This is a compact 50-page summary of the book "An introduction to cognitive psychology" by David Groome. The Summary also includes the most important aspects of the lectures of the course 'Cognitive Psychology'.
Cognitive Psychology Summary
Chapter 1 - Introduction to Cognitive Psychology 3
1.1 Cognitive Processes 3
1.2 Experimental Cognitive Psychology 4
1.3 Computer Models of Information Processing 4
1.4 Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychology 5
1.5 Automatic Processing 5
Chapter 2 - Perception 6
2.1 Introduction 6
2.2 Visual Perception 6
Chapter 3 - Attention 8
3.1 What is Attention? 8
3.2 What is Attention for? 8
3.3 Where is the Limit? The search for the bottleneck 9
3.4 The Problem of Breakthrough 9
3.5 Subliminal Priming Effects 10
3.6 Object Selection, Inhibition, and Negative Priming 10
3.7 Directing the Spotlight of Visual Attention 10
3.8 Cross-Modal Cueing of Attention 11
3.9 Visual Search 11
3.10 Evidence for and against FIT 11
3.11 Importance of Task Differences 12
3.12 Attention, Working Memory, and Distraction 12
3.14 Combining Tasks 13
Chapter 4 - Disorder of Perception and Attention 14
4.1 Introduction 14
4.2 Synesthesia 14
4.3 Blindsight 15
4.4 Unilateral Spatial Neglect 16
4.5 Visual Agnosia 16
4.6 Disorders of Face Processing 17
Chapter 5 - Short-term memory 18
5.1 Multi-store Models of Memory 18
5.2 Measuring STM Performance 19
5.3 The Working Memory Model 20
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5.4 The Phonological Loop 20
5.5 Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad 21
5.6 The Central Executive 21
5.7 Working Memory Theory Today 22
Chapter 6 - Long-term Memory 23
6.1 The Nature and Function of Memory 23
6.2 The First Memory Experiment 23
6.3 Meaning, Knowledge and Schemas 23
6.4 Input Processing and Encoding 24
6.5 Retrieval and Retrieval Cues 25
6.6 Memory Systems 25
6.7 Retrieval Practice and Retrieval Inhibition 27
6.8 Memory in Everyday Life 27
Chapter 7 - Disorders of Memory 28
7.1 Amnesia and its Causes 28
7.2 Anterograde and Retrograde Amnesia 29
7.3 Intact and Impaired Memory Systems 30
7.4 Theories of Amnesia 32
7.5 Other Types of Memory Disorders 33
7.6 Rehabilitation 33
Chapter 8 - Thinking and Problem-Solving 34
8.1 Introduction 34
8.2 Early Research on Problem-Solving 34
8.3 Information-Processing Approach to Problem-Solving 34
8.4 Problem-Solving by Analogy 35
8.5 Deductive and Inductive Reasoning 36
8.6 Theoretical Approaches to Reasoning 37
Chapter 9 - Disorders of Thinking and Problem-Solving 38
9.1 Introduction 38
9.1 Anatomy and Physiology of the Frontal Lobes 38
9.2 The Impact of Frontal Lobe Damage on Behavior 38
9.3 Impairments in the Deployment of Attention 39
9.4 Impairments in Abstract and Conceptual Thinking 39
9.5 Impaired Strategy Formation 39
9.6 Deficits in Everyday High-Order Planning 40
9.7 Conceputal Issues 40
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Chapter 10 - Language 40
Morphemes 41
Phonemes 41
Psychology and Linguistics 41
Recognising Spoken and Written Words 41
Understanding the Meaning of Words 41
Lexical Access 42
Modeling of Linguistic Properties: Rules or Regularities? 42
Sentence Comprehension 42
Language Production 42
Chapter 11 - Language Disorders 43
Models of Aphasia 43
Acquired Dyslexias 43
Cog-Lab Reader 45
Week 1 - Perception: Signal Detection and Mental Rotation 45
Week 2 - Reasoning and Short Term Memory 45
Week 3 - Attention 45
Week 4 - Language 46
Chapter 1 - Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
1.1 Cognitive Processes
- Cognitive Psychology = study of the way in which the brain processes information. It includes
the mental processes involved in perception, learning and memory storage, thinking and
language
Stages of Cognitive Processing
Input —> Perception —> Learning & Memory Storage —> Retrieval —> Thinking
- information taken in by the sense organs goes through a process of perception (=analysis of
input from sensory organs)
-> extracting meaning -> make sense of information
- some kind of record of perceived information = Learning and Memory Storage
- can be used in later scenarios -> retrieval
- sometimes thinking involves rearrangement and manipulation of stored information
- Processes simplified, reality much more overlap, processes are continuous
Approaches to the Study of Cognition
> Experimental Psychology
= scientific testing of psychological processes in human and animal subjects
> Computer Modeling
= simulation of human cognitive processes by computers. Often used as a method of testing
the feasibility of an information processing system
> Cognitive Neuropsychology
= study of the brain activities underlying cognitive processes, often by investigating cognitive
impairment in brain-damaged patients
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> Cognitive Neuroscience
= investigation of human cognition by relating it to brain structure and function, normally from
brain imaging techniques, MRI and PET
1.2 Experimental Cognitive Psychology
- 1879: Wilhelm Wundt: first psychological laboratory
- 1885: Ebbinghaus study on memory
- William James’ principles of psychology
- Mental chronometry
The Rise and Fall of Behaviourism
- behaviourism = an approach to psychology which constrains psychologists to the investigation
of externally observable behavior snd rejects any consideration of mental processes
-> made the progress of cognitive psychology slow
- could not be observed in a scientific manner
- Skinner -> completely disregarded the cognitive processes underlying the responses they were
studying
Gestalt and Schema Theories
- gestalt psychology = approach to psychology which emphasised the way in which the
components of perceptual input became grouped and integrated into patterns and whole
figures
- Returned to the study of cognitive processes
- Laid foundations for modern cognitive psychology
- Early: we contribute something to our perceptual inout from our own knowledge -> object is
mire than just the sum of its parts
- A figure depends on its “prägnanz” -> simplest and best interpretation
- Offered explanations where behaviourist couldn’t
- Schema = mental pattern, usually derived from past experience, which is used to assist with
the interpretation of subsequent cognitions
- All input is compared with present schema
- Perceptions and memory of an input may sometimes be changed and distorted to fit our
existing schemas
Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processing
- 2 main types of input processing: 1) Top-down (schema-driven) = makes use of stored
Knowledge and schemas to interpret an incoming stimulus
2) Bottom-up (stimulus-driven) = dieted by information from
stimulus
- both types probably play a role in processing
1.3 Computer Models of Information Processing
Computer Analogies and Computer Modelling of Brain Function
- helpful analogy with possible brain mechanisms
- “test-bed” for modelling possible human brain functions
- Separating various component stages -> creating sequential flow chart for computer program
Feature Detectors
- feature detectors = mechanisms in an information processing device which respond to specific
features in a pattern of stimulation
- Wiring light sensors together in such way that all those lying in one line at a particular angle
converged onto the same feature detector -> feature detector automatically activated when a
line at a particular angle is encountered
- Able to identify very complex shapes, such as faces
- Have been found in brain -> simple feature detector cells
= “mini-schemas” that detect specific shapes and patterns
Limited-Capacity Processor Model
- people show difficulties with attending to two separate inputs at the same time
- Broadbent: Signal 1 ——>
Signal 2 ——> Selective Filter Limited Decision Channel
Signal 3 ——>
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