- Cognition

Catalog description

The scientific study of the ways in which people encode, integrate, transform, and use information derived from their firsthand experiences and more indirect ones. While studying theories, methodologies, and research findings that are the hallmarks of cognitive psychology, students expand their understanding of these cognitive processes. The processes discussed include attention, consciousness, imagination, remembering, forgetting (and its failure), knowledge representation, narrative processing, reasoning, and decision-making. Students learn about the brain's role by examining the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive processes. Particular attention is given to writing as a way of discovering, integrating, and extending knowledge about the cognitive processes that are examined.