Cognitive Psychology Introduction PDF

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSYC 365 Introduction of Cognitive Psychology 1  Objectives 1. Define Cognitive Psychology, and delineate its history. 2. Describe the first few cognitive experiments. 3. Elaborate on the differe...

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSYC 365 Introduction of Cognitive Psychology 1  Objectives 1. Define Cognitive Psychology, and delineate its history. 2. Describe the first few cognitive experiments. 3. Elaborate on the different schools of thought in Cognitive Psychology. 4. Describe the cognitive revolution, and the events leading up to it. 5. Characterize modern Cognitive Psychology and its assumptions. 2  Objectives 1. Define Cognitive Psychology, and delineate its history. 2. Describe the first few cognitive experiments. 3. Elaborate on the different schools of thought in Cognitive Psychology. 4. Describe the cognitive revolution, and the events leading up to it. 5. Characterize modern Cognitive Psychology and its assumptions. 3  What is Cognitive Psychology? subspecialization of Psychology scientific study of the mind and mental processes o mind (i.e. useful for everyday functions; role in mental abilities) o mental processes (perception, attention, memory, knowledge, problem solving) She was able to call to mind the year that Michael A mind is a terrible thing to Jordan retired on trivia waste. night. mind = everyday functions mind = determines our mental abilities 4  Pre Cognitive Psychology Era Philosophy: Monism Mind and body (brain) are one. o Mental events correspond to physical events in the brain Thomas Hobbes & John Locke (~17th century) o British Empiricists o Scientific observation is how we gain knowledge If the mind and body are one, we can scientifically study the brain/behavior to understand the mind. o This is what (Cognitive) Psychology came out of. 5  Objectives 1. Define Cognitive Psychology, and delineate its history. 2. Describe the first few cognitive experiments. 3. Elaborate on the different schools of thought in Cognitive Psychology. 4. Describe the cognitive revolution, and the events leading up to it. 5. Characterize modern Cognitive Psychology and its assumptions. 6  Donders’ Decision Making Experiment (1868) Two conditions (modernized version below) o Both conditions involve the same perceptual and motor processes o Only difference is choice RT condition involves a decision o Difference in RT between conditions à time to make decision simple reaction time (RT) task choice reaction time (RT) task sensory sensory decision motor motor L Difference between RT simple task 7 7  Donders’ Decision Making Experiment (1868) Donder’s Reaction Time Experiment Results o choice RT was about 0.1 seconds longer than simple RT condition Conclusion o it takes about 0.1 sec to make a simple decision simple reaction choice reaction time (RT) task time (RT) task sensory sensory decision motor motor 8 8  Donders’ Decision Making Experiment (1868) good example of inferring mental processes from behavior o Asked “how long does it take the mind to make a simple decision? o Measured time taken to press a button (behavior) o BUT used this to infer that a decision takes 0.1 sec (mental process) 9 9  Hermann Ebbinghaus’ Memory Experiment (1885) Conducted first research into the nature of memory & “forgetting” Made lists of “nonsense syllables” o 3-letter non-words o e.g. rux, zim, … Memorized list of 13 non-words, then tested himself some time later o “How much did I remember?” o “How fast can I re-learn the list?” 10  Hermann Ebbinghaus’ Memory Experiment (1885) Let’s try it out. A-M N-Z 11  Hermann Ebbinghaus’ Memory Experiment (1885) Let’s try it out. 12  Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve Result: memory decreases very quickly early on, then slows down 13 www.superblearning.com.au  Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve Subsequently reported forgetting curves show similar patterns. o only difference is Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve was remarkably fast o likely because he ultimately memorized 420 different lists of non-words 14  Ebbinghaus’ Saving Ebbinghaus was also interested in how quickly he could re-memorize a list, after forgetting the list due to passage of time Calculated “% Savings” = reduced time it took to relearn the list o Let’s say it takes 5mins to learn a list from scratch. o How long does it take to re-learn? 15  Ebbinghaus’ Saving after a delay of 19 minutes, it took 400 seconds to re-learn the list compared to learning it the first time, he saved 600 seconds 16  Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting/Saving Curve What was not forgotten was considered remembered/saved 17  Hermann Ebbinghaus’ Memory Experiment (1885) Let’s try it out. 18  Objectives 1. Define Cognitive Psychology, and delineate its history. 2. Describe the first few cognitive experiments. 3. Elaborate on the different schools of thought in Cognitive Psychology. 4. Describe the cognitive revolution, and the events leading up to it. 5. Characterize modern Cognitive Psychology and its assumptions. 19  Structuralism Structuralism: the mind can be studied by breaking it down into its tiniest components Wilhelm Wundt – established first Psychology lab (1879) o considered father of psychology o beginning of modern Psychology, departure from philosophy o reduced experience to tiniest elements – sensations Method: analytic introspection o Much like chemistry breaks things down into elements (e.g., atoms, electrons) o Trained subjects to pay close attention to their own sensations and experience 20 verywellmind.com -  Functionalism Functionalism: wanted to describe the adaptive (evolutionary) function of the mind William James (1842-1910) o considered father of American psychology o wrote Principles of Psychology Method: naturalistic observation o influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution (stressed how adaptations helped organisms survive and reproduce) o first psychological theory of attention o “stream of consciousness” 21 en.wkipedia.org  Structuralism vs Functionalism Structuralism: what are the basic pieces of the mind, and how do they fit? Functionalism: what does it do, and how is it useful? Both schools of thought dominated psychology in the late 1800s 22 Andrew Ostrovsky/Getty Images  Behaviorism Behaviorism: emphasizes the study of overt, observable behaviors John B. Watson (1878-1958) – Father of Behaviorism o “Introspection is unscientific” o Only observable behavior (not unobservable inner consciousness or sub- consciousness) is acceptable for study ~ we can observe direct behavior, NOT the mind/ consciousness. 23  Behaviorism Behaviorism directly opposes “mentalism” of structuralism, functionalism, and of Freud’s psychodynamics o introspection produces variable reports o consciousness/mind is not directly observable, therefore cannot be studied empirically (scientifically) Therefore, focus only on what we can see – the behavior of the organism o Humans are the products of their learning environments o People are blank slates, and when behaviors are rewarded/punished they become more/less likely 24  Behaviorism www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBfnXACsOI Little Albert Experiment 25  Radical Behaviorism Radical Behaviorism: behavior is governed by lawful principles ~o Good consequence à behavior more likely X o Bad consequence à behavior less likely B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) – Father of Radical Behaviorism o We don’t need to resort to mental events as explanations of behavior o Food (stimulus) à Eating (response) o We can describe, understand, and predict the behavior without ever guessing about whether the animal was ‘hungry’ o Introduced operant conditioning 26 imdb.com  Objectives 1. Define Cognitive Psychology, and delineate its history. 2. Describe the first few cognitive experiments. 3. Elaborate on the different schools of thought in Cognitive Psychology. 4. Describe the cognitive revolution, and the events leading up to it. 5. Characterize modern Cognitive Psychology and its assumptions. 27  Cognitive Revolution interest in the mind died out with Behaviorism, but started to come back in the 1940s-1950s 1. Kohler’s ”Insight” 2. Tolman’s “Cognitive Maps” 3. Chomsky’s Children’s language and development 28  1. Cognitive Insight insight = sudden perception of a relationship between two seemingly disconnected ideas that helps solve a problem o remote associate task (e.g. cottage, cake, burger = ?) 4th word = cheese? o opposite of math questions ↳ relies on associations that need to bring , you different Wolfgang Kohler together concepts to come to a solution. o chimpanzees display insight (also shown in ravens) - In a room with crates , motivate chimpanzees with food. After at bananas staring -. they stack crates 1 by 1 to get the bananas 29  2. Cognitive Map Cognitive Map = a mental (map-like) representation of space ⑰ Edward Tolman o Through behavioral results, he inferred that rats developed a cognitive map o If it was simply conditioning, rat would always turn right. o When placed in a different location, the rat chose the path leading directly to food. 30  3. Children’s Language and Development Children does not develop language abilities through reinforcement o children are unlikely to be rewarded for saying “I hate you” to their parents Noam Chomsky o language is not a product of reinforcement o Inspired others to consider the possibility that complex behaviors may not be solely explained by conditioning Another Tolman experiment: 31  Cognitive Revolution Interest in mental processes really exploded in the 1950s to the 1970s Period known as the Cognitive Revolution o Researchers became interested in the mind again, rather than purely behavior o What development in the 1950s might have spurred this renewed interest in how people code, store, and process information? 32  Information Processing Earlier work used the computer as a metaphor for how the mind works o complex, multipurpose machine that processes information in stages (attention) o limited capacity processor (i.e. can only do so much at once) o Humans are “Information Processors” whose behavior is governed by thought 33  Objectives 1. Define Cognitive Psychology, and delineate its history. 2. Describe the first few cognitive experiments. 3. Elaborate on the different schools of thought in Cognitive Psychology. 4. Describe the cognitive revolution, and the events leading up to it. 5. Characterize modern Cognitive Psychology and its assumptions. 34  Modern Cognitive Psychology emphasizes thought processes and knowledge: human behavior is governed by thought some still think of the mind as a kind of “information processor” o the computer metaphor is not perfect… improvements from early days of Cognitive Psychology o greater focus on higher level cognitive processes (e.g. thinking, remembering) o much more work devoted to studying physiology of cognitive processes 35  Assumptions of Cognitive Psychology 1. Mental processes exist And, they are key to the field of psychology 2. Mental processes can be studied scientifically Mental processes are lawful and systematic Can infer these processes by observing behavior/physiology 3. Humans actively process information We actively choose what to attend to, relate it to past experiences, and think about it when we want to. 4. Cognition is the product of neural activity 36  Objectives ✔ 1. Define Cognitive Psychology, and delineate its history. ✔ 2. Describe the first few cognitive experiments. ✔ 3. Elaborate on the different schools of thought in Cognitive Psychology. ✔ 4. Describe the cognitive revolution, and the events leading up to it. ✔ 5. Characterize modern Cognitive Psychology and its assumptions. 37