E-Book Overview
Our lives are informed by perceptual and cognitive processes at all levels, from instrumental learning to metaphorical discourse to memorial representation. Yet, historically, these two branches of experimental psychology, perception and cognition, have developed separately using independent methods of experimentation and analysis. This volume is motivated by the assumption that a fundamental integration of the two fields is fruitful methodologically and indispensable theoretically. It explores how the notion of psychophysics aligned with cognitive processes shapes the study of perception and cognition, and illuminates a variety of contemporary research issues from a novel theoretical perspective. The papers raise conceptual and metatheoretical issues against the background of relevant empirical data.The authors provide a virtually narrative account of the most recent developments in their respective fields of expertise in psychophysics and cognitive psychology. Hence, this volume gives the interested reader an opportunity to reflect critically upon some of the current issues defining the two domains and their conjunction. Topics discussed include the psychology and psychophysics of similarity, the psychophysics of visual memory and cognitive factors in judgment. The emerging notion of cognitive psychophysics may well warrant the attention of experts in the field.
E-Book Content
PSYCHOPHYSICAL APPROACHES TO COGNITION
ADVANCES IN PSYCHOLOGY
92 Editors:
G . E. STELMACH P. A. VROON
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NORTH-HOLLAND AMSTERDAM LONDON NEW YORK TOKYO
PSYCHOPHYSICAL APPROACHES TO COGNITION
Edited by
Daniel ALGOM Department of Psychology Bar-llan University Ramat-Can, Israel
1992 NORTH-HOLLAND AMSTERDAM LONDON NEW YORK TOKYO
NORTH-HOLLAND ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.V. Sara Burgerhartstraat 25 P.O.Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ISBN: 0 444 88978 7 01992 ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.V. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in ?ny form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Copyright & Permissions Department, P.O. Box 521, 1000 AM Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Special regulations for readers in the U.S.A. - This publication has been registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. (CCC), Salem, Massachusetts. Information can be obtained from the CCC about conditions under which photocopies of parts of this publication may be made in the U.S.A. All other copyright questions, including photocopying outside of the U.S.A., should be referred to the copyright owner, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., unless otherwise specified. No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as
a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Printed in The Netherlands
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PREFACE
It was as great an honor as it was a challenge for me to be asked to edit a book on a topic of my choice for North Holland -- within the framework of the
Advances of Psychologyseries. The relationship between psychophysics (conceived in its broadest sense) and cognitive psychology.hasconcerned me for some time and 1 was fortunate to detect a similar preoccupation with the subject on the part of the
other contributors. Thus, the overriding theme of these chapters concerns the question of how we reconcile at a fundamental level the inconsistencies, if not the chasm, that seem to separate these two branches of experimental psycho