APPROACH

• KEY ASSUMPTIONS OF THE COGNITIVE APPROACH?

  • all internal mental processes should be studied scientifically
  • internal mental processes mediate between stimulus and behavioural response
  • mind operates similar to a computer (models can be used to represent mental processes)
• COGNITIVE PROCESSES?

  1. Perception
  2. Memory
  3. Language
  4. Thought
• METHODS OF INVESTIGATION?

  • lab experiments
  • functional brain scanning techniques
• WHAT ARE INTERNAL MENTAL PROCESSES?

  processes that occur in our minds when we come into contact with a stimulus and help decide how to respond
• INTERNAL MENTAL PROCESSES?

  1. Attention
  2. Perception
  3. Visual processing
  4. Working memory
  5. Reasoning
  6. Judgement
  7. Decision-making
• WHAT IS THE COGNITIVE APPROACH INTERESTED IN REGARDING INTERNAL MENTAL PROCESSES?

  capacity, systematics, duration
• WHAT IS A SCHEMA?

  cognitive structure acting as unit of knowledge that help us organise and interpret information in the external world

  -> can adapt or change over time through experience
• WHAT IS ASSIMILATION?

  extending a schema with new information
• WHAT IS ACCOMODATION?

  changing a schema as new information conflicts with pre-existing information
• WHAT DO THE THEORERTICAL AND COMPUTER MODELS ALLOW?

  us to make inferences about internal mental processes
• COMPUTER MODELS?

  compare mind to a machine with inputs, processes and outputs

  -> e.g. ELLIS' ABC MODEL

  -> (psychologists observed consequences and inferred that negative statements reflect irrational beliefs)
• THEORETICAL MODELS?

  designed to explain mental processes that cannot be directly observed

  -> e.g. WORKING MEMORY MODEL

  -> psychologists observed dual tasks cannot be done easily and inferred that there are different subsystems of STM for visual and verbal processing
• WHAT IS THE AIM OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE?

  to connect mental processes to particular brain structures
• DESCRIPTION OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE?

  • cognitive + biological approach using functional brain scanning techniques
  • brain now studied through scanning techniques, e.g. fMRI
• WHAT DID THE EMERGENCE OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE ALLOW US TO DO?

  1. Locate different types of memory in different areas of the brain (create treatment for memory issues)
  2. Study mental processing in patients with psychological disorders (e.g. dyslexia/ depression)
  3. Observe effects of a stroke on language in the brain