Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What are cognitive approach assumptions?
1) way we think influences behaviour
2) humans are information processors and processing is similar to that of a computer
3) humans do not passively respond to their environment, instead human mind actively processes information received
4) mental processes can be studied scientifically and assumptions made based on responses
5) cognitive psychologists study participants with healthy brains using lab experiments as well as those with brain damage
What is the cognitive approach?
Study of internal mental processes, such as perception, thinking and memory; as these are private and effectively inaccessible, it investigates them by trying to infer the mental processes that lie behind behaviour seen in an experiment
What is the role of schema?
- a schema is a packet of ideas/information developed through experience
- helps to deal with a lot of incoming information quickly and efficiently without having to laboriously think about each individual bit of information/experience separately
- used to understand mental disorders
- can be used to explain memory as they fill in gaps based on what we expect to be there: this can distort our interpretations of sensory information leading to perceptual errors
- humans born with simple motor schemas for innate behaviour and as we get older they become more detailed and sophisticated
What is the theoretical model?
An analogy/idea/theory about how cognitive processes work, which is abstract; each part of this model can be tested experimentally to see if they’re accurate, which led to the birth of cognitive neuroscience
What is the computer model?
An actual computer system that can be studied and compared to the human brain as it takes in information, codes it, analyses it, and produces an output based on the information inputted. Consistent with adopting a scientific approach as using laboratory experiments means researchers can present participants with different inputs (stimuli), record the outputs and make inferences about mental processes
How did cognitive neuroscience emerge?
As brain imaging techniques advanced (such as fMRI and PET scans), it allowed scientists to study the neurological basis of mental processes. Being able to get empirical, objective evidence through sophisticated scanning techniques established cognitive neuroscience as a scientific way of investigating mental processes
What is brain fingerprinting?
Analysing brain activity to determine whether certain information is stored in the brain or not
What are the strengths of the cognitive approach?
1) it uses scientific and objective methods to investigate mental processes (controlled and standardised lab experiments), increasing the value of this approach as it incorporates biological factors
2) useful in many real-world aspects and has many important practical applications (gerenerated CBD), as well as PET and fMRI scans enabling psychologists to pinpoint scientific areas of the brain linked to memory processes
3) soft determinism allows for a degree of freedom before responding to a stimulus, even though we can only operate within the limits of what we know
What are the limitations of the cognitive approach?
1) causes machine reductionism as it ignores influence of human emotion and motivation on cognitive system and how this may affect ability to process information - reduces mind to simplistic level of a machine
2) has a lack of external validity as it is carried out using artificial stimuli that may not represent everyday memory experiences and is too abstract and theoretical as processes are only inferred from behaviour observed in research
