chapter 1 Flashcards
What does cognition consist of
What we know, what we remember and what we think
How is cognitive psychology defines?
The study of acquisition, retention and use of knowledge
WHo was H.M.
received brain surgery for his epilepsy and lost his short term memory. He had no sense of self and didn’t understand whether his action should be praised or shamed
in it’s modern form how old in psychology?
roughly 50 years
when and what was the “cognitive revolution”?
took place b/w 1950s-1960s involved a change in the style of research expanding it to other domains outside of memory and decision making
Who was Wilhelm Wundt
The “father of experimental psychology” launched the new enterprise of research psychology and focused on conscious mental events through introspection
What were the 2 problems with introspection?
- Introspection can tell us nothing about unconcious thoughts
- Testibility of it’s claims are unattainable
What was the behaviourist movement?
When introspection was abandoned as a research tool scientists turned to behaviourism which involved studying only overt and observable behaviour while ignoring internal entities (beleifs, memories etc.) - this movement dominated psychology for the 1st half of the 20th century (1920-1955)
Who was John B. Watson?
advocate for the behaviourist movement, was intrigued by babies behaviour
Why can’t we rely on a complete behaviourist psychology
Because the same physical stimulus produce different actions, and different physical stimulus sometimes produce the same actions. What we do depends on how we understand the stimulus, and understanding can not be overtly observed
Who was Immanuel Kant?
developped the transcendental method where you begin with observable facts and work backwards to find the underlying cause - began the cognitive revolution
What’s a span test?
Giving participants a list of letters and asking them to repeat it. Making the list longer and longer until they make errors, most people can repeat 7 or 8 - this involves working memory
explain the working memory system proposed by Baddeley and Hitch
Working memory has several parts. THe central executive runs the show, and has many assistants helping him. One important assistant is the articulatory rehearsal loop which holds information in mind for a moment while the executive focuses on more demanding tasks.
How does the articulatory rehearsal loop function?
- The executive initiates it and then turns to other matters
1. To launch the rehearsal loop you rely on subvocalization (subvocal speech) and the info is held by the “inner voice” -
2. Subvocalization produces a representation of the info in the phonological buffer which produces an “auditory image” in the “inner ear” - it fades but is continually replaced with subvocalization
Why do people make sound alike errors?
Because they’re relying on the articulatory rehearsal loop
