Chapter 1 - Introduction.pdf

Chapter 1: Introduction What is Cognitive Psychology?  Scientific study of cognition  Cognition: Mental processes and structures involved in the acquisition, storage, transformation, and use of information  Perception  Attention  Memory  Thinking The mind creates re...

Chapter 1: Introduction What is Cognitive Psychology?  Scientific study of cognition  Cognition: Mental processes and structures involved in the acquisition, storage, transformation, and use of information  Perception  Attention  Memory  Thinking The mind creates representations…  What we see and think may not be reality! Cognitive Psychology in this class  The Goal:  History of the field  Questions cognitive psychologists are interested in  Tools used to investigate those questions  Key findings from the field  This class is NOT comprehensive coverage of any subfield or sub-discipline of the field Cognitive Psychology Subfields  Language  Reasoning  Perception  Problem solving  Attention  Learning  Memory  Judgment  Decision making  Emotion  Knowledge  Consciousness  Intelligence Artificial Intelligence  Machines that can accomplish some or all of the tasks humans can  Most successful at:  Complex math  Quick, large calculations  It’s learning to learn  Computer vision  Speech recognition  Self-driving cars How do we study cognition? Neuroscience  Studying the brain itself  Non-invasive techniques  Measure activity of small regions of the brain  Invasive techniques  Measure activity of individual neurons  Must be used in conjunction with other measures Cognitive Psychology  The study of human behavior via experiments  Cognitive processes all depend on the brain  Common mechanisms? Computational Modeling  Simulating brain processes using computers  Machine learning & artificial neural networks  Computers that can carry out some basic functions of the brain may help us understand it Why study cognitive psychology?  Basic research  Curiosity driven  Understand the world and its phenomena  Seeks to advance the frontiers of knowledge  Applied research  Solution driven  End goal of developing a solution to a problem Reminders & Updates  Syllabus quiz due Friday 8/30 by 5:00pm  Get access to Top Hat if you don’t have it  Lab tomorrow ☺  No lecture Monday 9/2 (you’re welcome!)