The cognitive approach

• Assumptions

  Argues internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically

  Studies memory, perception and thinking - 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 their behaviour.
• Role of Schema

  Cognitive processing can be affected by schema.

  Schema - packages of ideas and info developed through experience - act as mental framework for the interpretation of incoming info received by cognitive system - helps you respond to the object appropriately.

  Babies - born with simple motor scheme for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping.

  As we get older our schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated

  Enables us to process lots of info quickly, stops us being overwhelmed BUT can distort interpretations of sensory info leading to perceptual errors.
• Theoretical and computer models

  Help understand internal mental processes

  Important theoretical model - information processing approach - suggests information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages - include input, storage and retrieval, as in multistage memory model.

  Computer model would involve actually programming a computer to see if such instructions produce a similar output to humans - if they do we can suggest similar processes are going on in development of thinking machines or artificial intelligence.
• Cognitive neuroscience


  The scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
• Mapping brain areas to specific cognitive functions has long history in psychology
• Paul Broca identified how damage to area of frontal lobe (Brocas area) could permanently impair speech production


  1860s
• Advances in brain imaging techniques

  1. fMRI

  2. PET scans
• In last 20 years, scientists able to systematically observe and describe neurological basis of mental processes
• Research involving tasks that required use of episodic and semantic memory

  • Tulving et al able to show how these diff types of long term memory may b located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex
• Scanning techniques also proved useful in establishing the neurological basis of some mental disorders
• Focus of cognitive neuroscience has expanded recently to include the use of computer generated models designed to read the brain - led to development of mind mapping techniques known as brain fingerprinting - one possible future application of this is analyse brain patters of eyewitnesses to determine whether lying in court.
• Machine reductionism 


  Computer analogy- ignores influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how it may affect our ability to process information - eg research found memory can be affected by emotional factors such as anxiety.

  Machine reductionism - weaken validity
• real world application


  Made important contribution to AI and developments to thinking machines

  May revolutionise how we live in the future

  Applied to treatment of depression

  improve eye witness testimony

  Value
• Scientific methods 


  Objective scientific methods, lab studies - reliable

  Highly controlled rigorous methods of study so researchers able to infer cognitive processes

  Cog neuroscience allowed bio and psych to come together to enhance scientific basis of study - credible scientific basis

  CP - relies on inferences - no direct observation and may have to rely on models - low external validity