Cognitive psychology, which began to be discussed in academic fields in the 1950s, rapidly grew to become one of the most popular subfields. Asst. Prof. Merve Çebi, stating that the information processing model lies at the foundation of cognitive psychology, expresses that attempts are made to clarify how these processes, such as attention, problem-solving, and perception, which are invisible but occur within our brain, take place. Çebi pointed out that artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology fundamentally share the same goal, and both fields aim to reveal the limits of the human mind.
Ensuring the understanding of invisible processes…
Asst. Prof. Merve Çebi, Head of the English Psychology Department at Üsküdar University's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, made evaluations about the fundamental topics and objectives of cognitive psychology, as well as its relationship with artificial intelligence.
At its core is the information processing model
Asst. Prof. Merve Çebi stated that cognitive psychology began to be discussed in academic fields in the 1950s, and despite being relatively younger than other subfields of psychology, it rapidly grew to become one of the most popular. She said, “The approach at the heart of cognitive psychology, adopted by most scientists working in this field, is the information processing model. According to this approach, the mind functions like a computer, processing incoming information through a series of operations. Therefore, if we can think of the brain as a computer, we can then understand the mechanism of cognitive processes.”
Provides benefits to psychologists
Asst. Prof. Merve Çebi stated that mental functions such as attention, perception, and problem-solving, which are the main subjects of cognitive psychology, are processes that are not easily understood through external observation. She continued:
“For instance, when you are presented with a math problem and you solve it, many mental activities occur, including your perception, memory, and strategic thinking skills. The purpose of cognitive psychology is to try to clarify how these processes, which are invisible but take place within our brain, occur. The findings obtained from cognitive psychology also provide a new perspective for psychologists working in the field. For example, by gaining more information about how these processes work, psychologists can develop new ways to help people improve their memories and combat potential memory problems.”
Understanding how information is processed offers many benefits
Asst. Prof. Merve Çebi said, “Gaining knowledge about how people process information not only helps researchers gain a deeper understanding of how the human brain works, but also provides benefits for countless practical applications such as coping with memory disorders, finding solutions to help individuals with difficulty focusing attention improve their concentration, increasing people's accurate decision-making skills, developing appropriate rehabilitation programs for learning disabilities, and structuring educational curricula to enhance learning and memory capacity. For example, thanks to the findings obtained about memory, today we have significant information on how people form, store, and recall memories. This information, which began to be understood through cases of brain damage in the history of cognitive psychology, is now better understood with the development of brain imaging methods.”
Brain functions can be examined using various methods
Asst. Prof. Merve Çebi stated that today, thanks to technology developed over the years, scientists can examine brain functions using methods such as electroencephalography (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). She added, “Through this, we can now have consistent information about which cognitive functions are related to which region of the brain. This situation makes it possible to carry out important studies for clarifying the unknowns in the mind-brain relationship, both today and in the future.”
Studies aimed at understanding the human mind will continue
Asst. Prof. Merve Çebi stated that with the emergence of the concept of artificial intelligence, a new era has begun in studies aimed at understanding the human mind, and she concluded:
“As is known, artificial intelligence is the ability of a computer or a computer-controlled robot to perform tasks typically done by humans because they require human intelligence and reasoning. It appears that artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology fundamentally share the same goal: to unveil the secrets of the human mind. In this context, computational models developed using artificial intelligence aim to create programs that try to model or imitate the characteristics of human cognitive functioning. Scientists will continue their work in the future to understand the functioning of the human mind using all these methods.”