Chapter 1: History

Question 1

knowledge comes from an individual’s own experience— that is, from the empirical information that people collect from their senses and experiences; people are the way they are because of previous learning

Answer 1

empiricism

Question 2

a connection or link between two units or elements

Answer 2

association

Question 3

emphasizes the role of constitutional factors— of native ability— over the role of learning in the acquisition of abilities and tendencies

Answer 3

nativism

Question 4

presenting highly trained observers with various stimuli and asking them to describe their conscious experiences

Answer 4

introspection

Question 5

focus on what the elemental components of the mind are rather than on the question of why the mind works as it does

Answer 5

structuralism

Question 6

emphasizes questions such as why the mind or a particular cognitive process works the way it does

Answer 6

functionalism

Question 7

internal depictions of information

Answer 7

mental representations

Question 8

emphasizes the study of whole entities rather than simple elements; concentrate on problems of perception and problem solving and argue that people’s cognitive experience is not reducible to their experience of simple elements, but to the overall structure of their experience

Answer 8

Gestalt psychology

Question 9

rejection of behaviorist assumption that mental events and states were beyond the realm of scientific study or that mental representations did not exist

Answer 9

cognitive revolution

Question 10

an applied area of research that focuses on the design of equipment and technology that are well suited to people’s cognitive capabilities

Answer 10

human factors engineering

Question 11

the idea that machinery operated by a person must be designed to interact with the operator’s physical, cognitive, and motivational capacities and limitations

Answer 11

person-machine system

Question 12

a system that acquires, stores, manipulates, and/ or transmits information but has fixed limits on the amount or rate of processing that it can accomplish.

Answer 12

limited-capacity processor

Question 13

claim that the neural structures supporting that function reside in a specific brain area

Answer 13

localization of function

Question 14

an interdisciplinary field drawing on research from cognitive psychology, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience, and anthropology. The central issues addressed involve the nature of mind and cognition and how information is acquired, stored, and represented

Answer 14

cognitive science

Question 15

the experimenter manipulates one or more independent variables (the experimental conditions) and observes how the recorded measures (dependent variables) change as a result

Answer 15

experiment

Question 16

a research paradigm in which different experimental participants participate in different experimental conditions

Answer 16

between-subjects design

Question 17

a research paradigm in which the same experimental participants participate in different experimental conditions

Answer 17

within-subjects design

Question 18

an empirical study that appears to involve some, but incomplete, experimental control— for example, through nonrandom assignment of subjects to conditions

Answer 18

quasi-experiment

Question 19

a research paradigm in which an observer observes participants in familiar, everyday contexts while ideally remaining as unobtrusive as possible

Answer 19

naturalistic observation

Question 20

a property of research such that the focus of study is something that occurs naturally outside an experimental laboratory

Answer 20

ecological validity

Question 21

a property of research such that the causes of different behaviors or other phenomenon can be isolated and tested. Typically, this involves manipulating independent variables and holding constant all factors but the one( s) of interest

Answer 21

experimental control

Question 22

a research paradigm in which an observer standardizes the conditions of observation for all participants, often introducing specific manipulations and recording responses

Answer 22

controlled observation

Question 23

a research paradigm in which an investigator begins by asking participants a series of open-ended questions but follows up on the responses with specific questions that have been prepared in advance

Answer 23

clinical interviews

Question 24

a body of knowledge that selects and highlights certain issues for study. It includes assumptions about how a particular phenomenon ought to be studied and the kinds of experimental methods and measures that are appropriate to use

Answer 24

paradigm

Question 25

An approach to cognition that uses a computer metaphor in its explanations. It equates cognition with the acquisition, storage, and manipulation of information (for example, what we see, hear, read about, think about) through a system consisting of various storage places and systems of exchange.

Answer 25

information-processing approach

Question 26

an approach to cognition emphasizing parallel processing of information through immense networks of interconnected nodes. Models developed in the are sometimes declared to share certain similarities with the way collections of neurons operate in the brain; hence, some models are referred to as neural networks.

Answer 26

connectionism

Question 27

an approach to the study of cognition emphasizing the natural contexts or settings in which cognitive activities occur and the influences such settings have on the ways in which cognitive activities are acquired, practiced, and executed

Answer 27

ecological approach