1. What is Cognitive Psychology?
Broad Definition –empirical investigation of mental events and knowledge involved in recognizing an object, remembering a name, having an idea, understanding a sentence, and solving a problem
Specific Definition - the empirical investigation of mental processes and activities used in perceiving, remembering, and thinking, and the act of using those processes.

2. “Pay attention!” “I don’t know.” “I don’t remember.” “I can’t decide.”
Concept: Attention -- how we filter or select important information from the environment.
“I don’t know.”
Concept: Knowledge -- the store of general information and algorithms for performing tasks.
“I don’t remember.”
Concept: Memory -- a process for storing, retrieving and working with information.
“I can’t decide.”
Concept: Decision making – set of higher-level processes that work together allow us function day to day

3. History of Cognitive Psychology
Early history – Philosophical roots
Socrates – interested in the origins of knowledge
Aristotle – interested in origins of knowledge & memory
Proposed first theory of memory
Descartes – how is knowledge represented mentally

4. History of Recent history – Psychological roots Wilhelm Wundt (1879)
First psychological laboratory in Leipzig, GE
Founder of psychology as a science
Many early psychologists had roots in Wundts lab
Produced over 200 Ph.D students in philosophy and psychology
Topic: Human cognition
Used introspection to report contents of consciousness

5. History of Edward Titchner
Student of Wundts, taught at Cornell University in 1892
Proponent of introspection
Narrow view of psychology
Excluded mental illness, education apps., and social psych, b/c not open to introspection
Note: Method defined what was allowable science
Founder of Structuralism
Study of: Sensations, images, and feelings that were elements of the mind
Often argued with Wundt over findings

6. History of Herman von Ebbinghaus Contemporary of Wundt in GE
Big influence on cognitive psych.
Developed method for studying forgetting as function of time
Stimuli: lists of Consonant-Vowel-Consonant’s (CVC’s)
Method: Learn list of CVC’s, count number of trials to recall perfectly  Wait 2 days  re-learn list.
Savings score = # of trials to learn the 1st time - # of trials to learn 2nd time
One subject entire career – himself
Learned over 40,000 CVC’s

7. History of William James Wundt’s student, hired at Harvard
Philosopher, but started first American psych. lab
Proposed Functionalism
Stressed the functions over the mind rather than contents
How does mind adapt to new circumstances?
Proposed multicomponent memory system: Primary Memory vs. Secondary memory
Authored: Principles of Psychology, chapters on Sensation, perception, attention, consciousness, memory, reasoning

8. History of Modern History Human Performance (WWII)
Attention and perception,
training of solders to use radio and radar
Signal detection
Blips on radar or sonar
Information theory –
abstract method for analyzing information processing

9. History of Artificial intelligence Linguistics
How can we make computers behave intelligently?
Contributed host of concepts
Idea of study machine, allowed us to study our own processes
Linguistics
Interested language and language development
Contributed new mode of analyzing structure of language

10. Emergence of Cognitive Psychology
1950’s – 1970’s, no agreed upon date
Ulric Neisser’s “Cognitive Psychology” text published in 1967
Why did Cog. Psyc emerge?
Two major factors
Dissatisfaction w/ behaviorism’s account of complex behavior (e.g., Chompsky’s new model of language)
Convergence of several other fields during WWII
Linguistics, Human performance, AI

11. Contributors to Cog. Psych
Human Performance
Abstract way to analyze processing of info. (development of psychological tools!)
Research ideas in attention and perceptions AI
Idea of computer as info. Processor
Computer model
Tool for studying cognition
Focus on complex processing (decision making, reasoning)

12. Contributors to Cog. Psych
Linguistics & Verbal learning
Questions about language and its complexity
Reason to reject behaviorism
Complexities of lang. Not handled by behaviorism
Philosophy
Age old questions about knowledge and Memory
Behaviorism
Strong empirical methods and laboratory research

13. Summary Cog. Psych began with Wundt
Cognitive issues of mental states
But, introspection method not strong
Replication difficult, methodology determined acceptable sub-disciplines
These problems fueled behaviorist movement
Behaviorism was major paradigm from 1910’s to 1960’s
Focus shifted to overt behavior
Stimulus  response
Mind considered a black box, can’t study what you can’t see, hear, feel, or touch
Psychologists need reason to abandon behaviorism
Linguistic’s criticisms provided the stimulus

14. Summary
War time efforts - scientists from different fields came together for one purpose
Focus on attention and perception
Expansion of methodological toolboxes
Enabled Psychologist to go beyond S-R psych.
Idea of humans as “Active” info. Processors
Contrast with behaviorism – Organisms respond to environment
Invention of computer & focus on mental processes
Chompsky’s review of Skinner’s book on language
Illuminated inadequacies of behaviorism

15. Cognitive Psychology
Information processing approach – decomposition of mental processes
Multi-component memory system
Assumptions of Cog. Psych.
Mental processes exist
People are active information processors
Mental processes and structures can be revealed by time and accuracy measures

16. Info. Processing model Short-term / Working Memory Sensory Memory
Overt Response
Behavior
Environmental
Stimuli
Long-term Memory
&
Knowledge
Cognitive
Psychology
is concerned with
what goes on in here.

17. Component of Model Sensory memory – input device
What info is sent to the processor
Short-term / Working memory
Central processor, actively processes info
Long-term memory / Knowledge
Library of programs, algorithms, data, and experiences that are stored for use
†Note similarities to computer!

18. Sternberg Paradigm Test of how info is processed
Subjects (Ss) memorize list of digits
{4, 6, 5, 9, 3, 2}
Given recognition test 9?
Yes/No
Measure both accuracy and reaction time (Msec.)
Some trials were false (8?)
Some were true (9?)

19. Think in terms of Memory system!
STM / WM
LTM - 4 - 6 9 - 5 + 9 - 3 - 2
Decision

20. Results

21. What would happen if the search string were 6 items?
6, 9, 3, 2 9?
Perceive Stimulus
9=3?
9=2?
Make decision
Generate response
9=6?
9=9? 7?
Perceive Stimulus
Make decision
Generate response
7=6?
7=9?
7=3?
7=2?
What would happen if the search string were 6 items?
What would happen if degraded the probe?
What would happen if we biased the decision process?

22. Time to respond was linear function of size of search string
Each element added 38 msec to search time
Serial position did not matter!
Thus, search is exhaustive
Sternberg’s conclusion: Ss engaged in serial matching process