cog5 lecppt chapter01
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© 2010 by W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.
The Science of the Mind
Chapter 1Lecture Outline
Chapter 1: The Science of the Mind
Lecture OutlineThe Scope of Cognitive PsychologyA Brief History
Introspection Behaviorism Cognitive Revolution
Research in Cognitive Psychology: An Example
Working Memory
The Scope of Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology is the study of knowledgeHow do we study and memorize?How do we focus our attention and
concentrate?How do we make decisions?
The Scope of Cognitive Psychology
H.M. Unable to form new memories
Could not grieve for a dead uncle Had little sense of himself
Video
A Brief History: Introspection
Wundt and his student Titchener began the study of experimental psychology in the late 1800s.
A Brief History: Introspection
IntrospectionObserving your own thoughts
A Brief History: Introspection
Problems with introspectionThoughts are not directly observable Impossible to test objectively
A Brief History: Behaviorism
Behaviorism overcame the limitations posed by introspection It focused on observable behaviors
A Brief History: Behaviorism
Behaviorism uncovered principles of how behavior changes in response to stimuli, such as rewards and punishments
A Brief History: Behaviorism
Problems with behaviorismStimulus-response accounts are not enoughBehavior has a “mental” cause
A Brief History: Behaviorism
Different stimuli elicit the same behaviorCan you please pass the salt?Salt, please.My food would be more palatable with sodium
chloride crystals. Same stimulus elicits a different behavior
My friend asked his mother to please pass the salt.
A Brief History: Cognitive Revolution
From introspection and behaviorism, experimental psychologists learned that: Introspective methods for studying mental
events are not scientificHowever, we need to study mental events in
order to understand behavior
A Brief History: Cognitive Revolution
Transcendental method of Immanuel KantWork backward from
observations to determine cause
A Brief History: Cognitive Revolution
An analogy can be made to a police detective using clues to figure out how a crime was committed
An analogy can also be made to a physicist studying electrons, which cannot be directly seen
A Brief History: Cognitive Revolution
Cognitive psychologists study mental events, but do so indirectlyMeasure stimuli and responsesDevelop hypotheses about mental eventsDesign new experiments
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Working memory is temporary memory storage
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
The span test measures working-memory (WM) capacity
Span scoresobservable
WM capacityNot observable
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Working memory is not unitarySystem composed of a central executive
Assistant components
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Inner voice
Inner ear
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Evidence from cognitive neuroscience is also brought into the model Anarthria(構音障礙)
The inability to produce overt speech Confusion between words with the same sound
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Evidence from cognitive neuroscience is also brought into the model
Areas involved In subvocal rehearsal
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Deaf people confuse words with similar hand shapes, not similar sounds
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Multiple lines of evidence must be used when hypothesizing mechanisms used to explain observable data
Often a single piece of data can be explained by a variety of hypotheses
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Working memory is more than just the span task It is involved in many of the activities we
perform on a daily basis It is also important for learning
Research in Cognitive Psychology: Working Memory
Experiments allow cognitive psychologists to understand internal complex mechanisms in a simpler, more constrained manner
Data gathering Data analysis Theory development Hypothesis formation Hypothesis testing Application to real world
Goals of Research
Research Methods
Controlled experiments Psychobiological research Self reports Case studies Naturalistic observation Computer simulations and artificial
intelligence
In an Experiment…
Manipulate the independent variableCreate experimental groupCreate control groupRandomly assign participants
Measure the dependent variableSame for all groups
Control all other variablesPrevent confounds
Typical Independent Variables
Characteristics of the situationPresence vs. absence of a stimulus
Characteristics of the taskReading vs. listening to words for
comprehension
Characteristics of participantsAge differences
Typical Dependent Variables
Percent correct/error rate Accuracy of mental processing
Reaction time (milliseconds)Speed of mental processing
Cannot infer causation Simply measure variables of interest Nature of relationship
Positive correlationNegative correlation
Strength of relationshipDetermined by size of “r”
Correlational Studies
An examination of the relationship between confidence and accuracy of eyewitnesses
What do you think the relationship is?
Positive? Negative? Strong? Weak?
It is not a strong positive correlation!Many studies indicate that high confidence does not mean high accuracy
Example: Correlational Study
Psychobiological Studies
Postmortem studiesExamine cortex of dyslexics after death
Brain-damaged individuals and their deficitsStudy amnesiacs with hippocampus damage
Monitor a participant doing a cognitive taskMeasure brain activity while a participant is
reciting a poem
Other Methods
Self-reportsAn individual’s own account of cognitive
processes Verbal protocol, diary study
Case studies In-depth studies of individuals
Genie, Phineas Gage
Other Methods
Naturalistic observationStudies of cognitive performance in
everyday situations outside of the lab Monitor decision-making of pilots during flights
Computers in Research
Analogy for human cognition The sequence of symbol manipulation
that underlies thinking The goal: discovery of the programs in
human memory Computer simulations of artificial
intelligence Recreate human processes using
computers
Fundamental Ideas
Theory
Data
• Data can only be fully explained with theories, and theories are insufficient without data – thus creating the cycle of science
Fundamental Ideas
Cognition is typically adaptive, but errors made can be informativeExample: Spoonerisms
A lack of pies (A pack of lies) It’s roaring with pain (It’s pouring with rain)
Errors can be used to infer how speech production occurs
Fundamental Ideas
Cognitive processes interact with each other and with noncognitive processes– Emotions may affect decisions– Working memory capacity contributes to reading
speed– Perception contributes to memory decisions
Fundamental Ideas
Many different scientific methods are used to study cognition
Basic research often leads to important applications, and applied research often contributes to a more basic understanding of cognition
Chapter 1 Questions
1. Cognitive psychology is primarily concerned with which of the following?
a) what we know
b) what we remember
c) how we think
d) all of the above
2. The famous psychologist Edward Titchener claimed to have identified and catalogued nearly 10,000 sensations that he observed within himself. What method best describes his approach?
a) introspection
b) behaviorism
c) psychoanalysis
d) transcendentalism
3. A psychologist who adheres to the behaviorist school of thought would most likely attribute someone being afraid of a spider to
a) an interaction between memory and fear. b) a chemical imbalance produced by a deficit
in nutrients. c) a learned behavior in response to specific
environmental triggers. d) inadequate maternal supervision and love
during infancy.
4. Because psychology forms hypotheses about processes that cannot be observed directly it relies on _____ methods to describe the behaviors that can be observed.
a) transcendental
b) inferential
c) both A and B
d) neither A nor B
5. Which of the following is a similarity between psychology and physics?
a) Both test their theories using the
scientific method. b) Both do not allow for direct
observation of the causes of phenomena.
c) Both base their theories on objective, quantifiable data.
d) all of the above
6. Which of the following is NOT TRUE of the working-memory system?
a) The central executive serves coordinates the role of the assistant systems.
b) Working memory has a limited capacity.
c) The assistants are responsible solely for storage of information.
d) Working memory is a single entity with virtually no peripheral mechanisms.
7. Memory performance on a span task is typically reduced when the participant has to perform concurrent articulation. This is due to
a) cognitive load
b) rhythmic movements.
c) subvocalization.
d) brain damage.