From Cognitive Psychology to Cognitive Neuroscience:Reflections on Research Paradigm and Cultural Awareness

Over the past 40 years,cognitive psychology has witnessed a lot of well-designed experimental studies on human information processing,which have Abstracted a lot of basic characteristics of psychological processes and provided a scientific basis for understanding individual differences in psychological processes.From the original cognitive science to today's cognitive neuroscience,cognitive psychology has undergone three major research paradigms:symbolic paradigm,connectionist paradigm and the paradigm of embodied cognition.Viewed from Kuhn's theory of paradigm shift,the change from cognitive science to cognitive neuroscience indicates that psychological studies have undergone revolutions in research concepts,approaches and technologies.Serious reflections on the process of paradigm shift can,on the one hand,help us deepen our understanding of the paradigms and their applications,which constitutes a significant step toward building a cultural awareness of these paradigms.On the other hand,such reflections can help lead psychology to develop from cognitive revolution to cognitive neuroscience and to the new stage of being more rational and better adjusted to context and culture,thus enabling us to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of human psychology.