Cognitive Psychology, 2nd Ed.
Chapter 1
Defining Cognitive Psychology
The study of human mental processes
and their role in thinking, feeling, and
behaving.
Experimentation versus mathematical
models and computer simulations.
Information processing—the mind is
analogous to the software of a
computer and the brain to its hardware.
Information processing
Information as a reduction of
uncertainty (h = log2N).
Meaning, not information in the
mathematical sense, is the focus of
human mental life.
Defining Cognitive Science
The study of the relationships among
and integration of cognitive psychology,
biology, anthropology, computer
science, linguistics, and philosophy.
These disciplines bring different
methodologies to common questions.
Core Concepts
Mental representation
Stages of processing
Serial versus parallel processing
Hierarchical systems
Cognitive architecture
Memory stores
Consciousness
Mental representation
An unobservable internal code for
information.
Mental images are one kind of mental
representation.
Other kinds are unconscious and abstract.
Provide the basis for all cognitive abilities and
knowledge about the world.
Stages of processing
Processes modify mental
representations in a series of stages.
Encoding, storage, and retrieval are
stages of processing in memory, for
example.
Serial versus Parallel
Processing
At a given stage of processing,
cognitive operations may be either
serial or parallel.
Simultaneous operations are parallel not
serial.
Is retrieval from memory serial or
parallel?
Hierarchical Systems
Mind as a hierarchy of component parts
analogous to bodily systems.
Nervous system divides into peripheral and
central branch. Peripheral divides into
autonomic and sensory, etc.
Mind divides into perception, memory, and
motor output. Memory divides into sensory,
short-term, and long-term. Long-term
divides into declarative and nondeclarative.
Consciousness
Self-knowledge—knowledge of self in
addition to knowledge of objects,
events, and ideas external to self.
Informational access—capacity to be
become aware of and able to report on
mental representations and processes.
Sentience—capacity for raw sensations,
feelings, and subjective experience.
Research Methods
Behavioral measures—reaction time and
proportion of errors.
Verbal protocols—concurrent, think
aloud protocols or other verbal reports.
Physiological measures—EEG, ERP, PET,
fMRI.
Method of Subtraction
Used to isolate the properties of a
single stage of processing.
Assumption of pure insertion:
Control-Stages 1 and 2
Experimental-Stages 1, 2, and 3
Adding 3 does not affect 1 and 2
Strong Theories of Cognition
Account for a large number phenomena
with as few assumptions as possible.
Are based on ecologically valid
experiments.
Are based on converging evidence
including behavioral, verbal reports,
physiological, and mathematical
models/computer simulations.
Cognitive Architectures
Symbolic models
Design of digital
computer
Symbolic
representations
Local
representations
Serial processing
Connectionist
models
Structure of brain
Associations among
simple units
Distributed
representations
Parallel processing