Chapter 1 Introduction to Cognitive Psychology Quiz 1 Flashcards
Analytic introspection
A procedure used by early psychologists in which trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli.
Artificial intelligence
The ability of a computer to perform tasks usually associated with human intelligence.
Behaviorism
The approach to psycholog y, founded by John B. Watson, which states that observable behavior provides the only valid data for psycholog y. A consequence of this idea is that consciousness and unobservable mental processes are not considered worthy of study by psychologists.
Brain imaging
Technique such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (f MRI) that results in images of the brain that represent brain activity. In cognitive psychology, activity is measured in response to specific cognitive tasks.
Choice reaction time
Time to respond to one of two or more stimuli. For example, in the Donders experiment, subjects had to make one response to one stimulus and a different response to another stimulus.
Classical conditioning
A procedure in which pairing a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response causes the neutral stimulus to elicit that response.
Cognition
The mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making.
Cognitive map
A mechanism involved in dealing with conflicting stimuli. Related to executive function, inhibitory control, and willpower.
Cognitive psychology
The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mental processes involved in perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making. In short, cognitive psychology is concerned with the scientific study of the mind and mental processes.
Cognitive revolution
A shift in psycholog y, beginning in the 1950s, from the behaviorist approach to an approach in which the main thrust was to explain behavior in terms of the mind. One of the outcomes of the cognitive revolution was the introduction of the information-processing approach to studying the mind.
Electrophysiology
Techniques used to measure electrical responses of the nervous system.
Information-processing approach
The approach to psycholog y, developed beginning in the 1950s, in which the mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages.
Mind
System that creates mental representations of the world and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning.
Neuropsychology
The study of the behavioral effects of brain damage in humans.
Operant conditioning
Type of conditioning championed by B. F. Skinner, which focuses on how behavior is strengthened by presentation of positive reinforcers, such as food or social approval, or withdrawal of negative reinforcers, such as a shock or social rejection.
Paradigm
A system of ideas, which guide thinking in a particular field.
Paradigm shift
A shift in thinking from one paradigm to another.
Reaction time
The time it takes to react to a stimulus. This is usually determined by measuring the time between presentation of a stimulus and the response to the stimulus. Examples of responses are pushing a button, saying a word, moving the eyes, and the appearance of a particular brain wave.
Savings
Measure used by Ebbinghaus to determine the magnitude of memory left from initial learning. Higher savings indicate greater memory.
Savings curve
Plot of savings versus time after original learning.
Scientific revolution
Occurs when there is a shift in thinking from one scientific paradigm to another.
Simple reaction time
Reacting to the presence or absence of a single stimulus (as opposed to having to choose between a number of stimuli before making a response). See also Choice reaction time.
Structuralism
An approach to psycholog y that explained perception as the adding up of small elementary units called sensations.
Summary 1
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind.
Summary 2
The mind creates and controls mental capacities such as perception, attention, and memory, and creates representations of the world that enable us to function
Summary 3
The work of Donders (simple versus choice reaction time) and Ebbinghaus (the forgetting curve for nonsense syllables) are examples of early experimental research on the mind.
Summary 4
Because the operation of the mind cannot be observed directly, its operation must be inferred from what we can measure, such as behavior or physiological responding. This is one of the basic principles of cognitive psychology.
Summary 5
The first laboratory of scientific psychology, founded by Wundt in 1879, was concerned largely with studying the mind. Structuralism was the dominant theoretical approach of this laboratory, and analytic introspection was one of the major methods used to collect data.
Summary 6
William James, in the United States, used observations of his own mind as the basis of his textbook, Principles of Psychology.
Summary 7
In the first decades of the 20th century, John Watson founded behaviorism, partly in reaction to structuralism and the method of analytic introspection. His procedures were based on classical conditioning. Behaviorism’s central tenet was that psychology was properly studied by measuring observable behavior, and that invisible mental processes were not valid topics for the study of psychology.
Summary 8
Beginning in the 1930s and 1940s, B. F. Skinner’s work on operant conditioning ensured that behaviorism would be the dominant force in psycholog y through the 1950s
Summary 9
Edward Tolman called himself a behaviorist but studied cognitive processes that were out of the mainstream of behaviorism.
Summary 10
The cognitive revolution involved a paradigm shift in how scientists thought about psycholog y, and specifically the mind.
Summary 11
In the 1950s, a number of events occurred that led to what has been called the cognitive revolution: a decline in the influence of behaviorism and a reemergence of the study of the mind. These events included the following : (a) Chomsky’s critique of Skinner’s book Verbal Behavior; (b) the introduction of the digital computer and the idea that the mind processes information in stages, like a computer; (c) Cherry’s attention experiments and Broadbent’s introduction of flow diagrams to depict the processes involved in attention; and (d) interdisciplinary conferences at Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Summary 12
Event after the shift in psychology that made studying the mind acceptable, our understanding of the mind was limited, as indicated by the contents of Neisser’s (1967) book. Notable developments in cognitive psychology in the decades following Neisser’s book were (1) development of more-sophisticated models; (2) research focusing on the physiological basis of cognition; (3) concern with cognition in the real world, and (4) the role of knowledge in cognition.
