PSY270H1 Chapter : Ch1 Textbook Notes
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PSY270H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind. It creates and controls mental functions, e. g. perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking, reasoning. Is a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals. Studying the mind: early work in cognitive psychology. 1800s, belief that it is impossible to study the mind. Donders pioneering experiment: how long does it take to make a decision. Asked participants to press a button upon presentation of a light, simple reaction time task. Then presented two lights and had participants push one button when left light was illuminated and another button when right light was illuminated, choice reaction time task. Reasoned that the difference in reaction time between simple and choice conditions would indicate how long it took to make the decision. Choice reaction time 1/10 of a second longer.
