Cognitive Psychology: The Basics

Citation

Taylor, S., & Workman, L. (2021). Cognitive Psychology: The Basics. Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The book has nine chapters and about 306 pages, with 58 black-and-white illustrations. Routledge describes it as a compact introduction to the core topics of cognitive psychology, treating the science behind everyday mental phenomena, laboratory and applied research, and technological developments that are improving understanding of the brain's role in cognition. It adds that real-world examples run throughout and that the authors write in an accessible, student-friendly way. The contents list is short enough to take in at a glance: foundations first, then the traditional topics, then wider and forward-looking chapters.

Chapter 1: What is Cognitive Psychology?

The opening chapter defines the field and gives the reader a first map of it. It is the natural place to find the questions the rest of the book works through.

Chapter 2: Relationship between Brain Structure, Function and Cognitive Modelling

Placed before any of the topic chapters, this chapter links brain structure and function to cognitive modelling. The publisher highlights neuroscience and computational cognitive science as interrelated areas the book covers, so this chapter is where that background is set up.

Chapter 3: Attention and Perception

The first of the traditional topics. Attention and perception are paired in a single chapter, in line with the publisher's list of "attention and perception" as one of the field's core areas.

Chapter 4: Memory and Learning

Memory and learning share a chapter, in the order memory first, learning second. It is the second of the traditional topics the publisher lists, after attention and perception.

Chapter 5: Thinking: Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

This chapter covers thinking as decision-making and problem-solving, matching the "thinking, problem-solving and decision-making" strand in the description.

Chapter 6: Language and Communication

The sixth chapter covers language and communication, completing the set of traditional topics the publisher lists.

Chapter 7: Consciousness and Metacognition

The book then moves beyond the core list to consciousness and metacognition, that is, awareness of the mind and thinking about thinking.

Chapter 8: Cognitive Neuropsychology

Chapter 8 is devoted to cognitive neuropsychology. Together with Chapter 2 it gives the brain a more prominent place than in many short introductions.

Chapter 9: Future Directions of Cognitive Psychology

The final chapter looks ahead. The publisher also says that new perspectives, including the contribution of evolutionary psychology, are considered before a discussion of future research directions.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–2: Foundations

• Cognitive psychology: the subject defined in Chapter 1.
• Brain structure and function: the link between anatomy and mental operations, treated in Chapter 2.
• Cognitive modelling: the modelling of mental processes, named in the title of Chapter 2.

Chapters 3–6: Core topics

• Attention and perception: Chapter 3.
• Memory and learning: Chapter 4.
• Decision-making and problem-solving: Chapter 5.
• Language and communication: Chapter 6.

Chapters 7–9: Extensions

• Consciousness and metacognition: Chapter 7.
• Cognitive neuropsychology: Chapter 8.
• Future directions: Chapter 9, which the publisher says includes the contribution of evolutionary psychology.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Compact and chapter-per-topic. Nine chapters in about 306 pages give a manageable first pass, and the titles map straight onto the topics a cognitive psychology module normally covers.
• Brain and models up front. Putting the relationship between brain structure, function and cognitive modelling in Chapter 2 means later topics can be read with that background in mind, and Chapter 8 returns to the brain through cognitive neuropsychology.
• Breadth beyond the standard list. Consciousness and metacognition, evolutionary perspectives and future directions are included, according to the contents and the publisher's description, which is more than a bare tour of memory and perception.
• Aimed at beginners. The publisher says the book is accessible and student-friendly, uses real-world examples throughout, and is suited to students of cognitive psychology and related disciplines as well as interested general readers.

Limitations

• Short by design. About 306 pages across nine chapters means each area is introduced rather than examined in depth; a student will need a full textbook for detailed theory evaluation and the research literature.
• No stated study apparatus. The publisher's description does not mention review questions, key-term lists or online materials aimed at students, so those who rely on such features should check a copy first or pair the book with a text that has them.
• Narrower than a full survey. The contents list has no chapter on cognition and emotion or on everyday memory, topics that the other beginner book in the course gives their own chapters, and nothing in the list suggests a separate treatment of cognitive development.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is one of two beginner books in the course, alongside Eysenck and Brysbaert's Fundamentals of Cognition. The Taylor and Workman volume is the shorter, with nine chapters, and is the one to pick for a quick first orientation or as a refresher; Fundamentals of Cognition has eleven chapters and over 600 pages and is better for a module that needs textbook-level coverage and study features.

For depth, Reisberg's Cognition: Exploring the Science of the Mind is a mid-length undergraduate textbook, and Eysenck and Keane's Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook is a comprehensive text with unusually full coverage of the research literature. Cognitive neuroscience is taken further in Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind, and the graduate-level Bayesian Models of Cognition extends the modelling theme raised in Chapter 2. This book is the sensible starting point before any of them.

How to Use This Book

The book is for first-year psychology students, students in related degrees, and general readers interested in how the brain supports thinking. No previous study of psychology is assumed.

A suggested plan:

• Read Chapters 1 and 2 first, since they define the field and set up the brain and modelling background used later.
• Take Chapters 3 to 6 as the core. They cover attention and perception, memory and learning, thinking and language. Read them in order or match them to lecture weeks.
• Treat Chapters 7 to 9 as extensions. Consciousness and metacognition, cognitive neuropsychology and future directions suit a second pass, or a module that includes them.
• Alongside the reading, pick one everyday example for each core chapter, such as recognising a face or making a decision, and explain it using that chapter's ideas. Then move to a fuller textbook for the research behind each topic.