Fundamentals of Cognition / Edition 3

by Michael W. Eysenck, Marc Brysbaert

Overview

Fundamentals of Cognition is a clear and reader-friendly introduction that will help students understand and answer the kind of questions above. Taking his cue from modern cognitive psychology, and drawing from coverage in his previous book Principles of Cognitive Psychology, 2nd edition, Michael W. Eysenck explores the key processes that allow us to make sense of the world around us. Whether we are aware of their workings or not, our abilities in attention, perception, learning, memory, language, problem solving, and thinking and reasoning all help us to make decisions about how to cope with everyday life. This book takes a close look at all the relevant key findings and issues. It also offers accessible explanations of the more complex debates which spring up around them.

Fundamentals of Cognition guides students through all the classic topics in cognitive psychology. New research from approaches in cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience is intergrated evaluated in a lively but systematic approach. The book provides a broad overview of current thinking and a thorough evaluation of the various theoretical approaches to basic cognitive processes. Written with introductory level students in mind, it can be read easily by those with previous knowledge of cognitive psychology, however, it also includes directions for more detailed and advanced study.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138670457
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/08/2018
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	578
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michael W. Eysenck is Professor Emeritus in Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London, and is also a Professorial Fellow at Roehampton University, UK. He is the best-selling author of a range of textbooks, including Cognitive Psychology: A Student’s Handbook (2020), Memory (with Alan Baddeley and Michael Anderson, 2020), and Simply Psychology (2017).

Marc Brysbaert is Professor of Psychology at Ghent University, Belgium. He has taught introductory psychology courses for more than 20 years, is editor for several journals, and best-selling author of Historical and Conceptual Issues in Psychology (with Kathy Rastle, 2021).

Table of Contents

About the author     x
Preface     xi
Approaches to cognitive psychology     2
Introduction     3
Experimental cognitive psychology     5
Cognitive neuropsychology     6
Computational cognitive science     9
Cognitive neuroscience     12
How useful is cognitive psychology?     15
Structure of the book     18
Evaluation and chapter summary     19
Further reading     20
Visual perception and attention     22
Visual illusions: Seeing and acting     26
Introduction     27
Two visual systems: Illusions     29
Two visual systems: General     33
Evaluation and chapter summary     36
Further reading     37
How far away is that object?     38
Introduction     39
Size perception     44
Evaluation and chapter summary     46
Further reading     47
Perception without awareness?     48
Introduction     49
Unconscious perception and perceptual defense     50
Blindsight     54
Conclusions     57
Evaluationand chapter summary     58
Further reading     59
What is this I see before me?     60
Introduction     61
Perceptual organization     62
Viewpoint-dependent or viewpoint-invariant?     64
Disorders of object recognition     68
Evaluation and chapter summary     72
Further reading     73
What's in a face?     74
Introduction     75
Who are you?     78
Theoretical approaches     83
Evaluation and chapter summary     86
Further reading     87
Seeing with the mind's eye     88
Introduction     89
Does visual imagery resemble visual perception?     91
Brain systems in imagery     95
Evaluation and chapter summary     99
Further reading     101
In sight but out of mind     102
Introduction     103
When is change blindness found?     106
What causes change blindness?     109
Evaluation and chapter summary     113
Further reading     113
What do we attend to in vision?     114
Introduction     115
Do we attend to locations or objects?     118
Disorders of attention: Unattended stimuli     119
Cross-modal effects     122
Evaluation and chapter summary     124
Further reading     125
Multitasking     126
Introduction     127
What determines dual-task performance?     131
Theoretical perspectives     136
Evaluation and chapter summary     140
Further reading     141
Learning memory     142
The long and the short of human memory     146
Introduction     147
Short-term vs. long-term memory Amnesia     153
Evaluation and chapter summary     160
Further reading     163
Short-term or working memory     164
Introduction     165
Baddeley's working memory model     166
Phonological loop     167
Visuospatial sketchpad     169
Central executive     170
Working memory and intelligence     173
Evaluation and chapter summary     175
Further reading     177
Learning without awareness?     178
Introduction     179
Complex normal learning      181
Learning in amnesics     184
Brain-imaging research     185
Evaluation and chapter summary     187
Further reading     189
It's slipped my mind     190
Introduction     191
Are traumatic memories repressed?     196
Memories interfere with each other     198
Encoding specificity     200
Consolidation theory     201
What about the future?     202
Evaluation and chapter summary     203
Further reading     205
The story of my life     206
Introduction     207
What do elderly people remember?     211
Emotional personal memories     214
Model of autobiographical memory     215
Evaluation and chapter summary     218
Further reading     219
Should we believe eyewitnesses?     220
Introduction     221
What influences eyewitness accuracy?     222
Eyewitness identification     225
Interviewing eyewitnesses     227
Evaluation and chapter summary     230
Further reading     231
Language     232
Read all about it!     236
Introduction     237
Reading aloud     238
Parsing     243
It's in the eyes     246
Evaluation and chapter summary     249
Further reading     250
What are you saying?     252
Introduction     253
What difference does context make?     255
Trace model     256
Cohort model     258
Disorders of speech perception     261
Parsing     263
Understanding the message     265
Evaluation and chapter summary     266
Further reading     269
What does this mean?     270
Introduction     271
Schemas     275
Pragmatics     279
Construction-integration model     281
Evaluation and chapter summary     284
Further reading     287
Talking the talk     288
Introduction     289
Speech errors     293
Word processing: Ordered or disordered?     296
Speech disorders     300
Evaluation and chapter summary     303
Further reading     305
What's in a concept?     306
Introduction     307
Prototype approach     310
Exemplar approach     313
Concept learning     315
Evaluation and chapter summary     318
Further reading     321
Thinking and reasoning     322
How accurate are our judgments?     326
Introduction     327
Our judgments are OK!     329
Do heuristics make us smart?     332
Kahneman and Tversky: More heuristics     333
Evaluation and chapter summary     337
Further reading     339
What am I going to do?     340
Introduction     341
Losses and gains     342
What will people think?     348
Complex decision making     351
Evaluation and chapter summary     354
Further reading     355
Finding the solution     356
Introduction     357
Does insight exist?     361
How useful is past experience?     364
General Problem Solver     368
Evaluation and chapter summary     372
Further reading     373
How do you become an expert?      374
Introduction     375
Chess-playing expertise     377
Deliberate practice     382
Evaluation and chapter summary     384
Further reading     385
Reasoning     386
Introduction     387
Reasoning problems     389
Theoretical approaches     392
What about individual differences?     397
How rational are we?     399
Evaluation and chapter summary     401
Further reading     403
Broader issues     404
Cognition and emotion     406
Introduction     407
Does affect require cognition?     407
Emotion, learning, and memory     411
Emotion, attention, and perception     418
Evaluation and chapter summary     420
Further reading     421
What is consciousness?     422
Introduction     423
In two minds?     427
Global workspace theories     430
Evaluation and chapter summary     433
Further reading     435
References     437
Glossary     475
Author index     483
Subject index     495

Editorial Reviews

'Eysenck and Brysbaert have produced the ideal introduction to cognitive psychology. It combines breadth of coverage with a depth of scholarship that allows the text to be readily accessible without being overly simplistic, draws on the best examples of contemporary research while incorporating important historical perspectives, and engages the reader with established findings and scientific challenges alike.'

Robert Logie, Professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, UK

'A splendid introduction to cognitive psychology that emphasises the applications of the subject, and how people actually manage to live and operate in the world. The level of detail is just right. It is written in a lively and engaging manner, and will quickly take a reader who knows nothing of the area to a level of considerable expertise.'

Trevor Harley, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Dundee, UK

'As stated by the title, this book is a fundamental for any psychology student. Despite the big challenge of presenting what we know about human cognition, Eysenck and Brysbaert manage to cover all domains of cognitive psychology, while providing clear learning objectives, definitions of the most important concepts, and helpful examples or activities to support step-by-step students in their discovery of this exciting field of psychology.'

Valérie Camos, Professor of Developmental Psychology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

'Fundamentals of Cognition by Eysenck and Brysbaert is a great introductory textbook on cognition. At the beginning of each chapter the learning objectives are given and throughout the book important key terms are listed. One aspect that makes this book really compelling is that in each chapter there is a section called "In The Real World" where the students can learn how findings from cognition research are used in everyday life. This makes this book unique, and unlike all others.'

Jan Theeuwes, Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

From the Publisher