Chapter 1: introduction to Cognitive Psychology Flashcards
(6 cards)
Define Cognitive Psychology
Study of cognitive processes involved in the acquisition, representation and application of human knowledge
Describe Donder’s reaction time (RT) experiment.
How are simple versus choice RT tasks different?
What does the subtraction method reveal in this context?
- A behavioral measure of how long it takes an individual to respond to a stimulus
- Technique: Mental Chronometry, know how long it takes to make a decision
-Difference: Choice RT task have to make a decision , choose left or right button to press
-Subtraction method: Choice (1/10 longer) - Simple = Time taken to make a decision
-Mental responses cannot be measured directly but can be inferred from the participant’s behavior
Describe the Tolman and colleagues’ (1930; 1938) maze studies. What is a cognitive map and how does it serve as counter-evidence to Behaviorist perspectives?
Cognitive map: mental representation, or picture, of the environment
Counter evidence to Behaviourist perspectives:
-develop naturally through experience with the world (even with no overt response or reinforcement)
What was the significance of Ebbinghaus’s study on memory and forgetting?
-Quantitative and less introspective
-Used controlled scientific methodology rather than introspection
-tested on himself (change syllabus pronunciation)
What was the “Cognitive Revolution”? How did the advent of computers fit into this movement?
Information-processing approach
-A way to study the mind created from insights associated with the digital computer
Process model
-illustrates what happens in a person’s mind when attention to a stimulus in the environment
(model not important but illustration/framework used to simplify)
Differentiate between Process versus Structural models
Process models: Represent the processes that are involved in cognitive mechanisms, with boxes usually representing specific processes and arrows indicating connections between processes (Broadbent’s Model of Attention)
Structural Models: Representation of a physical structure of the brain (mimic form or appearance of given object)
