Introduction to Psychology: Memory, Learning and Cognition.

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Introduction to Psychology Memory, Learning and
Cognition.

• HP502 Lecture 1.
• Lecturer Dr Meredith McKague.
• Room H206
• Phone [phone].
• m.mckague_at_ballarat.edu.au

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Introduction to Psychology

• Lectures, tutorials and self-directed learning.
• 1 x 2 hour weekly lecture
• 1 x 1 hour weekly tutorial
• Self directed learning (study, assignments,
  tutorial preparation etc.)

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Assessment.

• Group oral presentation (25).
• During tutorials for weeks 5 and 6
• Individual laboratory report (40)
• Due Friday of week 10
• 2000-2500 words.
• Two Unit examinations (30).
• Week 8 (weeks 1-6)
• End of semester (weeks 7-13)
• Research participation/optional essay (5)

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Textbook.

• Westen, Burton, Kowalski (2006). Psychology
  Australian and New Zealand Edition.
• Available at bookshop soon.
• Read relevant chapter and do revision questions
  at the end of the chapter.
• Exams based on lecture material.
• See text website for practice multiple choice
  questions
• www.johnwiley.com.au/highered/pscyh

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Psychology

• Psychology is defined as the scientific
  investigation of mental processes (e.g.,
  thinking, remembering and feeling), behavior, and
  the interaction between them.
• Literally, the study of the psyche (mind).

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Psychology

• Psychological processes reflect the interaction
  between biological processes within the nervous
  system and environmental experiences.
• Psychological processes are also shaped by, and
  interact with, social/cultural beliefs and values.

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Fields of study in psychology.

• In addition to counseling psychology,
  psychologists study
• The brain and neuroscience
• The psychological effects of hormones and
  psychoactive drugs
• Learning, memory, language, perception, thinking
  and decision making.
• Social psychology and personality.
• Psychological development cognitive processes,
  personality, aging, etc
• And much more.

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Experimental Psychology

• HP502 concentrates mainly on the area of
  Experimental Psychology.
• This is the branch of psychology that uses
  experimentation to gather knowledge about how we
  select, perceive, interpret, store and respond to
  stimuli in the environment.
• The branch of science that studies learning,
  memory, perception, thought.

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Experimental psychology.

• The study of basic mental processes.
• A distinction is being made between basic and
  applied science.
• NOT personality, development, clinical
  psychopathology, social or organisational
  psychology.
• BUT all of these applied disciplines are based on
  basic research in Experimental Psychology.

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Experimental Psychology

• The nature of the mind calls for techniques that
  deal with the relative inaccessibility of mental
  processes to direct observation.
• A formal process of systematic observation of
  behavioural responses to manipulated factors
  applied under controlled conditions.

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Experimental Psychology

• The questions asked can seem trivial.
• For example How do we distinguish between
  objects in our environment?
• These questions often relate to mental functions
  that are automatic and unconscious.
• The intriguing thing about these processes is
  that they reflect the underlying mechanics of the
  mind.

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Experimental Psychology.

• Manipulate variables and test hypotheses.
• Determine causation.
• Changing the independent variable will result in
  a change in the dependent variable.

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Experimental Psychology.

• Critical thinking
• Evaluate the facts, methods, arguments.
• Unravel assumptions.
• Consider alternative explanations.

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Experimental Psychology.

• An example of an experiment The effect of sleep
  on memory.
• Vary amount of sleep for two groups
• interrupted versus not interrupted.
• Measure the effect of interrupted sleep on a
  memory task the next day.
• Experimental group (interrupted sleep), every two
  hours.
• Control group (normal nights sleep).
• Which is the independent variable and which is
  the dependant variable?

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Experimental Psychology

• Independent variable
• Manipulated by the experimenter and is
  independent of the behaviour of the subject.
• Dependent variable
• The behaviour being measured.
• We want to know whether this behaviour is
  dependent on (influenced by) the variable that
  was manipulated.

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Experimental psychology

• Observation is critical to scientific method
• Overindulgence in alcohol leads to hangovers.
• Coffee in the morning makes us more alert.
• Attention to a task makes us less aware of other
  events in the environment.
• Stroke patients with paralysis on the right side
  also have speech problems.
• Each observation contains the seed of an
  hypothesis which could be tested.

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Experimental Psychology.
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Experimental Psychology

• Two criteria for an experiment.
• 1. That there are at least two conditions or
  groups.
• 2. That the independent variable that defines the
  two groups be manipulated by the experimenter.
• Often the comparison of an experimental group
  (e.g. treatment) to a control group (no treatment
  or placebo).

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The history of Experimental Psychology.

• Wilhelm Wundt founded the first psychology
  laboratory in 1875 at the University of Leipzig,
  Germany.
• Investigated sensation, perception, attention,
  reaction, and association.

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The history of Experimental Psychology.

• Wundt edited the first psychology journal
  Psychological Studies.
• Wundt studied immediate states of consciousness
• e.g., the experience of redness or pain, as
  opposed to higher order experiences such as
  seeing a red flower or having a toothache.

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The history of Experimental Psychology.

• Wundt believed that these immediate states formed
  the elements of unified mental experience.
• The mind was to be analysed into its elements,
  just as in the physical sciences.
• Wundt developed the technique of introspection to
  report immediate states.

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The history of Experimental Psychology.

• Introspection
• the reporting of internal experience based on
  systematically varied stimuli (input).
• e.g., the intensity of light, or the heaviness
  of weights.
• Objective measures (e.g., reaction time) used to
  infer the nature of underlying mental processes

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The history of Experimental Psychology
Structuralism.

• E.B Titchener (student of Wundt), brought
  psychology to the U.S.
• Called his approach structuralism.
• Structuralism emphasised Wundts belief that the
  science of psychology should analyse conscious
  experience into its component parts and so
  determine the structure of the mind.

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The history of Experimental Psychology
Structuralism.

• Criticisms of structuralism and introspection.
• The mind cannot observe itself because the
  observer and the observed are one and the same.
• Nevertheless, self-report is still commonly used
  in psychology.

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The history of Experimental Psychology
Functionalism.

• The Functionalist movement was greatly influenced
  by the work of Charles Darwin.
• Psychology as one of the biological sciences
• Functionalism focused on the purpose (function)
  of consciousness, rather than on the structure of
  consciousness.
• The study of living people as they adapt to their
  environment.

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The history of Experimental Psychology
Functionalism.

• William James (1842-1910) a pioneer of
  functionalism in the U.S.
• James wrote The Principles of Psychology (1890).
• Described the stream of consciousness, as opposed
  to the elements of consciousness.

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The history of Experimental Psychology
Behaviorism.

• John B. Watson.
• Called for a scientific psychology that dealt
  only with observable behaviour.

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The history of Experimental Psychology
Behaviorism.

• Watsons Behaviorism rejected all mentalistic
  concepts and terms (e.g., image, mind,
  consciousness).
• Used objective terms like stimulus and response.
• Influenced by animal studies and associative
  learning (e.g., Pavlov and Thorndike).
• Later, reinforcement, reward and punishment with
  B.F. Skinner.

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The history of Experimental Psychology
Behaviorism.

• For Skinner, all behaviour was learned from
  environmental cues, rewards and punishments.
• Behaviour the result of nurture not nature.
• Behaviour modification techniques based on this
  work are still used in clinical/therapeutic
  settings.

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The history of Experimental Psychology The
Cognitive Revolution.

• The return of consciousness to psychology.
• Occurred during the 1950s.
• Cognitive processes began to creep into
  behaviorism (e.g., Tolmans cognitive maps).
• An emphasis on active rather than passive
  learning.
• A renewed interest in mental processes as the
  determinants of behaviour.
• The influence of nature in addition to nurture.
• For example, Chomsky versus Skinner on the
  development of language.

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Cognitive Neuroscience The future of
Experimental Psychology?

• The study of the neural basis of cognition.
• Cognitive neuroscience studies cognitive
  processes using psychophysical and brain imaging
  techniques such as
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
• Positrton emission tomography (PET).
• Electrical encephalography (EEG).
• Transcranial Magnetic stimulation (TMS).
• How the brain enables the mind (cognition).

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New directions in experimental psychology

• The study of emotion is now an important part of
  experimental psychology.
• For example, much memory research is now focussed
  on how emotional states effect the encoding,
  storage and retrieval of information.