Robert Kail. Sharon Rolfes. Robert Sternberg. Timothy Kloppenborg. Michelle Muratori. Patrick Hurley. Earl Babbie Chapman University, Berkeley. We use cookies to improve this site Cookies are used to provide, analyse and improve our services; provide chat tools; and show you relevant content on advertising. Yes Manage cookies. Cookie Preferences We use cookies and similar tools, including those used by approved third parties collectively, "cookies" for the purposes described below.
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You'll explore the basics of cognitive neuroscience, attention and consciousness, perception, memory, knowledge representation, language, problem solving and creativity, decision making and reasoning, and intelligence. The authors' "from lab to life" approach covers theory, lab and field research, and applications to everyday life that demonstrate the relevance of what you are studying. A review of key themes at the end of every chapter will help you spend more time studying important information and less time trying to figure out what you need to know.
Other books in this series. See 2 questions about Cognitive Psychology…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Cognitive Psychology. Jan 31, Shakiba Abedzadeh rated it it was amazing Shelves: cognitive-text. View 2 comments. Apr 12, Harneet Kout is currently reading it.
Discuss the information processing and computer simulation approach to problem solving. Aug 09, Kayson Fakhar rated it really liked it. May 11, Mahshid Parchami rated it really liked it Shelves: paper , psychology. I happen to find psychology to be a very interesting field.
Again this is a required textbook, but glancing though the chapters, I am already finding numerous interesting topics. I think this will be a book that I may want to keep after the course is over. Nov 21, Alfrem Edvie rated it really liked it. Its great. This is a great book for understanding how the brain works and is developed. Aug 03, Julius marked it as to-read. Cognitive Psychology Cognitive Psychology Jan 23, Alina Gilani rated it really liked it.
Javad rated it it was amazing Jun 16, Lena Marie rated it it was amazing Jan 10, MAAN rated it it was amazing Feb 05, Tiv Taylor rated it really liked it Feb 17, Nick X rated it liked it Dec 03, Daniyal Ahmad rated it it was ok Feb 07, Sana Shoukat rated it it was amazing Oct 17, Embracing the Spectrum rated it liked it Jan 04, Lynda rated it liked it Jan 07, Emily rated it it was amazing Jan 12, Michelle Zanetti rated it it was ok Oct 13, Anusha S rated it liked it Apr 28, Talal Alrawajfeh rated it really liked it Sep 04, Emily added it Apr 01, Trevor Nagle added it Jun 06, Lia Mercy added it Mar 02, BookDB marked it as to-read Sep 24, Catharina Lenny is currently reading it Apr 29, Many of the early cognitive psychologists became interested in cognitive psy- chology through applied problems.
For example, according to Berry , Donald Broadbent — claimed to have developed an interest in cognitive. Harris, S. The planes had two almost identical levers under the seat. One lever was to pull up the wheels and the other to pull up the flaps. Pilots apparently regularly mistook one for the other, thereby crashing expensive planes upon take-off. Applied cognitive psychology also has had great use in advertising.
John Watson, after he left Johns Hopkins University as a professor, became an ex- tremely successful executive in an advertising firm and applied his knowledge of psychology to reach his success. By the early s, developments in psychobiology, linguistics, anthropology, and artificial intelligence, as well as the reactions against behaviorism by many mainstream psychologists, converged to create an atmosphere ripe for revolution.
Early cognitivists e. For example, he found that most people can remember about seven items of information. In this work, Miller also introduced the concept of channel capacity, the upper limit with which an observer can match a response to informa- tion given to him or her.
For example, if you can remember seven digits presented to you sequentially, your channel capacity for remembering digits is seven. Neisser defined cognitive psychology as the study of how people learn, structure, store, and use knowledge. Subsequently, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon proposed detailed models of human thinking and problem solving from the most basic levels to the most complex.
By the s cognitive psychology was recognized widely as a major field of psychological study with a distinctive set of research methods. In the s, Jerry Fodor popularized the concept of the modularity of mind. He argued that the mind has distinct modules, or special-purpose systems, to deal with linguistic and, possibly, other kinds of information. Modularity implies that the processes that are used in one domain of processing, such as the linguistic Fodor, or the perceptual domain Marr, , operate independently of processes in other domains.
An opposing view would be one of domain-general pro- cessing, according to which the processes that apply in one domain, such as percep- tion or language, apply in many other domains as well. Modular approaches are useful in studying some cognitive phenomena, such as language, but have proven less useful in studying other phenomena, such as intelligence, which seems to draw upon many different areas of the brain in complex interrelationships.
Although phrenology itself was not a scientifically valid technique, the practice of mental cartography lingered and eventually gave rise to ideas of modularity based on modern scientific techniques. What is pragmatism, and how is it related to functionalism? How are associationism and behaviorism both similar and different? What is the fundamental idea behind Gestalt psychology? What is the meaning of modularity of mind?
How does cognitivism incorporate elements of the schools that preceded it? Cognition and Intelligence Intelli- gence is the capacity to learn from experience, using metacognitive processes to enhance learning, and the ability to adapt to the surrounding environment. It may require different adaptations within different social and cultural contexts. People who are more intelligent tend to be superior in processes such as divided and selec- tive attention, working memory, reasoning, problem solving, decision making, and concept formation.
So when we come to understand the mental processes involved in each of these cognitive functions, we also better understand the bases of individ- ual differences in human intelligence. What Is Intelligence? Before you read about how cognitive psychologists view intelligence, test your own intelligence with the tasks in Investigating Cognitive Psychology: Intelligence.
Each of the tasks in Investigating Cognitive Psychology is believed, at least by some cognitive psychologists, to require some degree of intelligence. The answers are at the end of this section.
Intelligence is a concept that can be viewed as tying to- gether all of cognitive psychology. Just what is intelligence, beyond the basic defini- tion? In , when the editors of the Journal of. Candle is to tallow as tire is to a automobile, b round, c rubber, d hollow. The first three items form one series. Complete the analogous second series that starts with the fourth item:. You are at a party of truth-tellers and liars.
The truth-tellers always tell the truth, and the liars always lie. You meet someone new. He tells you that he just heard a con- versation in which a girl said she was a liar. Is the person you met a liar or a truth- teller? Educational Psychology asked 14 famous psychologists that question, the responses varied but generally embraced these two themes.
Intelligence involves: 1. They, too, underscored the importance of learning from experience and adapting to the environment. Contemporary experts also more heavily emphasized the role of culture. They pointed out that what is considered intelli- gent in one culture may be considered stupid in another culture Serpell, There are actually a number of cultural differences in the definition of intelligence. These differences have led to a field of study within intelligence research that examines understanding of cultural differences in the definition of intelligence.
This field explores what is termed cultural intelligence, or CQ. Research also shows that personality variables are related to intelligence Ackerman, , Taken together, this evidence suggests that a comprehensive definition of intelligence incorporates many facets of intellect.
Definitions of intelligence also frequently take on an assessment-oriented focus. In fact, some psychologists have been content to define intelligence as whatever it is that the tests measure Boring, This definition, unfortunately, is circular. Ac- cording to it, the nature of intelligence is what is tested. But what is tested must necessarily be determined by the nature of intelligence. Moreover, what different tests of intelligence measure is not always the same thing. So it is not feasible to define intelligence by what tests mea- sure, as though they all measured the same thing.
By the way, the answers to the questions in Investigating Cognitive Psychology: Intelligence are: 1. Candles are frequently made of tallow, just as tires are frequently made of c rubber. The first series was a circle and a square, followed by two squares and a circle, followed by three circles and a square; the second series was three triangles and a square, which would be followed by b , four squares and a triangle. The person you met is clearly a liar. If the girl about whom this person was talk- ing were a truth-teller, she would have said that she was a truth-teller.
If she were a liar, she would have lied and said that she was a truth-teller also. Thus, regardless of whether the girl was a truth-teller or a liar, she would have said that she was a truth-teller.
Because the man you met has said that she said she was a liar, he must be lying and hence must be a liar. Three Cognitive Models of Intelligence There have been many models of intelligence. Three models are particularly useful when linking human intelligence to cognition: the three-stratum model, the theory of multiple intelligences, and the triarchic theory of intelligence.
Of these strata, the most interesting is the middle stratum, which is neither too narrow nor too all-encompassing. In the middle stratum are fluid ability and crystallized ability. Fluid ability is speed and accuracy of abstract reasoning, especially for novel problems.
Crystallized ability is accumulated knowledge and vocabulary Cattell, In addition to fluid intelli- gence and crystallized intelligence, Carroll includes several other abilities in the middle stratum.
They are learning and memory processes, visual perception, auditory perception, facile production of ideas similar to verbal fluency , and speed which includes both sheer speed of response and speed of accurate responding. You will learn about these processes in later chapters.
Gardner: Theory of Multiple Intelligences Howard Gardner , b, , has proposed a theory of multiple intelligences, in which intelligence comprises multiple independent constructs, not just a single, unitary construct. However, instead of speaking of multiple abilities that together constitute intelligence e.
Each is a separate system of functioning, although these systems can interact to pro- duce what we see as intelligent performance. Gardner does not entirely dismiss the use of psychometric tests. But the base of evidence used by Gardner e. Thus, a major task of existing and future research on intelligence is to isolate the portions of the brain responsible for each of the intelligences.
Gardner has speculated as to at least some of these locales, but hard evidence for the existence of these separate intelligences has yet to be pro- duced. Consider the phenomenon of preserved specific.
Table 1. In what contexts can you use your intelligences most effectively? After Gardner, Savants are people with severe social and cognitive deficits but with corresponding high ability in a narrow domain. They sug- gest that such preservation fails as evidence for modular intelligences. Thus, there may be reason to question the intelligence of inflexible modules.
Sternberg: The Triarchic Theory of Intelligence Whereas Gardner emphasizes the separateness of the various aspects of intelligence, Robert Sternberg tends to emphasize the extent to which they work together in his triarchic theory of human intelligence Sternberg, a, , b, According to the triarchic theory of human intelligence, intelligence comprises three aspects: creative, analytical, and practical. According to the theory, cognition is at the center of intelligence.
Information processing in cognition can be viewed in terms of three different kinds of compo- nents. First are metacomponents—higher-order executive processes i. Second are performance components—lower-order processes used for implementing the commands of the metacomponents. And third are knowledge-acquisition components—the processes used for learning how to solve the problems in the first place. The components are highly interdependent. Suppose that you were asked to write a term paper.
You would use metacompo- nents for higher-order decisions. Thus, you would use them to decide on a topic, plan the paper, monitor the writing, and evaluate how well your finished product succeeds in accomplishing your goals for it. You would use knowledge-acquisition components for research to learn about the topic. You would use performance com- ponents for the actual writing.
Sternberg and his colleagues performed a comprehensive study testing the va- lidity of the triarchic theory and its usefulness in improving performance. Students were selected for one of five ability patterns: high only in analyt- ical ability, high only in creative ability, high only in practical ability, high in all three abilities, or not high in any of the three abilities. Then students were as- signed at random to one of four instructional groups.
Instruction in the groups emphasized either memory-based, analytical, creative, or practical learning. Then the memory-based, analytical, creative, and practical achievement of all students was. In analytical thinking, we solve familiar problems by using strategies that manipulate the elements of a problem or the relationships among the elements e.
In creative thinking, we solve new kinds of problems that require us to think about the problem and its elements in a new way e. In practical thinking, we solve problems that apply what we know to everyday contexts i.
The researchers found that students who were placed in an instructional condition that matched their strength in terms of pattern of ability outperformed stu- dents who were mismatched.
Thus, the prediction of the experiment was confirmed. For example, a high-analytical student being placed in an instructional condition that emphasized analytical thinking outperformed a high-analytical student being placed in an instructional condition that emphasized practical thinking. Current measures of intelligence are somewhat one-sided.
They measure mostly analytical abilities. They involve little or no assessment of creative and practical aspects of intelligence Sternberg et al. A more well-rounded assessment and instruction system could lead to greater benefits of education for a wider variety of students—a nominal goal of education. One attempt to accomplish this goal can be seen through the Rainbow Project. The addition of these supplemental assessments resulted in superior prediction of college grade point average GPA as compared with scores on the SAT and high school GPA.
Moreover, the new assessments substantially reduced differ- ences in scores among members of diverse ethnic groups. We have discussed how human intelligence provides a conceptual base for un- derstanding phenomena in cognitive psychology. What methods do we use to study these phenomena? Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology Researchers employ a variety of research methods. These methods include laboratory or other controlled experiments, psychobiological research, self-reports, case studies, naturalistic observation, and computer simulations and artificial intelligence.
Each of these methods will be discussed in detail in this section. To better understand the specific methods used by cognitive psychologists, one must first grasp the goals of research in cognitive psychology. Goals of Research Briefly, research goals include data gathering, data analysis, theory development, hypothesis formulation, hypothesis testing, and perhaps even application to settings outside the research environment. Often researchers simply seek to gather as much information as possible about a particular phenomenon.
They may or may not have preconceived notions regarding what they may find while gathering the data. Their research focuses on describing particular cognitive phenomena, such as how people recognize faces or how they develop expertise. Data gathering reflects an empirical aspect of the scientific enterprise.
Once there are sufficient data on the cognitive phenomenon of interest, cognitive psychologists. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology Ideally, they use multiple converging types of evidence to support their hypotheses. Sometimes, just a quick glance at the data leads to intuitive inferences regarding patterns that emerge from those data.
More commonly, however, researchers use various statistical means of an- alyzing the data. Data gathering and statistical analysis aid researchers in describing cognitive phenomena. No scientific pursuit could get far without such descriptions. However, most cognitive psychologists want to understand more than the what of cognition; most also seek to understand the how and the why of thinking.
That is, researchers seek ways to explain cognition as well as to describe it. To move beyond descrip- tions, cognitive psychologists must leap from what is observed directly to what can be inferred regarding observations. Suppose that we wish to study one particular aspect of cognition. An example would be how people comprehend information in textbooks. We usually start with a theory. A theory is an organized body of general explanatory principles regarding a phenomenon, usually based on observations.
We seek to test a theory and thereby to see whether it has the power to predict certain aspects of the phenomena with which it deals. Next, we test our hypotheses through experimentation.
Even if particular findings appear to confirm a given hypothesis, the findings must be subjected to statistical analysis to determine their statistical significance. Statistical significance indicates the likelihood that a given set of results would be obtained if only chance factors were in operation.
For example, a statistical significance level of. Therefore, the results are not likely to be due merely to chance. Through this method we can decide to retain or reject hypotheses. Once our hypothetical predictions have been experimentally tested and statisti- cally analyzed, the findings from those experiments may lead to further work.
For example, the psychologist may engage in further data gathering, data analysis, theory development, hypothesis formulation, and hypothesis testing. In addi- tion, many cognitive psychologists hope to use insights gained from research to help people use cognition in real-life situations. Some research in cognitive psychology is applied from the start.
It seeks to help people improve their lives and the conditions under which they live their lives. Thus, basic research may lead to everyday applications. For each of these purposes, different research methods offer different advantages and disadvantages.
Distinctive Research Methods Cognitive psychologists use various methods to explore how humans think. These methods include a laboratory or other controlled experiments, b psychobiological research, c self-reports, d case studies, e naturalistic observation, and f com- puter simulations and artificial intelligence. See Table 1. As the table shows, each method offers distinctive advantages and disadvantages. In our ex- you read it ten times while attempting to re- periments, students learn materials either cite from time to time and consulting the text simple sets of words or more complex text- when your memory fails.
The general finding is personal experience. The case is interesting because Ba- that retrieval or reciting, as Bacon called it during a test con was one of the originators of the scientific method and provides a great boost to later retention, much more so laid out the framework for experimental science.
Zaromb and Roediger gave students lists sciences chiefly, physics and chemistry. The idea that of words to remember in preparation for a test that would scientific methods could be applied to people was not be given two days later. Students in one condition stud- even dreamt of and, had the notion been raised, it ied the material eight times with short breaks, but students would have been hooted down.
Human beings were in two other conditions received either two or four tests in not dross stuff; they had souls, they had free will—surely place of some of the study trials. If S denotes a study trial they could not be studied scientifically! The date usually given is tions just listed should be ordered in terms of decreasing , when Wilhelm Wundt founded the first psychol- effectiveness from eight to six to four study trials. How- ogy laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
The result: the proportion recalled the problem of mind is the great outstanding event in the two days later was. Does reciting experiment he suggested 20 trials , but it would make a material really help one learn it more than studying it? By the way, self- studying as being how we learn; and of testing as only testing on material is a good way to study for your measuring what has been learned.
Experiments on Human Behavior In controlled experimental designs, an experimenter will usually conduct research in a laboratory setting. The experimenter controls as many aspects of the experimental sit- uation as possible. There are basically two kinds of variables in any given experiment. Independent variables are aspects of an investigation that are individually.
Dependent variables are outcome responses, the values of which depend on how one or more independent variables influence or affect the participants in the experiment. When you tell some student research participants that they will do very well on a task, but you do not say anything to other participants, the independent variable is the amount of information that the students are given about their expected task performance. The dependent variable is how well both groups actually perform the task—that is, their score on the math test.
When the experimenter manipulates the independent variables, he or she controls for the effects of irrelevant variables and observes the effects on the depen- dent variables outcomes.
These irrelevant variables that are held constant are called control variables. The variable of light needs to be held constant. Another type of variable is the confounding variable. Confounding variables are a type of irrelevant variable that has been left uncontrolled in a study. For example, imagine you want to examine the effectiveness of two problem-solving techniques.
You train and test one group under the first strategy at 6 A. In this experiment, time of day would be a con- founding variable. In other words, time of day may be causing differences in perfor- mance that have nothing to do with the problem-solving strategy. Obviously, when conducting research, we must be careful to avoid the influence of confounding variables. In implementing the experimental method, experimenters must use a represen- tative and random sample of the population of interest.
They must exert rigorous control over the experimental conditions so that they know that the observed effects can be attributed to variations in the independent variable and nothing else.
The experimenter also must randomly assign participants to the treatment and control conditions. For example, you would not want to end up in an experiment on concentration with lots of people with ADD—Attention Deficit Disorder—in your experimental group, but no such people in your control group.
If those requisites for the experimental method are fulfilled, the experimenter may be able to infer proba- ble causality. This inference is of the effects of the independent variable or variables the treatment on the dependent variable the outcome for the given population.
Many different dependent variables are used in cognitive-psychological research. Two common variables are percent correct or its additive inverse, error rate and reaction time. These measures are popular because they can tell the investigator, re- spectively, the accuracy and speed of mental processing. Independent and dependent variables must be chosen with great care, because no matter what processes one is observing, what is learned from an experiment will depend almost exclusively on the variables one chooses to isolate from the often complex behavior one is observing.
Random assignment of Usually Not usually Not applicable subjects Experimental control of Usually Varies widely, depending on the Probably not independent variables particular technique Sample size May be any size Often small Probably small Sample representativeness May be representative Often not representative May be representative Ecological validity Not unlikely; depends on the Unlikely under some circumstances Maybe; see strengths task and the context to which it is and weaknesses being applied Information about Usually de-emphasized Yes Yes individual differences.
After Disorder responded more aggres- and sleep, self-rated health, subjects first recalled the meaning sively to a provocation than did and stress, participants kept of a word, that pair was either normal control subjects. The patients diaries and collected saliva dropped, presented twice more in a particularly showed an increase in samples over four weeks study period, or presented twice glucose consumption in brain areas Dahlgren et al.
Subjects took associated with emotion like the a final recall test one week later. Computer Simulations and Case Studies Naturalistic Observations Artificial Intelligence Engage in intensive study of single Observe real-life situations, as in Simulations: Attempt to make individuals, drawing general classrooms, work settings, or homes computers simulate human cognitive conclusions about behavior performance on various tasks AI: Attempt to make computers demonstrate intelligent cognitive performance, regardless of whether the process resembles human cognitive processing Highly unlikely Not applicable Not applicable.
Highly unlikely No Full control of variables of interest. Almost certain to be small Probably small Not applicable Not likely to be representative May be representative Not applicable High ecological validity for individual Yes Not applicable cases; lower generalizability to others. A case study with a breast cancer A study using questionnaires and Simulations: Through detailed patient showed that a new technique observation found that Mexicans on computations, David Marr problem-solving therapy can reduce average consider themselves less attempted to simulate human visual anxiety and depression in cancer sociable than U.
If you are asked to scan the words dog, cat, mouse, hamster, chipmunk and to say whether the word chipmunk appears in it, and then are asked to scan dog, cat, mouse, hamster, chipmunk, lion and to say whether lion appears, the difference in the reaction times might be taken, by some models of mental processing, roughly to indicate the amount of time it takes to process each stimulus.
Suppose the outcomes in the treatment condition show a statistically significant difference from the outcomes in the control condition. The experimenter then can infer the likelihood of a causal link between the independent variable s and the dependent variable. Because the researcher can establish a likely causal link between the given independent variables and the dependent variables, controlled laboratory experiments offer an excellent means of testing hypotheses.
Suppose that we wanted to see whether loud, distracting noises influence the ability to perform well on a particular cognitive task e. Ideally, we first would select a random sample of participants from within our total population of interest. We then would randomly assign each participant to a treatment condition or a control condition. Then we would introduce some distracting loud noises to the participants in our treatment condition.
The participants in our control condition would not re- ceive this treatment. We would present the cognitive task to participants in both the treatment condition and the control condition and then measure their perfor- mance by some means e. Finally, we would analyze our results statistically. We thereby would examine whether the difference between the two groups reached statistical significance. Suppose the participants in the treatment condition showed poorer performance at a statistically significant level than the participants in the control condition.
We might infer that loud, distracting noises influenced the ability to perform well on this particular cognitive task. In cognitive-psychological research, though the dependent variables may be quite diverse, they often involve various outcome measures of accuracy e. Among the myriad possibilities for independent variables are characteristics of the situation, of the task, or of the participants. For example, characteristics of the situation may involve the presence versus the absence of particular stimuli or hints during a problem-solving task.
Characteristics of the task may involve reading versus listening to a series of words and then responding to comprehension questions. Characteristics of the participants may include age differ- ences, differences in educational status, or differences based on test scores.
On the one hand, characteristics of the situation or task may be manipulated through random assignment of participants to either the treatment or the control group.
On the other hand, characteristics of the participant are not easily manipu- lated experimentally. For example, suppose the experimenter wants to study the effects of aging on speed and accuracy of problem solving. In such situations, researchers often use other kinds of studies, for example, studies involving correlation a statistical relationship.
A correlation is a description of a relationship. The correlation coefficient de- scribes the strength of the relationship. The closer the coefficient is to 1 either positive or negative , the stronger the relationship between the variables is. The sign positive or negative of the coefficient describes the direction of the relation- ship.
A positive relationship indicates that as one variable increases e. A negative relationship indicates that as the measure of one variable increases e.
No correlation—that is, when the coefficient is 0—indicates that there is no pattern or relationship in the change of two variables e. In this final case, both variables may change, but the variables do not vary together in a consistent pattern. Correlational studies are often the method of choice when researchers do not want to deceive their subjects by using manipulations in an experiment or when they are interested in factors that cannot be manipulated ethically e.
However, because researchers do not have any control over the experimental conditions, causality cannot be inferred from correla- tional studies. Findings of statistical relationships are highly informative. Their value should not be underrated. Also, because correlational studies do not require the random assignment of participants to treatment and control conditions, these methods may. However, correlational studies generally do not permit unequiv- ocal inferences regarding causality.
As a result, many cognitive psychologists strongly prefer experimental data to correlational data. Psychobiological Research Through psychobiological research, investigators study the relationship between cogni- tive performance and cerebral events and structures.
Chapter 2 describes various spe- cific techniques used in psychobiological research. Postmortem studies offered some of the first insights into how specific lesions areas of injury in the brain may be associated with particular cognitive deficits.
Such studies continue to provide useful insights into how the brain influences cogni- tive function. Recent technological developments also increasingly enable research- ers to study individuals with known cognitive deficits in vivo while the individual is alive. The study of individuals with abnormal cognitive functions linked to cerebral damage often enhances our understanding of normal cognitive functions. Psychobiological researchers also study normal cognitive functioning by studying cerebral activity in animal participants.
Researchers often use animals for experi- ments involving neurosurgical procedures that cannot be performed on humans because such procedures would be difficult, unethical, or impractical. For example, studies mapping neural activity in the cortex have been conducted on cats and monkeys e. Can cognitive and cerebral functioning of animals and of abnormal humans be generalized to apply to the cognitive and cerebral functioning of normal humans? Psychobiologists have responded to these questions in various ways.
For some kinds of cognitive activity, the available technology permits researchers to study the dynamic cerebral activity of normal human participants during cognitive processing see the brain-imaging techniques described in Chapter 2. Self-Reports, Case Studies, and Naturalistic Observation Individual experiments and psychobiological studies often focus on precise specifica- tion of discrete aspects of cognition across individuals.
To obtain richly textured information about how particular individuals think in a broad range of contexts, researchers may use other methods. Experimental research is most useful for testing hypotheses; however, research based on self-reports, case studies, and naturalistic observation is often particu- larly useful for the formulation of hypotheses. These methods are also useful to generate descriptions of rare events or processes that we have no other way to measure.
In very specific circumstances, these methods may provide the only way to gather information. An example is the case of Genie, a girl who was locked in a room until the age of 13 and thus provided with severely limited social and sensory experiences.
As a result of her imprisonment, Genie had severe physical impairments and no language skills. Through case-study methods, information was collected about how she later began to learn language Fromkin et al. It would have been unethical experimentally to deny a person any language experience for the first 13 years of life. Therefore, case-study methods are the only reasonable way to examine the results of someone being denied language and social exposure.
Similarly, traumatic brain injury cannot be manipulated in humans in the laboratory. Therefore, when traumatic brain injury occurs, case studies are the only way to gather information. Surprisingly, Mr. Gage survived. His behavior and mental pro- cesses were drastically changed by the accident, however.
Obviously, we cannot insert large metal rods into the brains of experimental participants. Therefore, in the case of traumatic brain injury, we must rely on case-study methods to gather information. The reliability of data based on self-reports depends on the candor of the participants. A participant may misreport information about his or her cognitive processes for a variety of reasons. These reasons can be intentional or unintentional.
Intentional misreports can include trying to edit out unflattering information. Gage was the subject of case studies both during his life and after his death. Unintentional misreports may involve not understanding the question or not remem- bering the information accurately.
For example, when a participant is asked about the problem-solving strategies he or she used in high school, the participant may not remember.
The participant may try to be completely truthful in his or her reports. But reports involving recollected information e. The reason is that participants sometimes forget what they did. In studying complex cognitive processes, such as problem solving or decision making, researchers often use a verbal protocol. In a verbal protocol, the partici- pants describe aloud all their thoughts and ideas during the performance of a given cognitive task e.
An alternative to a verbal protocol is for participants to report specific infor- mation regarding a particular aspect of their cognitive processing. For example, consider a study of insightful problem solving see Chapter Participants were asked at second intervals to report numerical ratings indicating how close they felt they were to reaching a solution to a given problem.
Unfortunately, even these methods of self-reporting have their limitations. What kind of limitations? Cogni- tive processes may be altered by the act of giving the report e. Or, cognitive processes may occur outside of conscious awareness e. To get an idea of some of the difficulties with self-reports, carry out the following In- vestigating Cognitive Psychology: Self-Reports tasks.
Reflect on your experiences with self-reports. Case studies e. These two methods of cognitive research offer high ecological validity, the degree to which particular findings in one environmental. Without looking at your shoes, try reporting aloud the various steps involved in tying your shoe. Recall aloud what you did on your last birthday.
Now, actually tie your shoe or something else, such as a string tied around a table leg , reporting aloud the steps you take. Do you notice any differences between task 1 and task 3? Report aloud how you pulled into consciousness the steps involved in tying your shoe or your memories of your last birthday.
Can you report exactly how you pulled the information into conscious awareness? Can you report which part of your brain was most active during each of these tasks? As you probably know, ecology is the study of the interactive relationship between an organism or organ- isms and its environment. Many cognitive psychologists seek to understand the in- teractive relationship between human thought processes and the environments in which humans are thinking.
Sometimes, cognitive processes that are commonly observed in one setting e. Computer Simulations and Artificial Intelligence Digital computers played a fundamental role in the emergence of the study of cognitive psychology. One kind of influence is indirect—through models of human cognition based on models of how computers process information.
Another kind is direct—through computer simulations and artificial intelligence. In computer simulations, researchers program computers to imitate a given human function or process.
Examples are performance on particular cognitive tasks e. Some researchers have attempted to create computer models of the entire cognitive architecture of the human mind. Their models have stimulated heated discussions regarding how the human mind may func- tion as a whole see Chapter 8. Sometimes the distinction between simulation and artificial intelligence is blurred. For example, certain programs are designed to simulate human performance and to maximize functioning simultaneously. Consider a computer program that plays chess.
There are two entirely different ways to conceptualize how to write such a program. One is known as brute force: A researcher constructs an algorithm that considers extremely large numbers of moves in a very short time, potentially beating human players simply by virtue of the number of moves it considers and the future potential consequences of these moves.
The program would be viewed as successful to the extent that it beat the best humans. This kind of artificial intelligence does not seek to represent how humans function, but done well, it can produce a program that plays chess at the highest possible level.
An alternative approach, simulation, looks at how chess grand masters solve chess problems and then seeks to function the way they do. The program would be successful if it chose, in a sequence of moves in a game, the same moves that the grand master would choose.
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