cognitive approach

Question 1

assumptions

Answer 1

• internal mental processes influence behaviour
• must draw inferences from experiments to understand behaviour

Question 2

role of schema

Answer 2

mental frameworks of information that organise experiences / interpret & respond to new situations (help make sense of ambiguous situations; can lead to errors)

Question 3

models to understand mental processes

Answer 3

theoretical models - visual representation to simplify / study complex internal processes (show how information is passed between different systems e.g WMM)

computer models - computers in 1960s led to models to explain different processes (e.g analogy of LTM being hard disk and STM being computer’s RAM)

Question 4

cognitive neuroscience

Answer 4

• bridges gap between cognitive and biological approaches
• results from developing techniques for scanning living brain while actively processing information
• non invasive brain scans used to understand cognitive processes e.g thinking

Question 5

emergence of psychology as a science

Answer 5

relies on drawing inferences from experiments; later used brain scanning methods to research how mind functions

Question 6

evaluation

Answer 6

• brain scans provide approach with strong scientific grounding; neuroimaging evidence is only correlational
• approach has real world applications (e.g research into EWT & misleading information led to use of cognitive interview)
• criticised for ‘machine reductionism’ as it assumes human behaviour / mind can be compared to computers
• uses nomothetic & idiographic approaches to generate universal laws and draw on findings of individual case studies

Question 7

evaluation of cognitive neuroscience

Answer 7

• based on objective & scientific research
• has helped understand / treat many conditions (e.g EEGs help understand brain waves during sleep to diagnose sleep disorders)
• led to development of AI (impact on economy)