Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Psychology - answer-The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind. Definition of the mind's role - answer-The mind creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning. Definition of how the mind operates - answer-The mind is a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals. Cognition - answer-The mental processes, such as perception, attention, and memory, that are what the mind does. Reasons given as to why it is not possible to study the mind - answer-1. It is not possible for the mind to study itself 2. Properties of the mind simply cannot be measured Who was the researcher that defied the common wisdom and decided to study the mind anyway? - answer-Franciscus Donders, a dutch physiologist What was Franciscus Donders interested in? - answer-How long it takes for a person to make a decision Reaction time - answer-How long it takes to respond to presentation of a stimulus What are the two measures of reaction time that Donders used? - answer-1. Simple reaction time 2. Choice reaction time How did he measure Simple reaction time? - answer-Asked his subjects to push a button as rapidly a possible when they saw a light go on How did he measure Choice reaction time? - answer-By using two light and asking his subjects to push the left button when they saw the left light go on and the right button when they saw the right light go on. Donder's experiment conclusion - answer-It takes 1/10 second to make a decision; because choice reaction time takes 1/10 seconds longer than simple reaction time What did Donders experiment teach us? - answer-Mental responses cannot be measured directly, but must be *inferred* from behavior.