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Cognitive Processes PSY 334. Chapter 1 – The Science of Cognition. Study Aids. On reserve at the library: An old edition of the textbook – page numbers on the syllabus correspond to the current edition, not this one. See pgs 5-6, Chapter 1: How to study this book.
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Cognitive ProcessesPSY 334 Chapter 1 – The Science of Cognition
Study Aids • On reserve at the library: • An old edition of the textbook – page numbers on the syllabus correspond to the current edition, not this one. • See pgs 5-6, Chapter 1: How to study this book. • Pay special attention to the summary statements highlighted between lines in the textbook.
Early History • Empiricism vs nativism (nurture vs nature) • Famous empiricists: • Berkeley, Locke, Hume, Mill • Famous nativists: • Descartes, Kant • Lots of philosophical speculation but no use of the scientific method to answer questions.
Scientific Psychology • Scientific study began in 1879: • Structuralism – Wundt, Titchener and systematic, analytic introspection. • Functionalism -- William James’ armchair introspection. • Behaviorism (1920): • Thorndike – consciousness as excess baggage. • Watson – consciousness as superstition.
Early Mentalists • Gestalt psychologists (German): • Wertheimer, Koffka, Kohler • Critics of behaviorism: • Tolman • European psychologists: • Bartlett • Luria • Piaget
Mind for Behaviorists Input: Sensation Output: Behavior What happens inside the “box” to produce the observed behavior?
Mind for Cognitive Theorists Mental Representations: Goals, Expectations, Cognitive Maps Processes Input: Sensation Output: Behavior What happens inside the “box” to produce the observed behavior?
Three Important Influences • Human performance studies in WWII – information needed to train military. • Artificial intelligence – thinking about how machines accomplish things leads to more analytical thinking about how humans do. • Linguistics – behaviorist principles could not account for the complexities of language use.
Pioneers of Cognitive Psychology • Information theory • Donald Broadbent • Artificial Intelligence • Newell & Simon • Linguistics • Chomsky • Miller • Neisser’s book “Cognitive Psychology”
Sternberg’s Paradigm: 3 9 6 Is “9” part of this number?
Concerns about Cognitive Models • Relevance – do lab-task processes operate in the same manner in real life? • Sufficiency – can simple theories explain complex processes? • Cognitive architectures • Necessity – does the mind actually work as described by specific theories? • Cognitive neuroscience
Other Approaches to Cognitive Psychology • Connectionism (neural net models) – can higher level functions be accomplished by connected neurons? • Parallel distributed processing (PDP) -- Rumelhart & McClelland • Situated cognition – the ecological approach • Gibson’s affordances • Do we explain cognition in terms of the external world or internal mind?
Cognitive Neuroscience • Pages 16-31 review basic concepts about the brain. • If you have not taken PSY 210 and find this material confusing, come see me. • New methods permit study of normal human functioning in more complex tasks: • EEG • Imaging techniques – PET & fMRI