Cognitive approach

• What are the assumptions of the cognitive approach?

  Psychologists must study mental processes and the mind works like a computer
• what are theoretical models

  a way of studying internal processes. this model suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages, including input, storage and retrieval. This is called a multi-store model of memory.
• what are computer models?

  when the mind is compared to a computer in the ‘computer analogy’
• what do computer models suggest?

  there are similarities in the way that information is processed. such computational models of the mind have proved useful in the development of ‘thinking machines‘ or AI
• what is the role of the schema

  cognitive processing can be affected by a person’s beliefs and expectations. This is referred to as schema. these are packages of information developed through experience. They act as a mental framework for the interpretations of incoming information by the cognitive system.
• babies schema

  they are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviours such as grasping objects
• adults schema

  as we get older, our schema becomes more sophisticated as adults have developed mental representations for everything
• The negative aspect of schema

  Schema may also distort our interpretation of sensory information, leading to perceptual errors
• what is Wallisch’s idea

  Some people perceive photos in different colours. He believes that people who see images differently are using different filtering systems. He suggests that life experience leads you to see it one way or another.
• what is the emergence of cognitive neuroscience?

  the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
• what is the history of mapping brain areas

  mapping brain areas to specific cognitive functions has a long psychological history. In the 1860’s, Broca identified that damage to an area of the frontal lobe could permanently impair speech production.
• recent advancements in brain imaging techniques?

  recent advancements in brain imaging techniques such as fMRI or PET scans have allowed psychologists to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes.
• examples of recent advancements

  Tulving et al = showed how different types of LTM may be located on opposite sides of the pre-frontal cortex

  Braver et al = the system in charge of the working memory is also thought to be located in a similar area
• the focus of cognitive neuroscience

  the focus of cognitive neuroscience has recently expanded to include 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’.
• a further application of cognitive neuroscience?

  it can analyse the brain wave patterns of eyewitnesses to determine whether they are lying in court
• what have BST’s proved in establishing?

  they have proved useful in establishing the neurological basis of some mental disorders. there is evidence that the left parahippocampal gyrus functions abnormally in OCD.