Just like computers, people receive information, work on it, and then store it short-term or long-term.
Cognitive psychologists, sometimes called brain scientists, study how the human brain works — how we think, remember and learn. They apply psychological science to understand how we perceive events and make decisions.
Learning more about how people think and process information not only helps researchers gain a deeper understanding of how the human brain works, but it allows psychologists to develop new ways of helping people deal with psychological difficulties.
For example, by recognizing that attention is both a selective and limited resource, psychologists are able come up with solutions that make it easier for people with attentional difficulties to improve their focus and concentration.
Findings from cognitive psychology have also improved our understanding of how people form, store, and recall memories.
By knowing more about how these processes work, psychologists can develop new ways of helping people improve their memories and combat potential memory problems.
For example, psychologists have found that while your short-term memory is quite short and limited (lasting just 20 to 30 seconds and capable of holding between five and nine items), rehearsal strategies can improve the chances that information will be transferred to long-term memory, which is much more stable and durable.
Learn more about the basics of Cognitive Psychology from links below:
www.verywell.com
www.apa.org
simplypsychology.org