What do cognitive psychologists aim to do?

• A. Explain the patterns of impaired and intact cognitive performance seen in brain-injured individuals to support or evaluate theories of normal cognition
• B. Develop new medications for cognitive disorders
• C. Study only language processing
• D. Create educational curricula for cognitive training programs

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that cognitive psychology, especially in clinical neuropsychology, seeks to understand how mental processes are organized by looking at how brain injury affects thinking. By examining patterns where certain abilities are impaired while others are preserved, researchers infer how normal cognitive systems are structured and tested against competing theories about how memory, attention, language, and other processes work. This approach—explaining the patterns of deficits and spared abilities in brain-damaged individuals to support or challenge theories of normal cognition—embodies the core method and aim. The other options point to activities outside cognitive psychology’s central focus: developing medications, studying only language, or creating educational curricula for training, which are not the primary goals of cognitive psychology.