Cognition: Exploring the Science of the Mind

by Daniel Reisberg

Daniel Reisberg's Cognition: Exploring the Science of the Mind presents current topics and issues in clear, lively prose that is accessible to students. With Cognition, students see where ideas originate, how they are evaluated, and how theories evolve through experimentation. The new Second Edition has been completely redesigned and includes new pedagogy to make the book even more student friendly. Over 600 new citations, as well as revisions to every chapter, bring the text to the forefront of its field. Major updates include a new chapter on the brain and cognition, an expanded emphasis on visual perception, a completely reconceived chapter on memory errors and gaps, and a thorough updating of the chapters on judgment, decision making, and reasoning.

Strengthened Coverage of Neuroscience
The Second Edition includes an engaging new chapter on neuroscience entitled "The Brain and Cognition." While laying out the basics of neuroanatomy and neurochemistry, Professor Reisberg uses Capgras syndrome as a multipage case study to demonstrate how neuroscientists study the brain and they have learned about its operating principles. Other key neuroscientific updates include coverage of the executive functions and the role they play in guiding behavior.

New Coverage of Visual Perception
Vision has become one of the hottest fields in cognitive psychology. Many scholars stress the notion that we each play a highly active role in perceiving and constructing our visual world. In response, the Second Edition incorporates new ideas regarding the visual sensory system, as well as research concerning how we perceive and construct our visual world.

Updated Chapter on Memory
While emphasizing how accurate memory usually is, Professor Reisberg discusses the diverse factors that can lead to memory errors, even those caused by normally reliable mechanisms.

New Research on Judgment, Decision Making, and Reasoning
Major updates include alternative explanations of our ability to judge and reason from the evolutionary perspective; coverage of new research on inattention blindness; and expanded coverage of new theories of decision making, including process-oriented theories.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, School, Education, Textbooks, Reference

1714 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 19, 2005

Reviews

[målin]

If I have to read the entire thing to pass my exam it BETTER count towards my Goodreads reading goal

[Keira Mc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for one of my classes.

For the first half especially I didn't like the flow of the textbook, second half was better

[Chris Laux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Reisberg does all that he can to make some of the dry material as interesting as possible, weaving in anecdotes and attempts at comedy throughout the textbook. I enjoyed the included studies, each one relevant to a topic or specific learning goal. After reading this cover to cover, I can comfortably say that I have a parasocial relationship with the author.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riktigt uppfriskande med lättläst kursbok! Kognitiv psykologi handlar till stor del om inlärning, minne etc. och det märks att boken är utformad just för att främja detta utifrån författarens kunskaper inom ämnet. Varje kapitel har sammanfattningar i början och slutet, samt stycken som drar tydliga kopplingar mellan studier o fenomen i de olika kapitlen. Stegvis får läsaren pusselbitar som fint passar ihop o blir en ”komplett” kognitiv psykologi-pusselbild :)

Åtminstone grundläggande hehe

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great overview of the different parts of cognition and how the human brain works. I do feel as if many of the chapters included an abundance of information that often seemed like repetition, but overall a really in-depth and interesting review of cognitive psychology works.

[Jayden Salmon · Rating 3 out of 5]

as far as textbooks go kept me pretty engaged and made concepts easy to understand, but definitely dragged at times and spent way too long explaining examples for a simple concept.

[Ana Nikolenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn’t find the 8th edition. Pretty alright. I only read like half of it really but I sure did learn!

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I FINALLY FINISHED IT! This was assigned to me fall 2006. Time got the best of me but I did it. So the book has strengths and weaknesses. It is chalk-full of good information and studies. Probably the most interesting part of the book is its narrative weaving together all of the research. REALLY GOOD. I didn't realize how much of my cognitive (and neuro) psych knowledge has been taken from this book. This textbook, although dense, also lacks a lot of information from the field. That's not the book's fault, but rather the nature of the game for textbooks today. To have a comprehensive textbook would require like 800 pages and this badboy is only about 500. I'm not sure how it compares to other cog psych texts - it took me 8 years to read this book so maybe in like 30 years I can compare this book to others. All in all, I'd feel comfortable assigning it in a class or recommending it to someone interested in the field.

[Bethypage42 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dan Reisberg is the kind of prof you can love, even if he doesn't like you. His rhetorical style makes conference engaging and educational.
Many times in my life after Reed, I have wanted to ask Dan Reisberg's opinion on all sorts of things. I regret not arguing with him more when I had the chance.

This textbook is fascinating. It reads like a story. A clear tour through the landscape of your thinking: Memory, Intelligence, Language, Vision, and Reasoning.

[Juan Zamora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recommended this Book by my psychiatrist. She said it was science concrete evidence of the cognitive problems that arise because of the mind.

It doesn't explain that feelings affect our cognitive development also because as it may seem that thoughts are superior than feelings, that is not the case.

This book was written with a narrow intellectual mind for another narrow intellectual mind. The information is okay but it's not the complete depth of the mind. No one can claim that they understand the mind 100% and this book is attempting just that. Unfortunately for many. The mind has a dissonance that can fall out of alignment because of something like trauma. So the environment we surround ourselves has more to do of how will we will turn out then looking at the result of such, this book just looks at the after effects. I like the memory part section though.

[Mouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting and informative textbook, but the writing style felt a little awkward in places. Having to re-read a definition multiple times to make it make sense is one way to remember new vocabulary terms, but it's not the most efficient method.

[Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid introductory text to cognitive science. Focuses lots on linguistics and experimental methodology. Good overview of judgment & decision-making literature, although normative accounts of decision-making could receive additional focus.

[a n g i e · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to understand but cognitive is not my cup of tea. Also would appreciate for the explanations to be a bit more top-down. Examples are appreciated and lab discoveries and all but please add the takeaway by the end of it

[Hanna Haponenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read writing style. Concise overview. Good book to keep on the shelf

[Monty Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and interesting context on cognitive developments inclusive.
Context correlates and reinforces other textbooks in the psychological field, thus validating, and reinforcing data.

[Antonina Korepanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

a very good introduction to the main ideas of cognitive science. the language is simple to read and many illustrated examples add to a nice reading experience

[fern · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for my cog psych class, i really enjoyed it!

[Batman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very educational and easy to understand. Now i basically can read minds. I know everything that's going up there

[Cassidy · Rating 1 out of 5]

surface level. Was hoping the textbook would also
discuss language localization and information processing in clinical setting/ school settings. Briefly explained important concepts that deserved more than a few sentences.

[Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the best text-book I have ever read. Cognition is used in Cognitive Psychology courses in hundreds of universities; I was lucky enough to be taught by the man who wrote it (Reisberg), and I find myself returning to it to explore the complexity and beauty! of the brain's functions.

Memory, attention, perception, language, problem solving and other topics are discussed in practical and theoretical terms, using issues from economics, political science, philosophy, etc. in order to paint a full picture. The book is in-depth yet very concise, exploring the research and studies behind the topics, as well as the intricacies of the topics themselves.

More importantly, it's captivating! The questions discussed (how do we judge? how do we reason? how does memory work?) are enough to be interesting, but the writing style and Reisberg's expertise on the subject make it transfixing.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's obviously a textbook, and quite a lot of the statistical and specialty-specific information flew out of my head pretty quickly. But oh! it is full of fascinating stuff about how our brains work. I understand that an underpinning of the mechanics of brain function are necessary before any discussion of cognition can take place, but it reminded me of a philosophy class on feminism I once took: we talked about a great many issues which touch women's lives, but we never really got to talk much about feminism, largely because we had no useful definition of it. This was sort of like that. But it was very easy to read and clearly written.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is organized well. The objectives include many visual figures and diagrams for farther comprehension. I would consider this to be solid foundation of Cognition to begin with.The book also presents many good questions about each objective with thourough and clear discussion.I would also try to get basic comprehension about the areas of the brain (amygdala, lobes, hippocampus etc.) before reading this book for greater comprehension, articulation and retention. J Pinel (UBC) "Neuropsychology" Is a very good book to look at the overall structure of the brain.

[tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most interesting and insightful textbooks that i’ve read! It doesn’t even really read like one. I feel like I will constantly be picking this up to remind myself of these concepts! This book taught me so much about everyday things that I never knew were psychological phenomena's. Loved it!

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super easy to read and easy to understand but really thin on real substantial information considering he fills up 500 with such windy explanations

[Cédric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as my textbook for a cognition class. Super interesting!
Dense if it's not required reading.

[Susan Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A more scientific look at the study of the brain and its functions.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a school text book. It was well written and phrases in a way to allow for easy comprehension. I didn’t choose the text but I’m glad my professor did.