Cognition: Exploring the Science of the Mind

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.

Daniel Reisberg's work has focused primarily on the nature of mental imagery, and also on people's ability to remember the emotional events of their lives. He is the author of more than fifty research articles and book chapters; Cognition is his seventh book. Earlier books include an edited volume on auditory imagery, a co-authored book on the role of mental imagery in problem solving, and Psychology, co-authored with Henry Gleitman and Alan Fridlund (Norton, 1999). Reisberg is currently associate editor for Psychological Bulletin and on the editorial boards for a half-dozen journals, including Psychological Science, Memory & Cognition, and the Journal of Mental Imagery.

Reisberg earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and is Professor of Psychology at Reed College. He teaches a range of courses at Reed, including Cognition; Thinking; Music Perception; and Introduction to Psychology.