Cog Psych: Historical Perspective & Research Methods

Question 1

Hermann Ebbinghaus, 1885

Answer 1

Said to have begun modern memory research; used meaningless strings of letters to study capacity of memory

Question 2

Edward Titchener (1867-1927)

Answer 2

Belonged to structuralist school of thought (goal of structuralism: break consciousness down to element, or specific mental structures)
Used method of introspection; asked subjects to report on current conscious experiences
His work spawned three other systems of thought in reaction to structuralism: functionalism, behaviorism, and Gestalt psychology
Trained by Wundt (who also relied on method of introspection)

Question 3

Noam Chomsky

Answer 3

Language learning cannot be due to reinforcement since language is creative and novel things are said by children without having heard them from adults (ex. overregulation of rules “goed”)
Credited with inspiring much research on cognition

Question 4

Reaction time

Answer 4

often provides insight into organization of cognitive processes (measurement of time elapsed between stimulus presentation and subject response)

Question 5

Mental chronometry

Answer 5

method of using reaction time to study cognition

Question 6

Brain imaging

Answer 6

used now in study of cognitive processes, by trying to associate certain processes to various parts of the brain

Question 7

Eye movements

Answer 7

especially used because it can be measured while a subject is actually performing tasks; used in studying reading and language comprehension