ABSTRACT
Cognitive psychology is concerned with how organisms gain knowledge about their world, and how they use that knowledge to guide decisions and perform effective actions. Historically, stimulus response psychology emphasized motor skills, whereas cognitive psychology emphasized factual knowledge. In cognitive psychology, the intentional actions of a person are characterized in terms of carrying out a plan which has a particular goal. To continue with the system architecture of, the term working memory to refer to the memory structures which maintain information about the local context, but information which is neither in the focus of active memory nor in the distant edges of long-term memory. The long-term memory (LTM) is assumed to be the 'repository' of more permanent knowledge and skills. Short-term memory (STM) is the active part of the central processor that holds the symbols currently in the focus of attention. The approach of cognitive psychologists to the study of such decision making is basically descriptive rather than normative.
