Chapter 1 - Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Mind

System that creates mental representations of the world and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, thinking and reasoning

Cognition

Mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem-solving, reasoning and decision-making

Franciscus Donders

-Performed one of the first cognitive psychology experiments

-Influential in the field of cognitive psychology

Donder’s Pioneering Experiment

-Wanted to determine how long it takes for a person to make a decision

-He first measured simple reaction time by asking participants to push the button when they see the light

-He then measured Choice Reaction Time by using two lights, participants would then push the button corresponding to the side of the light

Results of Donder’s Experiment

-Choice reaction time took 1/10 of a second longer than simple reaction time, Donder therefore believed all decision-making processes take 1/10 of a second longer

-However, he was measuring the relationship between stimulus presentation and the response, not the mental response directly

-Shows that mental responses are impossible to be measured directly, but are instead inferred from observing behaviours

Willhelm Wundt

-Founded the first psychology laboratory

-Was inspired by the “building block” ideas in physics and chemistry, wanted to “break down” the mind in a similar way

-Founded the perspective of Structuralism

Structuralism

Explained perception as the adding up of small elementary units called ‘sensations’

Analytic Introspection

Used by Wundt and other early psychologists in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli

Ebbinghaus’ Memory Experiment

-Used a quantitative method to measure memory by repeating lists of nonsense syllables

-Determined how long to first learn the list, then had a delay, then determined how long to relearn the list

-Used a measure called “Savings”, determines the magnitude of memory left from initial learning

-The higher the saving rate, the greater the memory

-Calculated via (Original Time Learned) - (Time to Relearn After Delay)

Results of Ebbinghaus’ Memory Experiment

-Because he retained certain information from the original learning, he relearned the list more rapidly

-However, the savings dropped as the delay is increased, creating the “savings curve”

-This demonstrates memory can be quantified and functions like the savings curve can be used to describe properties of the mind (in this case, information retention)

William James

-Influential psychologist in cognitive psychology

-Wrote the first psychology textbook which is based on introspection

-Created frameworks necessary in Cognitive Psychology

John Watson

-Dissatisfied with analytic introspection he created the field of “Behaviourism”

-Inspired by Pavlov’s Dog, he did a similar experiment with Little Albert, where he conditioned him to be fearful of a doll

Behaviourism

Emphasizes observable behaviours, not consciousness (which would involved unobservable processes like thinking, reasoning and emotions) is necessary to understand the mind

-Behaviourists ignore all mental state assumption (like “Organism A did this because it felt ____”)

-This causes a problem in cognitive psychology as we want to know more about the mental state

Classical Conditioning

Pairing a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response which causes the neutral stimulus to elicit that very same response

B.F Skinner

Introduced operant conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Focuses on how behavior is strengthened by positive reinforcers or by the withdrawal of negative reinforcers

Tolman’s Experiment

-Created a maze and place a rat, allowing it to first explore the maze

-After the exploration, rat was placed on Point A while food was placed on Point B

-Rat learned to turn right to obtain the food (which is what behaviourists would predict)

-When the rat was placed on Point C, it instinctively turned left to obtain the food, which goes against the behaviourists understanding

Results of Tolman’s Experiment

-Behaviourists were unable to explain the results as the actions of the rat was not based on reward/reinforcement

-Tolman concluded that the rat had forged a cognitive map

Cognitive Map - Mental conception of a spatial layout

-The rat therefore relied on its mental state, not a learned behaviour

Cognitive Revolution

Shift from the behaviourist approach to an approach in which the main thrust was to explain behaviours in terms of the mind

-One of the outcomes of this shift is the information-processing approach

Paradigm/Paradigm Shift

Paradigm - System of the ideas which guide thinking in a particular field

Paradigm Shift - A change of these systems

The Kuhn Cycle

Cycle that describes the progression of scientific ideas overtime

Information-Processing Approach

Mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages

Artificial Intelligence

Ability of a computer to perform tasks usually associated with human intelligence

Atkinson’s and Shiffrin’s Model of Memory

-Pictures the flow of info in the memory system as having three stages

Sensory Memory - Holds incoming information for a fraction of a second, passes most to Short-Term Memory

Short-Term Memory - Limited capacity, holds info for seconds

Long-Term Memory - Large capacity, holds information for long periods of time

Long-Term Memory Types

-Tulving introduced different types of LTM;

Episodic Memory - Moments/key events in life

Semantic Memory - General facts about the world

Procedural Memory - Physical actions/habits

Neuropsychology

Study of the behavioural effects of brain damage in humans

Electropsychology

Techniques used to measure electrical responses of the nervous system

Stephen Palmer

-Created an experiment to illustrate how our knowledge about the environment influences perception

-First provided a “context scene”, like a kitchen, then flashes a target picture

-He then asks observers the identify the target object from the pictures on the right

Results of Palmer’s Experiment

-80% of the time, participants correctly identified the bread which matches the kitchen scene

-Only identified the mailbox/drum 40% of the time

-Palmer therefore noted that observers were using their previous knowledge of the kitchen to help them perceive the bread

Neuroimaging Methods

Spatial Resolution - Where in the brain the activity is occurring, smaller resolution value is better

• fMRI has great spatial resolution, but lacks temporal resolution

Temporal Resolution - Response time of the device

• EEG has great temporal resolution, but has low spatial resolution