Cognitive Psychology 2024-2025 Fall Notes PDF

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Dr. Itır Kaşıkçı 2024-25 Fall / BAU Psychology  Visit Itslearning page for the syllabus. Introduction to Cognitive Psychology Dr. Itır Kaşıkçı 2023-24 Fall / BAU Psychology Cognitive Psychology ...

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Dr. Itır Kaşıkçı 2024-25 Fall / BAU Psychology  Visit Itslearning page for the syllabus. Introduction to Cognitive Psychology Dr. Itır Kaşıkçı 2023-24 Fall / BAU Psychology Cognitive Psychology  The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind.  «How the mind achieves what it does?» Studying the Mind  What is the Mind?  A system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals.  Creates and controls «cognition».  Cognition: Mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning. Studying the Mind Research Areas of Cognitive Psychology Studying the Mind Cognitive Sciences How knowledge is represented in the mind?  Empiricists vs nativists  Empiricists:«Knowledge comes from experiences gained through the lifetime.» ~Learning  Nativists: «Knowledge is based on innate characteristics of the brain.» ~Genetic factors  Empiricists vs rationalists  Empiricists: «The route to knowledge is through empirical investigations.» ~ Empirical research.  Rationalists: «The route to knowledge is through thinking and logical analysis.» ~Theory organization. Studying The Mind: Early Work  Franciscus Donders’s pioneering experiment (1868)  How long does it take to make a decision?  Reaction time (simple RT vs choice RT) Studying The Mind: Early Work  Donders’s experiment (1868)  Contributions:  Mind can be studied.  Mental responses cannot be measured directly, but must be inferred from observing behavior.  Reaction time. Studying The Mind: Early Work  Ebbinghaus’s memory experiment (1885, Berlin)  What is the time course of forgetting?  Used nonsense syllables such as DAX, QEH, LUH as stimuli.  Accuracy  + Bartlett, 1932: Importance of meaning. (Solso, 2013) Studying The Mind: Birth of Psychology  Wilhelm Wundt (1879, Leipzig) – Structuralism  «Our overall experience is determined by combining basic elements of experience (sensations).»  Empricism and associationism  Analytic introspection  Contributions:  Studying behavior and the mind under controlled conditions.  Started asking the questions to the subject.  +Brentano: Mental representations (Solso, 2013)  William James (1890, New York) – Functionalism  The Principles of Psychology (1890)  «Attention implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.» Abandoning the Study of the Mind  John Watson (1913, USA) – Behaviorism  «Observable behavior is the main topic of study.»  “What is the relation between stimuli and behavior?”  Not «What does behavior tell us about mind?»  Classical Conditioning  Operant Conditioning The Reemergence of the Mind in Psychology  Tolman’s memory experiment (1918, USA)  The cognitive map in the rat’s mind.  Skinner vs Chomsky  «Verbal behavior» vs «language acquisition device» The Rebirth of the Study of the Mind  The cognitive revolution – 1950s  Introduction of the digital computer  Information-processing approach to studying the mind  The operation of the mind can be described as occurring in a number of stages.  “The Magical Number Seven Plus or Minus Two” (Miller, 1956)  Artifical Intelligence  Logic theorist (Newell & Simon, 1956) (1958) The Cognitive “Revolution” Took a While  Ulrich Neisser, 1967 – Cognitive Psychology  His book emphasized the information-processing approach to studying the mind.  + Constructive processing (Neisser, 2014)  Ultimate goal of Cog Psy is to understand the mind.  «Normal», adult, human mind. Resources: Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience: Cengage Learning. Solso, R. L., Maclin, O. H., & MacLin, M. K. (2013). Cognitive psychology: Pearson new international edition. Pearson Higher Ed. Next week: Introduction to Neurocognition & Research methods