Cognitive

• What does the Cognitive approach focus on?

  Interested in what is happening between the stimulus and the response within the mind

  S: Stimulus

  R: Response
• Assumptions:

  • Argues that the internal mental processes should be studied scientifically (contrasts against the behaviourist approach)
  • Internal mental processes occur between stimulus and response which can and should be studied, e.g memory, perception and thinking
  • These processes cannot be observed so they must be studied indirectly by making inferences about what is going on in someone's mind
  • Relates to the memory topic
  • Used everyday
• The role of schemas?

  • Cognitive processing can often be affected by a person’s beliefs or expectations, which we refer to as schemas
  • A schema is a ‘packet of information’ that helps us organise and interpret information
  • Schema allows us to process lots of information quickly, they serve as a mental shortcut to prevent the mind from being overwhelmed by stimuli
  • Schema can also distort our interpretations of sensory data leading to perceptual error and faulty conclusions
• Bugelski and Alampay (1962)-> The rat man 


  • Two groups of participants were shown a sequences of pictures, either a number of different faces or a number of different animals
  • They were then shown the ambiguous figure the ‘rat man’
  • Participants who saw a sequence of faces were more likely to perceive the figure as a man whereas those who saw a sequence of animals were more likely to perceive a rat 
  • Cognitive priming
• Models

  Models are used by cognitive psychologists to explain unobservable processes in a concrete, testable way. They are often diagrammatic representations of the steps involved in internal mental processes
• Theoretical models

  Theoretical models are based on the theory of the information processing approach, which suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages. These include input, storage and retrieval, e.g. the Multi store Model of memory
• Computer models

  The computer models are based upon how computers function. Instead of a diagram, they involve programming computers to mimic the human mind. Computational models of the mind have created smart computers and AI
• The Emergence of Cognitive Neuroscience


  • This is the scientific study of the influence of brain structure (neuro) on mental processes (cognition)
  • Advances in brain scanning technology means scientists have been able to describe the neurological basis of mental processing
  • Also, it has been useful in establishing the neurological basis of some disorders (e.g. the basal ganglia and OCD)
  • Development of brain fingerprinting
• Cognitive neuroscience


  Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
• The brain

  • Mapping brain areas to specific cognitive functions has a long history in psychology (1860s: Paul Broca identified the frontal lobe)
  • Buckner and Peterson 1996-> able to show how different types of long term memory (episodic and semantic) were located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex
  • Braver et al. 1997-> the central executive
• Application of cognitive knowledge

  • Computer generated models designed to ‘read’ the brain 
  • Lead to the development of mind-mapping techniques known as brain fingerprinting
  • Possible future application-> analyse brain wave patterns of eyewitnesses to determine whether they are lying in court 
• Evaluation: Strength

  Scientific:

  • Highly controlled and rigorous methods of study so researchers are able to infer cognitive processes at work
  • Lab studies: reliable, objective data
  • Emergence has enabled the two fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together to enhance the scientific basis of study
  • Objective
• Evaluation: Strength

  Applications

  • Dominant approach in psychology today 
  • Applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical contexts
  • E.g. Important contribution in the field of AI and the development of thinking machines, social cognition 
  • Improve reliability of eyewitnesses testimony
  • Treatment for illnesses
  • Lying
  • economic
• Evaluation: Limitation

  Machine Reductionist

  • Ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how this may affect our ability to process information 
  • May weaken the validity of the cognitive approach
  • Brain treated like a machine (too clinical)
• Evaluation:

  Soft determinism

  • Human behaviour may be determined by internal and external factors 
  • But we also exert our own free will (our own choice)
  • Flexible approach
  • In contrast, behaviourism is hard deterministic 
  • More interactionist (middle ground approach)
• Evaluation: Limitation 

  External Validity

  • behaviour they observe during research
  • As a consequences, cognitive psychology occasionally suffers from being abstract and theoretical 
  • Also experimental studies on cognitive processes often carried out using artificial stimuli such as tests on memory using word lists 
  • May not represent real life