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Cognitive Science

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Cognitive neuroscience; Cognitive psychology; Computational neuroscience; Neurophysiology; Neuropsychology; Neuroscience; Psychophysics

Definition

“Cognitive science” is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the mental architecture of the mind and how it processes information, specifically how the brain functions with respect to emotion, attention and consciousness, language, perception, learning and memory, and executive functioning.

Introduction

The theoretical roots of cognitive science can be traced back to over 2,000 years ago. However, cognitive science as a formal discipline was established in the 1970s. Several “precursors” catalyzed the field of cognitive science being recognized as a legitimate field of study, namely, criticism toward behaviorism, computational and algorithmic mathematics, linguistic analysis, and models of information processing. Behaviorism contributed to our understanding of problem-solving (Tolman and Honzik 1930), learning (Tolman et al. 1946...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Albizu University – Miami Campus, Miami, FL, USA

    Derek Ream & Isaac Tourgeman

Authors
  1. Derek Ream
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  2. Isaac Tourgeman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Derek Ream .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Lisa L. M. Welling

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Ream, D., Tourgeman, I. (2020). Cognitive Science. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_477-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_477-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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