Cognitive Approach Flashcards
When was the cognitive approach developed?
1950s
What do cognitive psychologists focus on?
Internal mental approaches
What do cognitive psychologists argue?
that behaviourists neglected how internal mental processes direct and affect our behaviour
How do cognitive psychologists believe internal mental processes should be studied?
- scientifically, but they recognise that our internal mental processes are ‘private’ and can not be observed
- therefore, they study our internal mental processes INDIRECTLY by making inferences about the way our mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour.
What are the 5 internal mental processes?
perception
attention
memory
language
thinking
What is perception?
the process of taking in and interpreting information from our senses
What is attention?
the process by which we focus on a particular source of information rather than others
What is memory?
the process of retaining and recalling information
What is language?
the study of communication and thinking in relation to language
What is thinking?
the process of manipulating information in the mind in order to reason, problem-solve and make decisions
Internal mental processes can be seen as…
interconnected processing systems (they work together) that allow us to make sense of and respond appropriately to the world
What are schema?
packets of information about the world around us that we store in our long term memory
What are the 3 types of schema?
objective schema
event schema
role schema
What is object schema?
you know what an object is and how to use it
What is event schema?
you know how different events play out, what to expect, and how you should act at them
What is role schema?
everyone plays a role and you know how different roles should act
How do we develop our schema?
experience through our environment
Schema allows us to cognitively process lots of information quickly by providing us with…
- short cuts
- these help us make sense of the world (eg you know its a wedding because of the white dress, suit, flowers etc, and you know how to act)
What models do cognitive psychologists use to help them understand internal mental processes?
both theoretical and computer models
What are theoretical models?
diagrammatic representations of the steps involved in internal mental processes
What are computer models?
software simulations of internal mental processes that are created in collaboration with computer scientists
Theoretical model: the information processing approach
1) encoding of sensory information - input = see chocolates
2) information manipulation (mental processes) - think about chocolates 3) output (eg behaviour / emotion) - eat your favourite chocolate
Theoretical model: the information processing approach and the multi-store model of memory
1) information
2) sensory memory store - forget information we didn’t pay attention to
3) if payed attention to, goes to short term memory (can be forgotten)
4) rehearsal + retrieval moves information to the long term memory (can be forgotten)
Computer model: Alpha Go - artificial intelligence
- involves programming a computer to see if information processing instructions produce a similar output in computers as humans
- if they do, we can suggest that similar processes are going on in the human mind
- such computer models have proved useful in the development of AI such as Alpha Go
What is Alpha Go?
a computer program designed to simulate human internal mental processes - specifically tactical game play
What is cognitive neuroscience?
the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
What is an early example of cognitive neuroscience?
Paul Brocca identified how damage to an area of the frontal lobe could permanently impair speech production in the 1860s
What has happened in the last 25 years that has allowed for the emergence of cognitive neuroscience?
advances in brain imaging techniques (eg MRI/ PET) have abled scientists to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes.
What was Buckner and Peterson (1996) able to show about long term memory using brain imaging techniques?
how different types of LTM may be located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex by doing research that involved tasks that required the use of episodic and semantic memory
What part of the brain is linked to OCD and why might it be linked to OCD?
- Parahippocampal gyrus
- it appears to play a role in processing unpleasant emotions
How is cognitive neuroscience now expanding and what possible future applications might this have?
- expanding to include the use of computer generated models that are designed to ‘read’ the brain
- this has led to the development of mind-mapping techniques - brain ‘fingerprinting’
- possible future application = to analyse the brain wave patterns of eyewitnesses to determine whether they are lying in court
