COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY RENÉ DESCARTES (1596-1650)

 viewed the introspective, reflective

 cognitive psychology is the branch of method as being superior to empirical
psychology devoted to the scientific methods for finding truth.
study of the mind.  The famous expression "cogito, ergo
 It is the study of how people perceive, sum" (I think, therefore I am) stems from
learn, remember, and think about Descartes.
information. A cognitive psychologist  He maintained that the only proof of his
might study how people perceive various existence is that he was thinking and
shapes, why they remember some facts doubting.
but forget others, or how they learn  Descartes felt that one could not rely on
language. one's senses because those very senses
have often proven to be deceptive (think
ORIGINS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY of optical illusions, for example).
Where and when the study of cognitive JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)
psychology begin?  Locke, in contrast, had more enthusiasm
Historians of psychology usually trace the for empirical observation (Leahey,
earliest roots of psychology to two approaches 2003).
to understanding the human mind:  Locke believed that humans are born
without knowledge and therefore must
a. Philosophy seeks to understand the seek knowledge through empirical
general nature of many aspects of the observation.
world, in part through introspection, the  Locke's term for this view was tabula
examination of inner ideas and rasa (meaning "blank slate" in Latin).
experiences (from intro-, “inward, The idea is that life and experience
within," and -spect, "look"); "write" knowledge on us.
b. Physiology seeks a scientific study of  For Locke, then, the study of learning
life-sustaining. was the key to understanding the human
mind. He believed that there are no
TWO GREEK PHILOSOPHERS innate ideas.
Plato EARLY DIALECTICS IN THE
 Plato was a rationalist. A rationalist PSYCHOLOGY OF COGNITION
believes that the route to knowledge is Only in recent times did psychology emerge as a
through thinking and logical analysis. new and independent field of study. It
That is, a rationalist does not need any developed in a dialectical way. Typically, an
experiments to develop new knowledge. approach to studying the mind would be
A rationalist who is interested in developed; people then would use it to explore
cognitive processes would appeal to the human psyche.
reason as a source of knowledge or At some point, however, researchers would find
justification. that the approach they learned to use had some
Aristotle weaknesses, or they would disagree with some
 In contrast, Aristotle (a naturalist and fundamental assumptions of that approach. They
biologist as well as a philosopher) was then would develop a new approach. Future
an empiricist. An empiricist believes that approaches might integrate the best features of
we acquire knowledge via empirical past approaches or reject some or even most of
evidence-that is, we obtain evidence those characteristics. In the following section,
through experience and observation we will explore some of the ways of thinking
(Figure 1.1). In order to explore how the early psychologists employed and trace the
human mind works, empiricists would development of psychology through the various
design experiments and conduct studies schools of thinking.
in which they could observe the behavior
and processes of interest to them. UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE OF
Empiricism therefore leads directly to THE MIND: STRUCTURALISM
empirical investigations of psychology.  it seeks to understand the structure
(configuration of elements) of the mind
The contrasting ideas of rationalism and and its perceptions by analyzing those
empiricism became prominent with the French perceptions into their constituent
rationalist René Descartes (1596-1650) and the components (affection, attention,
British empiricist John Locke (1632-1704). memory, sensation, etc.).
  a method of interpretation and analysis  Functionalists held that the key to
of aspects of human cognition, behavior, understanding the human mind and
culture, and experience that focuses on behavior was to study the processes of
relationships of contrast between how and why the mind works as it does,
elements in a conceptual system that rather than to study the structural
reflect patterns underlying a superficial contents and elements of the mind.
diversity.  Functionalists were unified by the kinds
of questions they asked but not
WILHELM WUNDT (1832-1920) necessarily by the answers they found or
 was a German psychologist whose ideas by the methods they used for finding
contributed to the development of those answers.
structuralism.  Because functionalists believed in using
 Wundt is often viewed as the founder of whichever methods best answered a
structuralism in psychology given researcher's questions, it seems
(Structuralism, 2009). Wundt used a natural for functionalism to have led to
variety of methods in his research. One pragmatism.
of these methods was introspection.
 Introspection is a deliberate looking PRAGMATISM
inward at pieces of information passing  Pragmatists believe that knowledge is
through consciousness. The aim of validated by its usefulness: What can
introspection is to look at the elementary you do with it?
components of an object or process.  Pragmatists are concerned not only with
 Wundt had many followers. One was an knowing what people do; they also want
American student, Edward Titchener to know what we can do with our
knowledge of what people do.
EDWARD TITCHENER (1867-1927)
 Titchener (1910) is sometimes viewed as WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910) / JOHN
the first full-fledged structuralist. DEWEY (1859-1952)
 His experiments relied solely on the use  A leader in guiding functionalism toward
of introspection, exploring psychology pragmatism was William James (1842-
from the vantage point of the 1910). His chief functional contribution
experiencing individual. Other early to the field of psychology was a single
psychologists criticized both the method book: his landmark Principles of
(introspection) and the focus (elementary Psychology (1890/1970). Even today,
structures of sensation) of structuralism. cognitive psychologists frequently point
These critiques gave rise to a new to the writings of James in discussions of
movement-functionalism. core topics in the field, such as attention,
consciousness, and perception.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE PERCEPTION OF A  John Dewey (1859-1952) was another
FLOWER early pragmatist who profoundly
• Structuralists would analyze this perception in influenced contemporary thinking in
terms of its constituent colors, geometric forms, cognitive psychology. Dewey is
size relations, and so on. In terms of the human remembered primarily for his pragmatic
mind, structuralists sought to deconstruct the approach to thinking and schooling.
mind into its elementary components; they were  Although functionalists were interested
also interested in how those elementary in how people learn, they did not really
components work together to create the mind. specify a mechanism by which learning
takes place. This task was taken up by
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESSES OF another group, Associationists.
THE MIND: FUNCTIONALISM
 An alternative that developed to counter AN INTEGRATIVE SYNTHESIS:
structuralism, functionalism suggested ASSOCIATIONISM
that psychologists should focus on the Associationism, like functionalism, was more of
processes of thought rather than on its an influential way of thinking than a rigid
contents. school of psychology. Associationism examines
 Functionalism seeks to understand what how elements of the mind, like events or ideas,
people do and why they do it. This can become associated with one another in the
principal question about processes mind to result in a form of learning.
was in contrast to that of the For example, associations may result from:
structuralists, who had asked what the  contiguity (associating things that tend to
elementary contents (structures) of the occur together at about the same time);
human mind are.
  similarity (associating things with the forebrain is generally the farthest
similar features or properties); or forward, toward what becomes the face.
 contrast (associating things that show  The midbrain is next in line. And the
polarities, such as hot/cold, light/dark, hindbrain is generally farthest from the
day/ night). forebrain, near the back of the neck
[Figure 2.2 (a)]. In development, the
COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE relative orientations change so that the
forebrain is almost a cap on top of the
 is the field of study linking the brain and midbrain andhindbrain. Nonetheless, the
other aspects of the nervous system to terms still are used to designate areasot
cognitive processing and, ultimately, to the fully developed brain. Figures 2.2 (b)
behavior. and (c) show the changing locations and
 The brain is the organ in our bodies that relationships of the forebrain, the
most directly controls our thoughts, midbrain, and the hindbrain over the
emotions, and motivations (Gloor, 1997; course of development of the brain. You
Rockland, 2000; Shepherd, can see how they develop, from an
1998). embryo a few weeks after conception to
 A major goal of present research on the a fetus of seven months of age.
brain is to study localization of function.
 Localization of function refers to the
specific areas of the brain that control
specific skills or behaviors.

Cognition in the Brain: The Anatomy and

Mechanisms of the Brain

 The nervous system is the basis for our

ability to perceive, adapt to, and interact
with the world around us (Gazzaniga,
1995, 2000; Gazzaniga, Ivry, & Mangun,
1998). Through this system we receive,
process, and then respond to information
from the environment (Pinker, 1997a;
Rugg, 1997). In the following section,
we will focus on the supreme organ of
the nervous system-the brain-paying
special attention to the cerebral cortex, The Forebrain
which controls many of our thought The forebrain is the region of the brain located
processes. In a later section, we consider toward the top and front of the brain. It
the basic building block of the nervous comprises the cerebral cortex, the basal ganglia,
system-the neuron. We will examine in the limbic system, the thalamus, and the
detail how information moves through hypothalamus.
the nervous system at the cellular level.
Then we will consider the various levels The cerebral cortex
of organization withinthe nervous  is the outer layer of the cerebral
system and how drugs interact with the hemispheres. It plays a vital role in our
nervous system. For now, let's look at thinking and other mental processes.
the structure of the brain. The basal ganglia (singular: ganglion)
 are collections of neurons crucial to
Gross Anatomy of the Brain: Forebrain, motor function. Dysfunction of the basal
Midbrain, Hindbrain ganglia can result in motor deficits.
These deficits include tremors,
 What have scientists discovered about involuntary movements, changes in
the human brain? posture and muscle tone, and slowness
 The brain has three major regions: of movement.
forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain.  Deficits are observed in Parkinson's
 These labels do not correspond exactly disease and Huntington's disease. Both
to locations of regions in an adult or these diseases entail severe motor
even a child's head. Rather, the terms symptoms (Rockland, 2000; Lerner &
come from the front-to-back physical Riley, 2008; Lewis & Barker, 2009)
arrangement of these parts in the nervous The limbic system
system of a developing embryo. Initially,
  is important to emotion, motivation, o regulates behavior related to species
memory, and learning. survival: fighting, feeding, fleeing, and
 Animals such as fish and reptiles, which mating. The hypothalamus also is active
have relatively undeveloped limbic in regulating emotions and reactions to
systems, respond to the environment stress (Malsbury, 2003).
almost exclusively by instinct. Mammals o The hypothalamus plays a role in sleep.
and especially humans have relatively
moré developed limbic systems. The Midbrain
 Our limbic system allows us to suppress  The midbrain helps to control eye
instinctive responses (e.g., the impulse to movement and coordination. The
strike someone who accidentally, causes midbrain is more important in
us pain). Our limbic ystems help us to nonmammals where it is the main source
adapt our behaviors flexibly in response of control for visual and auditory
to our changing environment. information.
 The limbic system comprises three  The midbrain helps to control eye
central interconnected cerebral movement and coordination.
structures: the septum, the amygdala,  The midbrain functions as a relay
and the hippocampus. system, transmitting information
The septum necessary for vision and hearing. It also
 is involved in anger and fear. The plays an important role in motor
amygdala plays an important role in movement, pain, and the sleep/wake
emotion as well, especially in anger and cycle.
aggression (Adolphs, 2003; Derntl et al.,
2009). Stimulation of the amygdala The Hindbrain
commonly results in fear. It can be • The hindbrain comprises the medulla
evidenced in various ways, such as oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum.
through palpitations, fearful
hallucinations, or frightening flashbacks The medulla oblongata
in memory (Engin & Treit, 2008; Gloor, • controls heart activity and largely controls
1997; Rockland, 2000). breathing, swallowing, and digestion. The
Damage to (lesions in) or removal of the medulla is also the place at which nerves from
amygdala the right side of the body cross over to the left
 can result in a maladaptive lack of fear. side of the brain and nerves from the left side of
In the case of lesions to the animal brain, the body cross over to the right side of the brain.
the animal approaches potentially The pons
dangerous object without hesitation or  serves as a kind of relay station because
fear (Adolphs et al., 1994; Frackowiak et it contains neural fibers that pass signals
al., 1997). The amygdala also has an from one part of the brain to another.
enhancing effect for the perception of  Its name derives from the Latin for
emotional stimuli. In humans, lesions to "bridge," as it serves a bridging function.
the amygdala prevent this enhancement The cerebellum (from Latin, "little brain")
(Anderson & Phelps, 2001;Tottenham,  controls bodily coordination, balance,
Hare, & Casey, 2009). and muscle tone, as well as some aspects
The hippocampus of memory involving procedure-related
 plays an essential role in memory movements
formation (Eichenbaum, 1999, 2002;
Gluck, 1996; Manns & Eichenbaum,
2006; O'Keefe, 2003).
 It gets its name from the Greek word for
"seahorse," its approximate shape.
The Thalamus
 relays incoming sensory information
through groups of neurons that project to
the appropriate region in the cortex.
Most of the sensory input into the brain
passes through the thalamus, which is
approximately in the center of the brain,
at about eye level.
 The thalamus also helps in the control of
sleep and waking.
The Hypothalamus