The book most fully presents the classical and latest achievements of the main sections of cognitive psychology - perception, memory, thinking, artificial intelligence. Both theoretical problems of cognitive psychology and their applied aspects are considered. The book can serve as a good textbook for students of various specialties (both humanitarian and technical) associated with various types of human activity in the conditions of modern technology, for psychologists, teachers of psychology, ergonomics and engineering psychology, as well as for developers software Computers and systems with intelligent behavior.

Chapters/Paragraphs

Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology studies how people get information about the world, how this information is represented by a person, how it is stored in memory and converted into knowledge, and how this knowledge affects our attention and behavior. Cognitive psychology covers the entire range of psychological processes, from sensation to perception, pattern recognition, attention, learning, memory, concept formation, thinking, imagination, memory, language, emotions, and developmental processes; it covers all sorts of areas of behavior. The course we have taken - a course towards understanding the nature of human thought - is both ambitious and exciting. Since this requires a very wide range of knowledge, the range of study will be extensive; and since this topic involves a consideration of human thought from new positions, it is likely that your views on the intellectual essence of man will change radically.

This chapter is titled "Introduction"; however, in a sense, this entire book is an introduction to cognitive psychology. This chapter provides a general picture of cognitive psychology, as well as reviewing its history and describing theories that explain how knowledge is represented in the human mind.

Before we get into some of the technical aspects of cognitive psychology, it's helpful to get some idea of the premises we humans rely on when we process information. To illustrate how we interpret visual information, consider an example of a common event: a driver asks a policeman for directions. While the cognitive process involved here may seem simple, it is not.

The entire episode described would take no more than two minutes, but the amount of information that these two people perceived and analyzed is simply amazing. How should a psychologist view such a process? One exit is simply in stimulus-response (S-R) language: for example, a traffic light (stimulus) and a left turn (response). Some psychologists, especially those in the traditional behavioral approach, believe that the entire sequence of events can be adequately (and in much greater detail) described in such terms. However, although this position is attractive in its simplicity, it fails to describe the cognitive systems involved in such an exchange of information. To do this, it is necessary to identify and analyze specific components of the cognitive process and then combine them into a larger cognitive model. It is from this position that cognitive psychologists explore the complex manifestations of human behavior. What specific components would a cognitive psychologist identify in the above episode, and how would he consider them? We can start with some assumptions about the cognitive characteristics that policemen and drivers have. On the left side of Table 1 are the corresponding statements, and on the right - the topics of cognitive psychology associated with these statements.

Table 1

Assumed cognitive characteristics

Characteristic	Topic in cognitive psychology
Ability to detect and interpret sensory stimuli	Sensor Signal Detection
Tendency to focus on some sensory stimuli and ignore others	Attention
Detailed knowledge of the physical characteristics of the environment	Knowledge
The ability to abstract some of the elements of an event and combine those elements into a well-structured plan that gives meaning to the entire episode	Pattern recognition
The ability to extract meaning from letters and words	Reading and processing information
The ability to save recent events and combine them into a continuous sequence	short term memory
The ability to form the image of a "cognitive map"	mental images
Understanding by each participant the role of the other	Thinking
The ability to use "mnemonic tricks" to reproduce information	Mnemonics and memory
Tendency to store language information in a generic way	Abstraction of speech utterances
Ability to solve problems	Problem solving
General capacity for meaningful action	human intelligence
Understanding that the direction of movement can be accurately transcribed into a set of complex motor actions (driving a car)	Language/motor behavior
The ability to quickly retrieve specific information from long-term memory that is needed to apply directly to the current situation	long term memory
Ability to communicate observable events in spoken language	Language processing
Knowing that objects have specific names	semantic memory
Failure to act perfectly	Forgetting and interference

Information approach

These provisions can be combined into a larger system, or cognitive model. The model commonly used by cognitive psychologists is called the INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL.

From the very beginning of our study of cognitive models, it is important to understand their limitations. Cognitive models based on the information processing model are heuristic constructs used to organize the existing body of literature, stimulate further research, coordinate research efforts, and facilitate communication between scientists. There is a tendency to attribute more structural rigidity to models than can be supported by empirical evidence.

The information processing model is useful for the above tasks; however, other models have been developed to better reflect advances in cognitive psychology. I will introduce you to such alternative models as needed. The information processing model assumes that the process of cognition can be decomposed into a number of stages, each of which is a kind of hypothetical unit, including a set of unique operations performed on input information. It is assumed that the reaction to an event (for example, the answer: “Ah, yes, I know where this exhibition is”) is the result of a series of such stages and operations (for example, perception, encoding information, recalling information from memory, concept formation, judgment and formation statements). Each stage receives information from the previous stage, and then operations specific to this stage are performed on it. Since all components of the information processing model are somehow related to other components, it is difficult to accurately determine the initial stage; but for convenience, we can assume that this whole sequence begins with the arrival of external stimuli.

These stimuli—signs of the environment in our example—are not represented directly in the policeman's head, but they are translated into significant symbols, into what some cognitive scientists call "internal representations". At the lowest level, the light (or sound) energy emanating from the perceived stimulus is converted into neural energy, which in turn is processed in the hypothetical steps described above to form an "internal representation" of the perceived object. The police officer understands this internal representation, which, combined with other contextual information, provides the basis for answering the question.

The information processing model has given rise to two important questions that have generated considerable controversy among cognitive psychologists: What are the stages of information processing? And How is information presented in the human mind?? Although there are no easy answers to these questions, most of this book is about both of them, so it's good to keep them in mind. Among other things, cognitive psychologists have attempted to answer these questions by incorporating methods and theories from specific psychological disciplines into their research; some of them are described below.

The field of cognitive psychology

Contemporary cognitive psychology borrows theories and methods from 10 major research areas (Fig. 1): perception, pattern recognition, attention, memory, imagination, language functions, developmental psychology, thinking and problem solving, human intelligence and artificial intelligence; we will consider each of them separately.

Rice. 1. The main directions of research in cognitive psychology.

Perception

The branch of psychology directly concerned with the detection and interpretation of sensory stimuli is called the psychology of perception. From experiments on perception, we are well aware of the sensitivity of the human body to sensory signals and, more importantly for cognitive psychology, how these sensory signals are interpreted.

The description given to the policeman in the above street scene depends greatly on his ability to "see" the essential features of his surroundings. "Vision", however, is not an easy thing. In order for sensory stimuli to be perceived - in our case they are predominantly visual - they must have a certain magnitude: if the driver is to perform the described maneuver, these signs must have a certain intensity. In addition, the scene itself is constantly changing. As the driver's position changes, new signs appear. Separate signs receive priority importance in the perceptual process. Directional signs differ in color, position, shape, etc. Many driving images are constantly changing, and in order to turn their instructions into actions, the driver must quickly correct his behavior.

Experimental studies of perception have helped to identify many of the elements of this process; we will meet some of them in the next chapter. But the study of perception alone cannot adequately explain expected actions; other cognitive systems are also involved, such as pattern recognition, attention, and memory.

Pattern recognition

Environmental stimuli are not perceived as single sensory events; most often they are perceived as part of a larger pattern. What we sense (see, hear, smell, or taste) is almost always part of a complex pattern of sensory stimuli. Thus, when a police officer tells a driver to “go across the railroad crossing past the lake… next to the old factory”, his words describe complex objects (crossing, lake, old factory). At some point, the policeman describes the poster and assumes that the driver is literate. But let's think about the problem of reading. Reading is a complex volitional effort that requires the reader to construct a meaningful image from a set of lines and curves that do not make sense on their own. By organizing these stimuli into letters and words, the reader can then retrieve the meaning from his memory. This entire process, performed daily by billions of people, takes a fraction of a second, and it is simply amazing when you consider how many neuroanatomical and cognitive systems are involved in it.

Attention

The policeman and the driver are confronted with a myriad of signs of the environment. If the driver paid attention to all of them (or almost all of them), he certainly would never have made it to the hardware store. While humans are information-gathering creatures, it is clear that, under normal circumstances, we are very careful about the amount and type of information that is worth taking into account. Our ability to process information is obviously limited at two levels - sensory and cognitive. If we are given too many sensory cues at the same time, we may experience "overload"; and if we try to process too many events in memory, an overload also occurs. This may result in a malfunction.

In our example, the policeman, intuitively understanding that if he overloads the system, the result will suffer, he ignores many of the signs that the driver would certainly notice. And if the illustration given next to the text of the dialogue is an accurate representation of the driver's cognitive map, then the latter is really hopelessly confused.

Memory

Could a policeman describe the road without using memory? Of course not; and this is even more true of memory than of perception. And in fact, memory and perception work together. In our example, the response of the policeman was the result of two types of memory. The first type of memory retains information for a limited time - long enough to keep a conversation going. This memory system stores information for a short period until it is replaced by a new one. The entire conversation would have taken about 120 seconds and it is unlikely that all of its details would be forever preserved by both the policeman and the driver. However, these details kept in memory long enough for both of them to retain the sequence of elements that make up the dialogue, and some part this information could be deposited in their permanent memory. This first stage of memory is called short-term memory (STM), and in our case it is a special kind of it called working memory.

On the other hand, a significant part of the content of the policeman's responses was obtained from his long-term memory (LTM). The most obvious part here is their knowledge of the language. He doesn't call a lake a lemon tree, a showroom a tire, or a street a basketball; he extracts words from his DWP and uses them more or less correctly. There are other signs that indicate that the DVP was involved in its description: "...remember, they had an Expo-84 exhibition." He was able to reproduce information about an event that happened several years ago in a split second. This information did not come from direct perceptual experience; it was stored in the fiberboard along with a huge amount of other facts.

This means that the information that the policeman owns is obtained by him from perception, CWP and DWP. In addition, we can conclude that he was a thinking person, since all this information was presented to him in the form of some scheme that "made sense."

Imagination

In order to answer the question, the policeman built a mental image of the environment. This mental image took the form of a cognitive map: i.e. a kind of mental representation for many buildings, streets, road signs, traffic lights, etc. He was able to extract meaningful features from this cognitive map, arrange them in a meaningful sequence, and transform these images into linguistic information that would allow the driver to build a similar cognitive map. This rebuilt cognitive map would then give the driver an intelligible picture of the city, which could then be translated into the act of driving a car along a specific route.<…>.

Language

To correctly answer the question, the policeman needed extensive knowledge of the language. This implies knowing the correct names for landmarks and, just as importantly, knowing the syntax of the language—i.e. rules for the arrangement of words and relationships between them. Here it is important to recognize that the given word sequences may not satisfy the pedantic professor of philology, but at the same time they convey a message. Almost every sentence contains significant grammatical rules. The policeman did not say: "them well, this is the economic one"; he said: "Well, it's in their household," and we can all understand what is meant. In addition to constructing grammatically correct sentences and selecting appropriate words from his vocabulary, the police officer had to coordinate the complex motor responses needed to deliver his message.

Developmental psychology

This is another area of cognitive psychology that has been studied extensively. Recently published theories and experiments in cognitive developmental psychology have greatly expanded our understanding of how cognitive structures develop. In our case, we can only conclude that the speakers are united by such developmental experience that allows them to (more or less) understand each other.<…>.

Thinking and concept formation

Throughout our episode, the policeman and the driver show the ability to think and form concepts. When the policeman was asked how to get to Pay-Pack, he answered after some intermediate steps; the policeman's question "Do you know where the circus is?" shows that if the driver knew this landmark, then he could easily be directed to Pay-Pack. But since he didn't know, the policeman worked out another plan to answer the question. Also, the cop was obviously taken aback when the driver told him that the University Motel had a wonderful library. Motels and libraries are usually incompatible categories, and a police officer who knew this as well as you might ask: “What kind of motel is this!” Finally, his use of certain words (such as "railway crossing", "old factory", "iron fence") indicates that he had formed concepts close to those that the driver had.

human intelligence

Both the policeman and the driver had some assumptions about each other's intelligence. These assumptions included, but were not limited to, the ability to understand ordinary language, follow instructions, convert verbal descriptions into actions, and behave according to the laws of one's culture.<…>.

Artificial intelligence

In our example, there is no direct connection to computer science; however, a special field of computer science called "Artificial Intelligence" (AI) and aimed at modeling human cognitive processes has had a huge impact on the development of cognitive science - especially since artificial intelligence computer programs required knowledge of how we process information . Relevant and quite exciting topic<…>raises the question of whether a "perfect robot" can mimic human behavior. Imagine, for example, a kind of super-robot that has mastered all the human abilities associated with perception, memory, thinking and language. How would he answer the driver's question? If the robot were identical to a human, then its answers would be identical, but imagine the difficulties of designing a program that would make a mistake - just like the policeman did ("you are turning left") - and then, noticing this error, corrected would her ("no, to the right")<…>.

Revival of cognitive psychology

Beginning in the late 1950s, the interests of scientists again focused on attention, memory, pattern recognition, patterns, semantic organization, language processes, thinking, and other "cognitive" topics once considered uninteresting by experimental psychology under the pressure of behaviorism. As psychologists increasingly turned towards cognitive psychology, new journals and scientific groups were organized, and cognitive psychology became even more established, it became clear that this branch of psychology was very different from the one that was in vogue in the 30s and 40s. Among the most important factors behind this neocognitive revolution were:

The "failure" of behaviorism. Behaviorism, which has generally studied external responses to stimuli, has failed to explain the diversity of human behavior. It thus became clear that the internal mental processes, indirectly related to immediate stimuli, affect behavior. Some thought that these internal processes could be defined and included in a general theory of cognitive psychology.

The emergence of communication theory. Communication theory has spurred experiments in signal detection, attention, cybernetics, and information theory—i.e. in areas essential to cognitive psychology.

Modern linguistics. The range of issues related to cognition included new approaches to language and grammatical structures.

Studying memory. Research on verbal learning and semantic organization has provided a solid foundation for theories of memory, leading to the development of models of memory systems and testable models of other cognitive processes.

Computer Science and Other Technological Advances. Computer science, and especially one of its branches - artificial intelligence (AI) - forced us to reconsider the basic postulates regarding the processing and storage of information in memory, as well as language learning. New devices for experiments have greatly expanded the possibilities of researchers.

From early concepts of knowledge representation to latest research knowledge was thought to rely heavily on sensory inputs. This topic has come down to us from Greek philosophers and through Renaissance scientists to modern cognitive psychologists. But are the internal representations of the world identical to its physical properties? There is growing evidence that many internal representations of reality are not the same as external reality itself—i.e. they are not isomorphic. Tolman's work with laboratory animals suggests that sensory information is stored as abstract representations.

The representation of information in memory is not an exact reproduction real life; in fact, it is a combination of information, inferences and reconstructions based on knowledge about buildings and the world in general. It is important to note that when the students were pointed out the mistake, they were all very surprised at what they themselves drew.

In these examples, we have become acquainted with an important principle of cognitive psychology. Most obviously, our ideas about the world are not necessarily identical to its actual essence. Of course, the representation of information is related to the stimuli that our sensory apparatus receives, but it also undergoes significant changes. These changes or modifications are obviously related to our past experiences, which have resulted in a rich and complex web of our knowledge. Thus, the incoming information is abstracted (and distorted to some extent) and then stored in the human memory system. This view by no means denies that some sensory events are directly analogous to their internal representations, but suggests that sensory stimuli can be (and often are) subject to abstraction and modification during storage, which is a function of the rich and intricately intertwined knowledge previously structured.<…>.

The problem of how knowledge is represented in the human mind is one of the most important in cognitive psychology. In this section, we discuss some issues directly related to it. From the many examples already given, and many more to come, it is clear that our internal representation of reality bears some resemblance to external reality, but when we abstract and transform information, we do so in the light of our prior experience.

A scientist can choose a convenient metaphor to build his concepts as elegantly as possible. But another researcher can prove that this model is wrong and demand that it be revised or abandoned altogether. Sometimes a model can be so useful as a working scheme that even though it is imperfect, it finds its support. For example, although cognitive psychology postulates the two types of memory described above—short-term and long-term—there is some evidence<…>that such a dichotomy misrepresents the actual memory system. Nevertheless, this metaphor is quite useful in the analysis of cognitive processes. When a model loses its relevance as an analytical or descriptive tool, it is simply abandoned.<…>.

The emergence of new concepts in the process of observations or experiments is one of the indicators of the development of science. The scientist does not change nature—well, perhaps in a limited sense—but observing nature changes the scientist's understanding of it. And our conceptions of nature, in turn, guide our observations! Cognitive models, like other models of conceptual science, are the consequence of observations, but to a certain extent they are also the determining factor of observations. This question is related to the problem already mentioned: in what form does the observer represent knowledge. As we have seen, there are many cases where the information in the internal representation does not correspond exactly to the external reality. Our internal percept representations can distort reality. " scientific method and precision instruments is one way to bring outer reality into more precise consideration. In fact, there is no end to attempts to represent the observed in nature in the form of such cognitive constructions that would be accurate representations of nature and at the same time compatible with the common sense and understanding of the observer.<…>

The logic of conceptual science can be illustrated by the development of the natural sciences. It is generally accepted that matter consists of elements that exist independently of their direct observation by man. However, how these elements are classified has a huge impact on how scientists perceive the physical world. In one of the classifications, the "elements" of the world are divided into the categories "earth", "air", "fire" and "water". When this archaic alchemical taxonomy gave way to a more critical view, elements such as oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, sodium, and gold were "discovered" and it then became possible to study the properties of the elements when they were combined with each other. Hundreds of different laws have been discovered regarding the properties of compounds of these elements. Since the elements apparently entered into compounds in an orderly manner, the idea arose that the elements could be arranged in a certain pattern that would give meaning to the disparate laws of atomic chemistry. The Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev took a set of cards and wrote on them the names and atomic weights of all the elements then known, one on each. Arranging these cards this way and that over and over again, he finally came up with a meaningful diagram, known today as the periodic table of elements.

Nature—including the cognitive nature of man—objectively exists. Conceptual science is built by man and for man. The concepts and models constructed by scientists are metaphors that reflect the “real” nature of the universe and are exclusively human creations. They are a product of thought that can reflect reality.

What he did is a fitting example of how natural information is structured by human thought so that it both accurately portrays nature and is understandable. It is important, however, to remember that the periodic arrangement of the elements has had many interpretations. Mendeleev's interpretation was not the only possible one; perhaps she was not even the best; it might not even have a natural arrangement of elements, but the version proposed by Mendeleev helped to understand part of the physical world and was obviously compatible with “real” nature.

Conceptual cognitive psychology has much in common with the problem that Mendeleev solved. Raw observation of how knowledge is acquired, stored and used lacks a formal structure. The cognitive sciences, like the natural sciences, need schemas that are both intellectually compatible and scientifically valid at the same time.

Cognitive Models

As we have said, the conceptual sciences, including cognitive psychology, are metaphorical in nature. Models of natural phenomena, in particular, cognitive models, are auxiliary abstract ideas derived from inferences based on observations. The structure of the elements can be represented in the form of a periodic table, as Mendeleev did, but it is important not to forget that this classification scheme is a metaphor. And the claim that conceptual science is metaphorical does not diminish its usefulness in the least. Indeed, one of the challenges of model building is to better comprehend what is being observed. But conceptual science is needed for something else: it gives the researcher a certain scheme within which specific hypotheses can be tested and which allows him to predict events based on this model. The periodic table served both of these tasks very elegantly. Based on the arrangement of the elements in it, scientists could accurately predict the chemical laws of combination and substitution, instead of conducting endless and messy experiments with chemical reactions. Moreover, it became possible to predict yet undiscovered elements and their properties in the complete absence of physical evidence of their existence. And if you're into cognitive models, don't forget the analogy with Mendeleev's model, because cognitive models, like models in the natural sciences, are based on the logic of inference and are useful for understanding cognitive psychology.

In short, models are based on inferences drawn from observations. Their task is to provide an intelligible representation of the nature of what is observed and to help make predictions when developing hypotheses. Now consider several models used in cognitive psychology.

Let's start the discussion of cognitive models with a rather rough version, which divided all cognitive processes into three parts: stimulus detection, stimulus storage and transformation, and response generation:

This rather dry model, close to the S-R model mentioned earlier, was often used in one form or another in the previous ideas about mental processes. And although it reflects the main stages in the development of cognitive psychology, it is so few in detail that it is hardly capable of enriching our "understanding" of cognitive processes. It is also unable to generate any new hypotheses or predict behavior. This primitive model is analogous to the ancient concept of the universe as consisting of earth, water, fire and air. Such a system does represent one possible view of cognitive phenomena, but it misrepresents their complexity.

One of the first and most frequently cited cognitive models concerns memory. In 1890, James expanded the concept of memory, dividing it into "primary" and "secondary" memory. He assumed that primary memory deals with past events, while secondary memory deals with permanent, "indestructible" traces of experience. This model looked like this:

Later, in 1965, Waugh and Norman proposed new version the same model and it turned out that it is largely acceptable. It is understandable, it can serve as a source of hypotheses and predictions, but it is also too simplistic. Can it be used to describe all the processes of human memory? Hardly; and the development of more complex models was inevitable. A modified and supplemented version of the Waugh and Norman model is shown in Fig. 2. Note that a new storage system and several new information paths have been added to it. But even this model is incomplete and needs to be expanded.

Over the past decade, building cognitive models has become a favorite pastime of psychologists, and some of their creations are truly magnificent. Usually the problem of overly simple models is solved by adding one more "block", one more information path, one more storage system, one more element worth checking and analyzing. Such creative efforts seem well justified in light of what we now know about the richness of the human cognitive system.

Now you can conclude that the invention of models in cognitive psychology has gone out of control like a wizard's apprentice. This is not entirely true, because this is such a vast task - i.e. an analysis of how information is found, appears to be transformed into knowledge, and how that knowledge is used—that no matter how much we limit our conceptual metaphors to simplified models, we still fail to explain in an exhaustive way the entire complex field of cognitive psychology<…>.

One can, of course, argue that this sequence of transformations begins with the knowledge of the subject about the world, which allows him to selectively direct attention to certain aspects of visual stimuli and ignore other aspects. So, in the above example, the policeman describes the road to the driver, focusing mainly on where the driver will have to pass, and does not pay attention (at least actively) to other signs: houses, pedestrians, the sun, and other landmarks.

“So for example, the policeman had to remember for a while that the driver was looking for Pay-Pack, that he knew where the exhibition was located, and even (at least until the end of his question “Which motel are you staying at?”) that the driver is staying at a motel.Similarly, the driver must remember for a while that there are two Pay-Pack stores (if only to answer that he needs the one that sells plumbing); that the policeman asked him if he knows whether he was where the Expo was, that he needed to drive past the old mill, etc.

A number of theorists are of the opinion that some structures, such as language structures, are universal and innate.

For Solso, conceptual science is a science whose subject matter is concepts and theoretical constructions, and not physical nature, as in the natural sciences. The concept of conceptual science is narrower than that of the humanities, which include psychology, philosophy, sociology, history, and so on. Conceptual science most closely corresponds to our term "methodology of science", science of science. — Approx. Ed.

Some philosophers argue that conceptual science and cognitive models are predictable on the grounds that nature is structured and the role of the scientist is precisely to discover the "deepest" structure. I would not subscribe to such a statement.

Preface to the Russian edition

Foreword

Chapter 1 Introduction

Information approach
The field of cognitive psychology
Perception
Pattern recognition
Attention
Memory
Imagination
Developmental psychology
Thinking and concept formation
human intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Background of modern cognitive psychology
Representation of knowledge: ancient period
Representation of Knowledge: Medieval Period
Representation of Knowledge: Early Twentieth Century
Revival of cognitive psychology
Conceptual Sciences and Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Models

PART ONE Sensory Detection and Interpretation

Chapter 2. Sensor Signal Detection

Feeling and Perception
Threshold
Signal Detection Theory
Observer and Threshold Concept
Communication theory and information theory
Scope of perception
Iconic storage
Effect of Instruction Delay on Playback
Capacity
Icons and iconoclasts
Echoic storage
Functions of sensory stores

Chapter 3 Pattern Recognition

Approaches to visual pattern recognition
Gestalt principles
Principles of information processing: "bottom-up" and "top-down"
Comparison with the standard
Detailed analysis
prototype comparison
The Role of the Observer in Pattern Recognition

Chapter 4

Consciousness
Consciousness and specificity of the hemispheres
Throughput and selectivity of attention
auditory cues
visual cues
Models of selective attention
Model with filtration (Broadbent)
Divider model (Treisman)
Relevance Model (Deutsch/Norman)
Assessment of Attention Patterns
Arousal and attention
Arousal and attention in the context of activity
Management and attention
Automatic processing

PART TWO Memory

Chapter 5 Memory Models

Short story
The structure of memory
Two memory stores
The place of memory in the cognitive sphere
Memory Models
Waugh and Norman model
Atkinson and Shifrin model
Playback Levels (UV)
Processing Levels (TOs)
Self reference effect (EOS)
Episodic and semantic memory, according to Tulving

Chapter 6. Memory: Structures and Processes

short term memory
KVP volume
Coding information in KVP
Reproduction of information from KVP
long term memory
Fiberboard: structure and storage
Super Long Term Memory (LTL)
Forgetting

Chapter 7. Semantic organization of memory

Theories of semantic organization
cluster model
group model
network models
Associationism and its development
Free reproduction: clusters, according to Busfield
Organizational Variables (Bauer)
Cognitive models of semantic memory
Group Models
Model of comparative semantic features
network models
Propositional networks
Elinor (ELINOR)

PART THREE Mnemonics and Imagery

Chapter 8

Mnemonic systems
Placement method
hanger word system
Method keywords
Organizing Charts
Playing numbers
Name reproduction
Word reproduction
Mnemonics ability
Organization
mediation
Prominent mnemonists
Gregor von Feynegl
"S." (S.D. Shereshevsky)
"V.P."
Other

Chapter 9

Historical overview
Quantification
cognitive approach
Double encoding hypothesis
Conceptual-propositional hypothesis
Functional equivalence
Radical Image Theory
Against mental images

PART FOUR Language and the development of cognition

Chapter 10. Language, section: words and reading

Early writing systems
Scope of perception
Tachistoscopic presentation of letters and words
Word processing
Information theory
Word frequency familiarity and word recognition
Context influence
Word recognition
Morton's logo
Lexical tasks
Spelling and intent
Understanding
Knowledge and understanding of the text
Soap Opera and Thieves
Model of understanding, according to Kinch
Propositional representation of text and reading

Chapter 11. Language, Section: Structure and Abstractions

Linguistic hierarchy
Phonemes Morphemes
Syntax
Grammar of transformations
Psycholinguistic aspects
Innate abilities and environmental influences
Hypothesis of linguistic relativity
Abstracting linguistic ideas
Encoding and forgetting "natural" language
Non-verbal abstraction
Music syntax
"Language" of movement

Chapter 12 Cognitive Development

Assimilation and accommodation: Jean Piaget
General principles
sensorimotor stage
Preoperative stage (from to years)
Stage of specific operations (from to years)
Formal Operations Stage (Adolescence and Adulthood)
Criticism of Piaget's views
Mind in Society: Lev Vygotsky
Vygotsky and Piaget
Development of thinking and internalization of speech
Information approach
Development of Information Acquisition Skills
Short-term (working) memory
"Higher order" cognition in children
Prototyping in children

PART FIVE Thinking and intelligence - natural and artificial

Chapter 13

Thinking
Concept formation
Examples of conceptual tasks
Mastering the rules
Association
Hypothesis testing
Logics
formal thinking
Making decisions
Inductive reasoning
Probability Estimation
Solution Framework
Representativeness
Animal Behavior Study
Bayes' theorem and decision making
Decision making and rationality
Ethnic aspects of thinking
formal thinking
Making decisions

Chapter 14

Problem solving
Artificial intelligence (AI) and problem solving
Internal representation and problem solving
Creation
creative process
Creativity Analysis
human intelligence
Definition problem
Factor analysis of intelligence
Cognitive theories of intelligence

Chapter 15

Origins of artificial intelligence
Machines and Mind: "Imitation Game" and "Chinese Room"
"Simulation Game" or "Turing Test"
"Chinese room"
Refutation of the Chinese Room
What kind of computer is a person?
Perception and artificial intelligence
Line Recognition
Pattern recognition
Recognition complex figures
"Qualified" visual perception in machines
Memory and artificial intelligence
Passive memory systems
Active memory systems
Language and artificial intelligence
Problem solving and artificial intelligence
computer chess
URZ - Universal Problem Solver
Robots

Appendix: from the latest edition

Glossary of terms

Subject index

Literature

Additional literature in Russian

Foreword

Students

Those of us who have studied cognitive psychology for more than 10 years have seen many exciting new developments. Some of them were carried out by means of a whole series of highly sophisticated computers and other devices, which greatly accelerated our study of the properties of human thinking. And some of these advances are due to ingenious experimental techniques and bold theories that have brought our quest closer to understanding how we humans perceive, remember, and think. It was an amazing time to study cognitive psychology. But as impressive as recent achievements may be, it may well be that "the best is yet to come"!

It is my hope that in this book you will be able to learn what paths we took as cognitive psychologists; I hope that it accurately presents the best ideas, theories and experiments; that it will prepare you to achieve new successes. Some students may choose to work in cognitive psychology, and I would be touched if this book encourages you to continue the work we have started. Finally, I'm interested in your opinion on this book, and I'll be glad to receive your feedback and comments.

Teachers

Contemplating a revision of the 1979 edition of my Cognitive Psychology; I initially thought that this task would be less difficult than writing the original book. But over the past decade, many creatively designed experiments have been published, and the field of cognitive psychology itself has changed in many ways. What was planned as a minor revision of the 1979 edition proved to be a difficult task.

In this edition, I have tried to retain the best of the previous edition while adding new material, and to shift the focus of the book to reflect the changes that have taken place in this area. Three features of the original edition have not changed. First of all, it was important for me to keep its comprehensive character. As the scope of cognitive psychology and its related fields expanded, this task proved to be more difficult than I had originally imagined. I have tried to present research and "mainstream" ideas, but I have had to deviate here and there on topics of particular interest. Although there is a need for specialized books written "from a particular point of view," I believe that many educators will welcome a comprehensive book on cognitive psychology: few authors have undertaken to write one. Second, most chapters begin with overview devoted to the background of the issue. I believe that "in a field as rapidly changing as cognitive psychology, it will be important for students to know a bit of the history of each subject so that they can understand the new material in the context of past events. And thirdly, as in the first edition, the material is presented from a perspective information approach.

In some respects this edition differs significantly. First, the material is organized differently. In the First Edition, the chapters were divided into three sections. There are five sections in this edition: "Detection and interpretation of sensory signals", "Memory", "Mnemonics and images", "Language and development of knowledge" and "Thinking and intelligence - natural and artificial". Second, the last topic, called "higher-order knowledge" in the First Edition, has been greatly expanded to include two chapters on thinking to reflect developments in this area. Two leading sections on decision making and human intelligence have also been added here (Part V). Thirdly, the already extensive list of references was replenished with hundreds of new articles, and some publications that lost their relevance were excluded. Finally, some didactic changes were made. Each chapter is preceded summary of its content, and ends each chapter with a strict summary, a list of key terms and recommended reading. A much-needed glossary of terms has also been added. These changes have been requested by students and I think they will increase the usefulness of this book as a teaching aid.

In writing a comprehensive book on cognitive psychology, I tried to make it attractive to those teachers who, when compiling courses of one semester, prefer to choose their favorite topics. You can, of course, include all 15 chapters in one course, but most teachers told me that they choose just some chapters. I tried to write in such a way that I could omit some chapters without losing the integrity of the book.

Many have contributed to this book, and I am pleased to recall them here. I have been greatly helped by the comments of many students who have used this book in my classes and around the world. Feedback from them was absolutely necessary, and I would like to thank each of them individually, but then the book would have been much longer! My colleagues and assistants from such remote places as Moscow State University (USSR) and the University of St. Idaho (in Moscow, Idaho); University of London at Oxford, Lands University in Sweden; Stanford University and the University of Nevada-Reno have all provided helpful support for this book. Richard Griggs of the University of Florida; Ronald Hopkins of Washington State University; Joseph Philbrick of California State Polytechnic University; William A. Johnston of the University of Utah; Keith Rayner of the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Albrecht Inhoff of the University of New Hampshire and Arnold D. Well of the University of Massachusetts Amherst drafted this book and provided subtle comments. In addition, the early reviewers also had an impact, and I thank them all. Mike Freed has been hard at work on the teaching guide, and Tom Harrington has been the confidante for some of my fanciest ideas and the source of many more. I want to remember one person in particular. Ruth Condray of the University of Nevada-Reno assisted me practically every step of the way in the preparation of the Second Edition, providing in-depth manuscript critiques, drafting summaries and glossaries, and encouraging me to complete "our" book. I thank you all and express my gratitude.

Robert L. Solso

University of Nevada-Reno

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT (FROM THE TRANSLATION EDITORS)

Cognitive psychology in the context of Psychology

Psychology is not unitary. Diversity makes it stable, endless, indestructible and attractive. This is taught by the experience of its history, and the current state. But just as indestructible is the desire of many scientists, trends, theories and scientific schools to unitarity, to the search for a single principle on the basis of which it would be possible to explain all the richness of a person's spiritual life. Psychologically, such ambitions are quite understandable: the soldier who does not want to become a general is bad. But from a historical point of view, they are, to put it mildly, unjustified. In the memory of the not so long history of psychology (counting after its autonomization from philosophy), the principles of association, gestalt, reflex, reaction, behavior, activity, consciousness, attitude, etc., succeeded each other. The advancement of each of them was accompanied by the development of an appropriate methodology and experimental research methods, with the help of which scientific knowledge was incremented and more and more new facts were obtained, to one degree or another characterizing mental life. Over time, the explanatory power of the principle evaporated, and the methods and facts remained in the arsenal of psychology. Explanatory schemes were also preserved, but not as universal ones, but as private ones, which are quite good in their place. We cannot say that this process is over. It continues, as, indeed, very instructive attempts continue to define the essence of man in monosyllables: homo habilis, homo faber, homo sapiens, thinking reed, homo humanus, homo sovieticus, etc. The ambitiousness that accompanied, for example, the development of the activity principle (or the activity approach, the psychological theory of activity) in Russia does not subside. And in the West, the so-called humanistic psychology arose and is developing just as ambitiously - one might think that before it all psychology was non-humanistic (or anti-humanistic?!). In the same way, the psychology that existed before the proposition of the principle of activity does not in any way deserve to be called "non-active" or "inactive". By the way, the remarkable Russian philosopher V.F. Asmus found a kind of prolegomena for activity psychology not at all in Marx, but in M.Yu. Lermontov. Cognitive psychology has its origins in the Cartesian principle of cogito ergo sum. Strictly speaking, the first experimental studies of memory by G. Ebbinghaus can be attributed to cognitive psychology. And in the field of the psychology of thinking, there is a lot of much "more cognitive" research than in cognitive psychology. The point is not in the name, but in the fact, the reality of the fact that almost four decades ago D. Sperling conducted remarkable studies of iconic memory, found an explanation for a number of paradoxes long known to psychologists, and this laid the foundation for one of the most powerful and influential areas not only in psychology, but and science in general. Today there is not only cognitive psychology, but cognitive science. As for the name, it is useless to argue with the language: it lives by its own laws, but any name is useful to accept cum grana sails. In new scientific directions and theories, it is not so much the name, not even the conceptual apparatus that is used, that is interesting, but the field of meanings and meanings formed or generated by them. It is important what is the ratio of conservative and dynamic knowledge, methods, the ratio of formal and living knowledge. Are there living metaphors in theory, each of which is worth a dozen dead concepts. Far from all applicants for a theory have living knowledge and living metaphors, although they determine the explanatory potential or the zone of its proximal development. Looking ahead, let's say that the explanatory potential and the zone of proximal development in cognitive psychology are quite large. For all the internationality of psychology as such, cognitive psychology provides a good opportunity to comment on the differences between American, European and Russian science. Americans start with facts, with givens, and through thousands of studies, slowly move towards concepts and theories. Europeans start with concepts and theories and go to the facts, to the given. Despite mutually ironic relations, Americans and Europeans meet somewhere in the middle and in the end bring things to perfection, operationalize or, as they used to say in the USSR, "introduce scientific achievements into practice." In Russia, they start with the meaning - they really reveal it, then they abandon it, referring to a misunderstanding or "objective difficulties", the lack of which this country has never experienced. If this ajar meaning reaches the West (which most often happens with a long delay, which will decrease when it is brought on a "philosophical ship" or on the next wave of emigration), then the West brings it to mind, to the point. So it was, for example, with the idea of L.S. Vygotsky about the zone of proximal development and with many other ideas of Vygotsky, Luria, Bakhtin, Bernstein. There are still many discoveries ahead of Western scientists. Today, for example, they have a growing interest in the works of G.G. Shpet on psychology, linguistics, aesthetics... The book by Robert Solso, the translation of which is offered to the Russian-speaking reader, is an excellent example of the American way of psychological thought - clear as the eyes of a baby; high as the sky; simple as life; practical, like any American. The author gave the book a dual focus. On the one hand, it is a fascinating tutorial for students studying psychology and its various applications. On the other hand, it contains an analysis of a wide range of problems and prospects of psychological science, which is of great interest not only to psychologists. Translated into Russian, the term "cognitive" means "cognitive". Cognitive psychology is the psychology of cognitive processes (sensation, perception, attention, memory, thinking). However, we have retained the English sound, not only because it is already established, but also for two other reasons. Firstly, the allocation of cognitive processes to a special group of psychological phenomena is recognized by many as unsatisfactory, since it has turned from a didactic device into a theoretical dogma that prevents one from seeing the cognitive content in other (besides those mentioned) mental acts (for example, in objective executive actions, in aesthetic experiences). ). Secondly, in the context of the history of American psychology, the term "cognitive" has an additional meaning that is absent in the European sense of the word. The fact is that cognitive psychology in the United States appeared and developed as an alternative to behaviorism, which dominated American psychology for decades and was based at its inception mainly on empirical observations and experiments on lower animals. Orthodox behaviorism excluded the category of the mental from its lexicon, confining itself to the analysis of external stimuli and response motor reactions. The adjective "cognitive" is a vaccine against exclusively behavioral and reflexological interpretations of mental life. R. Solso talks about all this, analyzing the origins of the "cognitive revolution". Note that the Americans did not have any revolution in our understanding of this word (with subversive criticism, ethical and unethical accusations, noisy campaign, decisions of academic councils and other administrative measures). Scientists who disagreed with behaviorism worked quietly and peacefully, and in 1967. W. Neisser's book "Cognitive Psychology" appeared, which gave its name to a new direction of psychological thought. So behaviorism - with or without the addition of neo- or without it - has not died and periodically, but already on a par with other currents, makes itself felt. When analyzing the historical conditions that prepared the emergence of cognitive psychology, the fact that this was preceded by an intensive development of work on measuring the reaction time of a person, when he, in response to incoming signals, must press the corresponding button as soon as possible, remains in the shade. Such measurements were carried out a long time ago, even in the laboratories of W. Wundt. But now they have taken on a different meaning. A simple experimental paradigm with the measurement of reaction time turned out to be a very fruitful model of one of the types of operator activity in the management of automated systems. Therefore, there were no problems in financing these works, and they literally filled the vast psychological space of the United States. The situation with measuring the reaction time makes it possible to analyze the complex processes that occur in the higher instances of the brain (a kind of "central processor") when the sensory signals are "switched" to the motor commands that control the motor response. It is not by chance that we put quotation marks: we can talk about switching here only in the most abstract sense, without delving into the details of this process. In reality, the situation is much more complicated, and this was brilliantly demonstrated in the works of F. Donders, P. Fitts, W. Hick, D. Hyman, R. Effron and many other authors. With a quick response, a person's action, starting from the perception of the input signal and ending with the motor response at the output, lasts a few tenths or even thousandths of a second. And what happens in the "central processing unit" is described on several pages of text. The objectivity of the analysis was ensured by the use of elements of communication theory, in particular, the entropy measure according to Shannon, to estimate the amount of information contained in the sequence of signals. The accuracy of measurements and a variety of situations were created through the use of electronic devices and elements of computer technology. In addition to a number of laws that have already become classical, establishing a relationship between the amount of transmitted information and response time, fundamental facts were discovered that indicate a significant influence of subjective factors on the operation of the "central processor". It is not only about the expectation of a signal, attitudes and functional states of a person, but also about his complex work to extract the "hidden" information contained in the sequence of events. In the context of these works, the term "subjective probability" appeared, and the terms "conditional" and "unconditional" probabilities acquired an additional psychological meaning. The most important psychological factor was the "importance" of the input signal, which imposes significant restrictions on the operation of the laws of information transmission through "communication channels" in living systems. Against the backdrop of a huge amount of experimental material on the measurement of reaction time and its versatile interpretation, reflecting different and sometimes opposite points of view not only of psychologists, but also of engineers (suffice it to recall a long discussion about the one-channel nature of a human operator), the behaviorist postulate of a direct and immediate connection between stimulus and reaction has lost all appeal. On the contrary, the initially very successful experience of applying the methods of information theory to the analysis of subjective phenomena attracted the attention of many American psychologists to the category and reality of the mental. It is impossible to avoid one more undeservedly forgotten circumstance that preceded the emergence of cognitive psychology and somehow influenced the formation of its "outward appearance". Really, feature The scientific product of the cognitivists is its visible and strict outlines in the form of geometric figures, or models. They are extraordinarily beautiful (look through R. Solso's book), and if you read the comments that accompany them, they are very convincing. They always take you somewhere further, into the depths of the sea of 'science, because in almost every model there is still a little or completely unexplored element, which contains " main secret ". These models consist of blocks (R. Solso often has the expression "boxes in the head"), each of which performs a strictly defined function. The links between the blocks indicate the path of information from the input to the output of the model. Representation of the operation of some mechanism or functional device (not necessarily real, but also hypothetical) in the form of such a model was borrowed by cognitive scientists from engineers, in particular, from the then well-developed theory and practice of automatic control systems, or servo systems. models, often (and not without reason) accompanying them with the adjective "hypothetical". But the first experience of applying the methods of the theory of automatic regulation to the analysis of human activity was obtained even before the formation of cognitive psychology in an independent direction, almost simultaneously with the work on measuring reaction time. on the activities of a human operator of semi-automatic eating systems. The person was included in the system, for the analysis of which a well-developed mathematical apparatus was used, including geometric modeling. It seemed quite natural to use this apparatus in relation to the human link, for the analysis of the work of which under these conditions there was no apparatus at all compatible with mathematical models. In the brilliant works of D. Adams and Poulton, devoted to the activity of a human operator in tracking systems, purely psychological problems were solved that did not have a strictly mathematical design (this, of course, does not apply to methods for measuring objective results of activity, the mathematical equipment of which was very impressive). The engineers E. Krendel and D. McRuhr were the first to start filling the vacuum. Having decomposed a motor act into a series of operations with well-defined parameters (the number of operations and the number of parameters continue to increase to this day), they showed how the transfer functions of a human operator can be calculated under various tracking conditions. (Somewhat later, the transfer function method was first applied by Campbell and Robson to the analysis of visual perception.) Models of the human operator grew like mushrooms after rain. Articles on tracking were flooded into almost every psychological journal. There was even a special magazine Perseptual and motor skills (Perceptual and motor skills), half (as its name suggests) devoted to this topic. The human operator was depicted in the form of a block diagram (with numerous options for each specific case), similar to a typical block diagram of a tracking system. Many engineers, having barely heard about the existence of man, began to build his models. Cognitivists borrowed only the geometric method of representing their knowledge, leaving aside exercises with transfer functions. To study the behavior of the servo system, a set of standard signals is used. Among them, the most common are sinusoidal oscillations and short pulses (single or sequential). The same signals (meaning only their form) are also used in experimental psychology. An analogue of a rectangular pulse is a short exposure of a test image presented to an observer using a tachistoscope (R. Solso gives a detailed description of the tachistoscopy technique). Previously, the tachistoscope was used mainly in studies of visual perception. With the development of electronic technology and especially computer technology, the ability to manipulate the nature of the presented images and their temporal dynamics has expanded significantly. This made it possible to apply the method of tachistoscopy in research short term memory , thinking, attention - the main fiefdoms of cognitive psychology. The emergence of new technology created a new visual environment for a person, gave new material for his intellectual activity, and all this was amenable to quantitative assessment and precise manipulation. The time scale of both the real labor activity of a person and the experimental procedures used to study it has also changed significantly. It was necessary to perceive faster and more, think faster, make decisions faster and respond faster with responses. Apparently, therefore, the element of cognitivists is the millisecond range of time. Measurements of the reaction time have already shown that infinity opens up in a short instant. The very first experiments with which cognitive psychology began confirmed this even more. It seemed that all human intellectual resources were concentrated in a small quantum of time. And the intellect itself has moved from its traditional location in the brain closer to the periphery (see R. Solso on sensory registers, iconic memory). It must be said frankly that European, especially Soviet psychologists, who were accustomed to lengthy, often exhausting experimental procedures, were very distrustful and skeptical about the first successes of cognitive psychologists. There were reproaches of excessive analyticity, mechanism and reductionism. The main shortcoming of the information approach (the main method of cognitivists) was considered the principle of sequential processing of information, although this reproach should be more likely to be attributed to the analysis apparatus used than to its ultimate goals. Nevertheless, at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow University there were enthusiasts who not only picked up a new direction, but also significantly expanded the scope of its existence (see, for example, the works of V.P. Zinchenko together with the staff of the Department of Engineering Psychology G.G. Vuchetich, N. D. Gordeeva, A. B. Leonova, A. I. Nazarov, S. K. Sergienko, Y. K. Strelkov, G. N. Solntseva, etc.). Now it has become obvious that the main achievement of cognitive psychology was the development of experimental methods for studying the microstructure and microdynamics of mental processes, without knowledge of which any version of the macrostructure of the mental looks speculative and unconvincing. Cognitive psychology is no longer a purely American phenomenon. Its ideas and methods are spread all over the world and, interacting with other national traditions, give new shoots. Thus, the microstructural and microdynamic analysis of action, developed in our country, was the result of a symbiosis of the physiology of activity, activity and cognitive paradigms in the study of motor skills. Thanks to this, the micro- and macrostructure of action began to be considered not as separate entities, the study of which requires fundamentally different and incompatible approaches, but as attributes of a single whole that forms the essence of the intrapsychic. Cognitive psychology is changing and developing under the influence of European ideas. In this book, perhaps for the first time in the context of cognitive psychology, an exposition of the main provisions of the theories of J. Piaget and L.S. Vygotsky and their connection with cognitive methodology is outlined. (Of course, even outside this context, these theories are widely known to American psychologists.) W. Neisser's book "Cognition and Reality" contains a critical analysis of the state of cognitive psychology and outlines its prospects, largely consonant with the activity approach. Of course, in the oncoming movement of American and European traditions, not everything is simple and smooth. The expansion of the subject area of cognitive psychology (it has already reached the problems of artificial intelligence) will sooner or later lead to the question of the adequacy of the information approach for studying the interaction of micro- and macrostructures. Apparently, here we should talk not so much about the inapplicability of the informational approach in general, but about the boundaries of its action (powers) on the territory of the mental. In cognitive models, the continuity of information transformations from the input to the output of the system is assumed, just as it takes place in technology: passing through various blocks in succession, the electrical signal changes its parameters, acquiring the required form at the output. Everything is very simple here: the units of the system communicate with each other in the same language - the language of electrical signals. But electrical signals are not the language of movements, just as they are not the language of thinking, attention, emotions. In various subsystems of intelligence, there are different languages. This important fact was reflected in only one model proposed by N.A. Bernstein, - models of the servomechanism of a motor act. It has a special block for transcoding sensory corrections into muscle commands. And this is an analogue of the translation of information from one language to another. ON THE. Bernstein directly and with reasonable caution said that now (this was in the early 60s) nothing can be said about the operation of the recoding unit, postponing this decision for the future. It seems, however, that the future has forgotten this. Is it because its inhabitants have ceased to be polyglots even in their own thinking? The current enthusiasm of the scientific community (not only psychological) about the long-established fact of the asymmetry of the left and right hemispheres of the brain defies rational explanation. But after all, in addition to words and images, a person has languages of movements, attitudes, actions, gestures, signs, symbols, metaphors, deep semantic structures; There are also metalanguages of meanings. It may be objected: is there any other way of transmitting information in the nervous system, besides electrical signals? Or: can't the transformation of information be considered as a translation from one language to another? As for the first question, according to modern neurophysiological data, the fate electrical impulse transmitted along the nerve depends on the state of the field in which the nerve cell receiving this impulse is located, and the field itself is created by the activity of cell ensembles that have the most diverse configurations and perform the same different functions. There are also neurohumoral pathways for the circulation of information throughout the body. So neither a nerve impulse nor a sequence of impulses can be considered the only information carriers in the central nervous system. But this is the answer for engineers interested in the structure of the "human machine". Proponents of the informational approach stipulate from the very beginning (we also meet with such a reservation in R. Solso's book) that their models are not neural formations, that the blocks are not neural mechanisms, and the connections between the blocks are not neural pathways. Their objection would rather be similar to the second of the questions posed. And it should be answered in the negative. Translation from one language to another does not fundamentally create new information . On the contrary, its task is to convey the content of the original text as completely and accurately as possible. And for this you need to abstract from information (the specific sound or spelling of words) and move on to a system of meanings and meanings. Here we have not a direct transition from one type of information to another (that is, actually recoding), but a transition mediated by diverse actions from information to meanings and meanings, and from them again to information, but in a different form. Simply put, meaning, of course, is rooted in being, but this is not a translation of being into the language of meaning, but the extraction, extraction of meaning from being - if it is present in it. Thus, there is a gap in the information flow, a "gap" filled with meanings and meanings, the latter acting as mediators of information transitions. Here we can talk about information transformations only very abstractly, forgetting or (which happens more often) not knowing about the most important thing - the process of operating with meanings and meanings. The inclusion of operators of meanings and meanings in cognitive models, including the meaning of meanings and comprehension of meanings, is a matter of the future. Engineers have only recently encountered the problems of semantic transformations in connection with the creation of quasi-intelligent systems. And here psychologists were not much ahead, knowing what should not be done, but not knowing how to do what should be done. only partially. We know a lot about the formation of individual concepts and mental actions, about the formation of visual images, about the psychological structure of activity and action, but we know almost nothing about the structure and handling of knowledge in cognitive fields, in fields of meanings, meanings, metaphors that are not reduced to concepts. The vacuum is filled with old formal-logical categories, modified beyond recognition by new names. Cluster model, network model, propositional networks, scripts and procedures, associative models - these are the types of semantic organization models described in detail in R. Solso's book. They may seem new and original only to those who are not familiar with the foundations of formal logic, who have not heard anything about the long-standing discussions about the problem of the relationship between the logical and the psychological in human thinking. Note that the appeal to psychological issues when creating quasi-intellectual systems is necessary not in order to build artificial copies or even analogues of natural intelligence, but in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past in expensive and deceptively tempting developments. Natural and artificial intelligence have only one common boundary - the problems of the triad of knowledge. The solution of these problems in technology and in the humanities will be different, and it cannot be the same due to the difference in the material carriers of both. From this natural inevitability of differences arises a derivative (and not a separate or independent!) problem of interaction between man and technology, and not in its traditional philosophical aspect (as, for example, in N.A. Berdyaev), but in a new aspect of its concrete, technical solutions. This opens up a new field of activity for ergonomics, which has already accumulated experience in solving such problems. Another consideration about cognitive models, which is of fundamental importance, but absent in the work of R. Solso. In these models there are no sources of self-movement of the system of subjective experience. They are built on the postulate of the impact of an external stimulus on sensory registers (a kind of perception carriers). Further, according to W. Neisser, information transformations follow, then even more information transformations, and so on. The model is dead until there is an external stimulus. But this is a step backward even in comparison with the simplest technical devices. Within the framework of such a passive-reflective paradigm, transitions from one form of knowledge representation to another in the system of subjective experience remain inexplicable, driving forces development of this system. Most often, these questions remain outside the scope of the study of cognitive processes. The disadvantage of the passive-reflective paradigm is that there are no paths from the system of subjective experience to two other equally important in human life systems - to the system of consciousness and to the system of activity (the definition of consciousness in R. Solso's terminological dictionary does not withstand any criticism at all, and he first mentioned the influence of activity when presenting the concept of L.S. Vygotsky). Meanwhile, action is by its nature an open system, open not only to the influence of the environment on the organism, but also of the organism to the environment. This system, which is in constant motion and therefore can never be identical to itself. Interaction between the organism and the environment (even informational) cannot occur outside of action. It is in it that a system of object-filled meanings and meanings is formed, which is then reflected in the consciousness of the individual and constitutes his entire subjective world, but not in the form of a dead memory content retrieved by an external request (as in a computer), but in the form of an image of the world (in the sense of A.N. Leontiev), who accumulated in himself the kinetic energy of the action that forms it. The potential energy of the image (eidetic energy or entelechy) is capable of spontaneous emission and transforms into the kinetic energy of a new action. This constant energy exchange is the source of self-movement, self-development of a living organism, without which no external environment is able to bring it out of the state of spiritual death, indifference and emptiness. Spiritual life begins not with the exchange of information, but with the beginning of a cognitive and at the same time passionate, affective, volitional action, which ultimately leads to "smart doing" (not only in the theological sense). When cognitive psychology learns to take into account and investigate all this, it will simply become Psychology - the science of the soul, which is slowly but surely moving towards some self-respecting areas of psychological science. After all, the word Psychology is self-sufficient, it exhaustively characterizes our science. Any adjectives to this word indicate the partiality of scientific directions, certain theories, or the modesty of the claims of their authors (although too many of them are unaware of the latter). The development of cognitive psychology began with the already mentioned study of iconic memory by J. Sperling. Despite the long and unfinished disputes about the mechanisms of the "icon", the very fact of its existence is not in doubt. The methodical technique of partial reproduction according to the post-stimulus instruction showed that the volume of storage is three to four times higher than the volume of reproduction, which has been used to judge the volume of perception, attention, and short-term memory for more than a century. Sperling's research is not the design of some new function (new formation, artifact, arteact, etc.), as it was, for example, in the study of A.N. Leontiev and A.V. Zaporozhets on the formation of the ability for color discrimination by the skin of the palm of the subjects. It is revealing previously unknown possibilities of our memory. Similarly, a scan rate of 100-120 characters per second has been found for both alphabetic and numeric material. Further, we can discuss for a long time whether this is scanning or filtering, but the fact remains. It is easily repeatable, although it seems to the layman that these are paranormal phenomena. Indeed, it is difficult to admit that the presence of a sensory register, iconic memory is the great mnemonist Shereshevsky (described by A.R. Luria), sitting inside each of us. But this absolute memory, fortunately for us, is characterized by a shorter storage time than his. And many such facts have been obtained in a relatively short period of time. Without taking them into account and explaining, the general and experimental psychology in their usual sense. The main achievement of cognitive psychology is the creation of a kind of probes, with the help of which it is possible to probe internal forms of mental activity that are not data for observation and self-observation. After such probing, hypotheses are built about the internal image of its structure or model of cognitive acts, which are then re-tested, and then new models are built. Experimentation in cognitive psychology has acquired an "industrial" character. Consciously or unconsciously, but cognitive psychology did not go along the path of microscopy of motionless spatial architectures, but along the path of microscopy of time, microscopy of the "chronotope" (this is how A.A. Ukhtomsky characterized in 1927 the first achievements of N.A. Bernstein in the field of biomechanics of movements, comparing them with the achievements of Leeuwenhoek and Malpighi). Thus, cognitive psychology has already entered the body of psychology, and no other psychological direction can ignore its achievements. Another thing is explanatory schemes, which in psychological science are always insufficient. What has been said in no way should be taken as criticism of cognitive psychology or the author of the book of the same name. Rather, we should express satisfaction (or compliment) at the fact that R. Solso repeatedly emphasizes the hypothetical, even metaphorical nature of the models proposed by cognitive psychologists. This inspires respect for their authors, and models, models, models... begin to be perceived with greater confidence than words, words, words... And not only because both the exchange and mutual enrichment of cognitive and computer metaphors are gradually taking place. There is also an increase psychological knowledge. Therefore, what has been said in this introductory essay is an anticipation of the problems that cognitive psychology (and psychology in general) will face in the near future, and memories of the testaments that our unforgettable teachers left us.

V.P. Zinchenko A.I. Nazarov

FOREWORD TO THE RUSSIAN EDITION

Twenty years ago, I first came to Russia from Helsinki, and on my way to St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) and Moscow, I stopped for breakfast in Vyborg. Since I had long ago digested this meal, I remembered thinking about the fate that awaited me: I had a rather weak idea of where this excursion would lead me and how long my journey would last. Of course, I did not think that the book on cognitive psychology, which was then only planned, would one day be translated into Russian.

I returned to Russia in 1981 as part of the Fulbright program and taught cognitive psychology at the Moscow State University. By this time, the First Edition of Cognitive Psychology had come out. I used this edition in my class and a small number of copies of this book were distributed in the (then) Soviet Union. I remember more than one case when, upon arrival in a remote town, someone handed me a copy of "Cognitive Psychology" and asked me to sign an autograph on a "precious" book. In each such case, it was I who was honored much more than the happy owner of the book. Staying in Moscow at that time turned out to be very interesting for me and brought great satisfaction, because I saw with my own eyes what life in Russia is like. I lived in the main building of the university on Leninskie Gory, rode the subway, ate and drank with Moscow students and his colleagues, visited Russian apartments and dachas, went to the theater and the opera, took long walks through the parks and streets of many cities and stood in long lines to buy everything needed for existence in this enchanting metropolis. I also managed to get acquainted with Russian culture, literature, music, public life, politics, science and psychology from the perspective of native Russians. Sometimes, it seems to me, I even managed to catch a fleeting glance of the mysterious "Russian soul". This period of wandering was filled with trips to charming towns and villages, where I was always received favorably, if not without some curiosity, by generous and caring colleagues and new friends. I often think about where these friends and colleagues are now and how my lectures and articles have affected their lives. They, of course, influenced me and the way I saw and began to understand the life, culture and science of Russia.

The next year, after completing my teaching duties at Moscow State University, I was again invited to Moscow to the Academy of Sciences, and I spent about six months at the Institute of Psychology - the "Lomov" institute, as it was called. Here again I had the opportunity to get to know Russia first hand and create a new circle of friends and colleagues. My enthusiasm for spreading the word of cognitive science in your country remained indomitable for more than two decades, and when the rights to translate my book "Cognitive Psychology" into Russian were requested, my enthusiasm for this project knew no bounds. In the hands of the most literate people on this planet, such a book can do more than I could do in a dozen of my lifetimes. It was a dream come true.

I express my sincere gratitude to those who worked on this translation. I would like to note the brilliant work of N.Yu. Spomior from the Russian Academy of Education on the translation of the book, as well as the highly professional work of Professor V.P. Zinchenko and Dr. A.I. Nazarov.

Often the author addresses an unknown audience and can only imagine who his readers are and under what circumstances his book is read. This is especially true of translated works published in another country. Soon I hope to visit Russia again and meet face to face with some of those who will read it. And our dialogue will no longer be hindered by political barriers, time and distance, which prevented bilateral communication in the past. So, I invite you to write with your feedback, whether positive or negative, and the circumstances under which you are reading this book.

I am grateful to you for allowing me to enter the temple of your mind and I hope that this book will be another step for us on the long and thorny path to international harmony, wisdom of the mind and personal enlightenment.

Robert L. Solso

Department of Psychology

University of Nevada, Reno

Reno, NV 89557 USA

Email: [email protected]

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Electronic versions of works are intended for use in educational and scientific purposes.

Representatives:

Jean Piaget.

The subject of study.

Dependence of the subject's behavior on cognitive processes.

The task of cognitive psychology was to study the processing of information from the moment it hits the receptor surfaces to the receipt of a response.

Man is not a machine blindly and mechanically reacting to internal factors or events in the outside world, on the contrary, more is available to the human mind: to analyze information about reality, to make comparisons, to make decisions, to solve problems that confront him every minute.

The development of the child's intellect occurs as a result of the constant search for a balance between what the child knows and what he seeks to know.

External actions may be different, as thoughts and feelings were different.

Practice.

Development of training programs designed to develop the intellect and scientific examination of testimony.

Work, analysis, creation of applied theory.

Contribution.

Introduction to the concepts of short-term and long-term memory.

There is an internal variability in personal interpretation schemes actualized in specific situations, which is the reason for inaccurate predictions by people of their own future behavior.

Humanistic psychology.

Representatives:

Opport, Murray, Murphy, May, Maslow, Rogers.

The subject of study.

A unique and inimitable personality, constantly creating himself, realizing his purpose in life.

Studying health harmonious personalities who have reached the pinnacle of personal development, the pinnacle of "self-anualization".

Basic theoretical provisions.

Based on the hierarchy of human needs.

Realization of oneself.

Consciousness of self-worth.

Social needs.

Reliability needs.

Physiological basic needs.

The unsuitability of animal research for human understanding.

Practical use.

Humanistic psychology is a modern trend in psychological science.

There are some tricks and concepts that apply. Today it is:

Basic holistic self-actualizing personality.

Stages of personality degradation.

Search for the meaning of life.

Contribution.

Humanistic psychology opposes the construction of psychology on the model of the natural sciences and proves that a person, even as an object of research, should be studied as an active subject, evaluating the experimental situation and choosing a way of behavior.

Transpersonal psychology.

Representatives:

K.Jung, R.Assagioli, A.Maslow, S.Groff.

The subject of study.

Paying great attention to the unconscious and its dynamics.

The psyche is the interaction of the conscious and unconscious components with a continuous exchange between them.

Transpersonal studies altered states of consciousness experiences of which can lead a person to a change in fundamental values, spiritual rebirth and gaining integrity.

Basic theoretical provisions.

Complexes are a set of mental elements (ideas, opinions, attitudes, beliefs) uniting around some thematic core and associated with certain feelings.

Personality structure:

consciousness

individual unconscious

collective unconscious

Practical use.

Psychological and bodily traumas experienced by a person during life can be forgotten at a conscious level, but are stored in the unconscious sphere of the psyche and affect the development of emotional and psychosomatic disorders.

Sensitive handling of the newborn, resumption of symbiotic interaction with the mother, sufficient time spent establishing the bond are probably the key factors that can neutralize the harm of birth trauma.

The human psyche is essentially commensurate with the entire universe and everything that exists.

Contribution.

The main distinguishing feature of the Trance Approach is the model of the human soul, which recognizes the "Significance of the spiritual and cosmic dimensions and opportunities for the evolution of consciousness."

Cognition(from Latin cognitic - knowledge) is the psychological result of several processes at once, namely perception, learning and thinking. For the first time the term "knowledge" was used in popular English literature in 1602. From it came the name of this branch of psychology.

The process of cognition is engaged in a special branch of psychology - cognitive psychology. As an independent scientific direction, it emerged in the early 1960s. in contrast to the behaviorism that was dominant at that time in the United States. He was unable to describe the simplest conversation between a tourist looking for a cultural monument he needed, and a local resident explaining the way. While the behaviorists reduced all the diversity to the simplest stimulus-response procedure, which did not really explain anything, the cognitivists built more complex and more adequate models. They suggested that any, even the most elementary, reaction to an event (for example, the answer: “Oh, yes, I know where this exhibition is”) is the result of a whole series of stages and operations, for example, perception, encoding information, recalling information from memory , the formation of concepts, judgment and the formation of statements.

The development of cognitive psychology was prepared by the works of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Keller, Kurt Koffka in the field of Gestalt psychology, which emphasized the role of perception in learning, as well as the works of K. Lewin and E. Tolman, who showed the dependence of human behavior on his subjective representation of the surrounding reality - cognitive maps, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, who studied the intellectual development of children. Its founder is considered to be the American psychologist Ulrik Neisser, whose book (Cognitive Psychology, 1967) opened a new research field and gave the name to an entire branch of knowledge.

Cognitive psychology studies how people receive information about the world around them, how this information is codified, how it is stored in memory and how it is transformed into knowledge, which, in turn, affects behavior. It covers the entire range of psychological processes - from sensation to perception, pattern recognition, attention, learning, memory, concept formation, thinking, imagination, memory, language, emotions and developmental processes; it covers all sorts of areas of behavior. According to R. Solso, modern cognitive psychology borrows theories and methods from 10 main areas of research: perception, pattern recognition, attention, memory, imagination, language functions, developmental psychology, thinking and problem solving, human intelligence and artificial intelligence.

Initially, the main task of cognitive psychology was to study the transformation of sensory information from the moment the stimulus hits the receptor surfaces until the response is received (D. Broadbent, S. Sternberg). The researchers proceeded from the analogy between the processes of information processing in humans and in a computing device. Numerous structural components (blocks) of cognitive and executive processes were identified, including short-term and long-term memory (J. Sperling, R. Atkinson), the decisive role of knowledge in the behavior of the subject (W. Neisser), the study of intelligence (J. Piaget, J. Bruner, J. Fodor). The central issue is the organization of knowledge in the subject's memory, including the correlation of verbal and figurative components in the processes of memorization and thinking (G. Bauer, A. Paivio, R. Shepard). Cognitive theories of emotions are also being intensively developed (S. Shekhter). individual differences (L. Eysenck) and personality (J. Kelly. M. Mahoney).

main method is an analysis of the microstructure of one or another psychological process. Many provisions of cognitive psychology underlie modern psycholinguistics.

Cognitive psychology studies how people receive information about the world, how this information is presented by a person, how it is stored in memory, converted into knowledge, which then affects our attention and behavior. Numerous studies have led to an understanding of the decisive role of knowledge in the behavior of the subject. As a result, it was possible to raise the question of the organization of knowledge in the memory of the subject, including the correlation of verbal (verbal) and figurative components in the processes of memorization and thinking (G. Bauer, A. Paivio, R. Shepard).

Cognitive psychology influences all branches of psychology, with the main focus on learning. All studying proccess according to D.P. Ozbel, J. Bruner. Cognitive psychology shows that effective learning is possible only when new material, related to existing knowledge and skills, is included in the existing cognitive structure.

One model commonly used by cognitive psychologists is called the information processing model. Cognitive models based on the information processing model are used to organize the existing body of literature, stimulate further research, coordinate research efforts, and facilitate communication between scientists.

Data processing This is the main approach in cognitive psychology. In this case, the human cognitive system is considered as a system that has devices for input, storage, output of information, taking into account its bandwidth. Not surprisingly, this model closely resembles the well-known machine, the computer.

In order to know the mechanisms of information gathering, you need to understand the system of interpretation of sensory signals, learn to recognize patterns. Pattern recognition is the matching of stimuli to what is in long-term storage (memory). For example, a person does not know many brands of cars, but when he sees a car, he unconsciously identifies in his brain that it is a car. Even if the brand is unknown to him, he will confidently say that this is a car.

Cognitive psychology proceeds from the fact that cognition in general and perception in particular are forms of activity. This activity is carried out with the help of a special kind of psychological tools (means), which Neisser calls schemas, or cognitive maps.

cognitive map- an image of a familiar spatial environment. In psychology, maps of various degrees of generality, “scale” and organization are created, a path map is singled out as a sequential representation of relationships between objects along a certain route, and an overview map as a simultaneous representation of the spatial location of objects. To study them, different methods are used: from simple sketches to multidimensional scaling, which makes it possible to restore the structure of the image based on the results of metric or ordinal estimates of the distances between map points. These studies have revealed tendencies to overestimate well-known distances and underestimate unfamiliar ones, to straighten curves with a small degree of curvature, to approach intersections to perpendiculars. The fact that map points belong to different taxonomic units can also contribute to distortions. In particular, the distance between cities located in the same country seems to be less than the distance between cities in different countries, even if they are actually equal.

The term "cognitive map" was introduced by E. Tolman, and W. Neisser understood it as a synonym for the word "indicative scheme", emphasizing that this is an active structure aimed at finding information, and not just a mental image of the environment, which "can be looked at at your leisure inner eye."

Analyzing the behavior of rats in a maze, Tolman came to the conclusion that as a result of running through a maze, a special structure is formed in a rat, which can be called a cognitive map of the environment. “And it is this exemplary map, indicating the paths (routes) and lines of behavior and the relationship of elements environment, finally determines what kind of responses, if any, the animal will ultimately carry out.

Cognitive maps are not only in adults with speech and consciousness, but even in small children who can successfully move around in their home, at least in those rooms where they often have to visit and where things that are important to them are located. In this sense, the map of public transport to any store or office, posted on the Internet, is a cognitive map. The English scientist K. Eden suggested using cognitive maps for collective development and decision-making4. In modern psychology and pedagogy, a cognitive map is called an arbitrary signed oriented graph, which can be considered as a protocol for the process of reflection, comprehension of life alternatives and one's own positions within the framework of a “decision-making” situation.

Thus, a cognitive map can be understood as a schematic, simplified description of an individual's picture of the world, more precisely, its fragment related to a given problem situation. Psychologists Lately use this term in a narrow sense, only to describe spatial relationships. According to Yu. M. Plotinsky, the term “cognitive map” is very closely connected with the picture of the world.

The French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) called true sciences those that establish logical connections between phenomena, and called all the others “popimatia” (omniscience).

Cognitive Psychotherapy- a psychotherapeutic method developed by A. T. Beck. He claims that knowledge is main reason the emergence of emotions, including negative ones, which, in turn, determine the meaning of holistic behavior. Answers to the questions “how do I see myself?”, “what future awaits me?” and "what the world? are not always given adequately. For example, a depressed patient sees himself as a good-for-nothing and worthless creature, and his future appears before him as an endless series of torments. Such assessments do not correspond to reality, but the patient is in no hurry to check them, fearing to receive confirmation of his fears.

It is believed that the flowering of cognitive psychology was due to the general fascination with the ideas of cybernetics in the 1960s. It was at that time that the first electronic computers were designed - something completely unfamiliar to people until now. The "intellect" of the computer, of course, led to the idea of comparing the work of the brain with the work of a computer. Thus, perception has become the process of entering information into the brain-computer, memory - the mechanism for storing information in the memory cells of the brain, thinking - the process of processing information, the result of the work of certain programs in the brain-computer.

Psychologists for the first time looked at a person as a cybernetic system with control information circuits. The research was based on the "computer metaphor" - an analogy between the transformation of information in a computing device and the implementation of cognitive processes in humans. Numerous structural components (blocks) of cognitive and executive processes, primarily memory (R. Atkinson), were identified.

Answer plan:

The subject and tasks of cognitive psychology. one

Basic theoretical provisions. 2

History of cognitive psychology. 2

The field of cognitive psychology. 6

cognitive models. 10

The theory of personality constructs G.

Kelly. 12

Current state cognitive psychology. fourteen

The subject and tasks of cognitive psychology.

The word "cognitive" comes from the Latin verb cognoscere - "to know".

The subject of study is the dependence of the subject's behavior on cognitive processes.

The task of cognitive psychology was to study the processing of information from the moment it hits the receptor surfaces to the receipt of a response.

Thus, cognitive psychology studies how people receive information about the world, how this information is presented by a person, how it is stored in memory, converted into knowledge, which then affects attention and behavior. These studies have led to an understanding of cognitive psychology as a direction whose task is to prove the decisive role of knowledge in the behavior of the subject. Now the question is raised about the organization of knowledge in the memory of the subject, including the correlation of verbal (verbal) and figurative components in the processes of memorization and thinking (G. Bauer, A. Paivio, R. Shepard).

Basic theoretical provisions.

The cognitive component plays a decisive role in the structure of the psyche, in the activities of people. The psyche is a system of cognitive reactions.

Cognition is the process by which incoming sensory data is subjected to various types transformations for the convenience of their accumulation, reproduction and further use.

A person is not a machine that blindly and mechanically reacts to internal factors or events in the outside world, on the contrary, more is available to the human mind: to analyze information about reality, make comparisons, make decisions, solve problems that confront him every minute.

Cognitive psychology is largely based on the analogy between the transformation of information in a computing device and the implementation of cognitive processes in humans; to explain this analogy, the concept of a computer metaphor was introduced.

The human cognitive system is considered as a system that has devices for input, storage and output of information. Information that has reached the cognitive system is transformed, processed, encoded, stored, remembered and forgotten, and then converted into knowledge. Therefore, in cognitive psychology, the informational approach is used as the main one.

Visual search, selective observation and microstructural analysis of mental processes act as methods for studying processes.

History of cognitive psychology.

The development of cognitive psychology was made possible by previous work in the field of Gestalt psychology, which drew attention to the issues of perception and effective, creative thinking, the study of which is one of the main tasks of science. Prerequisites for the emergence of cognitive psychology:

The "failure" of behaviorism. Behaviorism, which studied external responses to stimuli, failed to explain the diversity of human behavior. It became apparent that internal thought processes, indirectly related to immediate stimuli, influence behavior.

Some thought that these internal processes could be defined and included in a general theory of cognitive psychology.

The emergence of communication theory. Communication theory has spurred experiments in signal detection, attention, cybernetics, and information theory—i.e. in areas essential to cognitive psychology.

Modern linguistics. The range of issues related to cognition included new approaches to language and grammatical structures.

The study of memory. Research on verbal learning and semantic organization has provided a solid foundation for theories of memory, leading to the development of models of memory systems and testable models of other cognitive processes.

Computer Science and Other Technological Advances. Computer science and especially one of its sections - artificial intelligence (AI) - forced to reconsider the basic postulates regarding the processing and storage of information in memory, as well as language learning. New devices for experiments have greatly expanded the possibilities of researchers.

From early concepts of knowledge representation to recent research, knowledge has been thought to rely heavily on sensory inputs. There is growing evidence that many internal representations of reality are not the same as external reality itself - i.e. they are not isomorphic. Tolman's work with laboratory animals suggests that sensory information is stored as abstract representations.

A slightly more analytical approach to the topic of cognitive maps and internal representations was taken by Norman and Rumelhart (1975). In one experiment, they asked residents of a college dorm to draw a plan of their housing from above. As expected, the students were able to identify the relief features of architectural details - the arrangement of rooms, basic amenities and fixtures. But there were also omissions and simple mistakes. Many have depicted a balcony flush with the outside of the building, although in fact it protruded from it. From the errors found in the building diagram, we can learn a lot about the internal representation of information in a person. Norman and Rumelhart came to this conclusion: “The representation of information in memory is not an exact reproduction of real life; in fact, it is a combination of information, inferences and reconstructions based on knowledge about buildings and the world in general. It is important to note that when the students were pointed out the mistake, they were all very surprised at what they themselves drew.

Thus, ideas about the world are not necessarily identical to its actual essence. Of course, the representation of information is related to the stimuli that the sensory apparatus receives, but it also undergoes significant changes. These changes or modifications are related to past experiences that have resulted in the rich and complex web of our knowledge. Thus, the incoming information is abstracted (and distorted to some extent) and then stored in the human memory system.

Conceptual sciences and cognitive psychology The emergence of new concepts in the process of observation or experimentation is one of the indicators of the development of science. The scientist does not change nature, but the observation of nature changes the scientist's ideas about it. Cognitive models, like other models of conceptual science, are the result of observations, but to a certain extent they are also the determining factor of observations.

Cognitive psychology emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s. 20th century as a reaction to the denial of the role of the internal organization of mental processes, characteristic of the behaviorism dominant in the USA. The works of J. Piaget and D. Bruner largely contributed to the emergence of a new direction. D. Miller created the first scientific Center for Cognitive Psychology and began to develop new methods for studying cognitive processes. W. Neisser published in 1967 the book "Cognitive Psychology", in which he outlined the main provisions of this direction.

Numerous structural components (blocks) of cognitive and executive processes were identified, incl. short-term memory and long-term memory (J. Sperling, R. Atkinson). This line of research, faced with serious difficulties due to the increase in the number of structural models of particular mental processes, led to an understanding of cognitive psychology as a direction whose task is to prove the decisive role of knowledge in the behavior of the subject (W. Neisser).

With such a broader approach, cognitive psychology includes all areas that criticize behaviorism and psychoanalysis from intellectualistic or mentalistic positions (J. Piaget, J. Bruner, J. Fodor). The central issue is the organization of knowledge in the subject's memory, including the correlation of verbal and figurative components in the processes of memorization and thinking (G. Bauer, A. Paivio, R. Shepard). Cognitive theories of emotions (S. Schechter), individual differences (M. Eysenck) and personality (J. Kelly, M. Mahoney) are also being intensively developed. As an attempt to overcome the crisis of behaviorism, Gestalt psychology and other areas, cognitive psychology did not justify the hopes placed on it, since its representatives failed to combine disparate lines of research on a single conceptual basis.

From the standpoint of Soviet psychology, the analysis of the formation and actual functioning of knowledge as a mental reflection of reality necessarily presupposes the study of the subject's practical and theoretical activity, including its higher socialized forms.

Cognitive psychology influences all branches of psychology, with the main focus on learning. The whole educational process according to D.P. Ozbel, J. Bruner, cognitive psychology shows that effective learning is possible only when new material associated with existing knowledge and skills is included in the existing cognitive structure.

The field of cognitive psychology.

According to R. Solso, modern cognitive psychology borrows theories and methods from 10 major areas of research: perception, pattern recognition, attention, memory, imagination, language functions, developmental psychology, thinking and problem solving, human intelligence and artificial intelligence.

Cognitive psychology considers perception, attention, memory, knowledge, language, artificial intelligence. This can all be described as collecting information, storing and organizing information, and finally using information. In order to learn the mechanisms of information gathering, you need to understand the system of interpretation of sensory signals, learn to recognize patterns. Pattern recognition is the matching of stimuli to what is in long-term storage (memory). For example, a person does not know many brands of cars, but when he sees a car, he unconsciously identifies in his brain that it is a car. Even if the brand is unknown to him, he will confidently say that this is a car.

Perception. The branch of psychology directly concerned with the detection and interpretation of sensory stimuli is called the psychology of perception. From perceptual experiments, we know about the sensitivity of the human body to sensory signals and - more importantly for cognitive psychology - about how these sensory signals are interpreted. Experimental studies of perception have helped to identify many of the elements of this process. But the study of perception alone cannot adequately explain expected actions; other cognitive systems are also involved, such as pattern recognition, attention, and memory.

In the study of perception, data have been obtained proving that sensory sensitivity is continuous function and there is no threshold in the true sense of the word, since The signal detection threshold depends on many factors. Based on these materials, a theory of signal detection was developed.

Pattern recognition. Environmental stimuli are not perceived as single sensory events; most often they are perceived as part of a larger pattern. What we sense (see, hear, smell, or taste) is almost always part of a complex pattern of sensory stimuli. Reading should be addressed. Reading is a complex volitional effort in which the reader is required to construct a meaningful image from a set of lines and curves that do not make sense on their own. By organizing these stimuli into letters and words, the reader can then retrieve the meaning from his memory. This entire process, performed daily by billions of people, takes a fraction of a second, and it is simply amazing when you consider how many neuroanatomical and cognitive systems are involved in it.

Attention. In life, people are faced with a myriad of signs of the environment. Although humans are information-gathering creatures, it is clear that, under normal circumstances, they carefully select the amount and type of information to take into account. The ability to process information is limited at two levels - sensory and cognitive.

Memory. As a result of research, such types of memory as short-term and long-term were first described. At the same time, in the experiments of D. Sperling, who changed the methodology of W. Neisser for the study of iconic memory, it was shown that the amount of short-term memory is practically unlimited.

*** The materials obtained in the study of memory and attention served as a stimulus for the study of the unconscious. The unconscious contains the unconscious part of the information processing program, which is activated already at the first stages of the perception of new material. The study of the content of long-term memory, as well as the selective reaction of a person with simultaneous conflicting submission of information (for example, one information to the right ear, and another to the left), reveals the role of unconscious processing. At the same time, we are talking about the fact that from the countless amount of information received per unit of time, the cognitive system selects and brings to consciousness only those signals that are most important at the moment. The same selection occurs when information is translated into long-term memory.

Imagination. The construction of a mental image, a cognitive map by a person.

Language. During interpersonal interaction, the construction of grammatically correct sentences and the selection of appropriate words from the lexicon, the need to coordinate the complex motor reactions necessary to pronounce the message, is carried out.

Psychology of development. This is another area of cognitive psychology that has been studied extensively. Recently published theories and experiments in cognitive developmental psychology have greatly expanded our understanding of how cognitive structures develop.

Thinking and formation of concepts. Throughout life, people show the ability to think and form concepts.

Human intelligence. It includes, but is not limited to, the ability to understand ordinary language, follow instructions, translate verbal descriptions into actions, and behave according to the laws of one's culture. As a result of the research, the structural components (blocks) of the intellect were identified.

cognitive models.

Cognitive psychology actually reduces the complex human world to its simplified models. Interesting in this respect is the point of view of one of the founders of the cognitive direction in psychology G. Simon, according to which “a person as a behavioral system is as simple as an ant. The apparent complexity of its time-unfolding behavior reflects, in the main, the complexity of its environment.”

One model commonly used by cognitive psychologists is called the information processing model. We need to understand the limitations of cognitive models. Cognitive models based on the information processing model are used to organize the existing body of literature, stimulate further research, coordinate research efforts, and facilitate communication between scientists. (R. Solso).

Information processing is a core approach in cognitive psychology. In this case, the human cognitive system is considered as a system that has devices for input, storage, output of information, taking into account its bandwidth. This model is very reminiscent of the well-known "machine" - a computer.

There are several models for reaching and selecting information in a cognitive system. When the information has reached the cognitive system, it begins to transform into other forms. Memory, processing and storage of information, the processes of memorization and forgetting, as well as the transformation of information into knowledge, organization and representation of knowledge, knowledge management, and effectiveness are already connected here.

Now consider several models used in cognitive psychology. Let's start the discussion of cognitive models with a rather rough version, which divided all cognitive processes into three parts: stimulus detection, stimulus storage and transformation, and response generation:

This rather dry model, close to the S-R model mentioned earlier, was often used in one form or another in previous ideas about mental processes. And although it reflects the main stages in the development of cognitive psychology, it is so few in detail that it is hardly capable of enriching the "understanding" of cognitive processes. It is also unable to generate any new hypotheses or predict behavior. This primitive model is analogous to the ancient concept of the universe as consisting of earth, water, fire and air. Such a system does represent one possible view of cognitive phenomena, but it misrepresents their complexity.

Later, in 1965, Waugh and Norman proposed a new version of the same model, and it turned out to be largely acceptable. It is understandable, it can serve as a source of hypotheses and predictions, but it is also too simplistic. It should be noted that a new storage system and several new information paths have been added to it. But even this model is incomplete and needs to be expanded.

Over the past decade, building cognitive models has become a favorite pastime of psychologists, and some of their creations are truly magnificent. Usually the problem of overly simple models is solved by adding one more "block", one more information path, one more storage system, one more element worth checking and analyzing. Such creative efforts seem well justified in the light of what is now known about the richness of the human cognitive system.

The theory of personal constructs G. Kelly.

This theory, although standing apart, is inherently close to the main tenets of cognitive psychology. G. Kelly considered a person as a researcher seeking to understand, interpret and control himself and the world around him. His point of view in many ways stimulated the interest of cognitive psychology in the process of awareness and processing by people of information about their world.

His theory is based on the concept of "constructive alternatism", on the basis of which G. Kelly argued that each event is comprehended and interpreted by people in different ways, because. Each person has a unique system of constructs (schemes). Constructs have certain properties: range, applicability, permeability, etc. Based on their combinations, G. Kelly identified different types of personality constructs. Saying that "A is what a person explains as A", he argued that there is no such thing about which there cannot be several opinions. The difference in opinions is explained by different schemes (constructs) that a person operates with. Human constructs are organized into a certain hierarchical system, which is not rigid, because not only dominance-subordination relations change, but also the constructs themselves. Based on these provisions, G. Kelly developed the methodological principle of repertory grids. Thus, it is intellectual processes that are leading in the activity of the individual.

Claiming that every person is a researcher, G. Kelly did not identify this activity with the real research of scientists. It was about the fact that people constantly build their image of reality with the help of an individual system of categorical scales - personal constructs. Based on this image, hypotheses about future events are built. In the event that the hypothesis is not confirmed, the person rebuilds his system of constructs to a greater or lesser extent in order to increase the adequacy of the following predictions. In other words, unlike psychoanalysts who claim that people are oriented towards the past, or from K. Rogers, who spoke about the present, G. Kelly emphasized that highest value man has a future.

By asserting that personality is identical to those personality constructs that this person. G. Kelly believed that in this way the need for an additional explanation of the reasons for his actions was eliminated, since. the leading motive is precisely the desire to predict the future. Consequently, the main postulate of G. Kelly's theory states that mental activity is determined by how a person predicts (constructs) future events, i.e. his thoughts and actions are aimed at predicting the situation.

The current state of cognitive psychology.

Recently, cognitive psychology is increasingly focused on the achievements of related areas. In modern (especially European) variations of cognitive psychology, symbolic and connectionalist approaches have become common. The symbolic approach mainly considers the ways of operating with symbols as units of information (for example, in speech), while connectionalism studies the types of interconnection of elements in a cognitive system.

The results obtained by scientists of this school penetrate into the work on developmental psychology, psychology of emotions and personality (especially the works of G. Kelly). In social psychology, the study of social cognitions and their role in intergroup interaction is becoming more widespread. The work of W. Neisser and other scientists contributed to the emergence of a large number of studies on the ecology of perception. It can be argued that these works, as well as Gibson's research, led to the fact that the ecological approach is currently one of the most common trends in modern psychology, a real alternative to the informational approach in many areas of cognitive psychology.

125. Basic concepts and provisions of cognitive psychology. Trends in the development of modern psychology of memory and attention.

Research in the field of psychology and ethics of business communication, conducted in Western countries, is based on certain provisions of the existing areas of general and social psychology in solving theoretical and methodological problems. For this, the fundamental provisions of such areas as behaviorism, cognitive psychology, Gestalt psychology, field theory, psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology, and interactionism are used. That general revolution in views and fundamental views on the essence, subject matter, and methods of psychological science, which has now assumed especially sharp and striking forms in Russia, cannot, of course, pass without a trace and unnoticed by the entire applied field of psychology. If in the field of theoretical knowledge there is a radical breakdown of old concepts and ideas, a fundamental restructuring of ideas and methods, then in applied disciplines, which represent branches from a common trunk, so those painful and fruitful processes of destruction and restructuring of the entire scientific system are inevitable. The restructuring of psychological ideas that is now taking place directly causes a radical change in scientific views on the being itself. pedagogical process. It can be said that here for the first time education is revealed in its true essence for science, that for the first time here the teacher finds ground for speaking not about conjectures and metaphors, but about the exact meaning and scientific laws of educational work.

1. Characteristics of the essence of behaviorism as a science that studies behavior in an objective way

Behaviorism is a trend in psychology of the 20th century that considers behavior to be the subject of psychology, which is understood as a set of physiological reactions of an individual to external stimuli. At the beginning of the 20th century, behaviorism (from English word behavior-behavior) or psychology of behavior. Its experimental background was the study of animal behavior, which was conducted by E. Thorndike (1874-1949). Many of his findings were taken into account in explaining human behavior. He believed that pedagogy should be based on the psychology of behavior. E. Thorndike is the founder of the psychology of behavior and objective psychology. He considers the human psyche and behavior as a system of body reactions to internal and external stimuli.

In 1913, John Watson (1878-1958) formulated the basic principles of behavioral psychology. Main principle- this is not the study of oneself, but the study of the behavior of a neighbor. Thus, a person explains his own behavior. Watson believed that the study of oneself is a subjective assessment, and behaviorism examines psychological phenomena objectively. Therefore, one should study the behavior of other people and their reaction to the influences of the external environment, i.e. incentives. This is the essence and meaning of behaviorism. Many of its provisions explain the influence of external factors on people's behavior, their activities and interpersonal communication.

Behavior and activity were the subject of study of behaviorists. Activity - external and internal - was described through the concept of "reaction", which included those changes in the body that could be recorded by objective methods - this includes movements, and, for example, secretory activity.

As a descriptive and explanatory D. Watson proposed S-R scheme, according to which the impact, i.e. stimulus (S) generates some behavior of the organism, i.e. reaction (r), and, importantly, in the views of classical behaviorism, the nature of the reaction is determined only by the stimulus. Watson's scientific program was also connected with this idea - to learn how to control behavior. In fact, if the response is determined by the stimulus, then it is enough to choose the right stimuli to get the desired behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out experiments aimed at identifying the patterns by which stimulus-reactive connections are formed, to organize a thorough control of situations, and to register behavioral manifestations in response to the impact of a stimulus.

The principles of classical behaviorism look simplistic. Subsequently, experimental practice did not confirm the legitimacy of the original scheme as universal: in response to the impact of the same stimulus, different reactions can follow, the same reaction can be induced by different stimuli. The dependence of the response on the stimulus was not questioned; however, the question arose that there is something that determines the reaction, in addition to the stimulus, more precisely, in interaction with it. Researchers who developed Watson's ideas proposed introducing another instance into the argument. Usually denoted by the concept of "intermediate variables", referring to some events in the body, which is affected by the stimulus and which, not being in the strict sense a reaction (because they cannot be objectively fixed), also determine the response. (Scheme S-O-R).

One of the most authoritative behaviorists is B. Skinner, who suggested that behavior can be built according to a different principle, namely, it can be determined not by the stimulus that precedes the reaction, but by the probable consequences of behavior. This does not mean freedom of behavior (although within the framework of his approach, the problem of “self-programming” of a person is discussed); in general, it means that, having a certain experience, an animal or a person will tend to reproduce it if it had pleasant consequences, and avoid it if the consequences were unpleasant. In other words, it is not the subject who chooses the behavior, but the likely consequences of the behavior govern the subject.

Accordingly, one can manage behavior by rewarding (i.e., positively reinforcing) certain behaviors and thereby making them more likely; This is the basis of the idea of programmed learning proposed by Skinner, which provides for “step-by-step” mastery of activities with reinforcement for each step.

A special direction within the framework of behaviorism is sociobehaviorism, which was most actively formed in the 60s. New in relation to what we have been talking about is the idea that a person can master behavior not through his own trial and error, but by observing the experience of others and those reinforcements that accompany this or that behavior (“learning by observation” , "learning without trials" This important difference suggests that human behavior becomes cognitive, i.e. Includes an indispensable cognitive component, in particular, a symbolic one. This mechanism turns out to be the most important in the process of socialization, on its basis ways of implementing aggressive and cooperative behavior are formed. This can be illustrated by the experiment of the leading psychologist of this direction, Canadian Albert Bandura.

Representatives of neobehaviorism Edward Chase Tolman (1886-1959) and Clark Leonard Hall (1884-1952) tried to explain human mental activity from the standpoint of behaviorism methodology. They came up with the concept of "mediators" - internal processes that take place between the stimulus and the response. At the same time, they proceeded from the fact that for "invisible mediators" there should be the same objective indicators that are used in the study of stimuli and reactions accessible to external observation. However, their concept turned out to be unconvincing in the scientific sense and largely lost its influence. There was a return to classical behaviorism, especially expressed in the work of Burres Frederick Skinner (b. 1904).

2. Basic provisions of cognitive psychology. cognitive theories.

Behaviorist positions have been criticized by representatives of cognitive psychology. They proceed from the fact that human behavior is determined both by the influence of environmental conditions on him and by his mental abilities. The word "cognition" comes from the Latin coscere and means to know, to know.

The beginning of this direction was laid by the study of W. Neisser. The ideas of cognitive psychology, which reveals the role of people's consciousness in their behavior, were also substantiated in the works of American psychologists J. Kelly, J. Rotter, A. Bandura and other representatives of this trend. The main problem for them is the "organization of knowledge in the memory of the subject." They believe that a person's knowledge is organized into certain conceptual schemes within which he thinks and acts. It is argued that "perception, memory, thinking and other cognitive processes are determined by schemas in the same way as the arrangement of an organism by a genotype."

cognitive approach in the study of conscious human behavior lies in the desire to understand how we decode information about reality and organize it in order to make comparisons, make decisions or solve problems that confront us every moment.

The psychology of personality constructs is one of the variants of the cognitive approach to the study of behavior, developed in the theory of George Kelly (1905-1967). Its initial premise is that different people perceive and evaluate the phenomena of reality in different ways and, in connection with this, make unequal, alternative decisions that allow them to perform their urgent tasks. This approach is characterized as constructive alternativeism. The scientist substantiates the proposition about the selective nature of human behavior, which, from a number of alternative possibilities, chooses quite certain, from his point of view, the most optimal in a given situation. In this case, a person acts as a researcher, putting forward various kinds of “working hypotheses” regarding reality and choice. possible option of his behaviour. This approach helps not only to behave correctly in currently, but also to anticipate the course of events, as well as control their behavior. At the same time, he “controls events depending on the questions posed and the answers found. According to J. Kelly, any person comprehends and evaluates the phenomena of the external environment and determines the options for his command, based on the conceptual schemes or models he constructs, which he calls personal constructs. The personality construct is characterized by him as "a stable way in which a person comprehends some aspects of reality in terms of similarity and contrast."

Kelly notes that if one or another personal construct or conceptual scheme justifies itself in assessing reality and choosing an act by one or another person, then it proceeds from it further. If not, he rejects it and constructs another. It is emphasized that personal constructs are not chaotically crowded in the mind of a person, but are organized and function in a particular system in a certain way. We are talking about their hierarchical, or "pyramidal" organization, so that some of them are "in a subordinate" position, while others are in a "subordinate" position relative to other parts of the system.

The proposition that the system of personal constructs (conceptual schemes), which is formed in the process of a person's conscious interaction with the external natural and social environment, determines his wide alternative possibilities in choosing his actions and thereby expands the range of his freedom is comprehensively substantiated. In the theory of personal constructs by J. Kelly, "people are presented as free and dependent on their own behavior." A number of substantive provisions were expressed by A. Bandura and J. Rotter in the framework of their social-cognitive approach to the study of the psyche of people and their behavior.

Learning through observation is the main idea behind the theory of Albert Bandura (b. 1925). We are talking about the fact that the mental abilities of a person develop in the process of observing the phenomena of the external, primarily the social environment. And he acts according to his observations. Bandura substantiates the ability of a person. To self-regulation, in particular, to ensure that, acting in accordance with the situation, take into account the nature of the influence of one's actions on other people and their possible reactions to these actions. Thus, it becomes possible to foresee the consequences of one's own actions and to regulate oneself, to change one's behavior accordingly.

In the conscious behavior of the individual, in addition to observations, the scientist assigns great importance to such manifestations of human consciousness as attention and motives that prompt him to act in one direction or another. We are talking about the incentive motivation of people's behavior, arising from their needs, interests, goals, etc. Evaluating past experience of success and failure in an attempt to achieve the desired results, a person builds his own behavior in accordance with his needs and interests.

Quite definitely A. Bandura "gives priority to conscious thinking over unconscious determinants of behavior." In other words, he places meaningful goals over instinct or intuition. This increases the possibility of self-control in the behavior and activities of people, including taking into account how the behavior of a person meets the conditions of the external environment and how effective it can be for his social self-affirmation. The problem of developing a self-control program and its implementation is posed and solved.

In his theory of social learning, Julian Rotter (b. 1916) explores the problem of the influence of social factors on the development of the human psyche, primarily his relationships with other people. The influence of social situations on the development of consciousness and self-awareness of a person, including the formation of conscious motives for his behavior, is studied.

J. Rotter introduced the concept of behavioral potential into the science of personality psychology, expressing the probability of one or another behavior depending on the nature of the impact of external social factors on it. In this, he agrees with the opinion of A. Bandura, who claims that a person's consciousness, which determines his behavior, is to a large extent formed under the influence of external circumstances, primarily social ones. At the same time, the role of these circumstances in the formation of the goals of activity and the entire system of internal motivation of a person is indicated.

Conclusion

The behavioral approach to personality, supported by B.F. Skinner, concerns the open actions of people in accordance with their life experience. Skinner argued that behavior is determined, predictable, and controlled by the environment. He categorically rejected the idea of internal "autonomous" factors as the cause of human actions and neglected the physiological-genetic explanation of behavior. Skinner recognized two main types of behavior: respondent behavior, as a response to a familiar stimulus, and operant behavior, determined and controlled by the result that follows it. Skinner's work focuses almost entirely on operant behavior. In operant learning, an organism acts on its environment to produce an outcome that affects the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated. An operant response followed by a positive outcome tends to repeat itself, while an operant response followed by negative result tends not to repeat itself. According to Skinner, behavior can best be understood in terms of reactions to the environment.

Talk about psychology as a single science in present stage rather difficult: each trend offers its own understanding of psychic life, puts forward its own explanatory principles, and accordingly concentrates its efforts on the analysis of certain aspects of what it understands as psychic reality. At the same time, recently there has been a convergence of a number of directions - or at least a tendency towards greater tolerance towards each other, which means the possibility of dialogue and mutual enrichment.

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