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Cognitive psychology is the study of "mental processes such as ""attention, language use, "memory, "perception, problem solving, "creativity, and "thinking".[1] Much of the work derived from cognitive psychology has been integrated into various other modern disciplines of psychological study, including "educational psychology, "social psychology, "personality psychology, "abnormal psychology, "developmental psychology, and "economics.



Philosophically, ruminations of the human mind and its processes have been around since the times of the ancient Greeks. In 387 BCE, "Plato is known to have suggested that the brain was the seat of the mental processes.[2] In 1637, "René Descartes posited that humans are born with innate ideas, and forwarded the idea of "mind-body dualism, which would come to be known as substance dualism (essentially the idea that the mind and the body are two separate substances).[3] From that time, major debates ensued through the 19th century regarding whether human thought was solely experiential ("empiricism), or included innate knowledge ("nativism). Some of those involved in this debate included "George Berkeley and "John Locke on the side of empiricism, and "Immanuel Kant on the side of nativism.[4]

With the philosophical debate continuing, the mid to late 19th century was a critical time in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline. Two discoveries that would later play substantial roles in cognitive psychology were "Paul Broca's discovery of the area of the brain largely responsible for language production,[3] and "Carl Wernicke's discovery of an area thought to be mostly responsible for comprehension of language.[5] Both areas were subsequently formally named for their founders and disruptions of an individual's language production or comprehension due to trauma or malformation in these areas have come to commonly be known as "Broca's aphasia and "Wernicke's aphasia.

From the 1920s to the 1950s, the main approach to psychology was "behaviorism. Initially, its adherents viewed mental events such as thoughts, ideas, attention, and consciousness as unobservables, hence outside the realm of a science of psychology. One pioneer of cognitive psychology, who worked outside the boundaries (both intellectual and geographical) of behaviorism was "Jean Piaget. From 1926 to the 1950s and into the 1980s, he studied the thoughts, language, and intelligence of children and adults.[6]


"Ulric Neisser put the term "cognitive psychology" into common use through his book Cognitive Psychology, published in 1967.[9] Neisser's definition of "cognition" illustrates the then-progressive concept of cognitive processes:


Mental processes[edit]

The main focus of cognitive psychologists is on the "mental processes that affect behavior. Those processes include, but are not limited to, the following:


The psychological definition of "attention is "a state of focused awareness on a subset of the available perceptual information".[10] A key function of "attention is to identify irrelevant data and filter it out, enabling significant data to be distributed to the other "mental processes.[4] For example, the human brain may simultaneously receive "auditory, "visual, "olfactory, "taste, and "tactile information. The brain is able to handle only a small subset of this information, and this is accomplished through the attentional processes.[4]

Attention can be divided into two major attentional systems: exogenous control and endogenous control[11] Exogenous control works from bottom-up and is responsible for alertness, arousal, "orienting reflex, spotlight attention and pop-out effects.[11] Endogenous control works top-down and is the more deliberate attentional system, responsible for "selective attention, divided attention, local and global attention, and conscious processing.[11]

Attention tends to be either visual or auditory. One major focal point relating to "attention within the field of cognitive psychology is the concept of divided "attention. A number of early studies dealt with the ability of a person wearing headphones to discern meaningful conversation when presented with different messages into each ear; this is known as the dichotic listening task.[4] Key findings involved an increased understanding of the mind's ability to both focus on one message, while still being somewhat aware of information being taken in from the ear not being consciously attended to. E.g., participants (wearing earphones) may be told that they will be hearing separate messages in each ear and that they are expected to attend only to information related to basketball. When the experiment starts, the message about basketball will be presented to the left ear and non-relevant information will be presented to the right ear. At some point the message related to basketball will switch to the right ear and the non-relevant information to the left ear. When this happens, the listener is usually able to repeat the entire message at the end, having attended to the left or right ear only when it was appropriate.[4] The ability to attend to one conversation in the face of many is known as the "cocktail party effect.

Other major findings include that participants can't comprehend both passages, when shadowing one passage, they can't report content of the unattended message, they can shadow a message better if the pitches in each ear are different.[12] However, while deep processing doesn't occur, early sensory processing does. Subjects did notice if the pitch of the unattended message changed or if it ceased altogether, and some even oriented to the unattended message if their name was mentioned.[12]


The two main types of memory are short-term memory and long-term memory; however, short-term memory has become better understood to be working memory. Cognitive psychologists often study memory in terms of "working memory.

"Working memory[edit]

Though working memory is often thought of as just short-term memory, it is more clearly defined as the ability to remember information in the face of distraction. The famously known capacity of memory of "7 plus or minus 2 is a combination of both memory in working memory and long term memory.

One of the classic experiments is by Ebbinghaus, who found the "serial position effect where information from the beginning and end of list of random words were better recalled than those in the center.[13] This primacy and recency effect varies in intensity based on list length.[13] Its typical U-shaped curve can be disrupted by an attention-grabbing word; this is known as the "Von Restorff effect.

The Baddeley & Hitch Model of Working Memory

Many models of working memory have been made. One of the most regarded is the "Baddeley and Hitch model of working memory. It takes into account both visual and auditory stimuli, long-term memory to use as a reference, and a central processor to combine and understand it all.

A large part of memory is forgetting, and there is a large debate among psychologists of "decay theory versus "interference theory.

"Long-term memory[edit]

Modern conceptions of "memory are usually about long-term memory and break it down into three main sub-classes. These three classes are somewhat "hierarchical in nature, in terms of the level of "conscious thought related to their use.[14]


"Perception involves both the physical senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch, and "proprioception) as well as the "cognitive processes involved in interpreting those senses. Essentially, it is how people come to understand the world around them through interpretation of stimuli.[15] Early psychologists like "Edward B. Titchener began to work with perception in their "structuralist approach to psychology. "Structuralism dealt heavily with trying to reduce human thought (or "consciousness," as Titchener would have called it) into its most basic elements by gaining understanding of how an individual perceives particular stimuli.[16]

Current perspectives on "perception within cognitive psychology tend to focus on particular ways in which the human mind interprets stimuli from the senses and how these interpretations affect behavior. An example of the way in which modern psychologists approach the study of "perception is the research being done at the Center for Ecological Study of Perception and Action at the University of Connecticut (CESPA). One study at CESPA concerns ways in which individuals perceive their physical environment and how that influences their navigation through that environment.[17]


Psychologists have had an interest in the cognitive processes involved with "language that dates back to the 1870s, when "Carl Wernicke proposed a model for the mental processing of language.[18] Current work on "language within the field of cognitive psychology varies widely. Cognitive psychologists may study "language acquisition,[19] individual components of "language formation (like "phonemes),[20] how language use is involved in "mood,[21] or numerous other related areas.

Broca's and Wernicke's areas of the brain, which are critical in language

Significant work has been done recently with regard to understanding the timing of "language acquisition and how it can be used to determine if a child has, or is at risk of, developing a "learning disability. A study from 2012, showed that while this can be an effective strategy, it is important that those making evaluations include all relevant information when making their assessments. Factors such as individual variability, "socioeconomic status, "short-term and "long-term memory capacity, and others must be included in order to make valid assessments.[19]




Common phenomena related to metacognition include:


Modern perspectives on cognitive psychology generally address cognition as a "dual process theory, expounded upon by "Daniel Kahneman in 2011.[25] Kahneman differentiated the two styles of processing more, calling them intuition and reasoning. Intuition (or system 1), similar to associative reasoning, was determined to be fast and automatic, usually with strong emotional bonds included in the reasoning process. Kahneman said that this kind of reasoning was based on formed habits and very difficult to change or manipulate. Reasoning (or system 2) was slower and much more volatile, being subject to conscious judgments and attitudes.[25]


Abnormal psychology[edit]

Following the cognitive revolution, and as a result of many of the principle discoveries to come out of the field of cognitive psychology, the discipline of cognitive therapy evolved. "Aaron T. Beck is generally regarded as the father of cognitive therapy.[26] His work in the areas of recognition and treatment of depression has gained worldwide recognition. In his 1987 book titled Cognitive Therapy of Depression, Beck puts forth three salient points with regard to his reasoning for the treatment of depression by means of therapy or therapy and antidepressants versus using a pharmacological-only approach:

1. Despite the prevalent use of antidepressants, the fact remains that not all patients respond to them. Beck cites (in 1987) that only 60 to 65% of patients respond to antidepressants, and recent "meta-analyses (a statistical breakdown of multiple studies) show very similar numbers.[27]
3. Beck posits that the use of "psychotropic drugs may lead to an eventual breakdown in the individual's "coping mechanisms. His theory is that the person essentially becomes reliant on the medication as a means of improving mood and fails to practice those coping techniques typically practiced by healthy individuals to alleviate the effects of depressive symptoms. By failing to do so, once the patient is weaned off of the antidepressants, they often are unable to cope with normal levels of depressed mood and feel driven to reinstate use of the antidepressants.[28]

Social psychology[edit]

Many facets of modern social psychology have roots in research done within the field of cognitive psychology.["citation needed] "Social cognition is a specific sub-set of social psychology that concentrates on processes that have been of particular focus within cognitive psychology, specifically applied to human interactions. "Gordon B. Moskowitz defines social cognition as "... the study of the mental processes involved in perceiving, attending to, remembering, thinking about, and making sense of the people in our social world".[29]


Developmental psychology[edit]

Many of the prominent names in the field of developmental psychology base their understanding of development on cognitive models. One of the major paradigms of developmental psychology, the "Theory of Mind (ToM), deals specifically with the ability of an individual to effectively understand and attribute cognition to those around them. This concept typically becomes fully apparent in children between the ages of 4 and 6. Essentially, before the child develops ToM, they are unable to understand that those around them can have different thoughts, ideas, or feelings than themselves. The development of ToM is a matter of "metacognition, or thinking about one's thoughts. The child must be able to recognize that they have their own thoughts and in turn, that others possess thoughts of their own.[31]

One of the foremost minds with regard to developmental psychology, Jean Piaget, focused much of his attention on cognitive development from birth through adulthood. Though there have been considerable challenges to parts of his "stages of cognitive development, they remain a staple in the realm of education. Piaget's concepts and ideas predated the cognitive revolution but inspired a wealth of research in the field of cognitive psychology and many of his principles have been blended with modern theory to synthesize the predominant views of today.[32]

Educational psychology[edit]


Personality psychology[edit]


Cognitive psychology vs. cognitive science[edit]

The line between cognitive psychology and "cognitive science can be blurry. The differentiation between the two is best understood in terms of cognitive psychology's relationship to "applied psychology, and the understanding of psychological phenomena. Cognitive psychologists are often heavily involved in running psychological experiments involving human participants, with the goal of gathering information related to how the human mind takes in, processes, and acts upon inputs received from the outside world.[35] The information gained in this area is then often used in the applied field of clinical psychology.

One of the "paradigms of cognitive psychology derived in this manner, is that every individual develops "schemata which motivate the person to think or act in a particular way in the face of a particular circumstance. E.g., most people have a schema for waiting in line. When approaching some type of service counter where people are waiting their turn, most people don't just walk to the front of the line and butt in. Their schema for that situation tells them to get in the back of the line. This then applies to the field of "abnormal psychology as a result of individuals sometimes developing faulty schemata which lead them to consistently react in a dysfunctional manner. If a person has a schema that says "I am no good at making friends", they may become so reluctant to pursue interpersonal relationships that they become prone to seclusion.["citation needed]



In the early years of cognitive psychology, "behaviorist critics held that the empiricism it pursued was incompatible with the concept of internal mental states. "Cognitive neuroscience, however, continues to gather evidence of direct correlations between physiological brain activity and putative mental states, endorsing the basis for cognitive psychology.[37]

Some observers have suggested that as cognitive psychology became a movement during the 1970s, the intricacies of the phenomena and processes it examined meant it also began to lose cohesion as a field of study. In Psychology: Pythagoras to Present, for example, John Malone writes: "Examinations of late twentieth-century textbooks dealing with "cognitive psychology", "human cognition", "cognitive science" and the like quickly reveal that there are many, many varieties of cognitive psychology and very little agreement about exactly what may be its domain." [3] This misfortune produced competing models that questioned information-processing approaches to cognitive functioning such as "Decision Making and "Behavioral Science.

Major research areas[edit]


"Knowledge representation





Influential cognitive psychologists[edit]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "American Psychological Association (2013). Glossary of psychological terms". Apa.org. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  2. ^ "Mangels, J. History of neuroscience". Columbia.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  3. ^ a b c Malone, J.C. (2009). Psychology: Pythagoras to Present. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. (a pp. 143, b pp. 293, c pp. 491)
  6. ^ Smith, L. (2000). About Piaget. Retrieved from http://piaget.org/aboutPiaget.html
  11. ^ a b c Chica, A. B., Bartolomeo, P., & Lupiáñez, J. (2013). Two cognitive and neural systems for endogenous and exogenous spatial attention. Behavioural Brain Research, 237107-123. "doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2012.09.027
  12. ^ a b Cherry, E. Colin (1953). "Some Experiments on the Recognition of Speech, with One and with Two Ears". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 25 (5): 975–79. "doi:10.1121/1.1907229
  13. ^ a b Ebbinghaus, Hermann (1913). On memory: A contribution to experimental psychology. New York: Teachers College.
  16. ^ "Plucker, J. (2012). Edward Bradford Titchener". Indiana.edu. 2013-11-14. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  17. ^ "University of Connecticut (N.D.). Center for the ecological study of perception". Ione.psy.uconn.edu. 2012-11-30. Archived from the original on 1997-04-12. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  20. ^ Valimaa-Blum, R. (2009). "The phoneme in cognitive phonology: episodic memories of both meaningful and meaningless units." CogniTextes, 2. "doi:10.4000/cognitextes.211
  21. ^ "Berkum, J. Language in action - Mood and language comprehension". Mpi.nl. 2010-12-06. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  22. ^ "JSTOR 20442131 Martinez, M.E. (2006). What is metacognition. The Phi Delta Kappan, 87(9), 696–699
  23. ^ "Cohen, A. (2010). The secret to learning more while studying". Blog.brainscape.com. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  24. ^ "Lovett, M. (2008). Teaching metacognition". Serc.carleton.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  26. ^ "University of Pennsylvania (N.D). Aaron T. Beck, M.D". Med.upenn.edu. 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  27. ^ Grohol, John M. (2009-02-03). "Grohol, J. (2009). Efficacy of Antidepressants". Psychcentral.com. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  31. ^ "Astington, J.W. & Edward, M.J. (2010). The development of theory of mind in early childhood. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, 2010:1–6" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  33. ^ a b c Reif, F. (2008). Applying Cognitive Science to Education: Thinking and Learning in Scientific and Other Complex Domains. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. (a pp. 283–84, b pp. 38)
  36. ^ "Thagard, P. (2010). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy". Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-13. 
  37. ^ Gardner, Howard (2006). Changing Minds. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Publishing. "ISBN "1-4221-0329-3. 

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]
