Psyc 317 001: Cognitive Psyc 317 001: Cognitive PsychologyPsychology

James Thompson, PhDAssistant Professor

Dept of Psychology

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Today’s agendaToday’s agenda

• Introductions• Syllabus• What is cognitive psychology?

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About MeAbout Me

• BA (Hons) in Psychology

• PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience– Swinburne University of

Technology, Melbourne, Australia

• Postdoctoral Fellowship in MRI– Dept of Radiology, WVU

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About MeAbout Me

Melbourne

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How to Contact MeHow to Contact Me

• Call me JIM

• Office: DK 2056

• Email: jthompsz@gmu.edu

• Telephone: 703-993-9356

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How to Annoy MeHow to Annoy Me

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About Me: My ResearchAbout Me: My Research

• Cognitive Neuroscience– The neural basis of cognition

• Visual Recognition of Human Movement– How you do recognize and

interpret the actions of other people

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About Me: My ResearchAbout Me: My Research

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About Me: My ResearchAbout Me: My Research

• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

• Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)

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Functional MRI (fMRI)Functional MRI (fMRI)

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Functional MRI (fMRI)Functional MRI (fMRI)

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Teaching: A two-way Teaching: A two-way streetstreet

• My responsibilities– Encourage discussion, hold in-class

activities and demonstrations– Research questions I don't know– Teach and speak at a comfortable pace

• Your responsibilities– Participate in class, ask questions– Give me constructive criticism and let me

know if I speak too fast, mumble, etc.– Connect in-class concepts with the

outside world

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About YouAbout You

• Name• Major/year in college• What is the best/worst place

you have been for a holiday?• What you hope to gain from

this course– OK to say that you’re taking it

because it’s required

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SyllabusSyllabus

• Office Hours: Tues 10:30-11:30 or by appointment

• Website: http://hfac.gmu.edu/people/jthompsz/

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Syllabus: Check your GMU Syllabus: Check your GMU e-mail!e-mail!

• I will often be communicating with you via your GMU e-mail - check it!

• Also be sure to empty your mailbox

• If you miss an announcement because you missed an e-mail, it’s not my problem

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Syllabus: TextbookSyllabus: Textbook

• Goldstein, E. B. (2008). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (2nd Edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

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Syllabus: GradingSyllabus: Grading

• Standard scale:– A (100-90)– B (89-80)– C (79-70)– D (69-60)– F (below 59)

• There will be a curve on the final grade

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Syllabus: GradingSyllabus: Grading

• BEST 3 out of 4 non-cumulative exams– Each exam is worth 20%– Multiple choice & short essay

• 1 article review & lit search– Worth 30%

• Class discussion/participation– Worth 10%– Ask questions, make comments!

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Syllabus: Make-Up Syllabus: Make-Up ExamsExams

• Make-ups exams will be given after the date of the scheduled exam– Need excuse written by doctor,

lawyer, judge, etc.

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Article SummaryArticle Summary

• Summarize a cognitive psychology research article– Must clear article with me first!

• 3 pages– Research question– Independent & dependent variables– Results– Conclusions

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Article SummaryArticle Summary

• 2 pages– Relate the research question &

findings to a “real world” example•You•Friend•Someone from a book, TV, or movie

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Article SummaryArticle Summary

• Literature Search– Keywords

•PsychINFO•PubMed

– 5 relevant articles•Print list from PsychINFO or PubMed•Attach to summary

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Article SummaryArticle Summary

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Article SummaryArticle Summary

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Article SummaryArticle Summary

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Syllabus: Extra CreditSyllabus: Extra Credit

• Use Sona Systems to sign up for experiments– http://gmu.sona-systems.com/

• Can earn up to 3% on your final grade

• Each Sona credit is worth 0.5%– Want 3% extra credit? Get 6 credits.– You only got 3 credits? You get 1.5%.

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Syllabus: Honor codeSyllabus: Honor code

• Refer to University Catalog for complete explanation

• Just don’t cheat

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Tricks of the tradeTricks of the trade

• The first exam is the hardest– Hardest material– Don’t know what to expect

• I like being in communication– I am constantly checking my e-

mail

• ASK QUESTIONS

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One last piece of adviceOne last piece of advice

• From student feedback:– “I read the book and came to class.

I did fine.”

• That’s my goal: read the book, come to class, and you’ll do well!

Lecture 1: Introduction & Lecture 1: Introduction & HistoryHistory

Psyc 317: Cognitive Psyc 317: Cognitive PsychologyPsychology

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OutlineOutline

• Introductions• Syllabus• What is cognitive psychology?

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What is cognition? What is cognition? (book (book definition)definition)

• Cognition comprises the mental processes that are involved in:– Perception– Attention– Memory– Problem solving– Reasoning– Decision making

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Why should you care?Why should you care?

• Many of you may be interested in clinical, school, or social psychology

• Many of these fields study personality

• What is personality at the lowest level?– How we perceive things– How/what we remember– How we make decisions– etc.

• These are all based in our cognition

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Why else should you Why else should you care?care?

• Billions of neurons to create the smartest animals on the planet

• But we don’t know how it works!

• “The three-pound enigma.”

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The complexity of The complexity of cognitioncognition

• Walking to class today– Memory - Remembering what building

class is in– Perception & attention - Looking at a

campus map to find the building– Language - Asking someone for directions– Reasoning - Finding the best route to get

to the room

• It all seems so automatic!

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Automaticity can get in Automaticity can get in the waythe way

• Example: Stroop effect

• Instructions: Read the words on the next slide out loud

• Example:WATERAPPLE

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StroopStroop

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Stroop effectStroop effect

•Instructions: Read the ink color on the next slide out loud and ignore the word

•Example:GLASSBOOK

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StroopStroop

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Deconstructing the Deconstructing the Stroop effectStroop effect

• Reading is highly automatic– We generally learn color naming

first

• Cannot stop reading even after lots of practice!

• So cognition is pretty automatic– Right?

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Sometimes your eyes Sometimes your eyes can lie…can lie…

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The Flash-Lag effectThe Flash-Lag effect

• An object is flashed at the same instant that a moving object arrives at same position

• Perceived to spatially lag the moving object– Moving objects processed more

slowly than static objects?– Or, do we make predictions of where

a moving object will be?

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What is cognition? What is cognition? (simple (simple definition)definition)

• The behind the scenes functioning of the mind– How the mind creates behaviors

that are similar to all people– How the mind creates behaviors

that are not similar to all people (individual differences)

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Cognitive Science: The big Cognitive Science: The big picturepicture

• Cognitive science: The study of the mind, approached from many disciplines

COGNITIVE SCIENCE

Cognitive PsychJust one piece of the picture

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Disciplines of cognitive Disciplines of cognitive sciencescience

• Psychology: Scientific study of behavior produced by the mind

• Neuroscience: Studies the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of the brain

• Philosophy: How our mind constructs reality, questions of consciousness

• Linguistics: Scientific study of origins and development of language

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Applications: Human Applications: Human factorsfactors

• Human factors: Designing systems within the limits of human cognition– Don’t overload memory– Don’t make words hard to see

• Real-world examples– Medical technology– Three Mile island– Early fighter planes

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Applications: Artificial Applications: Artificial IntelligenceIntelligence

• Artificial intelligence: The development of technology that performs functions similar to human thought

• Relates to philosophy– What is consciousness?– How does our brain create

consciousness?

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OutlineOutline

• Introductions• Syllabus• What cognitive psychology is

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History: Back in the day…History: Back in the day…

• Aristotle– 384-322 BC– Tabula rasa

(“blank slate”)– Structure of the

mind already in place?

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Fast forward to the 1860sFast forward to the 1860s

• Franciscus Donders - measured the speed of thought– 1868

• Reaction time experiments

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What is reaction What is reaction time?time?

• The time elapsed between some stimulus and the person’s response

• Typically measured in milliseconds• Considered a measure of difficulty

Time (ms)Space Bar

Person’s Reaction Time

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Simple reaction timeSee light, press button

Choice reaction timeSee light, which button?

Donders’ SubtractionDonders’ Subtraction

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Measuring the speed of Measuring the speed of thoughtthought

Stimulus:The light

Mind:Sees light

Response:Press button

Stimulus:The light

Mind:Sees light

Response:Press button

Mind:Which button?

Simple Reaction Time experiment:

Choice Reaction Time experiment:

*

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Measuring the speed of Measuring the speed of thoughtthought

Simple Reaction Time experiment: 350 ms

Choice Reaction Time experiment: 500 ms-

150 ms

150 ms for the extra stage in choice RT:

150 ms to choose which button to press

Example:

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What does this tell us? What does this tell us?

• Specifically:– How long it takes for the mind to

choose a response

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What does this tell us? What does this tell us?

• Generally:– Mental responses cannot be

measured directly– Must infer mental processing

through behavior– Behavioral measures

•Reaction times•Accuracy/error rates

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Discussion time!Discussion time!

• Has anyone thought of a potential flaw in this logic?

• Clue: Imagine cooking something and inserting a new step. What happens to the final recipe?

• The assumption of pure insertion

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Hemholtz’s UnconsciousInference (1860s)(1860s)

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What does this tell us?What does this tell us?

• Specifically:– How does our mind recognize

objects that are occluded by other objects?

– Some kind of automatic filling-in process•Object recognition: we’ll talk about

this in a few weeks

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What does this tell us?What does this tell us?

• Generally:– Some of our perceptions are the

result of automatic processes beyond our control•Like reading the Stroop task

– Cognitive psychology can help to unmask the automatic processes

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Foundations of Foundations of cognitioncognition

• These early researchers developed some basic principles:

• Donders: Mental processes must be inferred from behavior

• Hemholtz: Mental processes are automatic and often unseen

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Willhelm WundtWillhelm Wundt

• 1832-1920• First

experimental psychology laboratory (Europe)– Leipzig,

Germany ~1879

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Edward TitchenerEdward Titchener

• 1867-1927• Born in England• Studied in

Germany under Wundt

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Structuralism Structuralism (Wundt and (Wundt and Titchener)Titchener)

• The study of the structure of the conscious mind

• Focus on the sensations, images, and feelings that are elements of consciousness

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Conscious “structure” of an Conscious “structure” of an appleapple

RedColdCrispSweet

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Wundt’s IntrospectionWundt’s Introspection

• How to study the mind?Introspection: “Self-observation”

• Subjects looks carefully inward and report on inner situations and experiences

• Example: Describe the experience of hearing a 5-note chord on the piano– Hear one sound or individual notes?

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Wundt’s introspection Wundt’s introspection criteria criteria

1. The subject must know when the experience begins and ends• Subject is master of situation

2. The subject must maintain "strained attention”• Mind does not wander

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Problems with Problems with structuralismstructuralism

• Observers were highly trained, but self-reports were not consistent across people

• How can psychologists draw clear conclusions when introspection produces such varied data?

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OutlineOutline

• Introductions• Syllabus• What cognitive psychology is• History

– The first cognitive psychologists– The rise (and fall) of behaviorism– The rise of the new cognitive

psychology

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BehaviorismBehaviorism

• A response to Wundt’s introspection

• The scientific study of observable behavior only

• Behaviorism is “antimentalistic”– Since mental processes can’t be seen,

they have no place in psychology

• Explanations like classical conditioning

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John B. WatsonJohn B. Watson

• 1878-1958• Professor of

psychology• Founder of

behaviorism

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B.F. SkinnerB.F. Skinner

• 1904-1990 • Professor of

psychology• Behaviorism

– Operant conditioning

– Positive and negative reinforcements

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Classical conditioningClassical conditioning

If Unconditioned Stimulus If Unconditioned Stimulus Unconditioned Response Unconditioned Response (meat powder)(meat powder) (salivation)(salivation)

then pairthen pair

Conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulusConditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus (tone)(tone) (meat powder)(meat powder)

then eventuallythen eventually

Conditioned stimulus Conditioned stimulus conditioned response conditioned response(tone)(tone) (salivation)(salivation)

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Operant conditioningOperant conditioning

It is possible for the animal to generate a response and for that response to have consequences:

Act cute --> Get pet Poop on rug --> Get scolded

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Cracks in the behaviorist Cracks in the behaviorist frameworkframework

• 1960s: Criticisms of behaviorism• Behaviorism could not explain some phenomenon

• Critical periods/early learning• Language• Inability to override instinctual behavior

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Problems with Problems with behaviorism: Critical behaviorism: Critical periodsperiods

• Critical period: A time when an animal is able to learn particular information rapidly and with little exposure– If the time window is missed, the

animal learns with greater effort or not at all

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Critical periods Critical periods exampleexample

• Some birds follow the first large thing that they see when they are hatched - usually first large thing is mom

• The tendency to follow the first large thing has a critical period

• What happens if the first large thing is not mom?

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Critical periods: Lorenz as Critical periods: Lorenz as mommom

Behaviorism Behaviorism cannot explain cannot explain critical periods!critical periods!

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Problems with Problems with behaviorism: Languagebehaviorism: Language

• The behaviorist account of language (Skinner, 1957):

Children learn language through imitation and reinforcement. Appropriate speech is rewarded.

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Criticism of behaviorist Criticism of behaviorist account of languageaccount of language

• The response (Chomsky, 1959):

Behaviorist accounts ignore that language is generative. This means that virtually everything you say and hear is novel. It can’t be the case that you understand it because of reinforcement in the past, because you’ve never heard it before.

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Evidence that for non-Evidence that for non-behaviorist view of behaviorist view of languagelanguage

• Generativity of language (production of novel sentences)

• Overextension of grammar– “I hitted the ball.”– This is never spoken by adults

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Problems with Problems with behaviorism: behaviorism: Instinct/Fixed ActionsInstinct/Fixed Actions

• The Misbehavior of Organisms (Breland & Breland, 1961):– Try to train raccoon to put two

coins in a piggy bank– Raccoon would instinctively rub

coins together, like they would with shellfish

– No amount of reward would cause extinction of the rubbing response

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OutlineOutline

• Introductions• Syllabus• What cognitive psychology is• History

– The first cognitive psychologists– The rise (and fall) of behaviorism– The rise of the new cognitive

psychology

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The rise of something The rise of something new…new…

• Information processing approach– The mind processes information

as it comes into the brain

• Rebirth of cognitive psychology parallels development of computers

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Cognition and Cognition and ComputationComputation

COGNITION• Perception• Attention• Memory• Problem

solving• Reasoning• Decision

making

COMPUTATION• Input from

many sources• Processing

(memory, software)

• Output to many sources

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Allen Newell and Herbert Allen Newell and Herbert SimonSimon

• 1927-1992• Computer science &

artificial Intelligence

• 1916-2001• Economics & mathematics• Nobel Prize in economics

for decision making

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The mind as computer?The mind as computer?

Computer hardware diagram:

Can we apply boxes and arrows to the mind?

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Early IP experiment: Early IP experiment: attentionattention

• Example: Cherry’s (1953) attention experiments– String of words presented to

each ear– Subjects attend to one ear only– Unattended stream is not

remembered

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The mind as computer?The mind as computer?

(Flow diagram of how attention works)

Block diagram of mental processes:

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The End.The End.

• Next class: Methods of cognitive psychology!

• How do we measure behavior?• How do we measure the brain?• Is artificial intelligence going to

take over the world?