Introduction to Basic Cognitive Processes is an introductory course in Cognitive Psychology. As opposed to the behaviorist tradition in psychology that concerns itself with only the observable behaviours of the individual, Cognitive Psychology focuses on the internal mental processes. The approach adopted in this course will look at human behaviour at large as made up of many component mental processes such as sensation, perception, attention, memory, language, imagery, decision making, problem solving, emotion and others.

In the current course, I will first introduce the students to the field of cognitive psychology. I will then move on to talking about the historical developments in Cognitive Psychology. I will spend some time elaborating the fundamental assumptions in cognitive psychology. Also, I will talk about sister disciplines like Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuropsychology and how they help us to understand the mental processes in question. I will then spend some more time talking about methods used in Cognitive Psychology before moving on to talk about the basic mental processes such as sensation, perception, attention and memory. Other cognitive functions like language, imagery, decision making etc. will be taken up in the next part of the course named Introduction to Advanced Cognitive Processes.

INTENDED AUDIENCE : The course will be beneficial to both UG and PG students interested in Psychology. Also, Masters & PhD students studying Cognitive Psychology and/or with any of the basic mental processes as mentioned above. Professionals working with human factors, user – interface designs etc. will also find the insights from the course as useful.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT : All industries engaging with human resources, user – interface design & consumer oriented goods may benefit from this course.

NOC: Introduction to Basic Cognitive Processes, IIT Kanpur