PSYCH 147 REVIEWER *Donders’ experiment is important, both because it
CHAPER 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE was one of the first cognitive psychology
PSYCHOLOGY experiments and because it illustrates something
Cognitive psychology- is the branch of psychology extremely significant about studying the mind:
concerned with the scientific study of the mind Mental responses
mind- as involved in memory, as problem solver, Ebbinghaus’s Memory Experiment: What is the
used to make decisions or consider possibilities, a Time-Course of Forgetting?
healthy mind being associated with normal Hermann Ebbinghaus- was interested in
functioning, a nonfunctioning mind with abnormal determining the nature of memory and forgetting—
functioning, as valuable specidically, how information that is learned is lost
mind- creates and controls mental functions such over time.
as perception, attention, memory, emotions, -He presented nonsense syllables such as DAX,
language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning (mental QEH, LUH, and ZIF to himself one at a time, using a
processes). device called a memory drum
mind- is a system that creates representations of -The first time through the list, he looked at each
the world so that we can act within it to achieve our syllable one at a time and tried to learn them in
goals (how the mind operates). order (Figure 1.4a). The second time through, his
cognition—the mental processes such as task was to begin by remembering the first syllable
perception attention, memory, and so on, that are on the list, look at it in the memory drum to see if he
what the mind does. was correct, then remember the second syllable,
check to see if he was correct, and so on (Figure
STUDYING THE MIND
1.4b). He repeated the procedure, going through the
Donder’s Pioneering Experiment: How Long list and trying to remember each syllable in turn,
Does It Take to Make a Decision? until he was able to go through the list without
Franciscus Donders- who in 1868, eleven years making any errors. He noted the number of trials it
before the founding of the first laboratory of took him to do this.
scienfitic psychology, did one of the first -He used the savings method to analyze his
experiments that today would be called a cognitive results, calculating the savings by subtracting the
psychology experiment. number of trials needed to learn the list after a delay
*“cognitive psychology” was not coined until 1967 from the number of trials it took to learn the list the
-Donders was interested in determining how long it first time. He then calculated a savings score for
takes for a person to make a decision. He
each delay interval, using the following formula:
determined this by measuring reaction time, how Savings = [(Initial repetitions) − (Relearning
long it takes to respond to presentation of a repetitions)/Initial repetitions] × 100
stimulus -Ebbinghaus found that the savings were greater for
Simple reaction time- In the first part of his short intervals than for long.
experiment, he asked his participants to press a Wundt’s Psychology Laboratory: Structuralism
button upon presentation of a light
and Analytic Introspection
Choice reaction time- The participants’ task in this -early 1800s and 1900s
part of the experiment was to push one button
-structuralism, our overall experience is
when the light on the left was illuminated and
determined by combining basic elements of
another button when the light on the right was
illuminated experience the structuralists called sensations.
-wanted to create a “periodic table of the mind,”
which would include all of the basic sensations
involved in creating experience
-Wundt thought he could achieve this by using
analytic introspection, a technique in which
trained participants described their experiences and
thought processes in response to stimuli
William James: Principles of Psychology
-taught Harvard’s rst psychology course and made
signi cant observations about the mind in his
textbook, Principles of Psychology
CHAPER 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE was one of the first cognitive psychology
PSYCHOLOGY experiments and because it illustrates something
Cognitive psychology- is the branch of psychology extremely significant about studying the mind:
concerned with the scientific study of the mind Mental responses
mind- as involved in memory, as problem solver, Ebbinghaus’s Memory Experiment: What is the
used to make decisions or consider possibilities, a Time-Course of Forgetting?
healthy mind being associated with normal Hermann Ebbinghaus- was interested in
functioning, a nonfunctioning mind with abnormal determining the nature of memory and forgetting—
functioning, as valuable specidically, how information that is learned is lost
mind- creates and controls mental functions such over time.
as perception, attention, memory, emotions, -He presented nonsense syllables such as DAX,
language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning (mental QEH, LUH, and ZIF to himself one at a time, using a
processes). device called a memory drum
mind- is a system that creates representations of -The first time through the list, he looked at each
the world so that we can act within it to achieve our syllable one at a time and tried to learn them in
goals (how the mind operates). order (Figure 1.4a). The second time through, his
cognition—the mental processes such as task was to begin by remembering the first syllable
perception attention, memory, and so on, that are on the list, look at it in the memory drum to see if he
what the mind does. was correct, then remember the second syllable,
check to see if he was correct, and so on (Figure
STUDYING THE MIND
1.4b). He repeated the procedure, going through the
Donder’s Pioneering Experiment: How Long list and trying to remember each syllable in turn,
Does It Take to Make a Decision? until he was able to go through the list without
Franciscus Donders- who in 1868, eleven years making any errors. He noted the number of trials it
before the founding of the first laboratory of took him to do this.
scienfitic psychology, did one of the first -He used the savings method to analyze his
experiments that today would be called a cognitive results, calculating the savings by subtracting the
psychology experiment. number of trials needed to learn the list after a delay
*“cognitive psychology” was not coined until 1967 from the number of trials it took to learn the list the
-Donders was interested in determining how long it first time. He then calculated a savings score for
takes for a person to make a decision. He
each delay interval, using the following formula:
determined this by measuring reaction time, how Savings = [(Initial repetitions) − (Relearning
long it takes to respond to presentation of a repetitions)/Initial repetitions] × 100
stimulus -Ebbinghaus found that the savings were greater for
Simple reaction time- In the first part of his short intervals than for long.
experiment, he asked his participants to press a Wundt’s Psychology Laboratory: Structuralism
button upon presentation of a light
and Analytic Introspection
Choice reaction time- The participants’ task in this -early 1800s and 1900s
part of the experiment was to push one button
-structuralism, our overall experience is
when the light on the left was illuminated and
determined by combining basic elements of
another button when the light on the right was
illuminated experience the structuralists called sensations.
-wanted to create a “periodic table of the mind,”
which would include all of the basic sensations
involved in creating experience
-Wundt thought he could achieve this by using
analytic introspection, a technique in which
trained participants described their experiences and
thought processes in response to stimuli
William James: Principles of Psychology
-taught Harvard’s rst psychology course and made
signi cant observations about the mind in his
textbook, Principles of Psychology
