on things that are observable; concept of 'mind' untenable
SR chaining - stimulus®response
verbal learning - SR chaining applied to language; word associations
late 1940' s to 1950' s - dissatisfaction with behaviorism and verbal learning

13. Reemergence of Cognitive Psych
The failure of behaviorism
Emergence of communication theory
signal detection , attention, cybernetics, and information theory experimented
Modern linguistics
Memory Research
Computer Science and tech advances
Cognitive Development

14. Cognitive Revolution
The changes in American psychology have been so profound over the last 50 years that it has been called the cognitive revolution

15. Levels of description in cognitive psychology
Theories exist at several levels of description:
1.Computational theory - description of processing, input/output, purpose of computation (flowchart)
2.Algorithmic level -implementation of computational theory; exact nature of computation is described
3.Hardware level - physical realization of computational and algorithmic levels; i.e., the brain!

16. Models vs. Theories
theory : comprehensive explanation of a cognitive phenomenon based on a detailed description of the phenomenon that is derived from experimental evidence.
a model is either a mathematical expression derived from a theory that can be used to summarize and predict empirical data, or a computer program derived from a theory that simulates and predicts empirical data.

17. Cognitive Models and Conceptual Science
In general, most hypotheses about the mind come from behavioral studies
i.e., seeing what people do in psychological experiments
However, cognitive psychology also considers information acquired through modeling cognitive processes, analyzing impaired systems, and introspection.

18. Cognitive Psychology and Conceptual Science
Conceptual science - very general, consequences of observations, metaphorical
Cognitive Models - abstract organizational ideas derived from inferences based on observations; part of conceptual science
Specialized forms of scientific concepts that have the same purposes
used to describe the detection, storage and use of information within the “system”

19. Modeling -
makes explicit the assumptions underlying a theory of cognition
tests the theory
Ex.) Information Processing Model

20. Computer Modeling
designing a program to run on a computer to simulate what a human does
should be grounded in what humans actually do
caveat - there are sometimes several means to the same end

21. basic types of models Semantic networks
network of interconnected nodes;
nodes stand for characteristics
links between nodes describe relationships between nodes.
e.g., robin - bird - animal

22. basic types of models
Connectionist networks /neural networks /Parallel Distributed Processing models
attempt to simulate characteristics of information processing among neurons.
Connectionist networks can learn.
Cognitive Science (computer science + neuroscience + cognitive psych)

23. basic types of models cognitive neuropsychology -
examining cognitive performance in brain-damaged patients
explain impairment in terms of theories from cognitive psychology
patterns of impairment may also be able to inform theories of normal cognitive functioning
e.g., differential impairment of long-term and short-term memory systems in some patients

24. Problems with cognitive neuropsychology model
extensive (non-local) nature of brain damage
individual differences among patients
ability of other modules to take over functioning of impaired modules

25. basic types of models Cognitive Bionomics
evolutionary psychology + biology + cognition
Cognition can be best understood within the context of human physical and social evolution