Cognitive Psychology Overview

Cognitive Psychology Overview

• Cognitive psychology studies mental processes like perception, memory, language, problem-solving, reasoning, and decision-making.
• It investigates how people understand, think, and learn.

Behaviorism

• Behaviorism focuses solely on observable behaviors, environmental stimuli, and reinforcement.
• It rejects the study of mental processes, emphasizing objective measurement.
• Pioneers include John Watson and B.F. Skinner.
• Behaviorism was dominant in the early 20th century.

Cognitive Revolution

• Advances in AI (e.g., Turing Machines) and linguistics (e.g., Chomsky's critique of behaviorism) spurred research on cognition.
• This period occurred from the 1950s-1960s.
• Cognitive psychology gained prominence during this era.

Key Figures in Cognitive Psychology

• Ulric Neisser is considered the father of cognitive psychology, formalizing the field in his book, Cognitive Psychology.
• Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted research on memory and forgetting curves.
• Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab and used introspection.
• Frederic Bartlett studied reconstructive memory and the role of schemas.
• Jean Piaget studied cognitive development in children.

Cognitive Neuroscience

• Cognitive neuroscience links cognitive psychology and neuroscience.
• It studies how the brain underpins mental processes.
• Brain imaging techniques (e.g., fMRI, EEG) are used to explore neural structures related to memory, language, and decision-making.

Neuron Structure and Function

• Dendrites: Receive signals from other neurons.
• Cell Body (Soma): Processes incoming information.
• Axon: Transmits electrical signals (action potentials).
• Synapse: Gap between neurons where neurotransmitters facilitate communication.
• Neurons communicate electrically and chemically, enabling transmission and communication.

Brain Function: Localization and Distributed Representation

• Localization: Specific brain areas are responsible for particular functions.
• Distributed Representation: Cognitive processes involve activity across multiple brain regions.

Brain Imaging Techniques

• EEG (Electroencephalography): Measures electrical brain activity.
• fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging): Tracks blood flow changes to infer brain activity.
• TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation): Temporarily disrupts brain regions to study their roles.
• Lesion Studies: Examine behavioral changes following brain damage.

Perception

• Perception involves interpreting sensory information for understanding the environment.
• It integrates sensory input (bottom-up) with existing knowledge (top-down).
• Sensory Store: Brief storage for sensory information.
• Iconic Memory: Visual sensory memory (milliseconds).
• Echoic Memory: Auditory sensory memory (seconds).

Assumptions and Principles of Perception

• Perception relies on assumptions about the world (often unconsciously).
• Light-from-above Assumption: Assumes light comes from above to interpret shadows.
• Contextual Assumptions: Interpret objects based on surrounding information.
• Gestalt Principles of Organization: Explain how we perceive unified patterns (e.g., proximity, similarity, closure, continuity).

Perception and Action

• Perception guides action.
• Mirror Neurons: Activate during both performing and observing actions.
• Action Affordances: Perceiving objects in terms of potential uses.

Attention

• Attention focuses mental resources on specific stimuli while ignoring others.
• Selective Attention: Focus on one stimulus, excluding others.
• Divided Attention: Splitting focus between tasks.
• Sustained Attention: Maintaining focus over time.
  • Dichotic Listening Tasks measure attention in auditory information.
  • Visual Search Tasks measure visual attention.

Attention Models

• Broadbent's Filter Model: Early selection filters irrelevant stimuli before processing.
• Treisman's Attenuation Model: Irrelevant stimuli are attenuated (not entirely filtered).
• Late Selection Models: Processing occurs before filtering.

Attention and Processing

• Inattentional Blindness: Failing to notice visible objects.
• Change Blindness: Failing to detect changes in a visual scene.
• Automatic Processing: Unconscious, effortless, and fast.
• Controlled Processing: Conscious, effortful, and slower.

Short-Term Memory (STM)

• STM temporarily stores a limited amount of information.
• Miller's Law: STM holds about 7 ± 2 items.
• Chunking: Grouping information to improve STM capacity.

Working Memory

• Working memory actively holds and manipulates information.
• It's a cognitive system for complex tasks like reasoning, learning, and comprehension.
• Baddeley's Working Memory Model describes its components.

Forgetting

• Forgetting occurs rapidly initially and then levels off.
• Decay Theory: Memory traces disappear with lack of use.
• Interference Theory: Competing information disrupts recall.
• Retrieval Failure: Memory exists but cannot be accessed.

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• LTM stores vast amounts of information permanently (potentially).
• Transferring from STM to LTM involves rehearsal, elaboration, and encoding.
• Encoding Theories of Memory: Transform information for storage.
• Dual-Coding Theory: Verbal and visual encoding improves memory.

Memory Processes and Strategies

• Levels of Processing: Deeper processing improves retention.
• Generation Effect: Self-generated information is better remembered.
• Sleep and Memory: Consolidation occurs during sleep.
• Spaced Practice: Improves retention more than cramming.
• Testing Effect: Retrieval enhances retention

Memory Cues

• Cues facilitate retrieval.
• Encoding Specificity Principle: Retrieval is best when cues match encoding context.
• Context-Dependent Memory: Recall is better in the learning environment.

Memory Illusions and Types

• Memory Illusions: False or distorted memories.
• Source Monitoring Problems: Mistaking the origin of a memory.
• Flashbulb Memories: Vivid but not always accurate.

Types of Memory

• Explicit Memory: Conscious recall of facts and events (episodic and semantic).
• Implicit Memory: Unconscious recall of skills and associations (procedural and priming).

Memory Disorders

• Retrograde Amnesia: Loss of past memories.
• Anterograde Amnesia: Inability to form new memories.
• Parkinson’s Disease: Procedural memory problems.
• Alzheimer’s Disease: Progressive memory loss, involving amyloid plaques and tau tangles.

How Imagery Impacts Memory and Other Cognitive Processes

• Visual imagery enhances memory, problem-solving, and planning.
• Dual-Coding Theory: Verbal and visual encoding strengthens retention.
• Method of Loci, Peg-Word System: Imagery mnemonics.

Categorization and Concepts

• Categorization groups objects into categories based on shared features, facilitating understanding.
• Concept: Mental representation of a category.
• Exemplar: Specific instance within a category.

Theories of Categorization

• Definitional Theory: Categories have necessary and sufficient features.
• Prototype Theory: Categories centered around typical representations.
• Template Theory: Categorization involves matching to stored templates.
• Family Resemblance: Category members share overlapping features.

Semantic Networks and Models

• Semantic Networks: Concepts are linked in a network.
• Connectionist Models: Concepts represented as patterns of activation.

Language

• Language is a communication system of words, symbols, and rules.
• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Language shapes thought and perception.

Language Components

• Phonemes: Smallest units of sound.
• Morphemes: Smallest units of meaning.
• Syntax: Rules for sentence structure.
• Semantics: Meaning in words and sentences.

Language Disorders

• Broca's Aphasia: Impaired speech production but intact comprehension.
• Wernicke's Aphasia: Fluent but nonsensical speech with poor comprehension.

Text Comprehension

• Situational Model: Mental representations of text context.
• Coherence: Clear connections between ideas in text.
• Prior Knowledge: Important for integrating information.
• Visualization: Helps understand descriptive passages.
• Pragmatics: Study of how language is used in context.