Franciscus Donders (1868): Pioneering Experiment → how long does it take to make a decision?
→ He measured reaction time:
1. simple reaction time: Reacting to the presence or absence of a single stimulus (as opposed
to having to choose between a number of stimuli before making a response.
2. choice reaction time: Time to respond to one of two or more stimuli. For example, in the
Donders experiment, subjects had to make one response to one stimulus and a different
response to another stimulus.
a. choice reaction times were longer → diff between the two reaction times = the time
needed to make a decision = it takes 100 milliseconds to make a decision
Stimulus → mental response → behavioral response
-- Mental response can only be inferred from behavior, not measured directly
Wundt (1879): Structuralism: explained perception as the adding up of small elementary units called
sensations.
→ To do this, he used analytic introspection: A procedure used by early psychologists in which
trained participants described their experiences and thought processes in response to stimuli.
→ Empiricist approach: emphasizes the role of experiments in gaining knowledge.
Ebbinghaus (1885): memory experiment; time course of forgetting
→ learn a list → wait (delay) → relearn list (quantitative measuring method)
-- savings: measure used by Ebbinghaus to determine the magnitude of memory left from initial
learning. Higher savings indicate greater memory.
-- savings curve: plot of savings versus time after original learning. (forgetting occurs rapidly over the
first two days and then occurs more slowly after that.)
William James (1890): first psychology textbook: Principles of Psychology: fe attention: paying
attention to one thing involves withdrawing from other things.
→ he reported observations of his own experience
John Watson (1913): founder of behaviourism: observable behaviour provides the only valid data for
psychology (so not consciousness!). He rejects introspection.
Ivan Pavlov - behaviorist (1890): classical conditioning: A procedure in which pairing a neutral
stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response causes the neutral stimulus to elicit that response.
Skinner – behaviorist (1938): operant conditioning: focuses on how behaviour is strengthened by
presentation of positive reinforcers, such as food or social approval, or withdrawal of negative
reinforcers, such as a shock or social rejection.
Critique on behaviorism: a simple stimulus–response theory cannot explain that people often
respond to different aspects of the same stimulus event
,Ccognitive revolution: (1950s) shift from behaviourist approach → to an approach in which the main
thrust was to explain behaviour in terms of the mind.
→ introduction of the information-processing approach to studying the mind.
Edward Tolman (1948): Cognitive Map: mental conception of spatial layout.
Chomsky (1959): language development is determined by an inborn biological programme that holds
across cultures (not by imitation or reinforcement).
Introduction of the digital computer: information-processing approach: the mind is described as
processing information through a sequence of stages.
- Cherry (1953): dichotic listening experiment: attention focus on attended message, ignore
unattended message. When people focused on the attended message, they could hear the
sounds of the unattended message but were unaware of the contents of that message.
- Broadbent’s filter model of attention/flow diagram of the mind visualized and analyses the
operation of the mind in terms of a sequence of processing stages which could be tested by
experiments.
- John McCarthy(1955): artificial intelligence: The ability of a computer to perform tasks
usually associated with human intelligence.
o Newell & Simon (1956): logic theorist: Computer program that was able to solve
logic problems. (general problem solver, GPS)
- George Miller (1956): processing capacity of the human mind: it can only hold 7 (+-2) items
in their immediate memory. Further processing is enabled when information is actively
recoded into smaller units.
- Neisser (1967): first cognitive psychology book
The role of models in cognitive psychology:
- structural models: Representation of a physical structure. An example is a model of the brain
or structures within the brain and their connections.
- process models: A model that represents the processes involved in cognition (Broadbent’s
filter model of attention.) Usually with boxes (specific processes) and arrows.
o Model of memory:
▪ sensory memory: holds incoming information for a fraction of a second and
then passes a selection to the
▪ short-term memory: has limited capacity and hold information for a couple
of seconds, some of this information can be transferred to
▪ long-term memory: a high-capacity system that can hold a lot of info for a
long time.
, - resource models: focus on which type and how much mental effort processes or tasks use.
- multiple resource model (1970s): consists of three dimensions:
o stages of processing: there are separate resources (like pools of energy) for different
stages of information processing (perception/cognition vs responding),
o modalities: different modalities (visual vs auditory) and
o codes of processing: different codes (verbal vs spatial).
Cognitive strategies in enhancing learning:
- spacing (distribution over time) and interleaving (Intermixing different topics within a
particular domain).
- retrieval based learning: Learning based on the act of retrieving or recovering previously
stored information. retrieving makes the remembered information more retrievable.
- note taking and elaboration: enhance efficient learning.
o Compared to typing notes on a laptop, taking notes by hand has been shown to lead
to better test performance mainly because written notes show less verbatim overlap
with the lecture than laptop notes.
The subtraction method can be used to isolate specific cognitive processes (PET scan)
Our increased understanding of the functioning of our mind can be used to
- design proper control panels and traffic situations;
- influence decision making and consumer behaviour;
- improve protocols relating to eyewitness interrogation;
- develop working memory and executive-control training programmes; and
- stimulate good practice in education.
, Chapter 2: Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive neuroscience: Field concerned with studying the neural basis of cognition.
Level of analysis: A topic can be understood by studying it at a number of different levels of a system
(behavioural and physiological).
3 methods that have been used to study cognitive neuroscience:
1. recording from single neurons;
2. studying the effects of brain damage in humans;
3. and creating images of the brain.
Neuron: Cell that is specialized to receive and transmit information in the nervous system.
Nerve net: A network of continuously interconnected nerve fibres (as contrasted with neural
networks, in which fibres are connected by synapses). It would be visible when staining brain tissue.
→ Nerve net theory: signals could be transmitted throughout the net in all directions.
→ Camillo Golgi (1870s): developed staining technique with a lot more detail
→ Ramon y Cajal: used Golgi’s technique on less dense new-born brains.
Neuron doctrine: the idea that individual cells transmit signals in the nervous system and that these
cells are not continuous with other cells as proposed by the nerve net theory.
Basic parts of neuron: cell body, dendrites, axons (nerve fibres).
Cajals’ findings:
- synapse: gap between axon and dendrites
- neural circuits: Group of interconnected neurons that are responsible for neural processing.
- receptors: neurons in the brain that are specialized to pick up information form the
environment.
Edgar Adrian (1920s): able to record electrical signals from single sensory neurons using
microelectrodes: small shafts of hollow glass filled with a conductive salt solution that can pick up
electrical signals at the electrode tip and conduct these signals back to a recording device.
→ there are two electrodes:
1. recording electrode: can pick up electrical signals from single neurons.
2. reference electrode: Used to measure the difference in charge between the two. They’re
placed where the electrical signal remains constant, so any change in charge between the
recording and reference electrodes reflects events happening near the tip of the recording
electrode.
Resting potential: difference in charge between the inside and outside of a nerve fibre when the
fibre is at rest (no other electrical signals are present).
Nerve impulse: An electrical response that is propagated down the length of an axon (nerve fibre).
Also called an Action potential.
When the action potentials reach the synapse at the end of the axon, a chemical called a
neurotransmitter is released. This neurotransmitter makes it possible for the signal to be transmitted
across the gap that separates the end of the axon from the dendrite or cell body of another neuron.
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