Cognitive

Question 1

What does the term cognition mean?

Answer 1

Mental processes

Question 2

What do they focus on?

Answer 2

How mental processes affect our benaviour

Question 3

How can internal mental processes be studied?

Answer 3

Scientifically

Question 4

What is a key feature of this approach?

Answer 4

Theoretical models e.g computer analogy

Question 5

What areas of the brain do they investigate?

Answer 5

Memory, thinking and perception

Question 6

How ave behaviours studied?

Answer 6

Indirectly by making inferences

Question 7

What are the steps of the information processing model?

Answer 7

Input from the environment via the senses
Processing - info is encoded and processed eg using schema
Output - observable behaviour

Question 8

What is the computer model?

Answer 8

The idea that the human mind is an information processor

Question 9

What are schema?

Answer 9

‘Packages’ of ideas and information developed through experience.

Question 10

What do schema do?

Answer 10

They act as a mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information received by the cognitive system.

Question 11

What do schema help us do?

Answer 11

They help us to take shortcuts in our thinking.

Question 12

What is a negative of schema?

Answer 12

They can lead to faulty conclusions and can distort interpretations of sensory information, leading to perceptual errors.

Question 13

What is inference? Plus example

Answer 13

The process whereby we draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate in the brain on the basis of observed behaviour.
E.g Peterson & Peterson

Question 14

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 14

CN is the study of the influence of brain structure on mental processes.

Question 15

Why is it a new area of research?

Answer 15

Due to new technologies such as MRI and PET scans.

Question 16

Why is CN useful?

Answer 16

Mapping the brain to specific cognitive functions allows us predict and possibly treat the symptoms of brain injury by understanding the possible effects of injury on a particular area of the brain.

Question 17

What is an fMRI?

Answer 17

A non-invasive test that uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to create detailed images of the body.

Question 18

What does fMRI look at? How does this help doctors?

Answer 18

Blood flow in the brain to detect areas of activity. These changes in blood flow, which are captured on a computer, help doctors understand more about how the brain works.

Question 19

What are PET scans?

Answer 19

Usedtoproduce detailed three-dimensional imagesof the inside of the body.

Question 20

How do they work?

Answer 20

They work by detecting the radiation given off by a substance called a radiotracer as it collects in different parts of your body. By analysing the areas where the radiotracer does and doesn’t build up, it’s possible to work out how well certain brain functions are working and identify any abnormalities.

Question 21

What is an EEG?

Answer 21

Records brain activity.

Question 22

How does EEG work?

Answer 22

During the test, small sensors are attached to the scalp to pickup the electrical signals produced when brain cells send messages to each other.
These signals are recorded by a machine and are looked at by a doctorlater to see if they’re unusual.