A. Processes by which sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used

B. Includes the following topic areas: sensory and perceptual processing, pattern recognition, attention, memory, language, imagery, reasoning, problem solving, decision making, artificial (and natural) intelligence

C. Major characteristics of the cognitive approach

1. Theoretically mentalist and functionalist

a. Mental structure, organization, and processes

b. Empirical verification of theories

c. Active, constructive, and planful aspects of behavior

d. Analogy of computer program

2. Methodologically behaviorist

a. Naturalistic observation (e.g., William James)

b. Introspection (but verified with external evidence)

c. Controlled observation (e.g., Jean Piaget)

d. Experiments and quasi-experiments (preferred)

e. Experimental simulations (computer models)

A. Philosophical roots: Nativism vs. empiricism

B. Structuralism: Wundt and the beginnings of psychology

1. Theory of mental structures, natural science methodology

2. Introspection:  systematic and controlled

C.  Radical behaviorism and the mind–body problem

1.  John Watson:  Rejection of mental, focus on environment

2. B. F. Skinner:  Contingencies of reinforcement

A. Information processing view, promoted by people like Anderson, Fodor, Schank, Newell, and Simon

1. Assumptions: Mental processes = causal sequences; analogy of computer program; processing, which transforms stimulus form and content, occurs in stages; limited capacity; contrast between structural and control components
2. Human information processing only one instance of information processing; artificial intelligence research and computer simulation used to elucidate human processing

B. Ecological view, based on Gibson and represented in Neisser’s approach: Seeking invariances through naturalistic observation

C. Parallel distributed processing, promoted by McClelland & Rumelhart (“new connectionism”): Analogies to neurophysiological processing—processing by many simultaneous, parallel action of simple units

D. Behavioral critique of cognitivism by Skinner: Rejects mental explanations, focuses on behavior, and criticizes cognitive science for merely renaming problems