Cognitive Resolution Flashcards
(45 cards)
What does cognitive psychology study?
The study of mental processes, including memory, reasoning, and problem solving.
Cognitive psychology encompasses various domains such as concepts, categories, and applications of memory research.
What are the two substances described in Cartesian Dualism?
Thinking substance (Res cogitans) and extended substance (Res extensa).
This concept was introduced by René Descartes.
Define psychology according to the Greek origin of the term.
The study of the soul.
The term is derived from the Greek word Ψυχολοϒια.
What is introspective observation?
The reliance on self-reports, reaction times, and word associations to study mental processes.
William James emphasized the importance of introspection in understanding mental life.
Who established the first psychological laboratory?
Wilhelm Wundt in 1879.
Wundt’s work focused on conscious processes and structuralism.
What is structuralism in psychology?
The goal to determine the elements or structure of conscious experience.
This approach is analogous to chemistry’s search for building blocks of compounds.
What controversy arose from the use of introspection?
Whether ‘imageless thought’ could occur or not.
Different psychologists had conflicting views on the necessity of imagery in thinking.
What is the primary focus of behaviorism in psychology?
The prediction and control of behavior through objective experimental methods.
Behaviorism avoids terms related to consciousness and mental states.
What is Pavlovian conditioning?
A learning process that occurs when a conditioned stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus.
Ivan Pavlov’s work with dogs is a classic example of this conditioning.
What does Thorndike’s Law of Effect state?
Responses that lead to desirable consequences are more likely to be repeated.
This principle is foundational in operant conditioning.
What did Hermann Ebbinghaus focus on in his research?
The lawful relationship between practice, time, and memory retention.
Ebbinghaus was one of the first researchers to study memory systematically.
What is mental chronometry?
The measurement of reaction times to study cognitive processes.
F.C. Donders pioneered this method in the 19th century.
What does Gestalt psychology emphasize?
The idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
This approach focuses on perceptual organization and problem-solving.
What is a cognitive map according to Edward Tolman’s research?
A mental representation of spatial information.
Tolman’s experiments with rats showed that learning can occur without reinforcement.
What are place cells?
Neurons in the hippocampus that activate when an animal is in a specific location.
Place cells play a crucial role in navigation and spatial memory.
What did the Cognitive Revolution challenge?
The limitations of behaviorism and the need to consider mental processes.
Key figures like Tolman and Chomsky contributed to this shift.
Define cognitive psychology.
The science of mental processes and their influence on behavior.
Cognitive psychology integrates insights from various disciplines, including linguistics and neuroscience.
What is inference to the best explanation?
A reasoning method to postulate unobservable entities based on observed data patterns.
This approach is often used in cognitive science to explain behavioral and neural data.
Who is Noam Chomsky?
An influential linguist and cognitive scientist known for his work on generative grammar.
Chomsky’s critique of behaviorism significantly impacted the field of linguistics.
What is the hierarchical structure of sentences?
Sentences are formed by grouping words into phrases rather than simply stringing them together.
This structure is often illustrated using phrase structure tree diagrams.
What does productivity of language refer to?
The ability to generate an infinite number of sentences from a finite set of rules.
This concept highlights the complexity and flexibility of human language.
What does S represent in phrase structure tree diagrams?
Sentence
What does NP represent in phrase structure tree diagrams?
Noun Phrase
What does VP represent in phrase structure tree diagrams?
Verb Phrase
