The Cognitive Domain

Do video games improve memory? Does thinking change when you switch languages? Is decision-making harder when you have too many choices? These are the kinds of questions asked by psychologists in the cognitive domain.

cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychology is the study of thought processes—how we perceive, remember, reason, and solve problems, and how these processes shape our experiences and actions. Like the biological domain, it is broad in scope and often involves collaboration with fields such as neuroscience, linguistics, computer science, and education.

Areas of Research

Cognitive psychologists study a wide range of topics, including:

• Attention: how we focus on some information while ignoring other input.
• Perception: how we interpret sensory data.
• Memory: how we encode, store, and retrieve information.
• Problem-solving and decision-making: how we analyze choices and reach conclusions.
• Language: how we acquire and use spoken, written, or signed communication.

Most of the content on the cognitive domain appears in the course modules on thinking, intelligence, and memory, but cognitive concepts also show up in:

• Lifespan development (e.g., how children acquire language).
• Social psychology (e.g., how stereotypes shape judgment).
• Therapy (e.g., cognitive-behavioral approaches).