The Current State of Cognitive Psychology

The intent in this paper is to explore the current state of cognitive psychology, using a 1973 paper by Allen Newell as a starting point. In that paper, Newell (1973) attempted to imagine how the field of psychology would develop over the next few decades by looking at the current, 1973, state of the field. He discussed cognitive psychology in terms of a few, separate headings, including detection of difficulties in current research to diagnosis of why those difficulties exist, and finally to a prognosis regarding the concerns of current psychological research.

Newell contended that what needed to be done was to view human beings as information processing systems. From that basic assumption, or metaview, as Newell termed it, he recommended three basic course of action to address the outstanding issues in cognitive psychology.

These three courses of action were quite specific. His first suggestion was that individual theorists and researchers construct complete processing models, rather than partial ones. He contended that it was possible, and necessary, for theorists to construct detailed models of control structures based upon specific, detailed assumptions about memory and elementary processes.

His second suggestion for an experimental strategy was for researchers to overcome current difficulties by focusing on a single complex task and accomplishing all of it. The intent here would be to resolve a certain specific question through a single experiment

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Category: Psychology - T