Scribd
Upload
34 views

Introduction To Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology investigates how the mind processes, stores, and retrieves information to make decisions and learn. It arose from limitations in behavioral theories and the realization that some form of "mind" is needed to explain mechanisms like perception, attention, memory, reasoning, and decision-making. Cognitive psychologists study these areas as well as development, individual differences, and impairment to understand how the brain and nervous system function and how mental processes influence behavior and experiences. The field has contributed significantly to our understanding and has given rise to cognitive neuroscience.

Uploaded by

NI?A MARIE BONTOG
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
34 views

Introduction To Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology investigates how the mind processes, stores, and retrieves information to make decisions and learn. It arose from limitations in behavioral theories and the realization that some form of "mind" is needed to explain mechanisms like perception, attention, memory, reasoning, and decision-making. Cognitive psychologists study these areas as well as development, individual differences, and impairment to understand how the brain and nervous system function and how mental processes influence behavior and experiences. The field has contributed significantly to our understanding and has given rise to cognitive neuroscience.

Uploaded by

NI?A MARIE BONTOG
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Exploring the Mind's Inner Workings: An

Introduction to Cognitive Psychology


Cognitive psychology is an enthralling branch of psychology that investigates how
the mind processes, stores, and retrieves information in order to make decisions
and learn. Cognitive psychology arose from the realization that behavioral theories
of learning could not fully explain human cognitive processes, and that some form
of "mentality" or "mind" was required to explain the mechanisms underlying
perception, attention, memory, reasoning, and decision-making.
The central question in cognitive psychology is: How does the mind function to
assist us in making sense of the world and solving problems? Cognitive
psychologists look into many different aspects of this question, such as perception,
attention, memory, reasoning, language, and decision-making.
Perception, for example, refers to the process of interpreting and organizing
sensory information from the environment into a meaningful representation of the
world. Cognitive psychologists have investigated how different sensory modalities,
such as vision and hearing, process and interpret information in different ways.
The process by which the mind selects and focuses on a subset of available sensory
information is referred to as attention. Attention is necessary for us to respond to
important stimuli in our environment while ignoring irrelevant stimuli.
Memory, on the other hand, is the process by which the mind stores and retrieves
information over time. Researchers have investigated the various types of memory,
such as short-term, working, and long-term memory, as well as factors that
influence memory formation and retrieval, such as practice spacing and
redundancy, the presence of emotions and motivations, and the context in which
information is learned.
The processes by which we make sense of available information and solve
problems are referred to as reasoning and problem-solving. Researchers have
looked into how people reason about logical relationships between propositions,
solve puzzles and riddles, and make decisions in uncertain and risky situations.
In addition to these core topics, cognitive psychologists have studied the
development of cognitive abilities throughout the lifespan, the effects of individual
differences such as age, gender, and cognitive style, and the effects of various
types of cognitive impairment or damage, such as those caused by traumatic brain
injury or Alzheimer's disease.
Overall, cognitive psychology has contributed significantly to our understanding of
how the brain and nervous system function, as well as how mental processes
influence our behavior and experiences. The field has also given rise to numerous
subfields, such as cognitive neuroscience.

You might also like