Cognition

Fully revised and updated for the fifth edition, Cognition offers an approachable yet deep introduction to the science of the mind. Avoiding the pitfall of a grab bag of phenomena, Willingham and Riener survey key mental processes such as memory, language, and problem-solving and connect them to experimental process. This new edition has been fully revised and updated with new references, figures, and experiments, with particular attention to the intersection of cognition and culture. Written in a down-to-earth narrative prose that avoids jargon, addresses the reader directly, and cracks a few jokes, Cognition offers an accessible introduction that is ideal for students of all levels.

• Connects key themes and concepts across multiple chapters to show how they relate across different mental processes and help students build on their knowledge from one chapter to the next
• Draws explicit connections between theories in cognitive psychology and the experimental evidence that supports them so that students see the scientific process at work, how theory informs experimental design, and how experimental results can decide among theories
• Focuses on concepts and topics that are current, accessible to undergraduates, and fit within the narrative structure of the book, allowing students to focus on learning more deeply and helping instructors avoid overwhelming their students with too much information
• Includes classic experiments in the history of cognitive psychology to show how behavioral and cognitive measures and manipulation were used to test theories of the mind without needing brain scanning or sophisticated computer modeling