Cognitive Psychology Chapter 1: Goldstein 4th Edition

Analytic Introspection

A procedure used by early psychologists in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli presented under controlled conditions.

Artificial Intelligence

The ability of a computer to perform tasks usually associated with human intelligence.

Behavioral approach*

Studying the mind by measuring a person's behavior and explaining this behavior in behavioral terms.

Behaviorism

The approach to psychology, founded by John B. Watson, which states that observable behavior provides the only valid data for psychology. A consequence of this idea is that consciousness and unobservable mental processes are not considered worthy of study by psychologists.

Choice reaction time

Time to respond to one of two or more stimuli. For example, in the Donders experiment, subjects had to make one response to one stimulus and a different response to another stimulus.

Classical conditioning

A procedure in which pairing a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response causes the neutral stimulus to elicit that response.

Cognition

The mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making.

Cognitive Map

Mental conception of a spatial layout.

Cognitive psychology

The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making. In short, cognitive psychology is concerned with the scientific study of the mind and mental processes.

Cognitive revolution

A shift in psychology, beginning in the 1950s, from the behaviorist approach to an approach in which the main thrust was to explain behavior in terms of the mind. One of the outcomes of the cognitive revolution was the introduction of the information-processing approach to studying the mind.

Information-processing approach

The approach to psychology, developed beginning in the 1950s, in which the mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages.

Logic theorist

Computer program devised by Alan Newell and Herbert Simon that was able to solve logic problems.

Memory consolidation*

Process by which experiences or information that has entered the memory system becomes strengthened so it is resistant to interference caused by trauma or other events.

Mind

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

Model*

In cognitive psychology, a representation of the workings of the mind; often presented as interconnected boxes that each represent the operation of specific mental functions.

Operant Conditioning

Type of conditioning championed by B. F. Skinner, which focuses on how behavior is strengthened by presentation of positive reinforcers, such as food or social approval, or withdrawal of negative reinforcers, such as a shock or social rejection.

Process Model

A model that represents the processes involved in cognition. An example is the flow diagram for Broadbent's filter model of attention.

Physiological Approach*

Studying the mind by measuring physiological and behavioral responses, and explaining behavior in physiological terms.

Reaction Time

The time it takes to react to a stimulus. This is usually determined by measuring the time between presentation of a stimulus and the person's response to the stimulus. Examples of responses are pushing a button, saying a word, moving the eyes, and the appearance of a particular brain wave.

Savings

Measure used by Ebbinghaus to determine the magnitude of memory left from initial learning. Higher savings indicate greater memory.

Savings Method*

Method used to measure retention in Ebbinghaus's memory experiments. He read lists of nonsense syllables and determined how many repetitions it took to repeat the lists with no errors. He then repeated this procedure after various intervals following initial learning and compared the number of repetitions needed to achieve no errors.

Savings curve

Plot of savings versus time after original learning.

Simple Reaction Time

Reacting to the presence or absence of a single stimulus (as opposed to having to choose between a number of stimuli before making a response). See also Choice reaction time.

Structuralism

An approach to psychology that explained perception as the adding up of small elementary units called sensations.

Structural model

Representation of a physical structure. An example is a model of the brain or structures within the brain and their connections.