cognitive psychology

how we attend to and gain info

how that info is stored and processed

how we solve problems, think, and formulate language

information-processing model

related to a time-ordered sequence of events

*main way cognitive psychologists look at cognition

3 assumptions:

1. cognition can be understood by organizing it into sequential stages
2. processes take place at each stage, and the outcome represents the outcome of the sequences
3. each stage receives info from preceeding stages

neuroscience model

focuses on underlying brain functioning that produces a cognitive experience

internal representations

meaningful symbols in brain

of great debate among psychologists

sensation:

assumption

ability to detect and interprest sensory stimuli (ex-visual and auditory)

attention:

assumption

tendency to focus on certain stimuli and ignore others

knowledge:

assumption

detailed knowledge of physical characteristics and the environment

representation of knowledge:

assumption

ability to abstract certain parks of the events and integrate those parts into a well-structured schema that gives meaning to the total episode

perception, reading, and info processing:

assumption

ability to extract meaning from letters and words

short-term memory/working memory:

assumption

capacity to retain immidiate events and to intergrate those events into a sequence

mental imagery:

assumption

ability to form a "cognitive map"

social cognition:

assumption

understanding the role of another person

mneumonics and memory:

assumption

ability to use "memory tricks" to aid in recall of info

abstraction of linguistic ideas:

assumption

tendency to store linguistic info in a general form

human intelligence:

assumption

general ability to act in a meaningful way

language/motor behavior:

assumption

inference that the directions can accuratetly be translated into a complex motor response (driving a car)

long-term memory:

assumption

ability to recall quickly from long-term memory specific information that is immidiately applicable to the present situation

language processing:

assumption

ability to translate visual events into spoken language

semantic memory:

assumption

knowledge that objects have specific names

forgetting and inference:

assumption

inability to perform perfectly

12 domains of cognitive psychology

1. Cognitive neuroscience
2. Sensation/perception
3. Pattern recognition
4. Attention
5. Consciousness
6. Memory
7. Representation of knowledge
8. Imagery
9. Language
10. Cognitive development
11. Thinking and concept formation
12. Human and artificial intelligence

cognitive map

domain: imagery

a type of internal representation that helps with cognition

ex-imagining an area visually so that you can give directions

human intelligence

domain: human and artificial intelligence

including but not limited to

• ability to understand common language
• follow instructions
• convert verbal descriptions into actions
• behave according to rules of culture

artificial intelligence

specialty within computer science

designing computer programs on models of human cognition

empiricism (and who)

knowledge comes from experience, through our senses

PLATO

English and Scottish philosophers:

• Locke (blank slate)
• Berkely&Mills: Internal representation is of 3 types

            1. Direct sensory events

            2. Faint copies of precepts (memory)

            3. Associated thought

early western philisophical tradition:

how it related to cognitive psychology

distinguish between cognition (actions of intellect) and conation (actions of will), and affect (actions of emotions)

elements distinguished and hierarchical, with cognition being the most "human" and affect the most "animal"

distinguish between empiricism and nativism

nativism (and who)

at least some of our knowlege is innate, such as recognizing a triangle

ARISTOTLE

Kant: categories of understanding, such as 3D world, passage of time, cause and effect

Chomsky: Skinner is wrong, we have a language acqusition device (LAD)

Darwin and cognitive psyc.

He was a big contributor to modern psychology, because:

1. he made animal behavior an issue of important scientific research
2. mankind was placed in the natural realm

Wilhelm Wundt

1879 - started first psychology lab

method: introspection

assumptions of introspection:

• workings of mind are open to self-observation
• mental states can be articulated
• deliberate self-observation does not modify mental processes

introspection rejected in 1920's

John Watson

behaviorism

psychology as study of externally-observable behavior

• rejects theories of mental processes and mental states as unscientific
• rejects introspectionism
• S-R Psychology (stimulus-response...the dash is a mystery)

re-emergence of cognitive psychology

called "re-emergence" because ideas are similar to Wundt's

spurred by 3 factors:

1. Information Theory (psychology of observer is just as important as machinery being looked at)
2. Computers
3. Linguistics

early cognitive psyc

us/germany vs. austria

us/germany - structure of mental representation

austria - process of mental acts

william james

against wundt

subject matter: our experience of external

isomorphism

one-to-one relationship between representation and reality

has been disproven

noam chomsky

we have rules in our head having to do with language

LAD

cognitive models

(and 3 most important parts)

metaphors

based on observations and inferences, that decribe:

detection

use and

storage

of information

conceptual science

through scientific method

metaphorical in character

cognitive science

convergence of computer science, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology

examples:

parallel distributed processing (PDP)

connectionsim

homunuculus

idea that there is a guide in the brain that oversees functining

(not a popular idea)

goes against paralell processing theories

Newell and Simon (computers)

developed GPS (general problem solver) to act like a human. kind of worked, but not totally

Sternberg Paradigm

measuring reaction time

exhaustive search model vs. self-terminating search model

*This is a traditional information processing theory:

• highly symbolic
• described in terms of computer metaphor and flow chart
• measurment of reaction time as a critical variable
• information processing without an attempt to conceptualize in terms of brain processes