Cognitive Psychology Concepts and Models

Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive science is a trans- and interdisciplinary field dedicated to the scientific study of the nature of mind/cognition.
• Cognitive science treats the mind as the product of the brain, contrasting with philosophical views such as Cartesian dualism.
• Cognition is broadly understood as neuro-information processing.
• Cognitive psychology is the study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think (specifically, computational processes).

Cognitive Science Domains

• Psychology: studies memory, emotions, decision-making, and interaction.
• Linguistics: investigates language structure.
• Anthropology: examines cognition across cultures and history.
• Neuroscience: focuses on neural activity related to cognitive processes.
• Artificial Intelligence: aims to create intelligent machines.
• Philosophy: explores the nature of the mind and consciousness.

Levels of Organization and Analysis

• Philosophy of mind: broad explanatory framework for the relationship between mind and matter.
• Cognitive psychology: focuses on higher-level cognitive processes (e.g., perception, attention, memory).
• Cognitive neuroscience: examines the lower levels of organization related to cognition, specifically in relation to the nervous system.
• There are multiple levels of analysis in cognitive science.

The Mind in Cognitive Psychology

• The mind is realized in the brain.
• Intelligence is produced through processing information, forming mental representations.
• Basic cognitive processes work together to help people act within the world and achieve goals.

History of Cognitive Psychology

• Early history: nativism vs. empiricism debate persisted.
• Donders's experiment marked use of scientific method to study the mind.
• Structuralism: used introspection to determine the structure of thoughts using self-observation (abandoned).
• Free-association tasks are an example of the structuralism method.
• Functionalism: a reaction to structuralism, focused on the function of cognitive processes rather than structure.
• Behaviorism: focused on external behavior, rejecting internal mental processes.
• The cognitive revolution: shift from behaviorism to focus on mental processes, using the computer as a metaphor of the mind.
• Information processing approach: cognitive processes are series of steps or stages.
• Cognitive architectures produce intelligent thoughts via representations and processes.
• The symbolic paradigm treats symbolic structures and operations.

The Cognitive Revolution

• Cognitive psychology emerged as a distinctive field in the 1950s and 1970s.
• Kuhn’s paradigm shift is the basis for scientific revolutions. A paradigm shift is when a community of scientists discards an existing model and replaces it with a new model of understanding.
• This shift involved moving away from solely stimulus-response relationships to understanding the operation of the mind.

The Beginnings of Cognitive Psychology

• Advances in psychology, linguistics, anthropology, and computer science.
• Studies on human performance from WWII and information theory have been influential.
• Newell and Simon’s work, and Noam Chomsky’s theory of language, have influenced cognitive psychology.

The Information-Processing Approach

• Cognition is a set of steps for processing information.
• Information is first received by an input processor, stored in memory, and then processed via an arithmetic unit.

Broadbent's Filter Model

• Broadbent's flow diagram model of selective attention illustrates how information is sequentially processed.
• This flow diagram helped establish a method for analyzing the operation of a mind.

Memory Processes

• The sensory organs continuously send information to the brain.
• Active knowledge in long-term memory.
• Working memory stores knowledge/information until execution.

Cognitive Architecture

• Symbolic structures and associated processes produce intelligent behavior.
• Information-processing models are focused on specific aspects of human thinking.

The Symbolic Paradigm

• The symbolic paradigm represents knowledge using symbols.
• It uses logic, mathematical rules, and symbolic structures.
• In order to have intelligent behavior, there needs to be a system of physical symbols to represent and manipulate concepts.

Cognitive Neuroscience

• Cognitive psychology gradually paid more attention to the influence information processing has on the brain.
• Neuropsychology and Electrophysiology provide insights into the brain's functions.
• Modern tools like PET scans, and MRI scans have allowed for a new level of understanding of the thought processes within the brain.

The Brain

• The brain is organized into distinct areas serving various functions.
• Different areas within the neocortex are specialized for specific processes (left hemisphere; right hemisphere).
• Cognitive neuroscience has highlighted how brain areas are connected and interact, allowing the brain to function dynamically.

The Neuron

• The neuron is the basic building block of the nervous system.
• Neurons communicate using neurotransmitters.

The Central Nervous System

• The central nervous system is comprised of the brain and spinal cord.
• The lower parts of the brain are responsible for basic functions.
• The neocortex is responsible for high-level functions and the frontal lobe is involved in controlling higher-level functions.

Brodmann Areas

• Brodmann identified distinct regions in the cortex.

Practical Applications of Cognitive Psychology

• Useful tools exist for understanding how cognitive psychology applies to better study preparation.
• Strategies to improve effective learning and preparation for exams.