Cognition, 5/E
Mark H. Ashcraft, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Gabriel A. Radvansky, University of Notre Dame

ISBN-10: 0136050468
ISBN-13: 9780136050469

Publisher: Prentice Hall
Copyright: 2010
Format: Cloth; 640 pp
Published: 06/30/2009

Suggested retail price: $129.20
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For undergraduate level courses in Cognition and Theories of Learning.

 

The psychology of human memory and cognition is fascinating, dealing with questions and ideas that are inherently interesting, such as how we think, reason, remember, and use language. Using a first person narrative, posing direct questions to the reader, and balancing classic research with cutting edge topics, the author draws in the reader and conveys the excitement of the field.

 

Reflecting the increasing use of new technologies to study memory and cognition, Ashcraft and the new co-author, Gabriel Radvansky, continue to integrate sections on neurosciences within individual chapter topics.

Provide student with the most up-to-date research and material:

  • Thoroughly revised and updated throughout–i.e., false memory research; working memory and individual differences; online investigations of comprehension and reading; and new challenges to the classic research on heuristics in decision making– this offers students current and additional material on important topics and developments central to the field.
  • Over 300 new reference citations since the 2002 edition to ensure coverage of cutting edge topics.

Provide students with foundation to be successful in studying cognition:

  • Sections on neurocognition are integrated within the individual chapter topics. This shows students how integral the neurosciences are to cognitive science.
  • Background information on neurons and the brain (chapter 2) prepares students–without formal coursework on the biological basis of cognition— for the neurocognitive evidence they will encounter throughout the book.
  • Accessible writing style draws students into the material so that they can absorb and retain material more easily.
  • Balance of classic research and current topics presents students with a manageable mix of material that encourages them to read and remember material.
  • In-depth coverage of treated topics provides students with thorough coverage of the most important subject areas.

 Pedagogical Features:

  • Prove It boxes give students a demonstration project that illustrates the points made.
  • Critical terms are highlighted to help students master the terminology.
  • Section Summaries enable students to check their understanding and retention of concepts after each major chapter section.

  • Coverage of issues relating to embodied cognition
  • Continued increase in emphasis on neurological measures and findings
  • Inclusion of a discussion of trans-saccadic memory
  • Updated coverage of attention capture
  • Inclusion of issues of negative priming and attentional inhibition
  • Explanations of choking under pressure
  • Expanded and updated coverage of working memory issues
  • Coverage of metamemory issues
  • Increased coverage of issues related to emotion and cognition
  • Coverage of issues of survival and memory
  • Reorganization and updating of research on schemas
  • Updated and expanded coverage of human categorization
  • Expanded coverage of source monitoring and prospective memory
  • Expanded coverage of false memory phenomena
  • Updated coverage of autobiographical memory
  • Inclusion of discussions of the motor theory of speech perception
  • Inclusion of research on language comprehension and situation models
  • Inclusion of research on gesture in language comprehension
  • Increased focus on fast and frugal heuristics
  • Deeper coverage of the use of analogy in problem solving
  • Expanded  coverage of the role of neuroscience in understanding insight problem solving
  • Many more Prove It boxes

1. Cognitive Psychology : An Introduction

 

Thinking About Thinking

 

Memory and Cognition Defined

 

An Introductory History of Cognitive Psychology

 

    Anticipations of Psychology

    Early Psychology

    Behaviorism and Neobehaviorism

    Dissatifaction with Behaviorism: The Winds of Change

 

Cognitive Psychology and Information Processing

 

    The New Direction

     The Assumptions of Cognitive Psychology

 

2. The Cognitive Science Approach

 

    Guiding Principles

    Themes

 

Measuring Information Processes

 

    Getting Started

    Time and Accuracy Measures

    Guiding Analogies

 

The Information-Processing Approach

 

    The Standard Theory

    A Process Model

    The Strict Information Processing Approach

    Some Difficulties

 

The Modern Cognitive Approach: Cognitive Science

 

    Updating the Standard Theory

    Fixing the Narrowness

 

Neurocognition: The Brain and Cognition Together

 

    Basic Neurology

    Brain Anatomy

    Principles of Functioning

    Split Brain Research and Lateralization

    Methods of Investigation

 

Neural Net Models: Connectionism

 

3. Perception and Pattern Recognition

 

Visual Perception

    

    Gathering Visual Information

    Visual Sensory Memory

    The Early parts of a Fixation

     A Summary for Visual Sensory Memory

    Trans-saccadic Memory

 

Pattern Recognition: Written Language

 

Gestalt Grouping Principles

The Template Approach

Visual Feature Detection

Beyond Features: Conceptually Driven Pattern Recognition

Connectionist Modeling

 

Object Recognition and Agnosia

 

    Recognition by Components

    Agnosia

    Implications for Cognitive Science

 

Auditory Perception

 

    Auditory Sensory Memory

    Auditory Pattern Recognition

 

4. Attention

 

    Multiple Meaning of Attention

    Basics of Attention

 

Basic Input Attentional Processes

 

    Alertness and Arousal

    Orienting Response and Attention Capture

    Spotlight Attention and Visual Search

    Contrasting Input and Controlled Attention

    Hemineglect: An Attention Deficit

 

Controlled, Voluntary Attention

 

    Selective Attention and the Cocktail Party Effect

    Selection Models

 

Attention as a Mental Resource

 

    Automatic and Conscious Processing Theories

    A Synthesis for Attention and Automaticity

    Disadvantages of Automaticity

 

 

5. Short-Term Working Memory

 

  

Short-Term Memory: A Limited Capacity Bottleneck

The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two

Forgetting from Short-Term Memory

 

Short-Term Memory Retrieval

Serial Position Effects

Short-Term Memory Scanning: The Sternberg Task

 

Working Memory

The Components of Working Memory

The Central Executive

The Phonological Loop

The Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad

The Episodic Buffer

 

Assessing Working Memory

The Dual Task Method

Working Memory Span

 

The Role of Working Memory in Cognition

Working Memory and Attention

Working Memory and Long-Term Memory

Working Memory and Reasoning

Sometimes Small Working Memory Spans are Better

 

 

6. Learning and Remembering

 

Preliminary Issues

 

    Mnemonic Devices

    The Ebbinghaus Tradition of Memory Research

    Metamemory

 

Storing Information in Episodic Memory

 

    Rehearsal

    Frequency of Rehearsal

    Two Kinds of Rehearsal

    Depth of Processing

    Challenges to Depth of Processing

    Generation and Enactment

    Organization in Storage

    Imagery

    Emotion and Survival Value

    Context and Encoding Specificity

 

Retrieving Episodic Information

 

    Decay

    Interference

    Retrieval Failure

    Retrieval Cues

 

Amnesia and Implicit Memory

 

    Dissociation of Episodic and Semantic Memory

    Anterograde Amnesia

    Implicit and Explicit Memory

 

7. Knowing

 

Semantic Memory

 

    The Collins and Quillian ( and Loftus) Model

    Smith's Feature Comparison Model

    Empirical Tests of Semantic Memory Models

    Semantic Relatedness

 

Priming in Semantic Memory

    

    Nuts and Bolts of Priming Tasks

    Empirical Demonstrations of Priming

    Priming in Other Tasks

    Automatic and Controlled Priming

    Priming Is an Implicit Process

 

Schemata and Scripts

Bartlett’s Research

Schemata

Scripts

Evidence of Scripts

 

<    Context, Connectionism, and the Brain

Connectionism

Connectionism and the Brain

 

8. Using Knowledge in the Real World

 

    The Seven Sins of Memory

 

Facts About the World

The Nature of Propositions

Rules for Deriving Propositions

Are Propositions Real?

 

      Situation Models and Embodied Cognition

Levels of Representation

Remembering Facts

 

Metamemory

Source Monitoring

Prospective Memory

Knowing What You Know

 

False Memories, Eyewitness Memory. and "Forgotten Memories"

 

    False Memories

    Integration

    Leading Questions and Memory Distortion

    The Misinformation Effect

    Source Misattribution and Misinformation Acceptance

    Stronger Memory Distortion Effects

    Repressed and Recovered Memories

 

Autobiographical Memories

 

    The Bahrick Work

    Phenomena of Autobiographical Memory

    The Irony of Memory

 

9. Language

 

Linguistic Universals and Functions

 

    Defining Language

    Language Universals

    Animal Communication

    Levels of Analysis, a Critical Distinction, and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

 

Phonology: The Sounds of Language

 

    Sounds in Isolation

    Combining Phonemes into Words

    Embodiment in Speech Perception

    Speech Perception and Context

    A Final Puzzle

 

Syntax: The Ordering of Words and Phrases

 

    Chomsky's Transformational Grammar

    Limitations of the Transformational Grammar Approach

    The Cognitive Role of Syntax

 

Lexical and Semantic Factors: The Meaning in Language

 

    Morphemes

    The Lexical Representation

    Case Grammar

    Interaction of Syntax and Semantics

    Evidence for the Semantic Grammar Approaches

     

Brain and Language

 

    Language in the Intact Brain

    Aphasia

    Generalizing from Aphasia

    

 

10. Comprehension: Written and Spoken Language

 

Getting Started: An Overview

 

    Conceptual and Rule Knowledge

    Traditional Comprehension Research

    Online Comprehension Tasks

    Metacomprehension

    Comprehension as Mental Structure Building

    Levels of Comprehension

    

 Reading

 

    Gaze Duration

    Basic Online Reading Effects

    A Model of Reading

    Summary

 

Reference, Situation Models, and Events

Reference

Situation Models

Events

 

        Conversation and Gesture

 

    The Structure of Conversations

    Cognitive Conversational Characteristics

    Empirical Effects in Conversation

    Gesture

 

11. Decisions, Judgments, and Reasoning

 

Formal Logic and Reasoning

 

    Syllogisms

    Conditional Reasoning: If P Then Q

    Hypothesis Testing

 

Decisions

 

    Decisions About Physical Differences

    Decisions About Symbolic Differences

    Decisions About Geographic Distances

 

Decisions and Reasoning Under Uncertainty

 

    Algorithms and Heuristics

    Heuristics, Biases, and Fallacies

    The Representativeness Heuristic

    The Availability Heuristics

    The Simulation Heuristics

    The Undoing Heuristics: Counterfactual Reasoning

    Adaptive Thinking and " Fast, Frugal" Heuristics

    The Ongoing Debate

 

Limitations in Reasoning

 

    Limited Domain Knowledge

    Limitations in Processing Resources

    

Appendix: Algorithms for Coin Tosses and Hospital Births

Coin Tosses

Hospital Births 

 

 

12. Problem Solving

 

    The Status of Problem-Solving Area

 

Gestalt Psychology and Problem Solving

 

    Early Gestalt Research

    Difficulties in Problem Solving

    

Insight and Analogy

    

    Insight

    Analogy

    Neurocognition in Analogy and Insight

 

Basics of Problem Solving

 

    Characteristics of Problem Solving

    A Vocabulary of Problem Solving

 

Means-End Analysis: A Fundamental Heuristic

 

    The Basics of Means-End Analysis

    The Tower of Hanoi

    General Problem Solver

 

Improving Your Problem Solving

 

    Increase Your Domain Knowledge

    Automate Some Components of the Problem-Solving Solution

    Follow a Systematic Plan

    Draw Inferences

    Develop Subgoals

    Work Backward

    Search for Contradictions

    Search for Relations Among Problems

    Find  a Different Problem Representation

    Stay Calm

    If All Else Fails, Try Practice

 

Glossary

References

Photo Credits

Name Index

Subjet Index

 

 

    The psychology of human memory and cognition is fascinating, dealing with questions and ideas that are inherently interesting, such as how we think, reason, remember, and use language. This text is directed primarily toward undergraduate students at junior and senior level. Using a first person narrative, posing direct questions to the reader, and balancing classic research with cutting edge topics, the author draws in the reader and conveys the excitement of the field.

    The fourth edition thoroughly covers the foundation areas in cognition. Reflecting the increasing use of new technologies to study memory and cognition, Ashcraft continues to integrate sections on neurosciences withing individual chapter topics. A major section in the introductory chapters provides background and information on neurons and the brain, so even students without formal coursework on the biological bases of congnition will be prepared for the cognitive neuroscience coverage in the text.

    Other important new developments also examined in the new edition include: false memory research, new research on working memory and individual differences, new strides in online investigations of comprehension and reading, and new challenges to the classic research in heurstics in decision-making.

  • 0131552716Cognition, 4/E
    Ashcraft
    © 2006 | Prentice Hall | Paper; 640 pages | Instock
    ISBN-10: 0131552716 | ISBN-13: 9780131552715
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  • 0136050859Cognition, CourseSmart eTextbook, 5/E
    Ashcraft & Radvansky
    © 2010 | Prentice Hall | Electronic Book; 640 pages | Instock
    ISBN-10: 0136050859 | ISBN-13: 9780136050858
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