Foundations of cognitive psychology

1Introduction How doesmemory work? How doweunderstandlanguage, andproduce itsothat others canu nderstand?How dow eperceiveour environment? How dow ei nfer from patterns oflightorsoundthe presence ofobjects inour environment,andtheir properties? How dowereason,andsolveproblems? How dowethink? Thesea resomeofthe foundationalq uestions thatcognitivepsychology examines. Theyarefoundationalpartly becauseeach concerns the natureofabasic psychologicalability,abilitiesthatweoftentakefor granted, yetwhich arevitalto our normal,healthyfunctioningandarekeytoour understandingofwhatitmeans to be human. Andtheyaref oundationalp artly becausetheyarei mportant for psychologyasawhole, andnot just cognitivepsychology. For instance, how canwe hopeto understandcompletely the behaviour ofemployeesinanorganization unless wefi rst understandtheirp erceptions andmemories,a ndh ow theyr eason and attempt to solveproblems? How canweunderstandthe wayinwhich peopleinteract to shapeoneanother'sopinions if wedonot understandhow peopleunderstandand process language, andhow theymakejudgements? Throughout thisbook,the various authors tackletheseandotherquestions,and show you how much ofthesef oundations cognitivepsychologists haveso far uncovered.The book begins withanexploration ofperceptualprocesses,movestoa discussion ofcategorization andlanguage, through to memory,andthentothinking processes. The last part ofthe book isdevoted to widerissues:to topicsthathave beenthoughttopresent achallenge to cognitivepsychology–such asconsciousness andemotion –andto someofthe themesandtheoreticalquestions which pervade the cognitiveapproach. Inthischapter,wetry to answerthe question 'Whatiscognitivepsychology?' and, ins odoing, outlinesomeofthe foundationalassumptions thatcognitive psychologists tendto make, asw ell ass omeofthe reasons whyitiss uch an important andf ascinatingsubject–not least the factt hatitr aisesm any deepand important questions concerningthe mind.We considersomeofthe issuesthathave attracted andcontinueto attractthe interest ofcognitivepsychologists,andsomeof the assumptions theym akei no rdert odevelop models andtheories. We also considert he cognitivea pproach ingeneralandthe kindso fe xplanation cognitive psychologists favour.We touch upon the relations betweencognitivepsychology andothers ub-disciplineso fpsychology,andthosebetweencognitivepsychology andotherdisciplines(such asphilosophy,computing, andlinguistics). Therearemany substantialissuesthatweonly touch on –itisnot easy to define the relationshipbetweent wo academic disciplines,f or example–a ndso weonly hopeto conveysomethingoftheirflavour here.Our aiminthischapteristherefore merely to introduce cognitivepsychology,to explainsomeofits keydistinguishing features,a ndto uncovers omeofthe many broad issuesl yingb eneathi ts surface. You will