Applied Cognitive
Psychology
Chapter 1: Introduction to Applied Cognitive Psychology
Objectives of this section:
- Describe what applied cognitive science does
- Describe the discipline’s historical development and main contributors
- Show how other fields and world events have had an influence on its development
- Describe some of the methodologies used, and critique them
Cognitive psychology is the study of the mental operations that support people’s acquisition and
use of knowledge and experience gained from our senses, for example:
- Pattern recognition
- Perception
- Learning
- Memory
- Retrieval
- Attention
- Decision-making and planning action
Applied psychology uses the methods, findings and theories from cognitive science to try understand
cognitive processes in the real world, and attempts to solve practical problems
It is also a discipline focused on creating and refining products, services, and procedures based on
principles of human cognitive processes.
There is the hope that applied research can produce solutions to real problems, providing us with
knowledge and insights that can actually be used in the real world
Some examples of how applied cognitive psychology can be applied:
- Improving the attention skills of shift workers or drivers.
- Improving eye-witness recall
- Using memory strategies
- Clinical diagnosis and rehabilitation
- Improving sports performance
,A second benefit is that applied research can help to improve and inform theoretical approaches to
cognition, offering a broader and more realistic basis for our understanding of cognitive processes.
Important contributors
1: Wilhelm Wundt – perception
Known as the father of experimental psychology
Wanted to study the structure of the human mind (thoughts, images, and feelings).
Created his own branch of psychology called Gestalt psychology.
Assessed perception and attention through introspection
Also measured reaction times to simple and two-choice stimuli
His work showed that psychology could be a valid experimental science
2: Francis Galton – mental imagery
Was interested in human intelligence and is known as the “father of eugenics”
Was also interested in mental imagery. He created a questionnaire to investigate the
strength and nature of mental imagery.
Also tested people’s memory for events they had experienced in the past, using retrieval
cues to help remind them – autobiographical memory
This was the start of a more systematic practice of recording and evaluating one’s experiences and
cognitions.
3: Edward Thorndike - learning
Was focused on theories of learning.
Created puzzle boxes and ran experiments with cats.
He studied learning curves and operant conditioning ("responses that produce a satisfying
effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and
responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that
situation”)
Thorndike asserted that frequent exposure to a problem environment results in better learning
4: Hermann Ebbinghaus - memory
Focused on the subject of memory (and forgetting), it’s basic laws and principles
,Tested himself and others by memorizing a list of nonsense syllables and seeing what effected the
memory of it
He came up with the “forgetting curve”: we forget most information shortly after learning it (unless
we consciously retrieve it time and again)
He concluded that the following effects recall:
- Frequent repetitions leads to mental associations being more firmly fixed into memory
- Distributing learning over time is more effective than learning everything in a single session
i.e. cramming
- Continuing to practice even after the material has been learned enhances information
retention (it’s remembered better)
5: Frederic Bartlett
Also focused on memory
Advocated for increased ecological validity: that cognitive research should have relevance
to the real world, and that experiments should be designed to be naturalistic (should bear
some resemblance to real life situations)
- Later, Neisser (1976) argued that cognitive research should be carried out in real-world
settings wherever possible, in order to ensure what he called ‘ecological validity’.
He argued that Ebbinghaus’ study of made-up syllabus recall isn’t a true depiction of everyday
memory because the information is not meaningful in any way
Suggested that cognitive researchers make use of more naturalistic experimental designs and test
materials
Helped advance the idea that memories aren’t direct and accurate recollections of observations, but
rather mental reconstructions influenced by factors including cultural attitudes
His research had real-life applications, such as on courtroom witness testimonials
6: Other influences: the world wars
The war produced dramatic improvements in technology, which placed unprecedented demands on
the human beings who operated it. With the development of complex new equipment such as radar
and high-speed combat aircraft, the need to understand the cognitive capabilities and limitations of
human operators took on a new urgency
- The general goal was to maximize operator performance and identify performance
limitations
Efficient man-machine interaction was necessary. Human cognition therefore needed to be studied.
Psychologists also become involved in improving equipment, training, and changing operating
procedures
, The advancement of machines led to new theories of human cognition. This
includes the “signal detection theory” which was developed as a mathematic
technique for radar systems to detect targets. It was applied to the analysis of
human performance in perception tasks.
“Military psychologists returned to civilian life with a deep-seated ambition to
put psychology to work in everyday life… coupled with a conviction that
psychological techniques would merit application in a variety of practical applications” (pg. 15)
7: Other influences: Broadbent and selective auditory
attention
A 1958 experiment by Broadbent investigated the
information-processing capabilities of humans
He investigated this by presenting his subjects with a
different input to each ear via headphones, a technique
known as ‘dichotic listening’. Broadbent was thus able to
establish some of the basic limitations of human attention
Shows that we have the ability to acknowledge some stimuli while ignoring other stimuli that is
occurring at the same time.
But also shows that human attention is limited: we can only focus on so much stimuli at once
8: Other influences: the information processing paradigm
Alan Turing’s “Colossus” computer helped break the German “Enigma” codes during WWII
Helped give rise the info-processing paradigm in which human minds are compared to computers
(brains = hardware, mind = software)
Human cognitive processing can therefore be described as algorithmic manipulation of sensation
and perception
As computer tech advanced and they became a part of everyday life, the WWII concept of
‘man-machine interaction’ gave way to ‘human-computer’ interfacing.
9: George Miller & “chunking”
Came up with the theory of chunking: that humans are better able to remember meaningful
“chunks” of information that information in an arbitrary order
Chunks can refer to pictures, numbers, words, faces etc
Presented the idea that short-term memory can only hold 5-9 chunks of info (seven, plus or minus
two)
Psychology
Chapter 1: Introduction to Applied Cognitive Psychology
Objectives of this section:
- Describe what applied cognitive science does
- Describe the discipline’s historical development and main contributors
- Show how other fields and world events have had an influence on its development
- Describe some of the methodologies used, and critique them
Cognitive psychology is the study of the mental operations that support people’s acquisition and
use of knowledge and experience gained from our senses, for example:
- Pattern recognition
- Perception
- Learning
- Memory
- Retrieval
- Attention
- Decision-making and planning action
Applied psychology uses the methods, findings and theories from cognitive science to try understand
cognitive processes in the real world, and attempts to solve practical problems
It is also a discipline focused on creating and refining products, services, and procedures based on
principles of human cognitive processes.
There is the hope that applied research can produce solutions to real problems, providing us with
knowledge and insights that can actually be used in the real world
Some examples of how applied cognitive psychology can be applied:
- Improving the attention skills of shift workers or drivers.
- Improving eye-witness recall
- Using memory strategies
- Clinical diagnosis and rehabilitation
- Improving sports performance
,A second benefit is that applied research can help to improve and inform theoretical approaches to
cognition, offering a broader and more realistic basis for our understanding of cognitive processes.
Important contributors
1: Wilhelm Wundt – perception
Known as the father of experimental psychology
Wanted to study the structure of the human mind (thoughts, images, and feelings).
Created his own branch of psychology called Gestalt psychology.
Assessed perception and attention through introspection
Also measured reaction times to simple and two-choice stimuli
His work showed that psychology could be a valid experimental science
2: Francis Galton – mental imagery
Was interested in human intelligence and is known as the “father of eugenics”
Was also interested in mental imagery. He created a questionnaire to investigate the
strength and nature of mental imagery.
Also tested people’s memory for events they had experienced in the past, using retrieval
cues to help remind them – autobiographical memory
This was the start of a more systematic practice of recording and evaluating one’s experiences and
cognitions.
3: Edward Thorndike - learning
Was focused on theories of learning.
Created puzzle boxes and ran experiments with cats.
He studied learning curves and operant conditioning ("responses that produce a satisfying
effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and
responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that
situation”)
Thorndike asserted that frequent exposure to a problem environment results in better learning
4: Hermann Ebbinghaus - memory
Focused on the subject of memory (and forgetting), it’s basic laws and principles
,Tested himself and others by memorizing a list of nonsense syllables and seeing what effected the
memory of it
He came up with the “forgetting curve”: we forget most information shortly after learning it (unless
we consciously retrieve it time and again)
He concluded that the following effects recall:
- Frequent repetitions leads to mental associations being more firmly fixed into memory
- Distributing learning over time is more effective than learning everything in a single session
i.e. cramming
- Continuing to practice even after the material has been learned enhances information
retention (it’s remembered better)
5: Frederic Bartlett
Also focused on memory
Advocated for increased ecological validity: that cognitive research should have relevance
to the real world, and that experiments should be designed to be naturalistic (should bear
some resemblance to real life situations)
- Later, Neisser (1976) argued that cognitive research should be carried out in real-world
settings wherever possible, in order to ensure what he called ‘ecological validity’.
He argued that Ebbinghaus’ study of made-up syllabus recall isn’t a true depiction of everyday
memory because the information is not meaningful in any way
Suggested that cognitive researchers make use of more naturalistic experimental designs and test
materials
Helped advance the idea that memories aren’t direct and accurate recollections of observations, but
rather mental reconstructions influenced by factors including cultural attitudes
His research had real-life applications, such as on courtroom witness testimonials
6: Other influences: the world wars
The war produced dramatic improvements in technology, which placed unprecedented demands on
the human beings who operated it. With the development of complex new equipment such as radar
and high-speed combat aircraft, the need to understand the cognitive capabilities and limitations of
human operators took on a new urgency
- The general goal was to maximize operator performance and identify performance
limitations
Efficient man-machine interaction was necessary. Human cognition therefore needed to be studied.
Psychologists also become involved in improving equipment, training, and changing operating
procedures
, The advancement of machines led to new theories of human cognition. This
includes the “signal detection theory” which was developed as a mathematic
technique for radar systems to detect targets. It was applied to the analysis of
human performance in perception tasks.
“Military psychologists returned to civilian life with a deep-seated ambition to
put psychology to work in everyday life… coupled with a conviction that
psychological techniques would merit application in a variety of practical applications” (pg. 15)
7: Other influences: Broadbent and selective auditory
attention
A 1958 experiment by Broadbent investigated the
information-processing capabilities of humans
He investigated this by presenting his subjects with a
different input to each ear via headphones, a technique
known as ‘dichotic listening’. Broadbent was thus able to
establish some of the basic limitations of human attention
Shows that we have the ability to acknowledge some stimuli while ignoring other stimuli that is
occurring at the same time.
But also shows that human attention is limited: we can only focus on so much stimuli at once
8: Other influences: the information processing paradigm
Alan Turing’s “Colossus” computer helped break the German “Enigma” codes during WWII
Helped give rise the info-processing paradigm in which human minds are compared to computers
(brains = hardware, mind = software)
Human cognitive processing can therefore be described as algorithmic manipulation of sensation
and perception
As computer tech advanced and they became a part of everyday life, the WWII concept of
‘man-machine interaction’ gave way to ‘human-computer’ interfacing.
9: George Miller & “chunking”
Came up with the theory of chunking: that humans are better able to remember meaningful
“chunks” of information that information in an arbitrary order
Chunks can refer to pictures, numbers, words, faces etc
Presented the idea that short-term memory can only hold 5-9 chunks of info (seven, plus or minus
two)
