Cognition The Thinking Animal

Explains foundational experiments and basic theories of cognition, and explains how they relate, in a clear, structured narrative.

This unique book helps readers understand why cognitive psychologists approach problems as they do. It explains the questions cognitive psychologists ask, gives clear answers, and provides interesting, lively and comprehensive coverage of controversies in the field. This book is a study of cognition: of how humans think. Topics covered include visual perception, attention, sensory and primary memory, memory encoding, memory retrieval, memory storage, motor control, visual imagery, decision making and deductive reasoning, problem solving, and language. For readers that are interested in understanding the mysteries of cognition, including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and those in the field of cognitive neuroscience.

This highly readable book offers comprehensive coverage of classic cognitive psychology and up45to45the45minute coverage of controversies in the field in an interesting, lively manner that assumes no prior knowledge of cognitive psychology. The Approach of Cognitive Psychology. Visual Perception. Attention. Sensory Memory and Primary Memory. Memory Encoding, Retrieval, and Storage. Visual Imagery. Motor Control. Decision Making and Deductive Reasoning. Problem Solving. Language. For anyone interested in introductory cognitive psychology.

MySearchLab provides students with a complete understanding of the research process so they can complete research projects confidently and efficiently. Students and instructors with an internet connection can visit www.MySearchLab.com and receive immediate access to thousands of full articles from the EBSCO ContentSelect database. In addition, MySearchLab offers extensive content on the research process itself—including tips on how to navigate and maximize time in the campus library, a step-by-step guide on writing a research paper, and instructions on how to finish an academic assignment with endnotes and bibliography. This unique book helps readers understand why cognitive psychologists approach problems as they do. It explains the questions cognitive psychologists ask, gives clear answers, and provides interesting, lively and comprehensive coverage of controversies in the field. This book is a study of cognition: of how humans think. Topics covered include visual perception, attention, sensory and primary memory, memory encoding, memory retrieval, memory storage, motor control, visual imagery, decision making and deductive reasoning, problem solving, and language. For readers that are interested in understanding the mysteries of cognition, including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and those in the field of cognitive neuroscience.

The fifty-seven original essays in this book provide a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of animal cognition. The contributors include cognitive ethologists, behavioral ecologists, experimental and developmental psychologists, behaviorists, philosophers, neuroscientists, computer scientists and modelers, field biologists, and others. The diversity of approaches is both philosophical and methodological, with contributors demonstrating various degrees of acceptance or disdain for such terms as "consciousness" and varying degrees of concern for laboratory experimentation versus naturalistic research. In addition to primates, particularly the nonhuman great apes, the animals discussed include antelopes, bees, dogs, dolphins, earthworms, fish, hyenas, parrots, prairie dogs, rats, ravens, sea lions, snakes, spiders, and squirrels. The topics include (but are not limited to) definitions of cognition, the role of anecdotes in the study of animal cognition, anthropomorphism, attention, perception, learning, memory, thinking, consciousness, intentionality, communication, planning, play, aggression, dominance, predation, recognition, assessment of self and others, social knowledge, empathy, conflict resolution, reproduction, parent-young interactions and caregiving, ecology, evolution, kin selection, and neuroethology.

Experts from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, ecology, and evolutionary biology assess the field of animal cognition. Do animals have cognitive maps? Do they possess knowledge? Do they plan for the future? Do they understand that others have mental lives of their own? This volume provides a state-of-the-art assessment of animal cognition, with experts from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, ecology, and evolutionary biology addressing these questions in an integrative fashion. It summarizes the latest research, identifies areas where consensus has been reached, and takes on current controversies. Over the last thirty years, the field has shifted from the collection of anecdotes and the pursuit of the subjective experience of animals to a rigorous, hypothesis-driven experimental approach. Taking a skeptical stance, this volume stresses the notion that in many cases relatively simple rules may account for rather complex and flexible behaviors. The book critically evaluates current concepts and puts a strong focus on the psychological mechanisms that underpin animal behavior. It offers comparative analyses that reveal common principles as well as adaptations that evolved in particular species in response to specific selective pressures. It assesses experimental approaches to the study of animal navigation, decision making, social cognition, and communication and suggests directions for future research. The book promotes a research program that seeks to understand animals' cognitive abilities and behavioral routines as individuals and as members of social groups.

For undergraduate courses of beginning graduate courses in Introductory Cognitive Psychology. Using a unique question-and-answer format, this text comprehensively addresses many of the overarching questions that confront and motivate today's cognitive scientists. When Daniel Willingham first approached the prospect of creating his own cognitive psychology text, he did so with the knowledge that his years of teaching experience had brought him: while many texts were relatively adequate in coverage, his students never liked them. Usually underexposed to social sciences in pre-college courses, he found his students often struggled with understanding how and why cognitive psychologists approach the problems that they do. Here, by using a unique question-and-answer format, he is able to start with questions frequently asked by students, relate those to questions cognitive scientists ask in their own research, present clear answers, and frame those answers in an interesting, lively, and comprehensive coverage of the core material.Through this accessible narrative style, Willingham shows the logical connections between each section and, by means of several new pedagogical features, encourages students to apply what they have learned in their daily lives.

In this book, the editors bring together results from studies on all kinds of animals to show how thinking on many behaviors as truly cognitive processes can help us to understand the biology involved. Taking ideas and observations from the while range of research into animal behavior leads to unexpected and stimulating ideas. A space is created where the work of field ecologists, evolutionary ecologists and experimental psychologists can interact and contribute to a greater understanding of complex animal behavior, and to the development of a new and coherent field of study.