Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What is the cognitive approach?
The study of how mental processes affect behaviour.
What are internal mental processes?
Private operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between a stimulus and a response.
What is schema?
A metal framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing, developed from experience, and allow predictions to be made.
What is the role of schema?
- enable us to process lots of information quickly, act as a metal short cut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.
- babies are born with similar motor schemas for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping. With age schemas get more detailed and sophisticated from experiences.
- schemas may distort interpretations of sensory information, leading to errors in perception.
- schemas are unique to individuals as their experience of the world is unique; cultural effect, people from the same culture form similar schemes due to shared experience.
What is inference?
The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw consent about the way mental processes operate based on observed behaviour.
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Scientific study of specific brain structures that underpin cognitive processes.
What is the emergence of cognitive neuroscience?
Mapping Brian areas has a long history in psychology; 1860s identified damage to frontal lobe can damage speech production. Now expanded to computer generated models to ‘read’ the brain.
What are the assumptions from the cognitive approach?
Directly contrasts the behaviourist approach, as cp states that internal thought processes should be studied such as perception, thinking, that were neglected by behaviourists.
What are theoretical and computer models used to help?
Understand internal mental processes.
What is the information processing approach?
Suggests that information flows through a cognitive system in a sequence of stages: input, processing, and retrieval.
What are the 3 sequences of the information processing approach and their meaning?
• Input- sourced from environment via senses and is encoded by the individual.
• Processing- information once encoded can be processed e.g. processing schemas.
• Retrieval- behaviour response emitted.
What is the computer model?
Suggests there are similarities in processing to the human mind, includes concept of central processing unit (brain), coding ( turning information into usable format) & the use of stores (hold information).
