25
Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank for Robinson-Riegler and Robinson-Riegler Cognitive Psychology Applying the Science of the Mind Second Edition Prepared by Greg L. Robinson-Riegler University of St. Thomas Dani McKinney State University of New York Fredonia Jennifer Dyck State University of New York Fredonia Boston New York San Francisco Mexico City Montreal Toronto London Madrid Munich Paris Hong Kong Singapore Tokyo Cape Town Sydney

Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

  • Upload
    others

  • View
    3

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank

for

Robinson-Riegler and Robinson-Riegler

Cognitive Psychology Applying the Science of the Mind

Second Edition

Prepared by

Greg L. Robinson-Riegler University of St. Thomas

Dani McKinney State University of New York

Fredonia

Jennifer Dyck State University of New York

Fredonia

Boston New York San Francisco Mexico City Montreal Toronto London Madrid Munich Paris

Hong Kong Singapore Tokyo Cape Town Sydney

Page 2: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may be reproduced with Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind, Second Edition, by Greg L. Robinson-Riegler and Bridget Robinson-Riegler, provided such reproductions bear copyright notice, but may not be reproduced in any form for any other purpose without written permission from the copyright owner. To obtain permission(s) to use the material from this work, please submit a written request to Allyn and Bacon, Permissions Department, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116 or fax your request to 617-848-7320. ISBN-13: 978-0-205-54065-5 ISBN-10: 0-205-54065-1

Page 3: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE CHAPTER 1: An Introduction to Cognition 1 CHAPTER 2: Research Methods in Cognition 20 CHAPTER 3: Basics of Perception and Awareness 42 CHAPTER 4: Attending to and Manipulating Information 65 CHAPTER 5: Identification and Classification 88 CHAPTER 6: Encoding and Retrieval Processes in LTM 111 CHAPTER 7: Memory Distortions 135 CHAPTER 8: Remembering the Personal Past 159 CHAPTER 9: Knowledge Representation and Retrieval 182 CHAPTER 10: Language 209 CHAPTER 11: Problem Solving 239 CHAPTER 12: Reasoning, Judgment, and Decision Making 264

Page 4: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics
Page 5: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Preface Cognitive psychology can be a difficult course to teach. Given that the subject matter of the field (the mind) is for the most part unobservable, much of the material to be presented in the course remains rather abstract. In addition, much, if not most of the empirical work in the field is experimental - - students often struggle in their attempts to understand complex research designs, with their requisite main effects and interactions. Although these features may make cognitive psychology a challenge to master, and challenging for an instructor to present, there is hope (as we're sure you already know)! The experimental study of cognition has incredibly interesting and relevant things to say about how we think, and has innumerable important connections to other fields within psychology. We've attempted to capture the excitement and relevance of the field in our text Cognitive Psychology:Applying the Science of the Mind. In this text, we attempt to bring the field of cognitive psychology alive by providing engaging and reader-friendly discussion of classic empirical and theoretical work in the field, sprinkled liberally with applications and thought experiments that will challenge students to think critically about the information and appreciate its incredible relevance and importance. This manual is designed as an aid to instructors using Cognitive Psychology:Applying the Science of the Mind. In it, we provide further suggestions for engaging students in the excitement of the discipline, with a special emphasis on livening it up in the classroom with elaborations on the text's critical thinking exercises, as well as some suggested topics to get classroom discussion rolling. Following are brief descriptions of each feature in this manual. At a Glance Grid: These grids provide a quick overview of each chapter and its associated resources. Included in each one-page glimpse is a brief outline of the chapter. This outline is broken down into major sections, and each section is linked to relevant learning objectives, instructor resources for class discussion (Stop and Think exercises, Discussion Starters), and test items. Chapter Outline: This brief outline provides a useful one-page sketch of each chapter, complete with all chapter headings and sub-headings. These outlines make a useful handout for students. Detailed Lecture Outline: These are extremely detailed outlines that provide all of the important content in the chapter, in about 10-15 pages. They might be useful as lecture notes, or as a quick and detailed review of the chapter (short of reading the whole thing!) Stop and Think Exercises Elaborations: The main text features 5-10 critical thinking exercises per chapter (termed "Stop and Think" exercises). In this resource manual, we expand on these exercises with some ideas for how they might be used as discussion items in class. Discussion Starters: Students are often quite reticent in a class as challenging as cognition, but that needn't be the case. Cognition is an incredibly interesting and relevant topic for discussion. To this end, we've provided some brief suggestions for topics that might get students talking.

Page 6: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Internet Resources: There is a great deal of useful information available on the internet, from professional organizations to university research labs to researchers' personal websites. Many of these sites provide useful overviews of current research, .pdf reprints of research articles, demonstrations, and more. Sending students to these sites for some exploration might serve as the basis for some classroom discussion, or writing assignments. Test Items: Perhaps the most important resource in the manual are the tried-and-true multiple choice items. We've provided at least 50 multiple choice test items for each chapter, as well as 10-15 essay-style questions. The multiple questions represent a range of item types, from factual to conceptual, and from easy to difficult. Each multiple-choice item is accompanied by the correct answer, the page reference, and a difficulty rating (1 = easy, 2 = medium, 3 = difficult). The difficulty ratings were not derived in any systematic manner; they are simply our own judgments of how much challenge a given item presents. We hope this resource manual proves to be useful in presenting the material from our text. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact us: [email protected] (Greg Robinson-Riegler) [email protected] (Bridget Robinson-Riegler)

Page 7: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO COGNITION

CHAPTER OUTLINE

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES

TEST ITEMS

What is Cognition? (p. 1-6) - The Omnipresence of Cognitive Processes - An Interdisciplinary Perspective

- Define cognitive psychology and its specific areas of study - Define cognitive science and list its subdisciplines

Stop and Think Exercise: - Thinking About Thought Processes (p. 5) Discussion Starter - Everyday Cognition

Multiple Choice 1.1-1.7 Essay 1.1

Psychology B.C. (Before Cognition) (p. 6-14) - Psychophysics - Structuralism - Functionalism - Behaviorism - Laying the Foundation for Cognitive Psychology

- Describe psychophysics, structuralism, and functionalism. - Describe how Ebbinghaus, Bartlett, and Gestalt psychologists laid the foundation for cognitive psychology

Stop and Think Exercises: - Comparing Cognitive Psychology to its Forerunners (p. 7) - Cognitive Processes: Conscious or Unconscious? (p. 9) - Thinking About Behaviorism (p. 11) - Controlled vs. Real-World Approaches to Cognition (p. 13) Discussion Starter - Introspecting - Research Sampler

Multiple Choice 1.8-1.28 Essay 1.2-1.3

The Emergence of Cognitive Psychology (p. 15-24) - S-R Explanations: Seriously Wrong? - Technological Influences

- Describe why the findings of learning without reinforcement, learning without responding, and cognitive maps were problematic for the behaviorists and critical to the cognitive psychology’s emergence - Describe the contribution of Lashley and Chomsky to cognitive psychology’s emergence - Describe the contribution of communications engineering and computer science to cognitive psychology’s emergence

Stop and Think Exercise: - Considering Cognition's Historical Influences (p.22) Discussion Starter - Can Computers Think?

Multiple Choice 1.29-1.38 Essay 1.4-1.7

Psychology A.D. (After the Decline of Behaviorism) (p. 24-32) - Behaviorism Reconsidered - Information Processing: A Computer Metaphor for Cognition - Connectionism: A Brain Metaphor for Cognition - Alternative Approaches to Cognitive Psychology

- Describe the present-day status of behaviorism and its influence on the study of cognition - Describe the information processing approach to the study of cognition - Describe the connectionist approach to the study of cognition - Describe embodied cognition and how it differs from more traditional approaches - Describe the problem of meaning and how it relates to the ecological approach to the study of cognition

Stop and Think Exercise: - Construct your Own Information-Processing Diagrams (p. 25) Discussion Starter - Research Sampler Redux

Multiple Choice 1.39-1.50 Essay 1.8-1.10

1

Page 8: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

CHAPTER 1 GENERAL OUTLINE

I. What is Cognition? A. The Omnipresence of Cognitive Processing 1. Perception and Sensory Memory 2. Attention 3. Working Memory 4. Pattern Recognition and Concept Representation 5. Long Term Memory 6. Memory Distortion 7. Autobiographical Memory 8. Knowledge Representation 9. Language 10. Problem Solving 11. Decision Making B. An Interdisciplinary Perspective II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. Early Psychophysicists B. Structuralism: The Contents of Mental Experience C. Functionalism: The Functions of Mental Experience D. Behaviorism: The Rejection of Mental Experience E. Laying the Foundation for Cognitive Psychology 1. Ebbinghaus: Pioneering Experiments on Memory 2. Barlett’s Memory Research 3. Gestalt Psychology III. The Emergence of Cognitive Psychology A. S-R Explanations: Seriously wRong? 1. Failure to Account for Data a. Learning without Responding b. Learning without Reinforcement c. Cognitive Maps 2. Lashley Lashes Out 3. Chomsky’s Challenge B. Technological Influences 1. Communications Engineering 2. Computer Science IV. Psychology A.D. (After Decline of behaviorism)

A. Information-Processing: A Computer Metaphor for Cognition B. Connectionism: A Brain Metaphor for Cognition C. Alternative Approaches to Cognitive Psychology 1. Embodied Cognition and the Question of Meaning 2. The Ecological Approach

2

Page 9: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

CHAPTER 1 DETAILED OUTLINE

I. What is Cognition? A. Cognitive psychology as the scientific study of mental processes B. The Omnipresence of Cognitive Processing 1. Perception and Sensory Memory 2. Attention 3. Working Memory 4. Pattern Recognition and Concept Representation 5. Long Term Memory 6. Memory Distortion 7. Autobiographical Memory 8. Knowledge Representation 9. Language 10. Problem Solving 11. Decision Making C. An Interdisciplinary Perspective termed cognitive science represents an interdisciplinary effort to

understand “mind” and is comprised of cognitive psychology, philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience.

II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics 1. An important precursor to cognitive psychology: psychophysics--study of the relationship between the

physical properties of a stimulus and the properties taken on when the stimulus is filtered through subjective experience

2. Psychophysicists a. Gustav Fechner, who investigated the process of translation between presentation of

physical stimulus and psychological experience of that stimulus b. Hermann Von Helmholtz, who proposed visual perception as a process of unconscious

inference in which the visual system makes inferences about the external world based on evidence and previous experience)

i. notion of unconscious inference demonstrates three important principles: that the perceiver plays an active role in what is perceived; that perceptual (cognitive) processes are influenced by previous experience; that perceptual (cognitive) processes often occur outside of conscious awareness

c. psychophysicists focused on the study of early stages of information processing, whereas cognitive psychologists focus on all.

C. Structuralism: The Contents of Mental Experience 1. Wilhelm Wundt established first psychological laboratory in 1879, focusing on the structure of

consciousness 2. employed introspection in an attempt to identify the basic sensations (basic sensory information that

we encode from a stimulus), feelings (emotions aroused by a stimulus), and images (purely mental impressions that seems sensory in nature) that comprise a conscious experience

D. Functionalism: The Functions of Mental Experience 1. William James objected to the structuralist approach, and the intense focus on introspection as a method. 2. espoused the notion of consciousness as a “stream”; analyzing it at any discrete point in time violates its very nature; also, the act of analyzing one’s conscious experience changes that experience 3. functionalist emphasis on mental processing (rather than mental structure) so had a more profound influence on cognitive psychology

3

Page 10: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

E. Behaviorism: The Rejection of Mental Experience 1. John B.Watson emphasized that the hallmarks of science are observation, measurement,

repeatability and viewed them as impossible to achieve in the study of conscious experience 2. Focus of psychology should be on observable and measurable behavior--stimuli and responses. F. Laying the Foundation for Cognitive Psychology 1. Ebbinghaus: Pioneering Experiments on Memory a. Ebbinghaus tested his own memory by memorizing nonsense syllables, and recording the number of trials to learn list perfectly; after varying time intervals he attempted to relearn list and measured the savings--reduction in the number of trials needed to relearn a list b. Ebbinghaus’ research demonstrated that precise and well-controlled experimental methods could be applied to study complex mental processes, and provided a well-conceived research paradigm for the study of verbal learning and memory c. Ebbinghaus’ research also established a number of core principles of memory function, including the findings that recall is more difficult as list length increases, that retention increases with frequency of repetitions, and that forgetting occurs rapidly early in the retention interval and then slows (i.e., the forgetting curve. 2. Barlett’s Memory Research a. Bartlett objected to the use of tightly controlled laboratory procedures for studying memory therefore studied memory for meaningful stimuli (e.g., stories) b. Bartlett’s research revealed memory as reconstructive, and was guided by schemata- generalized knowledge structures about situations that are constructed based on past experience c .Bartlett’s research was significant because it provided an alternative to the mechanistic S-R view of remembering as a group of verbal associations, and foreshadowed a major concern in cognitive psychology--the reconstructive nature of memory 3. Gestalt Psychology a. another important influence, Gestalt psychology, emphasized the role that organizational processes play in perception and problem solving, emphasizing that the whole is different than the sum of its parts b. proposed that the essence of conscious experience cannot be understood by analyzing it into its elements (like structuralists), nor can human experience be understood by eliminating all talk of conscious experience (like behaviorists) III. The Emergence of Cognitive Psychology A. S-R Explanations: Seriously wRong? 1. Mechanistic S-R explanations were plagued by notable failures to account for experimental data. According to S-R explanation for behavior, a stimulus elicits a response. If that response is reinforced, the stimulus and response are bonded together, making the response more likely the next time the stimulus is encountered; a response is required for learning a. Learning without Responding: i. McNamara, Long, and Wike (1956) tested rats in a T-maze; some rats ran the maze

themselves, while others were pushed by the experimenters in small carts, preventing a response

ii. behaviorist prediction: only the rats who responded should learn where the food is because responding is necessary for learning to occur; however all rats learned how to find the food, even those that did not respond during training

b. Learning without Reinforcement i. Tolman and Honzik (1930) tested three groups of rats in a complex maze: Group 1

reinforced every time they reached the goal box starting on day one. Group 2 was never reinforced. Group 3 was not reinforced until day 11

ii. behaviorist prediction: group 1should show a steady decrease in errors because reinforcement strengthens the response of running when placed in the stimulus of the maze. Group 2 should show little improvement because they were never reinforced so S and R were never “bonded.” Group 3 should look like group 2 until day 11(when finally reinforced) then their behavior should look like group 1 (gradual decrease in errors over time).

4

Page 11: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

iii. Groups 1 and 2 behaved as predicted by the behaviorists, however, group three did not. On day 12, these rats made as few errors as rats in group 1 (a sudden decrease in errors) - - they had learned in the absence of reinforcement ( latent learning)

c. Cognitive Maps i. Tolman (1948) rats placed in maze with three different paths to the goal box. The

behaviorist prediction would be that path choice is based on associative strength, so paths that result in receiving reinforcement quickly will have the high associative strength. Thecognitive prediction is that rats form a cognitive map of the maze, and rats consult it to map to determine which path will get them to the food fastest

ii. rats were free to explore the maze--shortest path (1) was preferred (fastest route to food), consistent with both behaviorist and cognitive view.

iii. Tolman then placed an obstacle that blocked path 1 (but not 2 or 3) from the goal box) Behaviorists would predict an initial choice of path 1 (highest associative strength) and

then a switch two path 2 upon hitting the block (shorter path than 3). Cognitivists would predict the same, but due to the consultation of a “mental map.”

iv. in the critical condition, a single obstacle was placed that blocked both paths 1 and 2. was preferred (consistent with both behaviorist and cognitive view). The behaviorist prediction was that path 1 would be preferred the most, followed by path 2, then path (all based on associative strength). Cognitivists would predict that upon discovering path 1 was blocked, they would immediately switch to path 3, because their representation of the maze would allow for the inference that path 2 was also blocked

v. The results supported the cognitive prediction; 90% of the time the rats chose path 3 2. Lashley Lashes Out a. According to Karl Lashley, S-R connections could not explain complex behaviors, which need to be

planned out and organized in advance 3. Chomsky’s Challenge a. Chomsky rejected the S-R analysis of language acquisition, noting that the ideas of “stimulus” and

“response” have no clear meaning in language because the possibilities for stimuli and responses are infinite and unpredictable, and it’s not clear what the reinforcement for language is

b. The productivity and novelty of linguistic production and comprehension necessitates an appeal to mental representations as part of the explanation.

B. Technological Influences 1. Communications Engineering a. Claude Shannon (Bell Telephone mathematician) in 1948 developed a general theory of how communications systems work: communications systems have an information source, a

transmitter, a channel through which a message is transmitted, and a receiver, providing a metaphor for how the mind might work.

2. Computer Science a. the fact that computers could be programmed to perform some intelligent human functions implied

that the computer might provide a good model of how the mind might work IV. PSYCHOLOGY A.D. (After Decline of behaviorism) A. An important date in the history of cognitive psychology is September 11, 1956, when an

important symposium on Information Theory was held at MIT, featuring seminal papers on the new approach to mind B. Behaviorism Reconsidered 1. Although different than at its peak, the behaviorist approach still exerts an important influence

in current cognitive theory and research. C. Information-Processing: A Computer Metaphor for Cognition 1. The information processing model uses the computer as the model for human cognition

2. Similarities between computers and humans are numerous: both perform a wide variety of tasks, based on the manipulation of internal symbols and representations, both translate

incoming information into a different form, both have the capacity for executing a logical decision chain, both have the capacity to store programs and instructions, as well as the data with which these

programs work

5

Page 12: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

3 The information processing model assumes that humans are symbol manipulators who encode, store, retrieve, and manipulate symbolic data stored in memory a. the data of the human processing system consists of representations that correspond to information from the environment (e.g., objects) and processes (e.g., remembering) b. human thought can be characterized as a system of interrelated capacities and processes that all

affect the other; humans are active and creative information scanners and seekers c. different cognitive processes take time and can be isolated from each other methodologically; cognitive processing is assumed to take place serially d. brain is analogized to hardware, cognitive processes to “software” D. Connectionism: A Brain Metaphor for Cognition 1. There are also important differences between computers and humans a. humans, unlike computers, do not have a central processing unit b. computers operate in a serial step-by-step fashion; brain functioning occurs in parallel 2. The connectionist approach models cognitive processing on the brain, and describes cognitive

processing in terms of connections between simple units which correspond to the neuron; a hardware-based approach

3. Approach assumes that the cognitive system is made up of billions of interconnected nodes that come together to form complex networks

a. the nodes can be activated and the pattern of activation corresponds to conscious experience

b. knowledge is represented in patterns of nodes distributed throughout the vast network and cognitive processing occurs in parallel; the approach is also termed parallel distributed processing

E. Alternative Approaches to Cognitive Psychology 1. Modern-day cognitive psychology was profoundly influenced by the Cartesian notion of dualism,

which assumes a separation between mind and body. In spite of this assumption, most cognitive researchers would characterize “mind” as nothing more than a label for the functions carried out by the brain.

1. Embodied Cognition and the Question of Meaning a. Recently, many have objected to what might be termed a “disembodied” approach to cognition,

that seems to characterize thought processes as idealized operations that occur apart from action and independent of context

b. The “embodied” approach to cognition emphasizes that cognition should be studied within the context of actions, situations, and differing task demands that mimic conditions of everyday life.

c. A similar objection has been levied by some who contend that many of the problems investigated by cognitive psychologists are devoid of the meaning that characterizes everyday cognition.

2. The Ecological Approach a. Partially in response to the foregoing criticisms of traditional cognitive theory and research, a

growing trend in cognitive research is to investigate thinking within contexts that better represent everyday contexts.

6

Page 13: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

CHAPTER 1 STOP AND THINK ELABORATIONS

Thinking about Thought Processes (pg. 5) This is a straightforward exercise designed to get students thinking about the everyday and applied nature of thought processes (so obvious that it almost seems silly to point out). One interesting variation might be to have students reflect on how their thought processes occasionally misfire, and to reflect on which types of errors (i.e., attention, memory, etc.) seem to be most common. Comparing Cognitive Psychology to its Forerunners (pg. 7) This exercise will give you a chance to tie some of the fundamental questions of cognition to those posed by philosophy, and will give students a chance to see yet another connection between psychology and it's foundational discipline. Points that can be raised include the fact that the basic questions that underlie cognitive psychology are largely philosophical ones, while the method used by cognitive psychologists are more in the spirit of physiology. Cognitive Processes - Conscious or Unconscious? (pg 9) This exercise will give students an opportunity to reflect closely on cognitive processes and will no doubt lead them to the realization that some of these processes occur rapidly and completely outside of conscious awareness. You might discuss the difficulties associated with investigating processes that occur quickly and unconsciously, and the methods that are necessitated by these problems (e.g., RT studies). Thinking about Behaviorism (pg. 11) The behaviorist approach provides a more ready analysis of some phenomena than others. This exercise will make this apparent. Many of the behaviors listed above can be at least broadly sketched in terms of stimuli and response, but for some (e.g., working a crossword puzzle) this is relatively difficult. Scrutinizing the S-R approach will allow students to see that the approach is too simpleminded to account for much of what we do. This will be difficult for many of the processes listed, but is useful for "setting the stage" for the material in Chapter 2. Students will stumble upon some of the methods that are commonly used by cognitive psychologists. As in the previous exercise, they will also no doubt notice that some processes are more obviously amenable to empirical investigation than are others. Two Approaches to the Study of Cognition (p. 13) This exercise serves a couple of purposes. First, it helps students distinguish between the laboratory and “real-world” approaches to the study of cognition. In addition, it will serve to preview many of the issues and obstacles faced by the cognitive psychology researcher, and will serve as a preview of many issues in Chapter 2. Considering Cognition’s Historical Influences (pg. 22) This one is simply a conversation starter that requires students to think closely about the various historical influences that led to the development of a science of cognition. Reasons for the choices will provide for some interesting class discussion. Construct Your Own Information Processing Diagrams (pg. 25) This exercise could get a bit complicated, but it's basically designed to show students how descriptive the information-processing approach can be, and how well it can actually capture many of the cognitive processes in which we engage. You could extend it by having students come up with their own cognitive tasks to analyze.

7

Page 14: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

CHAPTER 1 DISCUSSION STARTERS

Everyday Cognition: One useful way to introduce the field of cognitive psychology on the first day of class is to simply ask students about the cognitive processes they engage in everyday. Which processes are especially salient? Which processes are especially proficient? What processes seem to be particularly difficult and prone to error? How do the contexts of thinking (internal and external) impact thinking? Introspecting: Having students engage in the task of introspection always serves as an entertaining and informative diversion. Bring something edible to class (i.e., a cookie, gum, candy, etc.) and ask for a volunteer, whose task it will be to introspect upon the experience of eating it. Research Sampler: Students enter their cognition class with little or no idea about the kind of research done in the field. To give them some idea, bring in the table of contents from a leading journal (i.e., Journal of Experimental Psychology, Memory & Cognition) and highlight the range of topics investigated. Can Computers Think? In conjunction with a discussion of the information-processing approach, and the influence of the computer as a model for cognition, start a conversation with students about whether computers might be considered "conscious" or "thinking". There are some obvious ways in which they could be (i.e., processing information) and some obvious ways in which they aren't (i.e., expressing emotions). Most students will claim that computers can do nothing that they aren't programmed or "told" to do. Counter this by arguing that the same could be said of humans. Research Sampler Redux: This extension of the research sampler (see above) involves providing students with a contrast between laboratory and ecological approaches to cognition. To do this, you might provide students with some sample titles and/or abstracts from the journals listed above, along with titles from more applied journals such as Applied Cognitive Psychology.

8

Page 15: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

CHAPTER 1 INTERNET RESOURCES

History Websites History of Psych Website http://elvers.stjoe.udayton.edu/history/welcome.htm Today in the History of Psychology http://www.cwu.edu/%7Ewarren/today.html Barnard College History of Psychology Collection http://www.barnard.columbia.edu/psych/museum/b_museum.html Cognitive Science Websites Gallery of Cognitive Scientists (pictures of cognitive scientists) http://www.bcp.psych.ualberta.ca/~mike/Pearl_Street/Gallery/ Celebrities of Cognitive Science (links to information on prominent cognitive scientists) http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/cogsci.html Prehistory of cognitive science http://www.rc.umd.edu/cstahmer/cogsci/ The Millennium Project - The top 100 works in cognitive science http://www.cogsci.umn.edu/OLD/calendar/past_events/millennium/home.html

9

Page 16: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

CHAPTER 1 TEST ITEMS

MULTIPLE CHOICE 1) The subdiscipline of cognitive science that is interested in the association between mental processing and brain activity is: a) Developmental b) Clinical c) Neuropsychology d) Social Answer: c Diff: 1 Page Ref: 5 2) Which of these is not generally studied by cognitive psychologists? A) memory distortion B) social interaction C) decision making D) problem solving Answer: b Diff: 1 Page Ref: 3-5 3) Cognitive psychologists would probably be LEAST interested in which of these? a) remembering b) perception c) emotions d) making decisions Answer: c Diff: 1 Page Ref: 3-5 4) The issue of how we manage (or fail to manage) driving and talking on a cell phone would be of most interest to someone who studies: a) problem solving b) attention c) memory d) decision making Answer: b Diff: 2 Page Ref: 3-5 5) This subdiscipline of cognitive science focuses on (as its primary goal) using computers to simulate and model human thought: a) neuroscience b) linguistics c) cognitive psychology d) artificial intelligence Answer: d Diff: 1 Page Ref: 6

10

Page 17: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

6) Which of the following disciplines is NOT associated with the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science? a) philosophy b) artificial intelligence c) anthropology d) sociology Answer: d Diff: 1 Page Ref: 5 7) The two disciplines typically characterized as the forerunners to psychology (and cognitive psychology) are: a) philosophy and physiology b) sociology and history c) history and philosophy d) chemistry and theology Answer: a Diff: 1 Page Ref: 6-7 8) In which of these would a psychophysicist be most interested? a) the ways in which the perceptual system translates an incoming stimulus b) the basic relationship between brain activity and conscious experience c) identifying the basic sensations, images and feelings that comprise experience d) the behavior of someone in response to some stimulus Answer: a Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 9) Psychophysics is to cognitive psychology as ________ is to ________ . a) early processes; late processes b) late processes; early processes c) late processes; all processes d) early processes; all processes Answer: d Diff: 3 Page Ref: 8 10) This psychophysicist came up with the notion of an unconscious inference: a) Donders b) Fechner c) Helmholtz d) Wundt Answer: c Diff: 1 Page Ref: 8 11) Generally, as a stimulus becomes more intense, the minimal change in intensity needed in order for a person to notice the change: a) increases b) decreases c) stays the same d) has no relationship whatsoever to original intensity. Answer: a Diff: 3 Page Ref: 8

11

Page 18: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

12) Helmholtz was a ________ whose work included the insight that ________. a) structuralist; perception involves unconscious inferences about incoming stimuli b) structuralist; consciousness is complex, but composed of simple elements that can be analyzed through introspection. c) psychophysicist; perception involves unconscious inferences about incoming stimuli d) psychophysicist; consciousness is complex, but composed of simple elements that can be analyzed through introspection. Answer: c Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8 13) Which psychophysicist’s major contribution was to demonstrate that the relationship between incoming stimuli and corresponding perceptions was not one-to-one? a) Fechner b) Helmholtz c) Wundt d) Titchener Answer: a Diff: 1 Page Ref: 7-8 14) Who established the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany? a) Titchener b) Fechner c) Watson d) Wundt Answer: d Diff: 1 Page Ref: 9 15) According to structuralists. consciousness includes three basic categories of experience. Which of these is NOT one of those categories? a) sensations b) motives c) feelings d) images Answer: b Diff: 1 Page Ref: 9 16) The name "structuralism" was coined by: a) Titchener b) Wundt c) James d) Ebbinghaus Answer: a Diff: 1 Page Ref: 10 17) __________ refers to a procedure that requires a rigorous, and systematic self-report of the basic elements of an experience, and was the primary method used by __________. a) Schema analysis; Gestalt psychologists b) Savings; behaviorists c) Functional Reporting; functionalists d) Introspection; structuralists Answer: d Diff: 2 Page Ref: 10

12

Page 19: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

18) Who wrote Principles of Psychology, a book that reads like a “what’s what” of the study of cognition? a) James b) Titchener c) Wundt d) Watson Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 10 19) Consider the emotion of anger; which of these questions would be of most interest to a functionalist? a) What is the purpose of anger? b) What is the conscious experience of anger like? c) What are the behaviors of an angry person? d) What happens in the brain during fits of anger? Answer: a Diff: 3 Page Ref: 10 20) The scientific perspective known as behaviorism was established by: a) John Watson b) William James c) Edwin C. Tolman d) B.F. Skinner Answer: a Diff: 1 Page Ref: 10 21) Mind and behavior can be conceptualized as an "S", an "R", and with a black box in between The behaviorists were interested in: a) The S's only b) The R's only c) S's and R's d) the black box Answer: c Diff: 2 Page Ref: 11 22) In studying memory, what did Ebbinghaus study long lists of? a) lines from poems b) book titles c) nonsense syllables d) single syllable words Answer: c Diff: 1 Page Ref: 12 23) The forgetting curve, as mapped out by Ebbinghaus, demonstrates that material is forgotten: a) very slowly at first, then at a very rapid rate b) rapidly at first, then at a very slow steady rat c) at a fairly constant rate over time d) only if there is interference Answer: b Diff: 2 Page Ref: 12

13

Page 20: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

24) If you're a psychology major, you've probably been exposed to basic information about the history of psychology in several courses. Each time you're exposed to this information, you probably pick up on it and retain it a little better. This is an example of ________, a key concept from the work of memory psychologist ________. a) savings; Bartlett b) savings; Ebbinghaus c) schemata; Bartlett d) schemata; Ebbinghaus Answer: b Diff: 2 Page Ref: 12 25) All of the following are true of Bartlett's investigations of memory EXCEPT: a) he used human participants ` b) he tested memory for nonsense syllables c) he developed the notion of schemata d) his research featured a higher degree of realism than did the work of Ebbinghaus Answer: b Diff: 2 Page Ref: 12-13 26) Gestalt psychologists are known for their work on ________, and profoundly influenced the present-day study of ________. a) isolating the basic elements of conscious experience; perception and problem-solving b) isolating the basic elements of conscious experience; decision-making and language c) the basic tendency of the mind to organize experience; perception and problem-solving d) the basic tendency of the mind to organize experience; decision-making and language Answer: c Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13 27) What was the term Bartlett used for generalized knowledge structures about events and situations based on past experience? a) savings b) introspections c) configurations d) schemata Answer: d Diff: 1 Page Ref: 13 28) Which school of psychology is best captured by its credo, “The whole is different than the sum of its parts”? a) Structuralism b) Functionalism c) Gestalt d) Behaviorism Answer: c Diff: 1 Page Ref: 13 29) Recall the study by McNamara, Long, & Wike (1956) in which rats were exposed to a T-maze in one of two ways: the rats in one group ran the maze themselves, while the rats in the other group were pushed through the maze in carts? Which group(s) learned to make the correct choice at the end of the "T"? a) The rats who ran themselves learned to make the correct choice, but the rats in carts failed to learn it. b) The rats in carts learned to make the correct choice, but the rats who ran themselves failed to learn it. c) Neither group of rats learned to make the correct choice. d) Both groups of rats learned to make the correct choice. Answer: d Diff: 2 Page Ref: 16

14

Page 21: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

30) What happened to the group of rats that wasn't reinforced until the 11th day of the Tolman and Honzik study? a) After the 11th day, they showed slow but steady improvement in their maze running. b) They showed no improvement and no decline in their maze running. c) They showed sudden improvement in their maze running after day 11, running as quickly as the rats who had always been reinforced. d) They showed sudden improvement in their maze running, but never ran as quickly as the rats who had always been reinforced. Answer: c Diff: 2 Page Ref: 16-17 31) What was the term Tolman coined to refer to learning that occurs in the absence of any reinforcement? a) latent learning b) learning by savings c) gestalt learning d) associative learning Answer: a Diff: 1 Page Ref: 17 32) In a classic study reported by Tolman (1948), rats were exposed to a complex maze that had three different paths to food; Path 1 was shortest, Path 2 was a bit longer, and Path 3 was the longest path. After experiencing all of the paths, rats showed a strong preference for Path 1 (the shortest path). Then, the researchers blocked path 1 — which also, as it turns out, blocked path 2. What did rats do when they were placed in this situation? a) After being blocked at path 1, they tried path 2, then finally chose path 3. b) After being blocked on path 1, they kept trying path 1 over and over again. c) After being blocked at path 1, they tried path 2, and then kept trying path 2 over and over again. d) After being blocked at path 1, they immediately switched to path 3 (not even bothering with path 2). Answer: d Diff: 2 Page Ref: 18-19 33) The behaviorists claimed that in order for learning to take place, you need to have________ and ________. It turns out ________ is (are) absolutely necessary. a) mental representations; motivation; neither b) mental representations; motivation; only mental representations c) response and reinforcement; neither d) response and reinforcement; only reinforcement Answer: d Diff: 3 Page Ref: 16-20 34) Lashley ________ the S-R approach to performance, pointing out that ________. a) attacked; complex performance plays out too quickly to be a simple chain of S-R associations b) defended; even complex responses can be explained through a simple appeal to responses and reinforcements c) attacked; humans in no way are guided by associations d) defended; complex responses can only be explained via an S-R analysis. Answer: a Diff: 3 Page Ref: 19 35) Noam Chomsky: a) proposed that language can be accounted for solely based on S-R principles b) sharply criticized Skinner's view of language learning c) proposed that language learning is dependent on automatic self-reinforcement d) saw no need for the concept of mental representations in explaining language Answer: b Diff: 1 Page Ref: 21

15

Page 22: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

36) Chomsky's views on ________ proved to be one of the stiffest challenges to the behaviorist view. a) problem solving b) computers c) attention d) language Answer: d Diff: 1 Page Ref: 20-21 37) Communications engineering and computer science were both important to the emergence of cognitive psychology because both: a) showed that learning could occur without reinforcement or responding b) showed that machines could perform intelligent human functions c) provided a model/metaphor for how the mind might work d) provided technological advances to better investigate mental processing Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 21 38) Which of the following is NOT one of the ways that computers handle information? a) input b) interpretation c) some type of processing d) output Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 21-22 39) In the end, what happened to Behaviorism? a) it was replaced by a renewed interest in structuralism b) it completely died out c) it continues to hold some sway to this day d) it was replaced by a renewed interest in functionalism Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 24 40) The information processing approach to cognition likens thought to: a) the operation of a computer b) the storage system of a library c) the assembly-line production of a factory d) the trial-and-error learning of the rat in a maze Answer: a Diff: 1 Page Ref: 24 41) Which of the following is a similarity between computers and humans? a) Both humans and computers translate incoming information into a different form. b) Both humans and computers have the capacity for executing a logical decision chain. c) Both humans and computers have the capacity to store programs and instructions, as well as the data with which these programs work. d) All of the above are similarities between computers and humans. Answer: d Diff: 2 Page Ref: 21-22

16

Page 23: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

42) According to the information processing approach, the brain can be viewed as________ , while mental processing can be viewed as ________: a) the "hardware" of a computer; the computer's "software" b) a complex network of nodes; activation among these nodes c) neuronal activity; a computer program d) a computer program; central processing unit Answer: a Diff: 2 Page Ref: 25 43) The information processing approach is to the connectionist approach as ________ is to ________. a) recent; antique b) serial; parallel c) automatic; controlled d) brain; computer Answer: b Diff: 3 Page Ref: 26 44) A model of cognition that uses a brain-based metaphor to describe cognitive processes in terms of complex and interconnected networks of individual processing units that operate in parallel is called a) Computerism b) Structuralism c) Parallelism d) Connectionism Answer: d Diff: 1 Page Ref: 26-27 45) Another name for connectionism is a) Parallel Distributed Processing b) Computerism c) Associative Network Modeling d) Cognitive Mapping Answer: a Diff: 1 Page Ref: 27 46) In explaining cognition, the connectionist approach emphasizes: a) interactions between individual processing units in the brain b) the serial nature of cognitive processing c) that cognitive processes are localized within certain regions of the brain d) simple perceptual processing, rather than higher-level cognitive processing Answer: a Diff: 2 Page Ref: 27 47) What is the term proposed by Descartes that refers to the belief that mind and body are separable entities? a) Empiricism b) Materialism c) Dualism d) Embodied Cognition Answer: c Diff: 1 Page Ref: 29

17

Page 24: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Instructor’s Resource Manual for Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind

48) Which term refers to a constellation of ideas emphasizing the belief that thinking is dynamic and occurs in conjunction with action and within a broader context that guides and shapes it? a) Materialism b) Embodied Cognition c) Dualism d) Empiricism Answer: b Diff: 1 Page Ref: 30 49) Which of these article titles is most consistent with the spirit of the ecological approach to cognition? a) "Fortysomething: Recognizing Faces at a Twenty-fifth Reunion." b) "Priming and Attentional Control of Lexical and Sublexical Pathways in Naming: A Reevaluation" c) "Receiver Operating Characteristics in the Lexical Decision Task: Evidence for a Simple Signal-Detection Process Simulated by the Multiple Read-Out Model" d) "Centripetal Force Draws the Eyes, Not Memory of the Target, Toward the Center" Answer: a Diff: 3 Page Ref: 30 50) The ecological approach to cognition emphasizes: a) how cognitive processes play themselves out in the brain b) how cognitive processes play themselves out in everyday life c) how cognitive processes might be like the operation of a computer d) tracing the history of the study of cognition Answer: b Diff: 1 Page Ref: 30

18

Page 25: Title Page Robinson-Riegler NK9511 › ... · II. Psychology B.C. (Before Cognitive psychology) A. The disciplinary roots for psychology include philosophy and physiology B. Psychophysics

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Cognition

ESSAY 1) What is cognitive science, and of what disciplines is it comprised? Page Ref: 5-6 2) Define the psychophysics, and briefly explain its role in the history of cognitive psychology. Page Ref: 7-9 3) What are the three important principles that are highlighted by Helmholtz’s concept of unconscious inference? Page Ref: 8 4) Describe the basic approaches of structuralism and functionalism, and state which had more of an impact on the development of a scientific psychology (and why). Page Ref: 9-10 5) Discuss the work of Ebbinghaus; and how he investigated memory, and why were his contributions important? Page Ref: 12-13 6) Explain the S-R analysis for how an organism learns to perform a behavior (hint: use the terms stimulus, response and reinforcement). Explain why (a) learning without reinforcement and (b) learning without responding are problematic for this analysis. Page Ref: 15-20 7) Describe the objections to the behaviorist analysis of complex behavior and language offered by Lashley and Chomsky. How did their proposals help form a basis for the study of cognition? Page Ref: 20-21 8) Describe how the development of technology (i.e., computers and communications engineering) helped provide a basis and a metaphor for the study of cognition. Page Ref: 22 9) Describe the major assumptions underlying the information processing approach, and discuss some of the similarities between humans and computers. Page Ref: 24-26 10) Outline the basic assumptions of the connectionist approach to cognition, and describe the differences between the connectionist approach and the information-processing approach.: Page Ref: 26-29 11) Discuss the ecological approach to the study of cognition, and compare it to the traditional approach. Page Ref: 30

19