Cognitive Psychology
PSYC231
Introduction
Dr. Jan Lauwereyns,
EA619, ext. 5042
Introduction
• First set of eight lectures
• Goldstein, chapters 1-4
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Introduction
Cognition and the brain
Perception
Attention
Cognitive psychology:
historical background
• Something between stimulus and
response – hidden, covert…
• Donders’ reaction time experiments
Cognitive psychology:
historical background
• Something between stimulus and
response – hidden, covert…
• Donders’ reaction time experiments
• Thinking takes time
• Separable components: perceptual
discrimination, motor selection, etc.
Figure 1.3 (p. 6)
A modern version of Donders’ (1868) reaction time experiment. (a) the simple
reaction-time task; and (b) the choice reaction-time task. For the simple time
reaction text, the participant pushes the J key when the light goes on. For the
choice reaction time test the participant pushes the J key if the left light goes on,
and the K key if the right light goes on. The purpose of the Donders experiment
was to determine the time it took to decide which key to press for the choice
reaction time test.
Figure 1.4 (p. 7)
Sequence of events between presentation of the stimulus and the behavioral
response, in Donders’ experiment. The dashed line indicates that Donders
measured reaction time, the time between presentation of the light and the
participant’s response. (a) simple reaction-time task; (b) choice reaction-time
task.
Cognitive psychology:
historical background
• Helmholtz and psychophysics
• Wundt and analytic introspection
• Countered by behaviourism
“Rat navigation guided by remote control”
The Far Side?
“Rat navigation guided by remote control”
The Far Side?
Talwar et al., Nature, 2002
Revival: Information processing,
with the computer as a model
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Input
Input processor
Memory unit
Arithmetic unit
Control
Output
Modern approaches
• Converging operations
• Studying behavioural and
neurophysiological correlates
of mental events
• The Davachi et al (2003) experiment
Davachi et al. ProNAS 2003
• [let me tell you a little secret: PubMed]
Correlates
Behaviour
Neurophysiological