Defining Cognitive Psychology
What is cognitive psychology
Long definition: the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mental process involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem-solving, reasoning, and decision-making.
Short definition: the scientific study of the mind and mental processes
Who conducted the "Savings and Relearning" experiment that is now regarded as an early cognitive psychology experiment before the field existed?
Bonus: who did he conduct the experiment on?
Hermann Ebbinghaus and he conducted the experiment on himself
Who is credited as the father of introspection?
Bonus: what did he want to create?
Wilhelm Wundt and a periodic table of the mind
Who are the three behaviorists who refuted the existence of mental processes?
Ivan Pavlov, B. F. Skinner, and John B. Watson
What is a paradigm shift?
A shift in the system of ideas,
which guide thinking in a particular field
Describe the components of the "factory metaphor" in cognitive psychology.
Input (stimuli) -> Processor (mind) -> Output (response)
Describe the early cognitive psychology experiment performed by Franciscus Donders (before cognitive psychology existed).
He manipulated stimuli (one or two lights flashing) and used reaction time (behavior) to make inferences about mental process (time to make a decision).
What is the goal of analytic introspection and how is it done?
The goal is to identify and describe the structure
of the mental processes or 'consciousness' by reflecting on one's thoughts (must be trained)
Describe classical conditioning and how it applies to the "Little Albert" experiment.
Pairing one stimulus with another, previously neutral stimulus, causes changes in the response to the neutral stimulus. Little Albert had a loud noise paired with a white, fluffy stuffed animal until the stuffed animal alone elicited a fear response.
Apply the factory metaphor to introspection and behaviorism.
Introspection: just mind
Behaviorism: stimuli -> response
What is the mind?
The mind is a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals.
What are "Savings" and what does it mean to have more of it?
Savings are how much faster one can memorize something a second time. More savings = less forgetting.
What term did Wilhelm Wundt coin and what did he found?
He coined the term 'experimental psychology' and founded the first psychology laboratory, University of Leipzig in Germany.
Describe operant conditioning and what Skinner believed it could explain.
Behavior is shaped by adding or removing rewards and punishments. SKinner believed it could explain all behavior.
How did cognitive psychology integrate the concepts found within introspection and behaviorism?
Through the use of experimental rigor of behaviorism but also by embracing mental processes focus of introspection.
What are the functions of the mind?
The mind creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning.
How was the "Savings in Relearning" experiment conducted?
Hermann Ebbinghaus memorized 3 letter nonsense syllables (ex.: DAX, QEH), and repeated them at a constant rate. He then testing himself to see how many syllables he remembered over time.
How are experiences determined according to structuralism?
Experiences are determined by combining basic elements of an experience called sensations.
How did Skinner apply operant conditioning to verbal behavior?
He asserted that children learn language via imitation and reinforcement.
What is the information-processing approach and the computer analogy?
An approach to studying the mind that traces sequences of mental operations involved in cognition.
Computer analogy:
Input devices (sensory memory) -> processor (working memory <-> hard drive (long-term memory) -> output (response)
How do we scientifically study what we cannot directly observe (i.e., the mind)?
By observing how different stimuli influence a subject's responses and then making inferences about the underlying mechanisms which caused the response.
Describe the "Savings/Forgetting Curve."
Most forgetting happens quickly (over hours) before the rate of forgetting slows down.
What five criticisms of introspection led to its downfall?
1. Lack of refutability
2. Not generalizable since so idiosyncratic (variable results from person to person)
3. (Ignores real world and previous experiences)
4. Could not be used to study children or animals
5. Soley focus on internal thoughts
How did Chomsky refute Skinner's beliefs on verbal learning?
Language is an inherent ability and reinforcement can’t account for rule-based errors (e.g., ‘He eated’) or the combinatorial nature of language.
What does artificial intelligence have to do with the cognitive revolution?
The birth of cognitive psychology is credited to the Dartmouth conference on AI where researchers attempted to make a "thinking machine." From the beginning, research on artificial intelligence and human information processing were linked.