Cognitive Psychology: Theory, Process, and Methodology

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes on Cognitive Psychology.

Cognitive Psychology

The scientific study of internal mental processes such as perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, and decision making.

Psychophysics

The branch of psychology studying the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce.

Gustav Fechner

Pioneer of psychophysics who sought mathematical laws describing the relationship between stimulus intensity and perceptual experience.

Wilhelm Wundt

Founder of modern psychology; used introspection to study conscious experiences like colors and sounds.

Introspection

Systematic self-observation and reporting of one's own conscious thoughts and sensations.

Behaviorism

An approach emphasizing observable behavior and de-emphasizing internal mental states as subjects of study.

Noam Chomsky

Linguist who argued that language acquisition involves innate rules and structures, not just feedback from behaviorist conditioning.

Ulric Neisser

Coined the term ‘cognitive psychology’ and integrated memory, perception, attention, and language into one field.

Representationalism

Idea that information in cognition is stored and manipulated as internal representations or symbols.

Embodied Cognition

Theory that cognitive processes arise from real-time interactions between the body, brain, and environment.

Biological Perspective

Approach focused on brain activity and neural networks underlying cognitive processes.

Empiricism

Principle of knowledge through systematic observation and measurement.

Determinism

Idea that cognitive processes have underlying causes and follow lawful relationships.

Testability

Quality of theories/hypotheses allowing them to be tested through observation and experimentation.

Parsimony

Preference for simple, economical explanations over more complex ones.

Independent Variable

The variable that the researcher manipulates to observe its effect on the dependent variable.

Dependent Variable

The variable measured to assess the effect of the manipulation (the outcome).

Case Study

In-depth examination of a single person or small group, providing rich data but limited generalizability.

Phineas Gage

Famous case illustrating brain–behavior relationships after frontal lobe injury.

Correlation

A statistical relationship between two variables; does not imply causation and may involve third-variable problems.