Foundations of
Cognitive Psychology

History of Cognitive Psychology
• Ancient Questions (The Greeks)
• (Western) Philosophical Context
• Psychological Context
• What is Cognitive Psychology?
• What is Psychology?
• What is Cognitive Psychology?
• What are its Methods?
• Science of the Mind (Cognitive Psych.) vs.
Science of the Brain (Neuroscience)
• Basic Overview of the Brain
• Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary
• Connectionism
Foundations of
Cognitive Psychology

History of Cognitive Psychology
• Ancient Questions (The Greeks)
• (Western) Philosophical Context
• Psychological Context
• What is Cognitive Psychology?
• What is Psychology?
• What is Cognitive Psychology?
• What are its Methods?
• Science of the Mind (Cognitive Psych.) vs.
Science of the Brain (Neuroscience)
• Basic Overview of the Brain
• Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary
• Connectionism
Ancient Questions (The Greeks)
Platonic dialogue the Meno
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First extended discussion of nature of knowledge
o
Where does knowledge come from?
o
What does it consist of?
o
How is it represented in the mind?
Extended dialogue btwn Socrates & young slave
Socrates ‘demonstrates’ that boy possesses within
him all the knowledge necessary to compute various
geometrical relationships
abstract math = knowledge par excellence
Understanding of all domains implanted in soul
at birth
Task of instructor: to bring this innate knowledge
to conscious awareness
(Western) Philosophical Context
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Middle Ages
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Renaissance & Enlightenment Period
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Aristotle was cornerstone of discussion
Discussions about knowledge were purview of
theologians
Descartes, Locke, Kant
Discussions now drew on findings from
newly established empirical sciences
End of 19th Century

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Proliferation of ‘new sciences’ and
‘philosophical specialties’
Several deal with ‘nature of the human mind’
Psychological Context

Still asking questions that intrigued Greeks
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But now armed with:
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What does it mean to know?
Where does knowledge come from?
empirical methods
better tools (i.e. computer)
Behaviorism (1920-1950s)
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Mentalistic talk is gibberish
Focus on… Stimulus  Response (Associations)
o Law of Exercise. Responses to a situation which are
followed by rewarding state of affairs will be
strengthened & become habitual
o Law of Effect. Connections become strengthened with
practice & weakened when practice is discontinued
Cognitive Psychology develops in
response to Behaviorism
Foundations of
Cognitive Psychology

History of Cognitive Psychology
• Ancient Questions (The Greeks)
• (Western) Philosophical Context
• Psychological Context
• What is Cognitive Psychology?
• What is Psychology?
• What is Cognitive Psychology?
• What are its Methods?
• Science of the Mind (Cognitive Psych.) vs.
Science of the Brain (Neuroscience)
• Basic Overview of the Brain
• Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary
• Connectionism
What is Psychology?

The Freud/Skinner misconception
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Many think they are representative of the field
when they are not
Less than 10% of APA membership fall under
either paradigm
Represent, in some ways, the two extremes
Freud
(Psychoanalysis)
 Heavy on theory
 Light on behavioral
data
Skinner
(Behaviorism)
 Light on theory
 Heavy on
behavioral data
Majority of Psychologists:
Study of both ‘psyche’ and ‘behavior’
What is Psychology?


Data basis for evaluating theories
is behavior
From the observation of behavioral
patterns, theories containing hypothetical
concepts* are constructed.
*don’t always refer to conscious mental events

They are then changed based on further
behavioral observation.
This process is not remarkable –
same process as in other sciences.
What is Psychology?

A data-based scientific discipline

Then what is a “science”?
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NOT defined by subject matter
NOT defined by use of particular methods/tools
NOT defined by specific concrete procedures
IS a way of thinking about & observing world
Defining Features of A Science
1. Use of systematic empiricism
2. Production of public knowledge
3. Examination of solvable problems
What is Psychology?

Use of systematic empiricism
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Production of public knowledge

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
Empiricism: practice of relying on observation
Systematic: Observations are structured so that the
results of the observation reveal something about
the underlying nature of the world (typically theory
driven)
Findings are submitted to scientific community
for criticism & empirical testing (peer-review)
Notion of ‘replication’
Leads to cumulative growth of knowledge
(researchers build on what is already known)
Examination of solvable problems

The type of questions addressed are ones that are
potentially answerable given currently available
empirical techniques
What is Psychology?
Q. Does psychology ‘thingify’ people?

Science has encroached on many (most)
areas that once were the province of
philosophy, religion, literature, art…
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BUT… scientific study of topics once
relegated to other fields does not
necessarily mean denigration of humanity
(e.g. Health Care)
Important to parse out those questions
that can be answered via science &
those that simply cannot.
What is Cognitive Psychology?
Five Key Features:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Posits a level of analysis wholly separate from
the biological or neurological
Faith that central to any understanding of the
human mind is the computer
Deliberate decision to de-emphasize certain
factors that may be important but complicate
things (emotion, history/culture, role of
context)
Faith in interdisciplinary studies (philosophy,
psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics,
anthropology, neuroscience)
Claim that a key ingredient in contemporary
cognitive psych. is the agenda of issues which
have long exercised epistemologists in the
Western philosophical tradition
We stopped here
& will continue with
the rest tomorrow.
What are its Methods?
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Information processing analyses
Computer simulation
Response latencies (subtractive technique)
Eye fixations (attention)
Verbal reports: think aloud & retrospective
Sorting (categories)
Discourse analysis
Ethnographic methodologies
Design experiments
Coding of verbal protocols
Foundations of
Cognitive Psychology

History of Cognitive Psychology
• Ancient Questions (The Greeks)
• (Western) Philosophical Context
• Psychological Context
• What is Cognitive Psychology?
• What is Psychology?
• What is Cognitive Psychology?
• What are its Methods?
• Science of the Mind (Cognitive Psych.) vs.
Science of the Brain (Neuroscience)
• Basic Overview of the Brain
• Why Cognitive Psychology is Necessary
• Connectionism
Overview of the Brain Graphic
Why Cognitive
Psychology is Necessary

"brain-based education" is wildly
popular, however…
It builds a bridge too far.
Findings
about
the brain
How
individual
learn
(complex
tasks)
Best
practices
in
education
neuroscience
cog. psych.
education
Why Cog.Psych. is Necessary
Example of a Bridge Too Far:
Claims about the educational significance of
brain laterality (right brain vs. left brain) 

Neuroscientific Findings:

Categorical & coordinate spatial reasoning are
performed by distinct subsystems in the brain.
o Subsystem in brain's left hemisphere performs 
categorical spatial reasoning.
o Subsystem in brain's right hemisphere processes
coordinate spatial relationships.

Thus, research points to differences in the
information-processing abilities & biases of the
brain hemispheres.
Why Cog.Psych. Is Necessary
Example of a Bridge Too Far (con’t.):
Claims about the educational significance of brain
laterality (right brain vs. left brain)

Gloss of Findings:


The left hemisphere is logical, analytical, rational, serial
processor (e.g., speech, reading, & writing)
The right hemisphere is intuitive, creative visual, spatial,
parallel processor (e.g., recognition of faces, places)
THEREFORE…
 Schools are left-hemisphere dominant when they should
engage both hemispheres.
 To involve the right hemisphere in learning, teachers
should encourage spatial reasoning, for example.
Why Cog.Psych. Is Necessary
Example of a Bridge Too Far (con’t.):
Claims about the educational significance of brain
laterality (right brain vs. left brain)

Problems:
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It is subsystems not total hemispheres that are
specialized in important ways.
Complex tasks (of the type we do in school) involve
multiple types of processing, often spanning both
hemispheres
Thus, the tasks of educational interest are often not
confined to one hemisphere or the other
Why Cognitive
Psychology is Necessary
The take-home point:
We do not know enough about brain functioning
to link that understanding directly, in any
meaningful way, to educational practice.
 And what we do know about the brain is too fine
grained to be of much use.
However ...
 there are two shorter bridges already in place
that indirectly link brain function with educational
practice:

o 50 year old bridge between education & cognitive
psychology
o 20 year old bridge between cognitive psychology &
neuroscience.
Activity
1) Recall a personal learning event
2) Describe your model of cognition