Psychology 2135A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Franciscus Donders, Wilhelm Wundt, Little Albert Experiment

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2135A/B
• Professor: Mark Holden

Document Summary

Cognitive psychology: branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind. Cognition: mental processes such as perception, attention, memory, that are what the mind does. Second definition indicates something about how the mind operations (creates representations) and its function (enables us to act and achieve goals) The question of how the mind achieves what it does is what cognitive psych is about. Franciscus donders, 1868 did one of the first cog psych experiments. Donder"s pioneering experiment: how long does it take to make a decision. Donders interested in determining how long it takes for a person to make a decision. Determined by measuring reaction time: how long it takes to respond to presentation of a stimulus, used two measures simple reaction time and choice reaction time. Simple reaction time: by asking subjects to push a button as fast as possible when they saw a light go on.