DOMAINS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY | DR. GEETANJALI PAREEK

Modern cognitive psychology draws theories and techniques freely; from twelve principal areas of research. Each domain is briefly described:

i) Cognitive Neuroscience: Within the past few years cognitive psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists have formed a close working relationship. Thus far, this union has produced some of the most challenging developments in the study of our mental character. Cognitive psychologists are seeking neurological explanations for their findings, and neuroscientists are turning to cognitive psychologists to explain observations made in their laboratories. Every part of the cognitive process from sensation to memory is supported by basic electrochemical processes taking place in the brain and nervous system.

ii) Pattern Recognition: Environmental stimuli rarely are perceived as single sensory events; they usually are perceived as part of a more meaningful pattern. The things we sense – see, hear, feel, taste, or smell - are almost always part of a complex pattern of sensory stimuli. Reflect about the problem of reading. Reading is a complex effort in which the reader is required to form a meaningful pattern from an otherwise meaningless array of lines and curves. By organising the stimuli that make up letters and words, the reader may then access meaning from his or her memory. The entire process takes place in a fraction of a second, and considering all the neuroanatomical and cognitive systems involved, this feat is performed daily by all sorts of people, isn’t it wondrous.

iii) Perception: The branch of psychology directly involved with the detection and interpretation of sensory stimuli is perception. From experiments in perception, we have a decent understanding of the sensitivity of the human organism to sensory signals and more importantly to cognitive psychology of the way we interpret sensory signals. The experimental study of perception has helped identify many of the parts of this process. However, the study of perception alone does not adequately account for the expected performance; other cognitive systems are involved, including pattern recognition, attention, consciousness, and memory.

iv) Consciousness: Consciousness is defined as “the current awareness, of external or internal circumstances.” Rejected as being “unscientific” by the behaviourists, the word consciousness and the concept it represents simply did not fade away. For most people, consciousness and unconscious thoughts (such as you might have on a first date) are very real. For example, when you glance at your watch while studying and it reads “10:45 (P.M.),” you are conscious, or, aware, of that external signal. However, your reading of the time also brings up another conscious thought, one that was initially activated by reading the time but is from “inside.” That conscious thought might be, “It’s getting late: I’d better finish this chapter and go to bed”. Consciousness has gained new respectability recently and now is a concept studied seriously in modern cognitive psychology.

v) Attention: Although we are information-gathering creatures, it is evident that under normal circumstances we are also highly selective in the amount and type of information to which we attend. Our capacity to process information seems to be limited to two levels – sensory and cognitive. If too many sensory clues are imposed upon us at any given time, we can become overloaded; if we try to process too many events in memory, we can become overloaded, which may cause a breakdown in performance. All of us have felt the same way at one time or another.

vi) Memory: Memory and perception work together. The information available to us comes from our perception, short-term memory, and long-term memory (LTM). Most obvious long-term storage is the knowledge of the language. We draw words from LTM and more or less use them correctly. In a fleeting second, we are able to recall information about an event of years before. Such information does not come from an immediate perceptual experience; it is stored along with a vast number of other facts in the LTM.

vii) Representation of Knowledge: Fundamental of all human cognition is the representation of knowledge: how information is symbolised and combined with the things stored in the brain. This part of cognition has two aspects: a) the conceptual representation of knowledge in mind and b) the way the brain stores and process information. The conceptual representation in different individuals can be considerably different. In spite of these inherent dissimilarities between representations of knowledge, most humans do experience and depict experience in similar ways to get along well in the world. The content of this information is also hugely different. But our neurological web entraps information and experiences and holds them in structures that are similar in all human brains.

viii) Imagery: Cognitive psychologists are especially interested in the topic of internal representations of knowledge. The mental images of the environment are formed in the form of a cognitive map, a type of internal representation of the juxtaposed buildings, streets, street signs, spotlights, and so on. From the cognitive maps, we are able to draw out significant cues. Although the experimental study of mental imagery is relatively new to psychology, some significant research has recently been reported.

ix) Language: One form of knowledge shared by all human societies is the knowledge of language. Language is the principal means by which we acquire and express knowledge; thus, the study of how language is used is a central concern of cognitive psychology. Human language development represents a unique kind of abstraction, which is basic to cognition. Language processing is an important component of information processing and storage. Language also influences perception, a fundamental aspect of cognition.

x) Developmental Psychology: Developmental psychology is another important area of cognitive psychology that has been intensely studied. Recent studies and theories in developmental cognitive psychology have greatly expanded our understanding of how cognitive structures develop. As adults, we have all lived through childhood and adolescence and we share maturational experiences with all members of our species.

xi) Thinking and Concept Formation: Thinking is the crown jewel of cognition. Thinking is the process by which a new mental representation is formed through the transformation of information. Advances in cognitive psychology have led to a formidable arsenal of research techniques and theoretical models. An ability to think and form concepts is an important aspect of cognition. Similar concepts help in the understanding and processing of information. There is a considerable body of knowledge about the laws and processes of concept formation.

xii) Human and Artificial Intelligence: Human intelligence includes the ability to acquire, recall, and use knowledge to understand concrete and abstract concepts and the relationships among objects and ideas, to understand a language, to follow instructions, to convert verbal descriptions into actions, and to behave according to the rules, and to use knowledge in a meaningful way. The specialty within the computer science called artificial intelligence has had a major influence on the development of cognitive science, especially since the design of programs requires knowledge of how we process information. Cognitive psychology also addresses to find out whether a perfect robot can simulate human behaviour.

References:

Hunt, R. R., & Ellis, H.C. (2006). Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill.

Kellogg, R.T. (2007). Cognitive Psychology. London: Sage Publications.

Reed, S.K. (2010). Cognition: Theories and Applications. London: Cengage. Solso, R.L. (2006). Cognitive Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson Education.

Sternberg, R.J. (2009). Applied Cognitive Psychology: Perceiving, Learning, and Remembering. London: Cengage.

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