1. Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Chapter 1

2. Outline: Cognitive Psychology Defined
From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
Philosophical Antecedents of Psychology
Psychological Antecedents of Cog Psychology
Emergence of Cognitive Psychology
Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
Key Themes in Cognitive Psychology

3. 1. Cognitive Psychology Defined
The study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think.
Examples
How people perceive various shapes
Why they remember some facts and forget others
How they learn language
Cognition (Ashcraft, 2002)
The collection of mental processes and activities used in perceiving, learning, remembering, thinking, and understanding, and the act of using those processes

4. ?
If you wanted to understand how people think which method would you use? What would you focus on?

5. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.1.Philosophical Antecedents of Psychology
PLATO (ca B.C) – Rationalism
Nature of reality
Reality resides not in the concrete objects we perceive but in the abstract forms that these objects represent
How to investigate reality
Observation is misleading
The route to knowledge is through logical analysis

6. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.1.Philosophical Antecedents of Psychology
ARISTOTLE (ca B.C) – Empiricism
Nature of reality
Reality lies only in the concrete world of objects that our bodies sense
How to investigate reality
The route to knowledge is through empirical evidence, obtained through experience and observation
Observations of the external world are the only means to arrive at truth

7. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.1.Philosophical Antecedents of Psychology
RENE DESCARTES( ) – Rationalism
“Cogito ergo sum”
Mental representations
Descartes raised, directly or indirectly, virtually all the significant issues related to the foundations of the science of the mind
He had taken the principles from his writings on meteors, optics, mathematics, and mechanics and considered their applicability to human phenomena
Innate ideas

8. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.1.Philosophical Antecedents of Psychology
JOHN LOCKE ( )– Empiricism
“tabula rasa” (“blank slate”)
both sighted and blind people ought to be able to learn the meanings of words like statue and feel but the blind ought to be unable to acquire words like picture and see…
Learning
Humans are born without knowledge
No innate ideas

9. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.2.Psychological Antecedents of Cognitive Psychology
Structuralism
Goal of psychology
To understand the structure of the mind and its perceptions by analyzing those perceptions into their constituent components
Method
Introspection – looking inward at pieces of information passing through consciousness
Proponents
Wilhelm Wundt, Edward Titchener

10. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.2.Psychological Antecedents of Cognitive Psychology
Functionalism
Goal of psychology
To study the processes of mind rather than its contents
Method
Various methods – introspection, observation, experiment
Proponents
William James
Principles of Psychology (1890)

11. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.2.Psychological Antecedents of Cognitive Psychology
Behaviorism
Goal of psychology
To study observable behavior
Any hypotheses about internal thoughts and ways of thinking are nothing more than speculation
We can not say anything meaningful about cognition
Method
Animal experiments, conditioning experiments
Proponents
John Watson, B.F. Skinner

12. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.2.Psychological Antecedents of Cognitive Psychology
Gestalt Psychology
Goal of psychology
To understand psychological phenomena as organized, structured wholes
The whole differs from the sum of its parts
Method
Various methods – experiment, observation
Proponents
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler

13. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.2. Emergence of Cognitive Psychology
Karl Lashley ( )
Psychobiological arguments against behaviorism
Playing piano
On a behaviorist, stimulus-response account, an activity such as rapidly playing a correct sequence of notes from memory on an instrument would involve an associative chain of stimuli and responses
Such associative chains can not explain the behavior; input is never put into a a static system, but always into a system which is actively organized

14. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.2. Emergence of Cognitive Psychology
Noam Chomsky
Linguistic arguments against behaviorism
Arguments from language acquisition
Behaviorists can not explain how children can produce novel sentences they never heard
Infinite number of sentences we can produce can not be learned by reinforcement – there must be a cognitive algorithmic structure in our mind underlying language

15. 2. From Plato to Cognitive Psychology
2.2. Emergence of Cognitive Psychology
Alan Turing
Development of first computers
His “Colossus” computer helped break the German “Enigma” codes during the World War II
It has been estimated that this work shortened the war in Europe by two years
Analogy between computers and human minds
Hardware (brain), Software (mind)
Thinking can be described in terms of algorithmic manipulation of some information
These ideas gave rise to the information processing paradigm in psychology – cognitive psychology

16. ? What can humans do that computers can not?
What can computers do that humans can not?

17. 3. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
How does scientific investigation work?
Theory development
Hypotheses formulation
Hypotheses testing
Data gathering
Data analysis
Ecological validity
The degree to which particular findings in one context may be considered relevant outside of that context

18. 3. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
1. Controlled laboratory experiments
Characterization
An experimenter conducts research in a laboratory setting in which he controls as many aspects of the experimental situation as possible
Advantages
Enables isolation of causal factors
Excellent means of testing hypotheses
Disadvantages
Often lack of ecological validity

19. 3. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
2. Psychobiological research
Characterization
Studies the relationship between cognitive performance and cerebral events and structures
Examples: postmortem studies, animal studies, studies in vivo (PET, fMRI, EEG)
Advantages
“hard” evidence of cognitive functions by relating them to physiological activity
Disadvantages
Often very expensive; risk of making inferences about normal functions based on abnormal brain functioning

20. 3. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
3. Self-reports
Characterization
Participant’s reports of own cognition in progress or as recollected
Advantages
Introspective insights from participant’s point of view, which may be unavailable via other means
Disadvantages
Inability to report on processes occurring outside conscious awareness
Data gathering may influence cognitive process being reported

21. ? Try reporting aloud the various steps involved in grasping a pen?
Now, actually grasp your pen, reporting aloud the steps you take. Do you notice any differences between the first task and this task?
Can you report exactly how you pulled the information into conscious awareness?

22. 3. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
4. Case studies
Characterization
Intensive study of a single individual
Advantages
Richly detailed information about individuals, including information about historical and current contexts
Very good for theory development
Disadvantages
Small sample; questionable generalization to other cases

23. 3. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
5. Naturalistic observation
Characterization
Observing real-life situations, as in classrooms, work settings, or homes
Advantages
High ecological validity
Disadvantages
Lack of experimental control

24. 3. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
6. Computer Simulations and Artificial Intelligence
Characterization
Simulation: Attempt to make computers simulate human cognitive performance
AI: Attempt to make computers demonstrate intelligent cognitive performance (regardless of its resemblance to human cognitive processing)
Advantages
Clear testing of theoretical models and predictions
Disadvantages
Limits of hardware and software

25. 4. Key Themes in Cognitive Psychology
1. Data without a theory is meaningless, theory without data is empty
Example: observation that people’s ability to recognize faces is better than their ability to recall faces
This is an interesting generalization but it does not explain why there is such a difference
A theory provides
An explanation of data
Basis for prediction of other data

26. 4. Key Themes in Cognitive Psychology
2. Cognitive processes interact with each other and with noncognitive processes
Even though cognitive psychologists often try to study specific cognitive processes in isolation, they know that cognitive processes work together
Examples
Memory processes depend on perceptual processes
Thinking depends on memory
Motivation interacts with learning

27. 4. Key Themes in Cognitive Psychology
3. Cognition needs to be studied through a variety of scientific methods
There is no one right way to study cognition
Cognitive psychologists need to learn a variety of different kinds of techniques to study cognition

28. 4. Key Themes in Cognitive Psychology
4. Basic research in cognitive psychology may lead to application, applied research may lead to basic understanding
Basic research often leads to immediate application
Example: finding that learning is superior when it is spaced out over time rather than crammed into a short time interval
Applied research often leads to basic findings
Example: eyewitness testimony research has enhanced our basic understanding of memory systems and of the extent to which humans construct their own memories