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Introduction to Cognitive Psychology Unit 1 (Cognition involves…
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Unit 1
Cognition involves
Perception
Attention
Memory
Representation of knowledge
Language
Problem-solving
Reasoning and decision-making • All include “hidden” processes of which we may not be aware
The First Cognitive Psychologists
Donders (1868) – Mental responses cannot be measured directly but can be inferred from the participant’s behavior
Helmholtz (~1860s) – Unconscious inference •Some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions we make about the environment – We infer much of what we know about the world
Ebbinghaus (1885) – Read list of nonsense syllables aloud many times to determine number of repetitions necessary to repeat list without errors
Wundt (1897) – Approach Structuralism: experience is determined by combining elements of experience called sensations – Method Analytic introspection: participants trained to describe experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli
John Watson noted two problems with this: – Extremely variable results from person to person – Results difficult to verify •Invisible inner mental processes
The Rise of Behaviorism
John Watson proposed a new approach called behaviorism – Eliminate the mind as a topic of study – Instead, study directly observable behavior
Watson (1920) – “Little Albert” experiment – Classical conditioning of fear – 9-month-old became frightened by a rat after a loud noise was paired with every presentation of the rat
Watson (1920) – “Little Albert” experiment – Behavior can be analyzed without any reference to the mind – Examined how pairing one stimulus with another affected behavior
Skinner (1950s) – Interested in determining the relationship between stimuli and response – Operant conditioning •Shape behavior by rewards or punishments •Behavior that is rewarded is more likely to be repeated •Behavior that is punished is less likely to be repeated
Classical Conditioning
• Pair a neutral event with an event that naturally produces some outcome • After many pairings, the “neutral” event now also produces the outcome
The Decline of Behaviorism
• A controversy over language acquisition • Skinner (1957) – Argued children learn language through operant conditioning •Children imitate speech they hear •Correct speech is rewarded
Chomsky (1959) – Argued children do not only learn language through imitation and reinforcement •Children say things they have never heard and can not be imitating •Children say things that are incorrect and have not been rewarded for – Language must be determined by inborn biological program
The Misbehavior of Organisms (1961) – Attempts to condition animal behavior did not work – Animals’ built-in instincts prevailed
• Tolman (1938) trained rats to find food in a four-armed maze • Two competing interpretations: – Behaviorism predicts that the rats learned to “turn right to find food” – Tolman believed that the rats had created a cognitive map of the maze and were navigating to a specific arm
• Tolman (1938) • What happens when the rats are placed in a different arm of the maze? • The rats navigated to the specific arm where they previously found food – Supported Tolman’s interpretation – Did not support behaviorism interpretation
Studying the Mind
• To understand complex cognitive behaviors: – Measure observable behavior – Make inferences about underlying cognitive activity – Consider what this behavior says about how the mind works
The Cognitive Revolution
• Shift from behaviorist’s stimulus-response relationships to an approach that attempts to explain behavior in terms of the mind
• Information-processing approach – A way to study the mind created from insights associated with the digital computer
• Early computers (1950s) – Processed information in stages •How much information can the mind absorb? •Attend to just some of the incoming information?
• Cherry (1953) • Dichotic listening – Present message A in left ear – Present message B in right ear – To ensure attention, shadow one message • Participants were able to focus only on the message they were shadowing
• Broadbent (1958) – Flow diagram representing what happens as a person directs attention to one stimulus – Unattended information does not pass through the filter
Researching the Mind
• Behavior approach measures relationship between stimuli and behavior • Physiological approach measures relationship between physiology and behavior • Both contribute to our understanding of cognition
Cognitive Science
Interdisciplinary study of the mind
Psychology
Computer science
Cognitive anthropology
Linguistics
Neuroscience
Philosophy
Goal
finding ways to study and understand the inner workings of the mind