Definition of Cognitive Psychology and the History of Cognitive Psychology

Background

Cognitive psychology studies how people receive information about the world, how it is presented to humans, how it is stored in memory and transformed into knowledge, and how it affects our attention and behavior. Cognitive psychology encompasses the full range of psychological processes, and covers all kinds of behavioral areas (McBride & Cutting, 2019). Psychologists began to distinguish two subsystems in the memory system: short-term memory and long-term memory.

The first such model of memory was proposed by Donald Norman and Nancy Waugh in 1965. They suggested that short-term memory, having a minimal volume and storage time, requires constant repetition of information to maintain it. And the process of repetition ensures its permanent preservation in the long-term memory system, from which the information hypothetically never disappears. In 1968, Richard Atkinson and Richard Schiffrin added another block to this model – the ultra-temporal memory, where information is retained for a short time to maintain the continuity of the perceptual process (McBride & Cutting, 2019). The three subsystems of memory, in which data is stored for a certain amount of time, have been studied separately. For example, Atkinson and Schiffrin, in their three-component model, added to the process of repetition as the transfer of information from short-term memory to long-term memory a process of memorization using a variety of mnemic techniques, the methods of search and retrieval, which allow pulling information from long-term memory back into short-term memory so that it can be used for current tasks (McBride & Cutting, 2019).

At the moment, there is active research on the question of interpretation of the two-process theory. The definition of the determining properties of thought processes depends on which variation is considered correct (Dewey, 11-13). In the traditional formulation of the question, theories are understood as statements about whether thinking processes have the same defining properties (Dewey, 11-13). If, on the contrary, the alternative treatment is taken as accurate, then two different defining properties are distinguished.

Definition of Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive science is a set of sciences that study cognition and higher thought processes through theoretical and informational models. It includes epistemology, cognitive psychology, linguistics, psycholinguistics, psychophysiology, neurobiology, and computer science research (McBride & Cutting, 2019). In addition, science highlights several problems that need to be investigated and analyzed because, due to their ambiguity, they cannot yet be solved.

What Is the Mind-Body Issue?

One such problem is the mind-body issue, which examines what the relationship between mind and body is. In other words, what is the relationship between mental and physical properties (Fleming, 2019). Humans have properties that the physical sciences talk about having (Fleming, 2019). These physical properties include size, weight, shape, color, movement in time and space. But they also have mental properties that we do not attribute to ordinary physical objects. These properties include consciousness and intentionality (Fleming, 2019). The basic foundational principles of cognitive psychology must be followed to investigate problems.

What Is the Basic Foundational Principle of Cognitive Neuroscience?

Most researchers are inclined to believe that the basic principle of cognitive linguistics is interdisciplinarity. Characteristic features of cognitive linguistics also include the desire to combine several areas of individual program research into a whole (McBride & Cutting, 2019). Evans, Bergen, and Zinken identify several key points common to most mental research (Fleming, 2019). Among these provisions stands out the principle of cognitive. It is necessary to draw on data on thinking and the brain from other disciplines when researching and describing general rules (McBride & Cutting, 2019). Thus, interdisciplinarity should be seen as a fundamental feature of cognitive linguistics.

What Is the Relationship Between Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology?

The point is that it is the study of the human brain that contributes to the understanding of the basic principles of psychology and allows us to establish the relationship between the brain and cognitive behavior. The study of the cerebral cortex revealed a significant differentiation of individuals according to the features of brain activity in all four situations: at rest and when solving logical, mathematical, and spatial tasks (Hooff & Goldstein & Hooff, 2018). The early studies of the brain laid the foundation for the science itself and allowed building the basis in the form of the theories described above. For example, it helped the study of depression (Hooff & Goldstein & Hooff, 2018). When there are symptoms in the structure of depression there is a significant decrease in the level of interregional interactions of biopotentials in the frontal cortex of both hemispheres, with a simultaneous increase in the level of distant connections in the posterior temporal, parietal and occipital regions compared to the norm (Hooff & Goldstein & Hooff, 2018).

References

Dewey, C. (2021). Reframing single- and dual-process theories as cognitive models: Commentary on De Neys (2021). SAGE journals. 11-13. Web.

Fleming, S. (2019). Cognitive psychology. EDTECH.

Hooff, J., Goldstein E. B., Hooff, J. C. (2018). Cognitive psychology. Cengage Learning.

McBride, D. M., Cutting, J. C. (2019). Cognitive phsychology. Theory, process, and methodology. SAGE Publishing.

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PsychologyWriting. (2023) 'Definition of Cognitive Psychology and the History of Cognitive Psychology'. 7 September.

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PsychologyWriting. 2023. "Definition of Cognitive Psychology and the History of Cognitive Psychology." September 7, 2023. https://psychologywriting.com/definition-of-cognitive-psychology-and-the-history-of-cognitive-psychology/.

1. PsychologyWriting. "Definition of Cognitive Psychology and the History of Cognitive Psychology." September 7, 2023. https://psychologywriting.com/definition-of-cognitive-psychology-and-the-history-of-cognitive-psychology/.


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PsychologyWriting. "Definition of Cognitive Psychology and the History of Cognitive Psychology." September 7, 2023. https://psychologywriting.com/definition-of-cognitive-psychology-and-the-history-of-cognitive-psychology/.