UNIT 1

• What is COGNITION? - Latin word “cognoscere” or “to know”

• The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge. • Scientific study of
the mind as an information processor.
• The collection of mental processes and activities used in perceiving, learning,
remembering, thinking, and
understanding, and the act of using those processes
(Ashcraft, 2002).
Cognitive Psychology - Aims to build cognitive models of the information
processing - inside people’s minds.
• Perception, attention, language, memory, thinking, problem solving,
decision making and consciousness.

Emergent Factors - Failure of Behaviourism - Advances in the Science Disciplines –

importance of Experimentation - Development of Computers – information
processing - mind
Assumptions - Human behaviour can be explained as a set of scientific processes
• Behaviour is controlled by our own thought processes, as opposed to genetic
factors
• Mediational processes
• Information Processing - Computer Analogy
Strengths - Highly controlled and rigorous methods - lab experiments to produce
reliable, objective data. -- Most dominant approach and has been applied to a wide
range of practical and theoretical contexts.
• Combines easily with approaches: e.g. behaviorism + cognitive psychology =
social learning theory; biology + cognitive psychology = evolutionary
psychology.
History of Cognitive Psychology
Vedas – Upanishads
PLATO (ca. 428-348 B.C) – Rationalism - Nature of reality * Reality resides not in the
concrete objects we perceive but in the abstract forms that these objects represent in
our mind.
• How to investigate reality * Observation is misleading *The route to
knowledge is through logical analysis
ARISTOTLE (ca. 384-322 B.C) – Empiricism - Nature of reality * Reality lies only in
the concrete world of objects that our bodies sense
• How to investigate reality * The route to knowledge is
through empirical evidence, obtained through experience
and observation * Observations of the external world are the only
means to arrive at truth
– Comparison
– Rationalism Empiricism
1.Understanding of mind (or Observations of the knowledge) through logical
external world are the only analysis and introspection means to arrive at truth
(rationalism). (empiricism).
–
2.Innateness of mind or Acquired experiences mental faculties. through
interaction with – the environment. 3.Theory building in Experimentation in
psychology today. psychology today.

RENE DESCARTES(1596-1650) – agreed with plato - Rationalism –

“Cogito ergo sum” - "I think, therefore I am"
– Mental representations
• Descartes raised, directly or indirectly, virtually all the
significant issues related to the foundations of the science of the
mind
• He had taken the principles from his writings on meteors, optics,
mathematics, and mechanics and considered their
applicability to human phenomena
– Innate ideas
John Locke (1632-1704) - Locke favored Aristotle and emphasized observation as a
method (empiricism) to study mental processes –
– “tabula rasa” (“blank slate”) - Humans are born without knowledge
Immanuel Kant - In eighteenth century German philosopher Kant addressed the issue
of rationalism and empiricism and said that both approaches must be used to
decipher truth and about reality of mind
Structuralism - Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
1. First psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany (1879). 2. To analyze the structure of the
mind. Through the method of introspection. 3. Elements of mind: sensation, feelings,
and images.
Functionalism William James (1842-1910)
1. Mind or consciousness cannot be divided into elements. 2. Introspection cannot
yield measures about the mind. 3. Mind or consciousness have adaptive value.
Behaviorism John Watson (1878-1958)
1. No room for mind or consciousness.
2. Overt behavior needs to be the scientific domain of psychology.
 3. Behaviorism is an extreme form of associationism between environment (S) and
observable behavior (R).
Gestalt Psychology wolfgang kohler (1887-1967)
1. Opposed behaviorism and structuralism.
2. S-R components or mental elements could not explain behavior or mind of an
individual.
3. Holistic approach to understanding behavior or mind.

Associationism Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) - Studied “higher mental processes”,

like memory and forgetting. - Used systematic experimental introspection. - Followed
Aristotelian law of association. Repetition improves memory.
A theory in philosophy or psychology which regards the simple association or co-
occurrence of ideas or sensations as the primary basis of meaning, thought, or
learning.
Skinner (1904-1990) - Verbal behavior (1957) - Radical behaviorism - Shaping of
behavior -Thorndike (law of effect and associationism) - Operant conditioning - Positive
reinforcement - Negative reinforcement - Skinners book was reviewed in 1959 By
Chomsky - Innate language acquisition device - The misbehavior of organism (1961) -
Breland & Breland “ after fourteen yrs of study … without knowledge of its instinctive
patterns, evolutionary history and ecological niche”
Tolman (1886-1959) cognitive maps
Bandura observational learning
Cognitive Revolution
• Kenneth Craik (1914-1945) – Brits
• Nature of explanation (book) - Internal representations -
Mental models
• Alan Turing (1912-1954)
– Turing mechanism - Turing test - Development of first computers –
Analogy between computers and human minds
• Hardware (brain), Software (mind)
• Thinking can be described in terms of algorithmic
manipulation of some information
• These ideas gave rise to the information processing paradigm in
psychology – cognitive psychology
Allan Newell and Herbert Simon – Artificial Intelligence -
• Dartmouth conference on AI (1956) - Computer program - Symbol
processing
George Miller (1956) - "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some
Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information"
MIT conference
The birth of cognitive science has been traced back to a very particular point in space
and time: September 11, 1956, at a "Symposium on Information Theory" held in
Cambridge at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On that day, George Miller,
Noam Chomsky, Alan Newell and Herbert Simon presented papers in the apparently
disparate fields of psychology, linguistics and computer science. As Miller himself later
recalls,
I went away from the Symposium with a strong conviction, more intuitive than
rational, that human experimental psychology, theoretical linguistics and
 computer simulation of rational cognitive processes were all pieces of a larger
whole, and that the future would see progressive elaboration and coordination of
their shared concerns. (2003, 143)
Broadbent, D (1958). Perception and Communication – Filter Model
Research in cognitive psychology
Use of empirical evidence and replication
Controlled laboratory experiments – attention
• Characterization
– An experimenter conducts research in a laboratory setting in which he
controls as many aspects of the experimental situation as possibleRandom
sample
– manipulate independent variable – create exptal group, control,
– manipulation: - words to nonwords, colour diagram to non colour; imagery
to repetition; whole vs part; vary speed of presentation
– reaction time experiments – muller lyer illusion;
• Advantages
– Enables isolation of causal factors
– Excellent means of testing hypotheses
• Disadvantages
– Often lack of ecological validity
Psychobiological research
• Characterization
– Studies the relationship between cognitive performance and
cerebral events and structures
– Examples: postmortem studies, animal studies, studies in vivo (PET,
fMRI, EEG)
• Advantages
– “hard” evidence of cognitive functions by relating them to
physiological activity
• Disadvantages
– Often very expensive; risk of making inferences about normal
functions based on abnormal brain functioning
Self-reports
• Characterization
– Participant’s reports of own cognition in progress or as recollected – diary
study; noting of memory failure, decision making failure... • Advantages
– Introspective insights from participant’s point of view, which may be
unavailable via other means
• Disadvantages
– Inability to report on processes occurring outside conscious
awareness
– Data gathering may influence cognitive process being reported Case
studies
 • Characterization
– Intensive study of a single individual
– archival records, interviews,
• Advantages
– Richly detailed information about individuals, including
information about historical and current contexts
– Very good for theory development
• Disadvantages
– Small sample; questionable generalization to other cases
Naturalistic observation
• Characterization
– Observing real-life situations, as in classrooms, work settings, or homes –
e.g. pilot skills
• Advantages
– High ecological validity
• Disadvantages
– Lack of experimental control
Computer Simulations and Artificial Intelligence
• Characterization
– Simulation: Attempt to make computers simulate human cognitive
performance
– AI: Attempt to make computers demonstrate intelligent cognitive
performance (regardless of its resemblance to human cognitive
processing)
– analogy for human cognition; the sequence of symbol manipulation that
underlie thinking – the goal is to discover the programs in human memory
– recreate human processes using computers
• Advantages
– Clear testing of theoretical models and predictions
• Disadvantages
– Limits of hardware and software
How does scientific investigation work?
– Theory development
– Hypotheses formulation
– Hypotheses testing
– Data gathering
– Data analysis
Ecological validity
– The degree to which particular findings in one context may be
considered relevant outside of that context
Themes Nature-nurture; Rationalism-empiricism; Structure – process; Domain
generality – domain specificity; Causal inference – ecological validity; Applied – basic
Biological – behavioral methods,

Biological basis of behaviour

Example of Capgras Syndrome – face recognition – cognitive appraisal (factual
knowledge), and emotional appraisal – Left Temporal Lobe, Frontal Lobe, Amygdala, -
schizophrenia and Alzheimer.
Example of Phineas Gage - Paul Broca
The size of human brain
The human brain weighs between 3 and 4 pounds - it’s roughly the size of a small
melon - Yet this structure has been estimated to contain a trillion nerve cells (that’s
1012), - each of which is connected to 10,000 or so others—for a total of roughly 10
million billion connections.
Main structures of the brain
The human brain is divided into three main structures - the hindbrain, - the midbrain,
and - the forebrain.
The hindbrain (the rear portion of the brain)

The 'reptilian' portion of the human brain - The term really refers to is the oldest
(evolutionarily speaking) portion of our brains, which we actually share (structurally)
with reptiles.

The hindbrain is the region of the brain formed by the pons, medulla
oblongata (also known as just the medulla), and the cerebellum.

Together, these three structures govern our autonomic, or 'automated' body systems,
controlling everything from our heart, breathing, and sleep patterns to our bladder
function, sense of equilibrium, and fine motor control.

Basically, the hindbrain controls all the things that you want to automatically work
without having to think about them.
The Brainstem
The pons is the first major bulb (or bulge) of a larger structure called the brainstem,
which is so named because it literally 'stems' from the base of the brain and is created
by the joined pons and medulla.
The pons, being the 'head' of the brainstem, bridges the brain with the cerebellum,
which is actually where its name comes from; 'pons' means 'bridge'. The medulla
oblongata forms the base of the brainstem and is the 'middle' (medulla) oblong
(oblongata) bulge between the pons and spinal cord.
The pons and medulla are important because they're the points of origination for eight
of our 12 pairs of cranial nerves that directly exit the cranium rather than the spinal
cord. The pons controls cranial nerves 5-8, while the medulla controls 9-12. Just like a
musical conductor unites the efforts of different instrumental sections into one
harmonious musical 'body', the pons and the medulla unite the functions of your
cranial nerves into the harmonious functioning of your body.
The pons controls:

● Facial sensation and the ability to bite, chew and swallow ● Eye
rotations away from the center of your body
● Facial expressions and facial movements
● Transmission of sound from your ears to your brain
● Breathing functions such as breath intensity and frequency and ● Accessory
roles in sleep patterns and your sense of equilibrium and posture
● the rhythm of heartbeats and the rhythm of breathing are controlled
The hindbrain also plays an essential role in maintaining the body’s overall tone;
specifically, the hindbrain helps maintain the body’s posture and balance, and it
helps regulate the brain’s level of alertness.
cerebellum; the coordination of our bodily movements and balance, also plays a diverse
set of other roles, and damage to this organ can cause problems in spatial reasoning, in
discriminating sounds, and in integrating the input received from various sensory
systems
The midbrain
It is right in the middle of the brain.
Structures in the midbrain: Superior Collicus, Inferior Collicus, (sensory information to
the brain), tectum (roof of the midbrain), Substantia nigra (has dopamine pathways –
neurotransmitter important for eating regulation, depression, addictive behaviour –
breakdown in Parkinson disorder).
It plays an important part in coordinating our movements, including the skilled, precise
movements of our eyes as we explore the visual world. Also in the midbrain are circuits
that relay auditory information from the ears to the areas in the forebrain where this
information is processed and interpreted. Still other structures in the midbrain help to
regulate our experience of pain.
Forebrain
limbic system, thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, basal ganglia,
hippocampus, the ventricles (containing cerebrospinal fluid) and meninges.
limbic system: motivation, emotion, eating, drinking, anxiety and aggression.
thalamus: most sensations received – relay station – focus attention on certain stimuli
hypothalamus: sends messages to pituitary gland (regulates) – eating, drinking,
temperature regulation, fighting, activity level.
pituitary: making hormones and releasing to blood stream – eating behaviour, stress,
basal ganglia: planning sequence of behaviour, memory, emotional expression
hippocampus: new memories LTM
For our purposes, though, the most interesting brain region (and, in humans, the
largest region) is the forebrain.
Drawings of the brain show little other than the forebrain, because this structure
surrounds (and hides from view) the entire midbrain and most of the hindbrain.
Of course, it is only the outer surface of the forebrain that is visible in such pictures;
this is the cortex (from the Latin word for “tree bark”).
The cortex is just a thin covering on the outer surface of the brain; on average, it is a
mere 3 mm thick.
Nonetheless, there is a great deal of cortical tissue; by some estimates, the cortex
constitutes 80% of the human brain.
This considerable volume is made possible by the fact that the cortex, thin as it is,
consists of a very large sheet of tissue; if stretched out flat, it would cover more than 2
square feet.
But the cortex isn’t stretched flat; instead, it is all crumpled up and jammed into the
limited space inside the skull. It’s this crumpling that produces the brain’s most
obvious visual feature—the wrinkles, or convolutions, that cover the brain’s outer
surface.
Some of the “valleys” in between the wrinkles are actually deep grooves that
anatomically divide the brain into different sections.
The deepest groove is the longitudinal fissure, running from the front of the brain to the
back, and separating the left cerebral hemisphere from the right. The central fissure
divides the frontal lobes on each side of the brain from the parietal lobes, the brain’s
top-most part. The bottom edge of the frontal lobes is marked by the lateral fissure, and
below this are the temporal lobes. Finally, at the very back of the brain, connected to the
parietal and temporal lobes, are the occipital lobes.