Understanding Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes such as perception, thinking, memory, and decision-making. Of the following options, the one that best describes cognitive psychology is that it is the study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information.
Key Aspects of Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology seeks to understand how the human mind works to perceive and process information from the environment. Some of the key areas that cognitive psychologists study include:
- Perception: How people select, interpret and organize sensory information like sights, sounds, smells, etc.
- Attention: The processes that determine what information from the environment to focus on and devote mental resources to.
- Memory: How the brain encodes, stores and retrieves information for later use.
- Language: The mental processes involved in understanding, formulating and using language.
- Problem-solving and decision-making: The cognitive processes used to achieve goals and make choices.
- Cognition and emotion: How emotions and cognitive processes like judgement, reasoning and decision-making interact and influence each other.
Researchers study these areas using behavioral experiments, brain imaging techniques, computational models and observations of brain damage in patients. The goal is to develop theories and models of how cognitive processes emerge from brain activity.
Contrast With Other Fields
Cognitive psychology is sometimes contrasted with fields like behavioral psychology, psychoanalysis, and neuroscience:
- Behavioral psychology focuses on observable behaviors rather than internal mental processes. However, cognitive psychology has incorporated findings and principles from behavioral research.
- Psychoanalysis focuses on the role of the unconscious mind and childhood development. In contrast, cognitive psychology focuses more on conscious mental processes and information processing models.
- Neuroscience studies the biological basis of behavior and cognition in the brain and nervous system. Cognitive neuroscience integrates cognitive theories and brain activity, connecting mind to brain.
Principles of Cognitive Information Processing
Cognitive psychologists often use the metaphor of the brain as an information processing system analogous to a computer. Some key principles include:
Encoding, Storage and Retrieval
Information processing models describe how information enters the system through encoding, is maintained through storage in memory, and is accessed again through retrieval processes for later use. Failures can occur at any stage, such as when data is lost from short-term memory.
Inputs, Processes and Outputs
These models view the human mind as accepting inputs (e.g. sights and sounds), which then undergo mental processes to convert them into outputs such as recognizing a face or understanding speech. Internal mental processes play a key role in transforming inputs into meaningful outputs.
Mental Representations
Information that enters the cognitive system is represented symbolically. For example, language input is converted into symbolic mental representations that preserve the meaning based on semantic and syntactic rules. These enable higher-order cognition by allowing abstract information processing.
Parallel Distributed Processing
Rather than sequential step-by-step transformations of information, cognitive processes are thought to operate in parallel across neural networks in the brain. This allows for complex, sophisticated information processing enabling abilities like pattern recognition and problem solving.
Examples of Cognitive Processes
Here are some examples of key cognitive processes that cognitive psychologists investigate and models they develop to explain them:
Attention
Attention controls access to capacity limited cognitive processes. Selective attention filters inputs, while divided attention multitasks between different streams of information. Models explain how attention can be captured involuntarily by salient stimuli. Tests measure attention capacity in dual-tasks experiments.
Memory
Multiple memory systems exist, including short and long-term memory. Short term memory holds information temporarily, while long term memory consolidates information for later retrieval. Forgetting can occur due to interference or retrieval failure. Mnemonics and rehearsal strategies enhance encoding and recall.
Reasoning
Humans can draw inferences and navigate abstract rule systems about concepts, spatial relations, social interactions, etc. Models describe reasoning mechanisms like heuristics and biases. Experiments test logical reasoning capacities and susceptibility to fallacies using mathematical or lexical puzzles.
Problem Solving
People navigate obstacles to goals using strategies like means-ends analysis (backwards chaining) and subgoals. Insight based problem solving uses sudden restructuring of the situation to discover solutions. Models capture mechanisms and measure optimal versus heuristic problem solving performance.
Perception
Interpretation of sensations involves perceptual constancies, grouping principles and filling-in missing information. Selection pressures tuned the visual system to readily perceive cues like biological motion and emotional expressions. Studies measure thresholds of conscious awareness during visual sensory processing.
Psycholinguistics
Word storage, semantic memory organization, syntax processing mechanisms, and principles used in conversation and narration are studied under psycholinguistics. Speech errors analyses, reading times measure and neurological studies of language measure representation and processing.
Key Figures in Cognitive Psychology History
While cognitive psychology has roots going back centuries to philosophers like Aristotle, Ren Descartes and John Locke, modern cognitive psychology emerged as an influential movement in the mid-20th century. Some pioneering figures include:
George Miller
In the 1950s, George Millers research on immediate memory capacity and information chunks influenced information processing models. Miller also analyzed language and thought, identifying key underlying mental processes.
Jerome Bruner
Jerome Bruner compared computational theory of mind and neural mechanisms for cognition. He studied perceptual and linguistic categorization, educational applications, cognitive growth and development theories.
Roger Shepard
Roger Shepard created cognitive illusions, including Shepards tabletops for studies on mental rotation abilities and cognitive processes underlying object recognition. His research on generalization and representations was highly influential.
Herbert Simon & Allen Newell
In the 1950s-60s Simon and Newell developed computer simulations modeling problem solving with heuristic search and information processing mechanisms. This pioneering work established artificial intelligence and cognitive science.
Many more contemporary researchers build on the foundations these pioneers established to further reveal the inner workings of the human mind through cognitive psychology principles and theories.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment regimen.
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