CONNECTING MIND, RESEARCH, AND EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE
E. Bruce Goldstein
Brief Contents
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Perception
Attention
Short-Term and Working Memory
Long-Term Memory: Structure
Long-Term Memory: Encoding and Retrieval
Everyday Memory and Memory Errors
Knowledge
Visual Imagery
Language
Problem Solving
Reasoning and Decision Making
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Book Details
Price
|
3.00 |
|---|---|
Pages
| 472 p |
File Size
|
24,274 KB |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN-13 ISBN-10
| 9780840033550 0-8400-3355-9 |
Copyright©
| 2011, 2008 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning |
E. BRUCE GOLDSTEIN is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the
University of Pittsburgh and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the
University of Arizona. He has received the Chancellor’s Distinguished
Teaching Award from the University of Pittsburgh for his classroom
teaching and textbook writing. He received his bachelor’s degree in
chemical engineering from Tufts University and his PhD in experimental
psychology from Brown University. He was a post-doctoral fellow in
the Biology Department at Harvard University before joining the faculty
at the University of Pittsburgh. Bruce has published papers on a
wide variety of topics, including retinal and cortical physiology, visual
attention, and the perception of pictures. He is the author of Sensation
and Perception, 8th edition (Wadsworth, 2010) and is the editor of the
Blackwell Handbook of Perception (Blackwell, 2001) and the twovolume
Sage Encyclopedia of Perception (Sage, 2010).
Preface to Instructors
The Evolution of a Cognitive Psychology Textbook
This book is the culmination of a process that began in 2002, when I decided to write
the fi rst edition of this book. From a survey of more than 500 instructors and my
conversations with colleagues, it became apparent that many teachers were looking
for a text that not only covers the fi eld of cognitive psychology but is also accessible
to students. From my teaching of cognitive psychology, it also became apparent that
many students perceive cognitive psychology as being too abstract and theoretical, and
not connected to everyday experience. With this information in hand, I set out to write
a book that would tell the story of cognitive psychology in a concrete way that would
help students appreciate the connections between empirical research, the principles of
cognitive psychology, and everyday experience.
I did a number of things to achieve this result. I started by including about a dozen
real-life examples per chapter, and neuropsychological case studies where appropriate. To
provide students with fi rsthand experience with the phenomena of cognitive psychology,
I included more than 40 Demonstrations—easy-to-do mini-experiments that were contained
within the narrative of the text—as well as 20 additional suggestions of things to
try, throughout the chapters. The Demonstrations in this edition are listed on page xxii.
Students also received access to more than 45 online CogLab experiments that they
could run themselves, and then compare their data to the class average and to the results of
the original experiments from the literature. In order to ensure that students not only know
the results of experiments but also appreciate how these results were obtained, I described
experiments in detail, so students would understand what the experimenter and participants
were doing. In addition, most of these descriptions were supported by illustrations
such as pictures of stimuli, diagrams of the experimental design, or graphs of the results.
The fi rst edition (2005) therefore combined many elements designed to achieve
the goal of covering the basic principles of cognitive psychology in a way that students
would fi nd interesting and easy to understand. My goal was for students to come away
feeling excited about the fi eld of cognitive psychology.
The acceptance of the fi rst edition was gratifying, but one thing I’ve learned from
years of teaching and textbook writing is that there are always explanations that can
be clarifi ed, new pedagogical techniques to try, and new research and ideas to describe.
With this in mind as I began preparing the second edition (2008), I elicited feedback
from students in my classes and received more than 1,500 written responses indicating
areas in the fi rst edition that could be improved. In addition, I also received feedback
from instructors who had used the fi rst edition. This feedback was the starting point
for the second edition, so in addition to updating the book, I revised many sections that
students and instructors had fl agged as needing clarifi cation.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology 2
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: STUDYING THE MIND 5
What Is the Mind? 5
Studying the Mind: Early Work in Cognitive Psychology 6
ABANDONING THE STUDY OF THE MIND 9
Watson Founds Behaviorism 9
Skinner’s Operant Conditioning 10
Setting the Stage for the Reemergence of the Mind in Psychology 11
THE REBIRTH OF THE STUDY OF THE MIND 12
Introduction of the Digital Computer 12
Conferences on Artificial Intelligence and Information Theory 13
RESEARCHING THE MIND 15
Memory Consolidation From a Behavioral Perspective 15
Memory Consolidation From a Physiological Perspective 16
Models of the Mind 17
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: LEARNING FROM THIS BOOK 17
TEST YOURSELF 1.1 18
CHAPTER SUMMARY 19
THINK ABOUT IT 19
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 20
KEY TERMS 20
MEDIA RESOURCES 21
CHAPTER 2
Cognitive Neuroscience 22
NEURONS: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 25
The Microstructure of the Brain: Neurons 25
The Signals That Travel in Neurons 27
METHOD: Recording From a Neuron 28
LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION 29
Localization for Perception 30
METHOD: Brain Imaging 30
Localization for Language 33
METHOD: Event-Related Potential 34
TEST YOURSELF 2.1 36
DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING IN THE BRAIN 36
REPRESENTATION IN THE BRAIN 37
Representing a Tree: Feature Detectors 38
The Neural Code for Faces 39
The Neural Code for Memory 41
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: “MIND READING” BY MEASURING BRAIN ACTIVITY 41
TEST YOURSELF 2.2 43
CHAPTER SUMMARY 43
THINK ABOUT IT 44
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 44
KEY TERMS 45
MEDIA RESOURCES 45
CHAPTER 3
Perception 46
THE NATURE OF PERCEPTION 49
PERCEPTION STARTS AT THE RECEPTORS: BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING 50
Bottom-Up Processing: Physiological 50
Bottom-Up Processing: Behavioral 51
BEYOND BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING 52
Perception Depends on Additional Information 52
Perceiving Size: Taking Distance Into Account 53
DEMONSTRATION: Two Quarters 54
Perceiving Odor Intensity: Taking Sniffing Into Account 56
TEST YOURSELF 3.1 56
USING KNOWLEDGE: TOP-DOWN PROCESSING 57
Helmholtz’s Theory of Unconscious Inference 57
The Gestalt Laws of Organization 58
DEMONSTRATION: Finding Faces in a Landscape 60
The Gestalt “Laws” Are “Heuristics” 62
Taking Regularities in the Environment Into Account 63
DEMONSTRATION: Shape From Shading 63
DEMONSTRATION: Visualizing Scenes and Objects 65
TEST YOURSELF 3.2 66
NEURONS AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT 66
Designing a Perceiving Machine 67
The Human “Perceiving Machine” 67
Experience-Dependent Plasticity 68
REACHING FOR A CUP: THE INTERACTION BETWEEN PERCEIVING
AND TAKING ACTION 69
Movement Facilitates Perception 70
The Interaction of Perception and Action 70
The Physiology of Perception and Action 71
METHOD: Brain Ablation 71
METHOD: Dissociations in Neuropsychology 73
Picking Up a Coffee Cup and Other Behaviors 74
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: MIRROR NEURONS 75
TEST YOURSELF 3.3 76
CHAPTER SUMMARY 77
THINK ABOUT IT 77
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 78
KEY TERMS 79
MEDIA RESOURCES 79
CHAPTER 4
Attention 80
SELECTIVE ATTENTION 83
Selective Attention as Filtering 83
DEMONSTRATION: Focusing on One Message 84
METHOD: Dichotic Listening 84
Cognitive Resources, Cognitive Load, and Task-Irrelevant Stimuli 87
METHOD: Flanker Compatibility Task 88
DEMONSTRATION: The Stroop Effect 89
TEST YOURSELF 4.1 90
DIVIDED ATTENTION 91
Divided Attention Can Be Achieved With Practice: Automatic Processing 91
Divided Attention When Tasks Are Harder: Controlled Processing 92
DEMONSTRATION: Detecting a Target 93
Distractions While Driving 94
ATTENTION AND VISUAL PERCEPTION 95
Inattentional Blindness 95
Change Detection 96
DEMONSTRATION: Change Detection 96
TEST YOURSELF 4.2 98
OVERT ATTENTION: ATTENDING BY MOVING OUR EYES 98
Eye Movements, Attention, and Perception 98
DEMONSTRATION: Looking for a Face in the Crowd 99
Bottom-Up Determinants of Eye Movements 100
Top-Down Determinants of Eye Movements 100
COVERT ATTENTION: DIRECTING ATTENTION WITHOUT
EYE MOVEMENTS 102
Location-Based Attention 102
METHOD: Precueing 102
Object-Based Attention 103
FEATURE INTEGRATION THEORY 104
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF ATTENTION 106
Covert Attention Enhances Neural Responding 106
Attentional Processing Is Distributed Across the Cortex 107
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: ATTENTION IN SOCIAL SITUATIONS—
THE CASE OF AUTISM 109
TEST YOURSELF 4.3 110
CHAPTER SUMMARY 111
THINK ABOUT IT 111
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 112
KEY TERMS 112
MEDIA RESOURCES 113
CHAPTER 5
Short-Term and Working Memory 114
THE IMPORTANCE OF MEMORY IN OUR LIVES 116
STUDYING MEMORY 117
SENSORY MEMORY 120
The Sparkler’s Trail and the Projector’s Shutter 120
Sperling’s Experiment: Measuring the Capacity and Duration
of the Sensory Store 121
SHORT-TERM MEMORY 123
METHOD: Recall 123
What Is the Duration of Short-Term Memory? 124
DEMONSTRATION: Remembering Three Letters 124
What Is the Capacity of Short-Term Memory? 125
DEMONSTRATION: Digit Span 125
DEMONSTRATION: Remembering Letters 126
How Is Information Coded in Short-Term Memory? 128
DEMONSTRATION: Recalling Visual Patterns 128
TEST YOURSELF 5.1 129
WORKING MEMORY 130
DEMONSTRATION: Reading Text and Remembering Numbers 131
The Phonological Loop 133
DEMONSTRATION: Word Length Effect 133
DEMONSTRATION: Articulatory Suppression 133
The Visuospatial Sketch Pad 134
DEMONSTRATION: Comparing Objects 134
DEMONSTRATION: Holding a Spatial Stimulus in the Mind 135
The Central Executive 136
The Episodic Buffer 136
TEST YOURSELF 5.2 137
WORKING MEMORY AND THE BRAIN 137
The Effect of Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex 138
Prefrontal Neurons That Hold Information 139
Brain Activation in Humans 140
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING
A MORE EFFICIENT WORKING MEMORY 141
METHOD: Reading Span 142
TEST YOURSELF 5.3 142
CHAPTER SUMMARY 143
THINK ABOUT IT 144
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 144
KEY TERMS 144
MEDIA RESOURCES 145
CHAPTER 6
Long-Term Memory: Structure 146
DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN LONG-TERM MEMORY AND SHORT-TERM MEMORY 149
Long-Term and Short-Term Processes 149
DEMONSTRATION: Serial Position 151
Serial Position Curve 151
Coding in Long-Term Memory 153
METHOD: Recognition Memory 154
DEMONSTRATION: Reading a Passage 154
Locating Short- and Long-Term Memory in the Brain 155
Types of Long-Term Memory 156
TEST YOURSELF 6.1 157
EPISODIC AND SEMANTIC MEMORY (EXPLICIT) 157
Distinguishing Between Episodic and Semantic Memory 157
The Separation of Episodic and Semantic Memories 158
Connections Between Episodic and Semantic Memories 159
PRIMING, PROCEDURAL MEMORY, AND CONDITIONING (IMPLICIT) 161
Priming 161
METHOD: Avoiding Explicit Remembering in a Priming Experiment 161
Procedural Memory 164
DEMONSTRATION: Mirror Drawing 164
Classical Conditioning 165
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: MEMORY LOSS IN THE MOVIES 165
TEST YOURSELF 6.2 167
CHAPTER SUMMARY 167
THINK ABOUT IT 168
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 168
KEY TERMS 169
MEDIA RESOURCES 169
CHAPTER 7
Long-Term Memory: Encoding and Retrieval 170
ENCODING: GETTING INFORMATION INTO LONG-TERM MEMORY 173
Maintenance Rehearsal and Elaborative Rehearsal 173
Levels-of-Processing Theory 174
DEMONSTRATION: Remembering Lists 174
METHOD: Varying Depth of Processing 175
Research Showing That Encoding Influences Retrieval 176
DEMONSTRATION: Reading a List 178
TEST YOURSELF 7.1 181
RETRIEVAL: GETTING INFORMATION OUT OF MEMORY 181
Retrieval Cues 182
METHOD: Cued Recall 182
Matching Conditions of Encoding and Retrieval 183
TEST YOURSELF 7.2 186
HOW TO STUDY MORE EFFECTIVELY 187
Elaborate 187
Generate and Test 188
Organize 188
Take Breaks 188
Match Learning and Testing Conditions 189
Avoid “Illusions of Learning” 189
MEMORY AND THE BRAIN 190
Experiences Cause Changes at the Synapse 190
Where Does Memory Occur in the Brain? 191
Forming Memories in the Brain: The Process of Consolidation 193
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: ARE MEMORIES EVER “PERMANENT”? 195
TEST YOURSELF 7.3 198
CHAPTER SUMMARY 198
THINK ABOUT IT 199
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 200
KEY TERMS 200
MEDIA RESOURCES 201
CHAPTER 8
Everyday Memory and Memory Errors 202
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY: WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN MY LIFE 205
The Multidimensional Nature of AM 205
Memory Over the Life Span 206
MEMORY FOR “EXCEPTIONAL” EVENTS 208
Memory and Emotion 208
Flashbulb Memories 208
METHOD: Repeated Recall 209
TEST YOURSELF 8.1 213
THE CONSTRUCTIVE NATURE OF MEMORY 213
Bartlett’s “War of the Ghosts” Experiment 213
Source Monitoring and Source Monitoring Errors 214
METHOD: Testing for Source Monitoring 216
How Real-World Knowledge Affects Memory 217
DEMONSTRATION: Reading Sentences 217
DEMONSTRATION: Memory for a List 220
Taking Stock: The Pluses and Minuses of Construction 221
TEST YOURSELF 8.2 222
MEMORY CAN BE MODIFIED OR CREATED BY SUGGESTION 222
The Misinformation Effect 222
METHOD: Presenting Misleading Postevent Information 223
Creating False Memories for Early Events in People’s Lives 225
WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE ERRORS IN EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY? 226
Errors of Eyewitness Identification 227
The Crime Scene and Afterward 227
What Is Being Done? 231
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE 233
TEST YOURSELF 8.3 234
CHAPTER SUMMARY 234
THINK ABOUT IT 235
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 236
KEY TERMS 236
MEDIA RESOURCES 237
DEMONSTRATION: Reading Sentences (continued) 237
CHAPTER 9
Knowledge 238
HOW ARE OBJECTS PLACED INTO CATEGORIES? 241
Why Definitions Don’t Work for Categories 241
The Prototype Approach: Finding the Average Case 243
DEMONSTRATION: Family Resemblance 244
METHOD: Sentence Verification Technique 244
The Exemplar Approach: Thinking About Examples 246
Which Approach Works Better: Prototypes or Exemplars? 246
IS THERE A PSYCHOLOGICALLY “PRIVILEGED” LEVEL
OF CATEGORIES? 247
Rosch’s Approach: What’s Special About Basic Level Categories? 247
DEMONSTRATION: Listing Common Features 248
DEMONSTRATION: Naming Things 248
How Knowledge Can Affect Categorization 249
TEST YOURSELF 9.1 249
REPRESENTING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CATEGORIES:
SEMANTIC NETWORKS 250
Introduction to Semantic Networks: Collins and Quillian’s Hierarchical Model 250
METHOD: Lexical Decision Task 252
Criticism of the Collins and Quillian Model 253
The Collins and Loftus Model: Personal Experience Affects Networks 253
Assessment of Semantic Network Theories 254
REPRESENTING CONCEPTS IN NETWORKS:
THE CONNECTIONIST APPROACH 255
What Is a Connectionist Model? 255
How Are Concepts Represented in a Connectionist Network? 257
DEMONSTRATION: Activation of Property Units in a Connectionist Network 257
CATEGORIES AND THE BRAIN 260
Specific or Distributed Activity? 260
Category Information in Single Neurons 260
Neuropsychology of Categories 262
Brain Scanning and Categories 262
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: CATEGORIZATION IN INFANTS 263
METHOD: Familiarization/Novelty Preference Procedure 263
TEST YOURSELF 9.2 265
CHAPTER SUMMARY 265
THINK ABOUT IT 266
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 266
KEY TERMS 267
MEDIA RESOURCES 267
CHAPTER 10
Visual Imagery 268
DEMONSTRATION: Experiencing Imagery 270
IMAGERY IN THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY 271
Early Ideas About Imagery 271
Imagery and the Cognitive Revolution 271
METHOD: Paired-Associate Learning 272
IMAGERY AND PERCEPTION: DO THEY SHARE
THE SAME MECHANISMS? 272
Kosslyn’s Mental Scanning Experiments 273
DEMONSTRATION: Mental Scanning 273
The Imagery Debate: Is Imagery Spatial or Propositional? 274
Comparing Imagery and Perception 276
Is There a Way to Resolve the Imagery Debate? 278
TEST YOURSELF 10.1 279
IMAGERY AND THE BRAIN 279
Imagery Neurons in the Brain 279
Brain Imaging 280
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation 281
METHOD: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) 282
Neuropsychological Case Studies 282
Conclusions From the Imagery Debate 285
USING IMAGERY TO IMPROVE MEMORY 286
Placing Images at Locations 286
DEMONSTRATION: Method of Loci 286
Associating Images With Words 287
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: MENTAL REPRESENTATION
OF MECHANICAL SYSTEMS 287
DEMONSTRATION: Mechanical Problems 287
TEST YOURSELF 10.2 289
CHAPTER SUMMARY 289
THINK ABOUT IT 290
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 290
KEY TERMS 291
MEDIA RESOURCES 291
CHAPTER 11
Language 292
WHAT IS LANGUAGE? 294
The Creativity of Human Language 295
The Universality of Language 295
Studying Language 295
PERCEIVING WORDS, PHONEMES, AND LETTERS 297
Components of Words 297
Perceiving Spoken Phonemes and Words, and Written Letters 297
METHOD: Word Superiority Effect 300
UNDERSTANDING WORDS 300
The Word Frequency Effect 301
DEMONSTRATION: Lexical Decision Task 301
Lexical Ambiguity 301
METHOD: Lexical Priming 302
TEST YOURSELF 11.1 303
UNDERSTANDING SENTENCES 304
Parsing and a Trip Down the Garden Path 304
The Syntax-First Approach to Parsing 305
DEMONSTRATION: Late Closure 305
The Interactionist Approach to Parsing 306
UNDERSTANDING TEXT AND STORIES 309
Making Inferences 309
DEMONSTRATION: Making Up a Story 309
Situation Models 311
PRODUCING LANGUAGE: CONVERSATIONS 314
Semantic Coordination 315
Syntactic Coordination 315
METHOD: Syntactic Priming 316
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: CULTURE, LANGUAGE,
AND COGNITION 317
TEST YOURSELF 11.2 320
CHAPTER SUMMARY 320
THINK ABOUT IT 321
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 321
KEY TERMS 323
MEDIA RESOURCES 323
DEMONSTRATION: Answers to Late Closure Demonstration 323
CHAPTER 12
Problem Solving 324
WHAT IS A PROBLEM? 326
THE GESTALT APPROACH: PROBLEM SOLVING AS REPRESENTATION
AND RESTRUCTURING 327
Representing a Problem in the Mind 327
Restructuring and Insight 327
DEMONSTRATION: Two Insight Problems 328
Obstacles to Problem Solving 329
DEMONSTRATION: The Candle Problem 329
MODERN RESEARCH ON PROBLEM SOLVING:
THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING APPROACH 331
Newell and Simon’s Approach 332
DEMONSTRATION: Tower of Hanoi Problem 332
The Importance of How a Problem Is Stated 335
DEMONSTRATION: The Mutilated Checkerboard Problem 337
METHOD: Think-Aloud Protocol 338
TEST YOURSELF 12.1 339
USING ANALOGIES TO SOLVE PROBLEMS 340
Analogical Transfer 340
Analogical Problem Solving and the Duncker Radiation Problem 340
DEMONSTRATION: Duncker’s Radiation Problem 340
Analogical Encoding 344
Analogy in the Real World 345
METHOD: In Vivo Problem-Solving Research 345
HOW EXPERTS SOLVE PROBLEMS 346
Differences Between How Experts and Novices Solve Problems 346
Expertise Is Only an Advantage in the Expert’s Specialty 348
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING 348
DEMONSTRATION: Creating an Object 350
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: DOES LARGE WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY
RESULT IN BETTER PROBLEM SOLVING? IT DEPENDS! 351
TEST YOURSELF 12.2 353
CHAPTER SUMMARY 354
THINK ABOUT IT 354
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 355
KEY TERMS 355
MEDIA RESOURCES 355
CHAPTER 13
Reasoning and Decision Making 358
DEDUCTIVE REASONING: SYLLOGISMS AND LOGIC 361
Validity and Truth in Syllogisms 361
Conditional Syllogisms 362
Conditional Reasoning: The Wason Four-Card Problem 364
DEMONSTRATION: Wason Four-Card Problem 364
What Has the Wason Problem Taught Us? 367
TEST YOURSELF 13.1 368
INDUCTIVE REASONING: REACHING CONCLUSIONS FROM EVIDENCE 368
The Nature of Inductive Reasoning 368
The Availability Heuristic 369
DEMONSTRATION: Which Is More Prevalent? 369
The Representativeness Heuristic 371
DEMONSTRATION: Judging Occupations 371
DEMONSTRATION: Description of a Person 372
DEMONSTRATION: Male and Female Births 373
The Confirmation Bias 374
TEST YOURSELF 13.2 374
DECISION MAKING: CHOOSING AMONG ALTERNATIVES 375
The Utility Approach to Decisions 375
How Emotions Affect Decisions 377
People Inaccurately Predict Their Emotions 378
Incidental Emotions Affect Decisions 379
Decisions Can Depend on How Choices Are Presented 379
DEMONSTRATION: What Would You Do? 380
Justification in Decision Making 381
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THINKING 382
Effect of Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex 382
Neuroeconomics: The Neural Basis of Decision Making 384
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: IS WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU
ALSO GOOD FOR ME? 385
DEMONSTRATION: A Personal Health Decision 385
TEST YOURSELF 13.3 386
CHAPTER SUMMARY 386
THINK ABOUT IT 387
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE 388
KEY TERMS 389
MEDIA RESOURCES 389
Glossary 391
References 411
Name Index 429
Subject Index 435
Bookscreen
Retained Features
All of the features described above were well received by students and instructors, and
so are continued in this new third edition. Additional pedagogical features that have
been retained from previous editions include Test Yourself sections, which help students
review the material, and Think About It questions, which ask students to consider questions
that go beyond the material.
Method sections, which were introduced in the second edition, highlight the ingenious
methods cognitive psychologists have devised to study the mind. The 27 Method
sections, which are integrated into the text, describe methods such as brain imaging,
lexical priming, and think-aloud protocols. This not only highlights the importance of
the method, but makes it easier to return to its description when it is referred to later in
the text. See page xxii for a list of Methods.
The end-of-chapter Something to Consider sections describe cutting-edge or controversial
research. A few examples of topics covered in this section are “Attention
in Social Situations—the Case of Autism,” “Are Memories Ever ‘Permanent’?” and
“Culture, Language, and Cognition.” If You Want to Know More includes brief descriptions
of interesting topics that are related to the chapter but could not be discussed in
detail in the text for space reasons. A few references are provided to help students begin
exploring this additional material. Chapter Summaries provided succinct outlines of the
chapters, without serving as a substitute for reading the chapters.