Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes such as perception, attention, memory, language, and problem-solving. It focuses on how people acquire, process, and store information. This field explores how individuals think, reason, and make decisions, and it has applications in various areas including education, therapy, and human-computer interaction.
5 Key excerpts on "Cognitive Psychology"
eBook - ePubAn Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Processes and Disorders
- David Groome(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...chapter 1 Introduction to Cognitive Psychology David Groome DOI: 10.4324/9781351020862-1 Contents 1.1 Cognitive processes 1.2 Experimental Cognitive Psychology 1.3 Computer models of information processing 1.4 Cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology 1.5 Automatic processing 1.6 Minds, brains, and computers Summary Further reading 1.1 Cognitive processes A definition of Cognitive Psychology Cognitive Psychology has been defined as the psychology of mental processes, or more specifically the way in which the brain processes information. Cognition includes the way we take in information from the outside world, how we make sense of that information, and what use we make of it. Cognition thus involves various different kinds of information processing, which occur at different stages. Cognitive Psychology The study of the way in which the brain processes information. It includes the mental processes involved in perception, learning and memory storage, thinking, and language. Stages of cognitive processing The main stages of cognitive processing are shown in Figure 1.1, arranged in the sequential order in which they would typically be applied to a new piece of incoming sensory input. Figure 1.1 The main stages of cognitive processing. Information taken in by the sense organs goes through an initial stage of perception, which involves an analysis of its content. Even at this early stage of processing the brain is already extracting meaning from the input, in an effort to make sense of the information it contains. The process of perception will often lead to the making of some kind of record of the input received, and this involves learning and memory storage. Once a memory has been created for some item of information, it can be stored for later use to assist the individual in some other setting or task. This will normally require the retrieval of the information. Retrieval is sometimes carried out for its own sake, merely to access some information stored in the past...
eBook - ePub- Jackie Andrade, Jon May(Authors)
- 2004(Publication Date)
- Taylor & Francis(Publisher)
...Section A The nature of Cognitive Psychology DOI: 10.4324/9780203488294-1 A1 Cognition Key notes Cognition Cognition is the study of the mental processes underlying our ability to perceive the world, remember, talk about and learn from our experiences, and modify our behavior accordingly. It includes functions such as perception, memory, language and thought. Assumptions about cognition The mind is a limited capacity information-processing system that behaves in a law-like fashion. Cognition is the product of top-down and bottom-up processes. Top-down processing refers to the influence of knowledge and expectations on functions such as language, perception and memory. Bottom-up processing is processing driven by an external stimulus. Cognitive functions are often assumed to be modular, that is to operate independently of each other. Philosophical basis Functionalism views mental events as causal or functional because they serve to transform incoming information into output (different information or behavior). Mind is the ‘software’ of the brain and can be studied independently of it. For materialists, the mind is the brain and is studied by investigating brain activity directly. Choosing an approach is partly a matter of choosing an appropriate level of explanation for the topic of interest. Related topics Methods of investigation (A2) Issues in consciousness research (K1) Cognition In 1967, Ulric Neisser published a book with the title Cognitive Psychology. Although scientists had been researching human thought from a cognitive perspective for a couple of decades before this, Neisser’s book helped define Cognitive Psychology as a discipline...
eBook - ePubThe Psychology of Thinking
Reasoning, Decision-Making and Problem-Solving
- John Paul Minda(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications Ltd(Publisher)
...1 The Psychology of Thinking Thinking is so central to the human experience that it has been described as the essence of being. We are all familiar with the phrase, “Je pense donc je suis” or “I think therefore I am”. This comes, of course, from Descartes’ Discourse on Method (1637) and underscores what is so crucial and compelling about the study of thinking. Humans, like other animals, behave, learn, respond, communicate, and remember. But humans also think. We can discover something new by thinking about it. We can solve problems in the mind, visualize solutions, and arrive at an important decision by thinking. We can be aware of our own thoughts and aware of the consequences of our actions and behaviours. This book is about the psychology of thinking. That might sound redundant, given that psychology is often defined as the study of the mind or of mental activity. In other words, if psychology is not about thinking, what else can it be about? Psychology is a very broad field, encompassing everything from the study of neurotransmitters and basic neuroanatomy to the study of learning and memory to the understanding of mental health and the study of group behaviour. This book is concerned with the study and understanding of the thought process. Thinking is usually studied within the broader field of cognition. Cognitive Psychology has traditionally been defined as the study of information processing and behaviour. This encompasses everything from basic attention and perception to memory, concepts, and thinking. As a topic within the study of Cognitive Psychology, the psychology of thinking is concerned with complex mental behaviours, such as problem-solving, reasoning, decision-making, and becoming an expert. A good understanding of basic cognition is very useful in understanding the psychology of thinking, but it is not necessary...
eBook - ePubConsumer Behaviour
Perspectives, Findings and Explanations
- John O'Shaughnessy(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Bloomsbury Academic(Publisher)
...Chapter 6 Cognitive Psychology: The Basic Perspective INTRODUCTION: HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS What makes a psychology cognitive is a focus on ‘cognition’: the faculty of knowing and perceiving. Cognition, as a faculty, contrasts with conation (the exercise of the will to action) and affective experiences (feelings/emotions). Cognitive Psychology’s domain embraces perceiving and knowing and the related processes of remembering, paying attention, language use, problem solving and manipulating things around us with, for example, our hands. In Howard Gardner’s seminal history of Cognitive Psychology, The Mind’s New Science: A History of the Cognitive Revolution (1985), it is claimed that it was the computer metaphor started the cognitive revolution. This is denied by Jerome Bruner, who was one of the pioneers of the revolution at Harvard. Gardner studied under Bruner at Harvard and it was Jerome Bruner, together with George Miller, who established the Center for Cognitive Studies there. Bruner (1990) claims that the cognitive revolution intended the notion of ‘meaning’ to be the central concept of psychology, the aim being to nudge psychology to join forces with the interpretive disciplines in the humanities and social sciences; such disciplines as ethnomethodology, ethnography, symbolic interactionism, action research, discourse analysis and cultural anthropology. But there was a change of direction from this original conception – a move from the search for ‘meaning’ (significance and/or intentions) to viewing the mind as software programs for the brain’s hard drive. In John Horgan’s The Undiscovered Mind, an interview with Gardner was surprisingly critical of cognitive science, which Gardner had done so much to popularize (Horgan 1999). Gardner argues that strictly scientific approaches to the mind have not advanced our understanding of psychology’s core topics: consciousness, the self, free will and personality...
eBook - ePub- Elliot Hearst, Eliot Hearst(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...By integrating the belief that thought could be viewed as a higher level skill (Bartlett, 1958) with the quantitative metrics of the mathematical theory of information (Shannon & Weaver, 1949), psychologists in England and the United States had already created an empirical basis for a field of cognition in studies of perception, problem solving, and language (see Neisser, 1967, for a review). The skillful use of computers (Newell, Shaw, & Simon, 1958) as a tool for the study of problem solving had led psychologists to propose cybernetic principles as a replacement for the ancient reflex arc (Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960). The view of the human as an information processing system, analogous to a digital computer, has played a crucial role in the study of the higher mental processes. But its importance can only be appreciated in the light of more general changes in the definitions, goals, and methods of psychology during its first century. The original definition of psychology was the study of conscious mental events through systematic introspection by subjects into their mental processes. It was assumed by the earlies workers in the field both that psychology was uniquely relevant to humans and that consciousness could be understood in isolation from nonconscious processes. These assumptions led to particular views about the nature of thought that characterized Wundt and his immediate followers. The pervasive influence of evolutionary theory swept these assumptions aside by forcing consideration of links between humans and other animals. Psychologists influenced by the resulting “Behaviorism” suggested a delay in the study of human mental life until the fundamental structure of associations could be understood through animal experimentation. Often this behaviorist period (roughly 1910–1950) is seen as being wholly unproductive for the study of thought. Such a view is probably not completely justified...
