Editing Cognition (section)

== Early studies ==
Despite the word ''cognitive'' itself dating back to the 15th century,<ref name=":0" /> attention to ''cognitive processes'' came about more than eighteen centuries earlier, beginning with [[Aristotle]] (384–322 BCE) and his interest in the inner workings of the mind and how they affect the human experience. Aristotle focused on cognitive areas pertaining to memory, perception, and mental imagery. He placed great importance on ensuring that his studies were based on empirical evidence, that is, scientific information that is gathered through observation and conscientious experimentation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Matlin|first=Margaret | name-list-style = vanc |title=Cognition|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|year=2009|location=Hoboken, NJ|page=4}}</ref> Two millennia later, the groundwork for modern concepts of cognition was laid during the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] by thinkers such as [[John Locke]] and [[Dugald Stewart]] who sought to develop a model of the mind in which ideas were acquired, remembered and manipulated.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Eddy|first1=Matthew Daniel | name-list-style = vanc |title=The Cognitive Unity of Calvinist Pedagogy in Enlightenment Scotland|url=https://www.academia.edu/28249746|journal=Ábrahám Kovács (Ed.), Reformed Churches Working Unity in Diversity: Global Historical, Theological and Ethical Perspectives (Budapest: l'Harmattan, 2016)|pages=46–60}}</ref>

During the very early nineteenth century cognitive models were developed both in [[philosophy]]—particularly by authors writing about the [[philosophy of mind]]—and within [[medicine]], especially by physicians seeking to understand how to cure madness. In [[England|Britain]], these models were studied in the academy by scholars such as [[James Sully]] at [[University College London]], and they were even used by politicians when considering the national [[Elementary Education Act 1870]] ([[33 & 34 Vict.]] c. 75).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Eddy MD | title = The politics of cognition: liberalism and the evolutionary origins of Victorian education | journal = British Journal for the History of Science | volume = 50 | issue = 4 | pages = 677–699 | date = December 2017 | pmid = 29019300 | doi = 10.1017/S0007087417000863 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

As [[psychology]] emerged as a burgeoning field of study in [[Europe]], whilst also gaining a following in [[United States|America]], scientists such as [[Wilhelm Wundt]], [[Hermann Ebbinghaus|Herman Ebbinghaus]], [[Mary Whiton Calkins]], and [[William James]] would offer their contributions to the study of human cognition.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

=== Early theorists ===
[[Wilhelm Wundt]] (1832–1920) emphasized the notion of what he called ''[[introspection]]'': examining the inner feelings of an individual. With introspection, the subject had to be careful with describing their feelings in the most objective manner possible in order for Wundt to find the information scientific.<ref name="Fuchs">{{cite journal| vauthors = Fuchs AH, Milar KJ |title=Psychology as a science|journal=Handbook of Psychology|year=2003|volume=1|issue=The history of psychology|pages=1–26|doi=10.1002/0471264385.wei0101|isbn=0471264385}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Zangwill OL |title=The Oxford companion to the mind|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|pages=951–952}}</ref> Though Wundt's contributions are by no means minimal, modern psychologists find his methods to be too subjective and choose to rely on more objective procedures of experimentation to make conclusions about the human cognitive process.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

[[Hermann Ebbinghaus]] (1850–1909) conducted cognitive studies that mainly examined the function and capacity of human memory. Ebbinghaus developed his own experiment in which he constructed over 2,000 syllables made out of nonexistent words (for instance, 'EAS'). He then examined his own personal ability to learn these non-words. He purposely chose non-words as opposed to real words to control for the influence of pre-existing experience on what the words might symbolize, thus enabling easier recollection of them.<ref name="Fuchs" /><ref name="Zangwill">{{cite book| vauthors = Zangwill OL |title=The Oxford companion to the mind|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|page=276}}</ref> Ebbinghaus observed and hypothesized a number of variables that may have affected his ability to learn and recall the non-words he created. One of the reasons, he concluded, was the amount of time between the presentation of the list of stimuli and the recitation or recall of the same. Ebbinghaus was the first to record and plot a "[[learning curve]]" and a "[[forgetting curve]]".<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Brink TL | date = 2008 | chapter = "Memory." Unit 7 | title = Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach | page = 126 }}</ref> His work heavily influenced the study of serial position and its effect on memory {{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

[[Mary Whiton Calkins]] (1863–1930) was an influential American pioneer in the realm of psychology. Her work also focused on human memory capacity. A common theory, called the [[recency effect]], can be attributed to the studies that she conducted.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Madigan S, O'Hara R |title=Short-term memory at the turn of the century: Mary Whiton Calkin's memory research|journal=American Psychologist|year=1992|volume=47|pages=170–174|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.47.2.170|issue=2}}</ref> The recency effect, also discussed in the subsequent experiment section, is the tendency for individuals to be able to accurately recollect the final items presented in a sequence of stimuli. Calkin's theory is closely related to the aforementioned study and conclusion of the memory experiments conducted by Hermann Ebbinghaus.<ref name="Matlin">{{cite book|last=Matlin|first=Margaret | name-list-style = vanc |title=Cognition|year=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|location=Hoboken, NJ|page=5}}</ref>

[[William James]] (1842–1910) is another pivotal figure in the history of cognitive science. James was quite discontent with Wundt's emphasis on introspection and Ebbinghaus' use of nonsense stimuli. He instead chose to focus on the human learning experience in everyday life and its importance to the study of cognition. James' most significant contribution to the study and theory of cognition was his textbook ''Principles of Psychology'' which preliminarily examines aspects of cognition such as perception, memory, reasoning, and attention.<ref name="Matlin" />

[[René Descartes]] (1596–1650) was a seventeenth-century philosopher who came up with the phrase "Cogito, ergo sum", which means "I think, therefore I am." He took a philosophical approach to the study of cognition and the mind, with his Meditations he wanted people to meditate along with him to come to the same conclusions as he did but in their own free cognition.<ref>{{cite web |title=René Descartes |url=https://www.iep.utm.edu/descarte/#H3 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |access-date=2 April 2020}}</ref>