Cognitive Approach

Question 1

Define Cognitive Approach

Answer 1

Mental processes needed to make sense of the world. Cognitive psychologists believe that behavior is influenced by cognition, so they way we perceive and think determines the way we behave.

Question 2

2 cognitive assumptions

Answer 2

1 - Information processing model - describes the flow of information using the terms input, process and output.
2 - Human mind is like a computer. A computer is also and information processor - we input information via a keyboard, then the information is processed and can be stored on a hard drive, and an output in the form of sound, print out of email can be made.

Question 3

Lab experiment

Answer 3

study conducted in a tightly controlled environment, where the independent variable is directly measurable by the dependent variable.

Question 4

Field experiment

Answer 4

Field experiment is similar to lab but carried out in a natural environment.

Question 5

Natural experiment

Answer 5

Similar to filed experiment but the independent variable is not manipulated directly by the researcher.

Question 6

Experimental hypothesis

Answer 6

Statement made about the predicted outcome of the study

Question 7

Directional hypothesis

Answer 7

Predicts the likely direction of the results

Question 8

Non-directional hypothesis

Answer 8

States that a difference or relationship will be found but its direction could go either way.

Question 9

Null hypothesis

Answer 9

Statement that the results will be due to chance not to what was predicted. Whether the difference is big enough to accept that no other factors played a part.

Question 10

Independent variable

Answer 10

IV is the variable that is manipulated or changed in order to demonstrate a difference between the experimental conditions

Question 11

Dependent variable

Answer 11

The DV is the variable that is measured or the result of the experiment

Question 12

Operationalisation

Answer 12

Once you have decided on the IV and DV of a study, it is important to make an operational definition of both, defining precisely how you intend to measure the DV and alter the conditions of the IV.

Question 13

Independent measures design

Answer 13

When only one of the experimental conditions is tested on a group of participants

Question 14

Repeated measures

Answer 14

Same participants are used in all experimental conditions

Question 15

Matched pairs

Answer 15

Essentially the same as an independent measures design but all participants are matched on a quality of characteristic important to the study.

Question 16

Extraneous variables

Answer 16

Any variable, other than the IV, that can have an influence on your findings.

Question 17

Situational variable

Answer 17

Extraneous variable that might affect your results found in the environment

Question 18

Participant variables

Answer 18

Participants themselves may affect the results of the study - some are highly motivated, easily distracted etc.

Question 19

Ecological validity

Answer 19

How well a study represents a natural situation

Question 20

Experimenter effects

Answer 20

Subtle cues, expectations, gender and personality type of the researcher may influence the way a participant responds.

Question 21

Demand Characteristics

Answer 21

Human participants may respond to the experimental conditions in which they are involved.Humans are not passive, and they may change their normal behavior in unusual situations.

Question 22

Objectivity

Answer 22

Being objective refers to being detached or neutral in terms of judgement, without the influence of personal interpretation or emotion.

Question 23

Reliability

Answer 23

Reliability is achieved when a study is repeated and the same results are found

Question 24

Construct validity

Answer 24

How well a measure being used is a good indicator of what is supposed to be studied.

Question 25

Craik and Lockhart

Answer 25

MOM - Types of rehearsal maintenance rehearsal means we rehearse information in order to preserve it for a short time. Elaborative rehearsal refers to a deep consideration of the information, often by giving it meaning, resulting in a more durable memory.

Question 26

Craik and Lockhart Part 2

Answer 26

Information processing - we have a central processor that handles all kinds and quantities of perceptual information and determines how it is processed. Distinctive, relevant information it is likely to be processed at a deeper level

Question 27

Craik and Lockhart Eval Support

Answer 27

Hyde and Jenkins (73) asked participants to learn a set of 24 words under five different conditions which required different levels of processing. There was significance increase in recall when participants were asked to judge pleasantness of the world

Question 28

C + L advantages

Answer 28

Applications are wide. accounts for the diversity of memories stored.

Question 29

C + L Disadvantages

Answer 29

Many variables determine whether a durable memory is achieved. It can only be used to explain improved recall in memory that requires conscious recall. It has been criticized for being descriptive rather than explaining how memory works and it does not account for all leaning

Question 30

C + L disadvantage study

Answer 30

Morris et al (97) found participants recalled more words that were phonetically processed than semantically processed.

Question 31

Craik and Tulving (1975) aim

Answer 31

To see whether material, which had been more deeply processed, would be recalled better.

Question 32

C + T procedure

Answer 32

24 participants shown 60 words via tachistoscope and asked questions that required structural, phonetic or semantic processed. Then asked to recognize words from a list of 180 words containing the original 60.

Question 33

C + T results

Answer 33

17% at structural level, 36% of words processed at phonetic level and 65% processed at semantic level.

Question 34

Multi Store Model (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 68, 71)

Answer 34

Three stores - Sensory - buffer for all information in environment that bombards our perceptual system . Hold information for a brief period. STM is a limited store for attended information, holding about 7 bits to around 18 for 30 seconds. Rehearsal here leads to LTM, which has a potentially infinite capacity and can hold memories for minutes or many years.

Question 35

MSM advantages

Answer 35

Glanzer and Cunitz (1996) - first words recalled well, primacy effect and last words remembered well - recency effect with ones in middle forgotten. Clive Wearing shows damage to hippo campus can result in failure to store STM.

Question 36

MSM disadvantages

Answer 36

Hard to say what capacity means If you use a span test you can remember 20 items in STM. Experiments to test it are usually artificial

Question 37

Cue dependent Forgetting

Answer 37

When we encode a new memory we also store information that occurred around it, if we can’t remember its because we are not in a similar situation

Question 38

Tulving’s encoding specificity principle

Answer 38

‘The greater the similarity between the encoding event and the retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling the original memory’

Question 39

Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon.

Answer 39

Brown and McNeill, 66 - Knowing that a memory exists but being temporarily unable to recall it.

Question 40

Context dependent forgetting

Answer 40

Context is a powerful aid to recall. If we are not in the same situation as when learning, we may not be able to access the memory easily. e.g. Godden and Baddeley

Question 41

Smith (85)

Answer 41

54 participants list of words to learn with either Mozart or jazz playing in the background or it was quiet. 2 days later the participants were asked to recall the words again in quite, Mozart or Jazz backgrounds. Forgetting occurred when the background was not the same

Question 42

State dependent forgetting

Answer 42

When we learn information, we also encode details about our emotional and physical state at the time.

Question 43

Duka et al (2000)

Answer 43

48 participants alcohol or placebo, prior to list of 40 word pairs. Participants were either in 1 of 4 conditions: alcohol-alcohol, alcohol-placebo, placebo-alcohol or placebo-placebo. Duka found recollection of the worlds was better if the same state for learning was in place for recall.

Question 44

Cue-Dependent Evaluation

Answer 44

Both Godden and Baddeley and Abernathy (1940) demonstrated cue dependent forgetting in a natural environment. A meta analysis by Smith and Vela (2001) on 75 experiments of context-dependent forgetting between 1935 and 1997. Across all studies they found the reinstatement of context, did play an important role in remembering

Question 45

Interference Theory

Answer 45

In LTM, forgetting may occur due to interference or confusion between old and new memory. This might not mean its lost but has become distorted or changed.

Question 46

Retroactive interference

Answer 46

Difficulty recalling old information because of newly learnt information interfering.

Question 47

Proactive interference

Answer 47

Difficulty of learning new information due to already exiting information interfering.

Question 48

McGeoch and McDonald (1931)

Answer 48

Gave participants a list of 10 words to learn until they were able to recall them all accurately. Then required to rest for 10 minutes, learn a list of 3 digit numbers, list of nonsense syllables, or list of antonyms or synonyms of the original list. They found the more similar the new information was to the old memory the lower recall became.

Question 49

Godden and Baddeley (1975) Aim

Answer 49

To investigate whether a natural environment can act as a cue for recall

Question 50

G + B details.

Answer 50

18 participants fro university club. Learn a list of 38 unrelated 2 or 3 syllable words. Open water site in Oban. Each diver experienced all conditions.

Question 51

G + B conditions

Answer 51

Learn on dry and recall on dry, lean underwater and recall underwater, learn on dry and recall underwater, learn underwater and recall on dry.

Question 52

G + B what participants actually did

Answer 52

Tested 2 at a time, divers were submerged and played tape recording of word list. Recorded words were presented in blocks of 3 , with a 4 second interval . Each list was presented twice and after a 4 minute delay the participants had to write down the words, in any order, in 2 mins.

Question 53

G + B results

Answer 53

Recall was around 50% higher when it took place in the same environment as learning. The mean number of words recalled in the dry land learning and recall condition was 13.5 and 11.4 for underwater learning and recall, contrasted with 8.4 in underwater leaning and dry recall, and 8.6 for dry learning and underwater recall.