Chapter 1 - Questions Flashcards
1) Definite “ cognition”. Why is the study of cognitive psychology important?
Cognition is the acquisition, storage, transformation and use of knowledge.
It is important to study cognitive psychology because humans are constantly using the mental faculties and this knowledge may influence the way we learn and how to better understand the learning process. Also, cognitive psychology can help understand other disciplines inside and outside of the psychology field such as computing science or social psychology.
Describe the early history of cognitive psychology, focusing on the contributions of each of the following:
Wilhelm Wundt - Frequently consider the “father of psychology”. Focuses on the introspection technique in which a person would be trained to look within for insights into mental processes.
b) Hermann Ebbinghaus - Early memory researcher. Used nonsense syllables as a way to prevent issues between previous knowledge and new learning.
c) Mary Calkins - reported the recency effect - observation that we can better remember the last few items on a list. Also emphasized use of research in the real world versus laboratory.
d) William James - everyday psychological experiences, such as the tip of the tongue experience
e) Frederick Bartlett - research on human memory. Used actual stories to study memory ( as opposed to Ebbinghaus nonsense syllables).
Comment:
Wilhelm Wundt’s approach to psychology is sometimes associated with Structuralism, a view popularized by the American psychologist Edward Titchener. However, Wundt’s approach was known as Voluntarism—or an emphasis on the will or volition and choice.
Comment:
The work of Ebbinghaus (1885–1913) is often criticized for its lack of ecological validity, but this criticism is more appropriately directed to those who followed in Ebbinghaus’s footsteps. It is important to recognize that, at the time Ebbinghaus began his research on memory, there was virtually no empirical evidence on the topic. Ebbinghaus’s approach was a reasonable first step in the scientific investigation of memory. Moreover, many of Ebbinghaus’s findings are easily replicated today. For example, Ebbinghaus was the first to report on the phenomenon of overlearning, or the finding that there is additional learning that can be measured, even if a list of items is learned to perfection. Ebbinghaus also reported the classic forgetting curve, in which there is rapid forgetting in the first 24 hours, followed by a plateau that persists for months and even years. This forgetting curve has been found using many different stimuli for remembering.
- Briefly define “behaviourism” and the “Gestalt approach.” Describe the contributions of each to the emergence of cognitive psychology.
Behaviorism promoted researching based on objective reactions to stimuli instead of introspection or other subjective approaches. Contributed to how research is done nowadays in psychology.
The Gestalt approach emphasizes the importance of the whole instead of parts of information. It showcases how information can be understood by humans even if it is not complete, such as obstructed lines can be seeing as a complete line based on the context of a picture. It provides insight on cognitive psychology questions such as problem solving.
Describe the cognitive revolution, or the emergence of cognitive psychology, and its impact on the field of psychology.
Cognitive revolution was the shift from behaviourist approach to the focus on mental processes to understand human perception and human interaction with the environment.
Cognitive revolution changed the way psychology sees mental processes and how important mental representation is in understanding human knowledge. Because of this fact, cognitive psychology influences many other psychology disciplines and scientific disciplines outside of psychology as well.
Define “ecological validity” and how it has been used as a criticism in cognitive psychology.
Ecological validity is the idea that the way the research is done is similar to how the results would be applied in real life/outside of the laboratory.
Because a lot of the research prior to 1980s in the field of cognitive psychology was done in laboratory, it received criticism due to inability to see how applicable the results would be since the research is in a controlled laboratory.
Comment:Ecological validity is an important concept in psychology and can be applied to many different areas within psychology. Keep in mind, however, that research low in ecological validity is not necessarily without value. Experiments that are conducted in laboratories under highly controlled and artificial conditions are usually done to test theories—theories that generate predictions about performance both inside and outside the lab. The experimental approach and more naturalistic approaches should be viewed as complementary, and not as competing against one another.
Define “cognitive science.” Describe the influence of computing science on cognitive psychology. What is the computer metaphor? Compare and contrast the information processing approach with the connectionist approach.
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary fields that inquires about the inner-workings of the mind. Computer science, neuroscience, cognitive psychology are some of the fields that contribute to cognitive science.
Computing science influenced the way we see our mind and thus influence cognitive psychology. Artificial Intelligence (AI) also used human cognition to develop computers that think like humans and are thus “ intelligent”.
Computer metaphor compares the way human minds work with how computer works.
The information-processing approach shows that human mental processes are similar to how computer works and that information enters our mind in a linear way, one step at ta time.
The connectionist approach, on the other hand, attempts to show how our mind is interconnected, links connecting neuro-like units or nodes work to process information. In addition, information does not follow a linear pattern or stages, but different information may be perceived at the same time and throughout different areas.
Comment:Some textbooks treat the information-processing approach as though it were synonymous with cognitive psychology. Note that, in a strict sense, cognitive psychology refers to the study of mental activity, and that the information-processing approach is only one of several approaches in this area. Matlin (2013) notes that the information-processing approach is based on a computer metaphor where information is processed in a series of separate stages. Lachman, Lachman, and Butterfield (1979) further state that, in the information-processing approach, people can be viewed as symbol manipulators or as using mental operations on symbols that represent the world in meaningful ways. Furthermore, these mental operations can be measured chronologically, and can be decoupled or isolated using basic experimental techniques. This last feature explains the popularity of response time or reaction time as a dependent measure in cognitive psychology. As Matlin points out, the popularity of this approach has waned in recent years as psychologists come to understand the complexity of human thinking.
Comment:Although parallels between brain physiology and the PDP approach can be drawn, it should be noted that the PDP models were strongly influenced by the network models of semantic memory that first appeared in the 1970s. An important book that pre-dated the Rumelhart, McClelland, and the PDP Research Group (1986) book was one by Hinton and Anderson (1981). This earlier book dealt with models of associative memory that were activated in parallel, which is an important feature of modern PDP models.
Define “cognitive neuroscience.” Briefly describe the following methods used by neuroscientists:
- Cognitive Neuroscience combines the research techniques of cognitive psychology with various methods for assessing the structure and function of the brain.
- brain lesions = destruction of an area of the brain, most often by strokes, tumors, accidents.
- positron emission tomography (PET) = a procedure in which a low-dose radioactive chemical is inserted in the participant’s brain to test brain activity during a cognitive task.
- functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) = based on the principle that oxygen-rich blood is an index of brain activity. The research participant reclines with his or her heard surrounded by a large, doughnut shaped magnet. This magnetic field produces changes in the oxygen atoms. A scanning device takes a “ photo” of thee oxygen atoms while the participant performs a cognitive task.
- event-related potential (ERP) = records the quick changes of brain electrical activity in response to a stimulus
- magnetoencephalography (MEG) = records magnetic field fluctuations produced by neural activity during the processing of stimuli presented to participants.
Identify and describe the five themes of the textbook.
Theme 1: Cognitive processes are active, rather than passive. - We are continually searching, processing and synthesizing information.
Theme 2: Cognitive processes are remarkably efficient and accurate. We have the ability to focus, and filter out information that doesn’t belong to the task at hand . I.e focusing on a conversation while having lunch at a busy restaurant.
Theme 3: Cognitive processes handle positive information better than negative information. We are able to better understand positive, adding situation ( things that are instead of things that are not). Our cognitive processes are desgined to handle what is, rather than what is not.
Theme 4: Cognitive processes are interrelated with one another; they do not operate in isolation. perception, memory, general knowledge all work together on decision-making for example.
Theme 5 : Many cognitive processes rely on both bottom-up and top-down processing. Both the context, your memory of something, and the stimulus itself contribute for the recognition of the McDonald’s sign.
