Which description accurately describes cognitive psychology?

• A. Broad field of basic research in human internal mental processes
• B. Focus on artificial intelligence
• C. Studies only memory
• D. Studies only perception

Answer: (A)

Cognition involves the ways people acquire, process, store, and use information. Cognitive psychology is the broad field of basic research focused on human internal mental processes, including attention, perception, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, decision making, and consciousness. Researchers study how these processes work, how they interact, and how they sometimes fail, to produce behavior. They use experiments, modeling, and sometimes neuroimaging to infer how the mind operates. This description isn’t limited to a single area like memory or perception, and it isn’t about artificial intelligence, which is a separate field. The emphasis is on understanding the inner processes that underlie thinking and behavior.