14.1: Introduction / Until now

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Developing from the information processing approach, present cognitive psychology differs from classical psychological approaches in the methods used as well as in the interdisciplinary connections to other sciences. Apart from rejecting introspection as a valid method to analyse mental phenomena, cognitive psychology introduces further, mainly computer-based, techniques which have not been in the range of classical psychology by now.

By using brain-imaging-techniques like fMRI, cognitive psychology is able to analyse the relation between the physiology of the brain and mental processes. In the future, cognitive psychology will likely focus on computer-based methods even more. Thus, the field will profit from improvements in the area of IT. For example, contemporary fMRI scans are plagued by many possible sources of error, which should be solved in the future, thereby improving the power and precision of the technique. In addition, computational approaches can be combined with classical behavioural approaches, where one infers a participant's mental states from exhibited behaviour.

Cognitive psychology, however, does not only rely on methods developed by other branches of science. It also collaborates with closely related fields, including artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics and the philosophy of mind. The advantage of this multidisciplinary approach is clear: different perspectives on the topic make it possible to test hypotheses using different techniques and to eventually develop new conceptual frameworks for thinking about the mind. Often, modern studies of cognitive psychology criticise classical information processing approaches, which opens the door for other approaches to acquire additional importance. For example, the classical approach has been modified to a parallel information processing approach, which is thought to be closer to the actual functioning of the brain.