Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2018

School

Psychology

Abstract

Comments on an article by Robert Logie (see record 2018-64362-002). Author agrees with Logie that there is potentially much to be gained now from cognitive psychology research that investigates individual differences. Author would add the caveat, and Logie alludes to this too, that the traditional approach of comparing experimental conditions has been more productive than any other and has led to useful general theories (and descriptions of cognitive phenomena) in the areas of perception, attention, memory, and reasoning. Research with experimental-condition comparisons utilizing random assignment has revolutionized psychology and brought a well-rounded understanding of the mind that far surpassed contributions to psychology before the field used such methods. Nevertheless, because many reliable foundational theories (or general principles) have now already been established using this experimental method, it may now be a good time to incorporate more individual differences research, including investigating of how different people perform the same research task (as Logie suggests). Such research could either modify general theories or generate specific explanations of cognitive phenomena within a narrow focus (e.g., explanations of mechanisms within atypical samples). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

Volume

7

Issue

4

First Page

518

Last Page

520

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