Cognitive Psychology Review
Motivations for Studying Cognitive Psychology
Intellectual Curiosity
The desire for knowledge drives the study of cognitive psychology.
Cognitive psychologists are likened to tinkerers wanting to understand mechanisms—similar to how an observer might think about the technologies behind a news broadcast.
Human cognition is complicated and sophisticated, operating through intricate mental processes, similar to complex modern technologies.
Researchers in artificial intelligence (AI) have attempted to develop intelligent behavior in computers, yet no AI has achieved the generalized intelligence humans possess.
Notable AI advancements include:
IBM’s Watson, which won against human contestants on Jeopardy (Ferrucci et al., 2010).
DeepMind’s AlphaGo, which defeated the reigning champion Go player in 2017 (Silver et al., 2017).
Human intelligence is potentially modelable in computers, lacking a mystical or unexplainable quality.
Scientific discovery, often considered the pinnacle of human intelligence, may be better understood through basic cognitive processes rather than intuitive leaps.
Herbert Simon, a notable theorist, explored scientific discovery via cognitive processes, simulating problem-solving methods and outcomes of historical scientific accomplishments (Langley, Simon, Bradshaw, & Zytkow, 1987; Simon, 1989).
Simon concluded that insight and creativity could be explained through recognized cognitive processes, indicating that what is viewed as genius may just be complex problem-solving mechanisms.
Implications for Other Fields
Cognitive psychology's findings support the understanding of behaviors across psychology and social sciences.
Important applications:
Clinical Psychology: Understanding thought malfunctions.
Social Psychology: Insights into individual and group behaviors.
Political Science: Understanding persuasion methods.
Economics: Behavioral economics studies flawed decision-making affecting markets (e.g., individuals paying more with credit than cash, as discovered by Simester & Drazen, 2001).
Sociology: Analysis of group organization effectiveness.
Linguistics: Explaining features of natural languages.
Cognitive psychology serves as a foundational basis for other social sciences, much like physics underpins physical sciences.
The cognitive psychology field is relatively new (began in the 1950s), contributing to a lack of integration into other research areas.
Practical Applications
Understanding cognitive psychology can improve intellectual training and performance.
Current applications include:
Eyewitness testimony guidelines for law enforcement derived from reliability research (Wells, Memon, & Penrod, 2006; U.S. Department of Justice, 1999).
Designs of computer-based devices informed by basic information processing principles, such as flight management systems (John et al., 2012).
Educational applications including advancements in reading instruction (Rayner et al., 2002; Seidenberg, 2013) and computer-based math teaching systems (Koedinger & Corbett, 2006).
Contributions to understanding brain disorders like schizophrenia (Cohen & Servan-Schreiber, 1992) and autism (Dinstein et al., 2012; Just et al., 2013).
The text will include “Implications” boxes to illustrate real-world applications of cognitive psychology findings.
The History of Cognitive Psychology
Understanding cognitive psychology's history is vital for grasping its current developments and relevance.
Early History
Ancient Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, introduced speculations about memory, thought, and knowledge origin.
A longstanding debate between empiricism (knowledge from experience) and nativism (innate knowledge).
Key figures:
Empiricists: Berkeley, Locke, Hume, Mill.
Nativists: Descartes, Kant.
The scientific method's application to cognitive psychology emerged at the late 19th century, long after many other sciences developed.
Psychology in Germany: Focus on Introspective Observation
The formal inception of psychology as a science is marked by Wilhelm Wundt's establishment of the first psychology laboratory in 1879, with a focus on introspective observation.
Introspection involved trained observers self-reporting conscious contents under controlled conditions, aimed at identifying primitive experiences from which thoughts arise.
An example: Mayer and Orth (1901) utilized free association tasks to explore conscious experiences and response times.
Wundt’s methodology faced criticism and led to a differing approach in American psychology.
Psychology in America: Focus on Behavior
American psychology did not adopt Wundt's introspective approach but leaned heavily toward practical applications through functionalism and pragmatism.
Key figures included Edward Thorndike, who prioritized learning theories applicable in educational settings, focusing on behavior and ignoring conscious experience.
Behaviorism emerged around 1920, challenging introspection, advocating for a focus solely on observable behavior.
The Cognitive Revolution: AI, Information Theory, and Linguistics
Cognitive psychology evolved significantly between the 1950s and 1970s, marked by the cognitive revolution that challenged behaviorism.
Influences of this period:
Research on human performance during World War II, addressing training for complex tasks.
Information theory emerged to analyze information processing, deeply influencing cognitive psychology studies.
Advancements in AI drove insights into cognitive processes, such as from Allen Newell and Herbert Simon’s work.
The emergence of linguistics and Noam Chomsky’s critiques of behaviorist inadequacies in explaining language complexity provided substantial momentum against behaviorist theories.
Information-Processing Analyses
The information-processing approach became dominant, analyzed cognition as steps for processing abstract information.
Sternberg Paradigm: An experiment exemplifying information-processing, where participants identified digits in a memory set, yielding critical insights into cognitive processing stages and effects of different conditions on judgment times.
Evidence shows task performance changes based on information-processing stages involving encoding, comparison, and decision-making, exemplified through Sternberg’s findings.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience explores the relationship between cognition and brain function, evolving as research progressed towards understanding neural bases for cognitive processes.
Neurons are fundamental units in the nervous system, facilitating information processing through electrical and chemical activity.
Neurons communicate via synapses, utilizing neurotransmitters to affect neighboring neurons.
The specialized roles of brain structures contribute to cognitive functions, signifying a complex interplay between anatomy and cognition.
Various imaging techniques, including EEG, MEG, PET, and fMRI, provide insights into brain activity and cognition but vary in spatial and temporal resolution.
Organization of the Brain
The brain's structure is crucial to understanding cognitive function, divided into various regions responsible for different cognitive and sensory processes.
Key structures include:
Cerebellum: Coordination, motor control; also involved in cognition.
Thalamus: Relay station for sensory and motor information.
Neocortex: Main cerebral part dividing into left/right hemispheres; responsible for higher cognitive functions.
Limbic System: Emotional responses and memory functions.
Localization of Function
Structural specialization within the left and right hemispheres dictates processing types:
Left Hemisphere: Language and analytical processing.
Right Hemisphere: Perceptual/spatial processing.
Case studies, especially split-brain patients, reveal lateralization in processes like language comprehension through Damage to specific areas (Broca’s and Wernicke’s area).
Topographic organization of the cortex ensures spatial representation of stimuli and body functions, impacting processing efficiency.