PSYB57H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Information Theory, Cognitive Psychology, Psychophysics
Document Summary
The study of human cognition has advanced in 3 stages. The first stage (late 1950s to early 1960s) was one of rapid progression propelled by the methods of traditional psychophysics and experimental psychology. Psychophysics is the scientific investigation of the relationship between sensation and stimulus. Stimulus ! an entity in the external environment that can be perceived by an observer. The second stage (mid 1970s), was fueled by computational analysis and marked the arrival of cognitive science. The third phase (mid 1980s), has incorporated evidence from neuropsychology and animal neurophysiology, and most recently, imaging techniques have allowed us to observe the brain in action. Foundational to all of cognitive psychology is the idea that the world contains information that is available for humans to process. Cognitive psychology sees humans not as passive receivers and transformers of signal information, but as active selectors of information from the environment.
