cognitive approach Flashcards
What are the key assumptions of the cognitive approach?
Argues that internal mental processes should be studied scientifically. The cognitive approach investigates areas of human behaviour that have been neglected by behaviourists such as attention, memory, perception, and thought.
What are schemas?
Schemas are cognitive frameworks that help us organise and interpret information.
- based on our previous experiences, meaning that as you get older, schemas become more detailed and sophisticated.
- However, schemas can also lead to distortion of memory as the human mind attempts to create beliefs and expectations based on stereotypes and prejudice.
What is a theoretical model, and can you explain an example of one?
A theoretical model is a model with which to study internal processes. The mind is like a computer: Stimuli in the environment act as an input, our mind then processes this input and our behaviour acts as an output. This is called the Computer Analogy.
Input (Stimuli) –> Processing —> Output (Behaviour).
What is cognitive neuroscience and what has it allowed us to discover?
Cognitive Neuroscience is the scientific study of brain structures on mental processes. It has allowed us to discover specialised regions in our brain, such as the visual cortex, which provided evidence for the location of each region/component of the brain and what their specific function is.
Why have advances in brain imaging been influential?
Advances in brain imaging techniques such as PET scans have led scientists to discern and describe the neurological basis of mental processes.
- For example, Tulving et al’s research involving tasks that required the use of episodic and semantic memory showed how these different types of long-term memory may be located on opposite sides of the pre-frontal cortex.
