cognitive approach

• cognitive approach assumption:

  • argues that internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically
  • has investigated those areas of human behaviour that were neglected by behaviourists, such as memory, perception and thinking
  • these processes are private and cannot be observed, so cognitive psychologists study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people’s minds on the basis of behaviour
  • believe the human mind is like a computer
• inferences definition:

  process where by cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
• the multi-store model:

  input —> storage —> retrieval
• What do cognitive psychologists use to understand internal mental processes?


  Theoretical and computer models
• What does the information processing approach suggest about information flow?

  It suggests information flows through the cognitive system like in the multi-store model
• How is the information processing approach related to computer programming?

  It is based on programming a computer to see if instructions produce similar outputs in humans
• What does the information processing approach imply about mental processes?


  It implies a similar process is occurring in the mind as in computer models
• What have computational models of the mind contributed to?


  The development of 'thinking machines' or artificial intelligence
• schema definition:

  =packages of ideas and information developed through experience. They act as a mental frameworks for the interpretation of incoming information received by the cognitive system e.g beliefs or expectations
• how schemas work when we are younger:

  • package of information is learned through experience that helps you respond to object appropriately
  • babies are born with a simple motor schema for innate objects such as sucking and grasping
• how schemas work as we get older:

  • when we get older, our schema become more detailed and sophisticated
  • adults develop mental representations of everything, and they help us to process lots of information quickly
  • this is a useful shortcut that prevents us from being overwhelmed
• case study for the cognitive approach:

  • researchers = bugelski and alampay
  • used the rat-man

  
• problems with schemas:

  can distort our interpretations of sensory information, leading to perceptual errors e.g rat-man
• Bulgelski and alampay study findings:

  • found participants were significantly more likely to perceive the ambiguous picture as a rat if they had prior experience to animal pictures. Likewise, participants were more likely to perceive the picture as a man if they had prior exposure to human faces

  why:

  way they perceive the ambiguous figure is influenced by the schema that has been formed
• what is the cognitive neuroscience?

  • scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
  • mapping brain areas to specific cognitive functions has a long history in psychology
  • e.g Broca identified how damage to an areas of the frontal lobe could permanently impair speech production
• cognitive approach - systematic research:

  • with advances in brain imaging techniques such as FMRI and PET scans that scientifically able to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental-processes.
  • e.g tasks that require the use of episodic and semantic memory, Tulving-et-al were able to show how different types of long term memory may be located on opposite sides of the the pre-frontal cortex
• cognitive approach - scanning techniques:

  • proved useful in establishing the neurological basis of some mental disorders
  • includes the use of computer-generated models that are designed to read the brain
  • this has led to the development of mind-mapping techniques known as brain-fingerprinting