Cognitive Revolution

Question 1

Information- Processing approach

Answer 1

This approach draws upon the transcendental method of Immanuel
Kant.
• One begins with the observable effects.
• Then works backwards from these observations to determine the cause.

To understand complex cognitive behaviors:
•Measure observable behavior
•Make inferences about underlying cognitive
activity
• Consider what this behavior says about how the mind works

Shift from behaviorist’s stimulus-response
relationships to an approach that attempts to
explain behavior in terms of the mind

Question 2

Unconscious Inference

Answer 2

Helmholtz (~1860s)
•Unconscious inference
• Some of our perceptions are the result of
unconscious assumptions we make about the
environment
•We infer much of what we know about the
world

Question 3

Use of the Computer as a Mind Metaphor

Answer 3

The mind as computer
• Way of conceiving how information
• Of qualitatively different kinds
• (not just behaviors)
• can be processed, transferred, and
stored in
• distinct function-specific parts of a
system

Way of conceiving how information
• Of qualitatively different kinds
• (not just behaviors)
• can be processed, transferred, and
stored in
• distinct function-specific parts of a
system