cognitive psychology: connecting mind research and
everyday experience" - ch: 1-12
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,Chapter 1 — Introduction To Cognitive Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology — Branch Of Psychology Concerned With The Scientific Study Of The Mind
Cognitive Psychology: Studying The Mind
- What Is The Mind?
• Mind Creates And Controls Mental Functions Such As Perception, Attention, Memory, Emotions,
Language, Deciding, Thinking, And Reasoning.
- Memory, Problem-Solver, Make Decision & Consider Probabilities
- Cognition — Mental Processes, Such As Perception, Attention, And Memory, That Are What
The Mind Does
• Mind Is A System That Creates Representations Of The World So That We Can Act Within It To
Achieve Our Goals.
- Associated With Normal Functioning
- How Mind Operates (Creates Representations) And Its Functions (Enables Us To Act & Achieve
Goals)
- Studying The Mind: Early Work In Cognitive Psychology:
• Franciscus Donders — Cognitive Psychology Experiment: How Long It Takes For A Person To
Make A Decision?
- Measuring Reaction Time — How Long It Takes To Respond To Presentation Of A Stimulus
• Simple Reaction Time — Asking Subjects To Push A Button As Rapidly As Possible When
They Saw A Light Goes On
• Choice Reaction Time — Using Two Lights And Ask Subjects To Push The Left Button When
They Saw The Left Light Go On And Right Button When They Saw Right Light Go On
- Presenting Stimulus (Light) Mental Response (Perceiving Light) Behavioural Response
(Push Button)
- Reaction Time = Time Between Presenting Stimulus And Behavioural Response
- Difference Between Simple And Choice Reaction Time Indicate How Long It Took To Make The
Decision For Correct Button — Donders Concluded Tat The Decision-Making Process Took One-
Tenth Of A Second
- Important Experiment: 1) First Cognitive Psychology Experiment; 2) Mental Responses Must Be
Inferred From Behaviour (Cannot Be Measured Directly)
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, • Wilhelm Wundt’s Psychology Laboratory: Structuralism And Analytic Introspection
- Structuralism — Our Overall Experience Is Determined By Combining Basic Elements Of
Experience The Structuralists Called Sensations. — “Periodic Table Of The Mind”
- Analytic Introspection — Trained Subjects Described Their Experiences And Thought
Processes In Response To Stimuli (Describe In Terms Of Elementary Mental Elements)
- E.G Experience Hearing A Five-Note Chord Played On Piano (Whether Subjects Were Able To Hear
Each Of The Individual Notes That Mad Up The Chord)
• Ebbinghaus’s Memory Experiment: What Is The Time Course Of Forgetting?
- How Rapidly Information That Is Learned Is Lost Over Time?
- Quantitative Method For Measuring Memory:
• Repeated Lists Of 13 Nonsense Syllables: Dax, Qeh, Luh, Zif One At A Time At Constant Rate
• Determine How Long It Took To Learn A List For The First Time, Then Wait For A Period Of
Time (Delay), Then Determine How Long It Took To Relearn The List
- Savings — Determine How Much Was Forgotten After A Particular Delay:
• Savings = (Original Time To Learn The List) - (Time To Relearn The List After The Delay)
• Longer Delays Smaller Savings
• Smaller Savings More Forgetting
- Savings Curve (Forgetting Curve) — Memory Drops Rapidly For The First 2 Days After Initial
Learning
Levels Off
- Memory Could Be Quantified & Able To Describe Property Of Mind (E.G Ability To Retain
Information)
• William James’s Principles Of Psychology
- Observed That Paying Attention To One Thing Involves Withdrawing From Other Things
Person Procedure Results & Conclusions Contribution
Donders Simple Reaction Time Choice Reaction Time Takes First Cognitive Psychology
(1868) Vs. Choice Reaction 1/10 Sec Longer; Therefore It Experiment; Mental Responses Can
Time Takes 1/10 Sec To Make A Be Inferred From Behaviour
Decision
Wundt (1879) Analytic Introspection No Reliable Results Established The First Laboratory Of
Scientific Psychology
Ebbinghaus Savings Method To Forgetting Occurs Rapidly In The Quantitative Measurement Of Mental
(1885) Measure Forgetting First 1 ~ 2 Days After Original Processes
Learning
James (1890) No Experiments; Descriptions Of A Wide Range Of First Psychology Textbook
Reported Experiences
Observations
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