What methods do cognitive psychologists use?

In this article, we will Describe the Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology.

We use various research methods in Cognitive Psychology. Every research has a goal, and the goal is completed through the appropriate methodology. Let us see what are the goals of the research.

Goals of Research.

To better understand the precise methods used by cognitive psychologists, one must grasp the goals of research in cognitive psychology. Briefly, those goals include data gathering, data analysis, hypothesis formulation, hypothesis testing, theory development, and possibly even application to settings outside the research environment. However, most cognitive psychologists want to understand more than cognition. They also find to understand the how and the why of thinking. Also, researchers find ways to explain cognition. To move beyond descriptions, cognitive psychologists must leap from what is observed directly to what can be concluded about observations.

Distinctive Research Methods:

Cognitive psychologists use several methods to explore how humans think. These methods include
(i) laboratory or other Controlled Experiments,
(ii) Psychobiological Research,
(iii) Self-Reports, Case Studies, Naturalistic Observation, and
(iv) Computer Simulations and Artificial Intelligence.

1. Laboratory or other Controlled Experiments on Human Behaviour:

In Controlled Experimental designs, an experimenter directs research, typically in a laboratory setting. The experimenter manages aspects of the experimental situation as much as possible. There are fundamentally two kinds of variables in any given experiment – independent variables and dependent variables. The irrelevant variables hold constant and call control variables. The experimenter must use a representative and random sample of the population of interest in implementing the experimental method. She/he must also apply strict control over the experimental conditions. If those prerequisites for the experimental method fulfilled, the experimenter may be able to conclude possible causation. This impact is of the effects of the independent variable (the treatment) on the dependent variable (the outcome) for the given population.

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2. Psychobiological Research:

Investigators study the relationship between cognitive performance and cerebral events and situations through Psychobiological Research. The various specific methods used in psychobiological research generally fall into three categories.
The first category is that of methods for studying an individual’s brain post-mortem, relating the individual’s cognitive function before death to observable features of the brain.
The second category is methods for studying images showing structures of or activities in the brain of an individual who is known to have a particular cognitive deficit.
The third category is methods for obtaining information about cerebral processes during the normal performance of cognitive activity, for Example – by using brain imaging techniques.

3. Self-Reports, Case Studies, and Naturalistic Observation:

Individual experiments and psychobiological studies often focus on the precise specification of separate features of cognition across individuals. To get richly textured information about how particular individuals think in a broad range of contexts, researchers may use self-reports (an individual’s account of cognitive processes), case studies (in-depth studies of individuals), and naturalistic observation (detailed studies of cognitive performance in everyday situations and no laboratory contexts). On the one hand, experimental research is most useful for testing hypotheses. On the other hand, research based on qualitative methods is often particularly useful for the formulation of hypotheses. These methods are also useful to create descriptions of rare events or processes that we have no other way to measure.

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4. Computer Simulations and Artificial Intelligence:

Digital computers played an essential role in the emergence of the study of cognitive psychology. One kind is indirect through models of human cognition based on models of how computers process information. Another kind is direct through computer simulations and artificial intelligence. In computer simulations, researchers program computers to reproduce a given human function or process. Some researchers even have attempted to create computer models of the complete cognitive architecture of the human mind. Their models have stimulated heated discussions regarding how the human mind may function as a whole. Sometimes the distinction between simulation and artificial intelligence is blurry. It is also possible to combine the two kinds.

Cognitive psychologists habitually widen and deepen their understanding of cognition through research in cognitive science. Although, Cognitive Science is a cross-disciplinary field that uses ideas and methods from cognitive psychology, psychobiology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology. Cognitive psychologists use these ideas and methods to focus on the study of how humans obtain and use knowledge. They also work in collaboration with other psychologists, such as social psychologists (in the field of social cognition), psychologists who study motivation and emotion, and engineering psychologists (who study human-machine interactions).

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