Cognitive Approach

• key assumptions

  behaviour is the result of conscious and unconscious informational processing.

  the human mind can be likened to a computer.

  internal mental processes should be studied scientifically
• inferences

  going beyond observable behaviour to make assumptions about the underlying structures of neural processes

  cannot be directly observed.
• schema

  cognitive framework; a collection of ideas about a person or situation, formed through experience
• theoretical model

  aim to explain and make inferences about mental processes; simplified representation

  components can be individually tested and examined in detail through scientific enquiry
• cognitive neuroscience

  the scientific study of brain structures and mechanisms that are responsible for mental processes

  this can be done using brain scanning techniques (PET, fMRI)

  these scanning/imaging techniques can be used to locate different types of activation in the brain
• computer analogy

  likens the human mind to a computer

  the human mind processes info in a similar way to a computer (encodes + stores info, both have outputs)
• ao3 - standardised procedures

  research can be replicated to enhance reliability

  ppts are usually human rather than animal research
• ao3 - high degree of control

  cause and effect relationship can be established; variables operationalised
• ao3 - artificial

  impacts ecological validity and mundane realism of research
• ao3 - machine reductionism

  oversimplifies human behaviour by likening the human mind to a computer.

  computers do not experience emotions, consciousness etc
• ao3 - real world applications

  cognitive psychologists’ ideas on info processing have been used to develop the field of AI