Cognitive Approach

• Cognition


  The processes by which sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered and used
• 3 examples of when we use cognition

  - solving math problems

  - retelling a joke

  - remembering a film title
• Scientific or not scientific?

  Scientific
• Making inferences

  Drawing conclusion about what is going on in the mind from what people do or say
• Computer analogy

  Seeing the brain as a computer with inputs, processes and outputs
• One example of a computer model

  Multi-store model
• Internal mental processes

  Processes that go on in our brains that result in our beaviour
• 3 examples of internal mental processes

  - memory

  - thinking

  - language
• Mental representations

  Image, words and concepts in our mind based on past experiences
• Cognitive schema

  Networks of knowledge and beliefs about aspects of the world
• What does the schema theory suggest?

  What we know will influence the outcome of information processing
• Barlett (1932) "The War of Ghosts"


  English students read a Native American folk story and retold it to each other. The students made it fit their cultural schema
• What happens when there are bits of information missing?

  Our brain will fill in the blanks which results in mistakes called distortions
• The rat man experiment

  - 2 groups of participants were shown a sequence of pictures, either different faces or different animals

  - they were then shown an ambiguous figure: the rat man

  - those who were shown faces saw a man and those who were shown animals saw a rat
• Cognitive neuroscience

  Study of biological processes that underlie cognition
• 2 examples of cognitive neuroscience research

  - transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS)

  - the role of the claustrum in consciousness
• What can neuroscience be used for?

  Improving the cognitive abilities of individuals
• transcranial direct current stimulation

  Passing a small electrical current across parts of the brain through electrodes on the scalp to enhance performance
• Ethical issues with TDCS

  - no licensing rules for practitioners so unqualified people can use it, which would result in serious physical harm

  - apparatus isn't available to everyone so only certain types of people would benefit from it
• Researcher who aimed to understand consciousness

  Crick
• Describe Crick's research


  - researched the claustrum, a thin sheet of neurones in the centre of the brain

  - proposed that the claustrum combines info from distinct brain regions and is the seat of consciousness
• Describe the case study Crick carried out to support his theory

  - a 54 yr old woman with severe epilepsy

  - an electrically stimulating electrode was placed near her claustrum - she then stopped responding to visual and auditory commands

  - when the stimulation stopped, she gained consciousness again
• Conclusion from Crick's case study


  The claustrum has a role in us being consciously aware of our surroundings
• Strengths of cognitive neuroscience (2)

  - helps us understand roles of different chemicals/structures in the brain and how they link to behaviour

  - helps us understand mental processes such as memory and learning and how they can be enhanced in future
• Weaknesses of cognitive neuroscience (2)

  - conflict over the ethics of neuro-enhancement

  - relies on case studies which aren't scientific and objective
• Strengths of the cognitive approach (2)

  - real world applications such as cognitive behavioural therapy and police interviewing techniques —> Loftus & Palmer EWT

  - scientific and controlled experiments, producing reliable data —> Peterson & Peterson
• Weakness of the cognitive approach

  Seeing the mind as a computer ignores the role of emotions and social factors: machine reductionism —> Johnson & Scott pen vs knife