Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology Flashcards
Define Cognitivism
an approach to studying behaviour (so you can have a cognitivist approach to cognitive psychology, social psychology and so on).
Define Behaviourism?
Argues that a true science of Psychology strives for laws of behaviour couched in terms of physical events and physical processes
What would be be the implications if we find these laws?
If we can find such laws (and they are correct) then we should be able to predict and control behaviour
State a classic case of behaviourism?
Pavlovs dogs, using Conditioned and Unconditioned response with a stimulus
What kind of statements can Behaviourist theories only contain?
Behaviorist theories can ONLY contain statements about observable “things”
Can we study abstract “things” scientifically?
Other sciences studied the unobservable and abstract and made testable predictions (i.e. psychology)
Give an example of a study into an abstract “thing”?
Gregor Mendel published work on genetic inheritance in 1866 long before DNA was discovered.
So how is it feasible to study an abstract “thing”?
If the validity of our predictions are open to empirical tet, then we can test as many abstract “things” as we want scientifically.
Is Psychology a “science” if it is concerned with the mental rather than the physical?
Yes, as we can use the scientific methods developed to study the physical world to study the mental world.
How do you decide how many abstract concepts is enough?
There is a danger of deriving very complex accounts of even the simplest behaviours.
How can we ever begin to study the mind – for a start everyone’s brain is different?
But even if we understood all possible patterns of neural firing in my brain, this would not be the same for your brain
What do behaviourists argue about things we can “see”?
Behaviorists argued that because you could not “see” cognitive processes you could not study them scientifically.
What do cognitivists argue about things we can “see”
Cognitive psychologists disagreed, arguing that you can study ‘abstract’ things as long as you follow the scientific method
What is the metaphor that cognitivists use to describe cognitive processes
The computer analogy
Describe the computer analogy cognitivists use to
> Naïve observer attempts to vary the input to the device to figure out a flow chart of hypothesised processes
> If the computer can be programmed to behave in the same way as a human then we might be able to say something about the mental processes of humans.
What did information processing lead to about using the computer as an analogy of mental processes?
The information processing led to the widely held belief that mental states and processes can be understood by analogy with those that characterise the operation of a digital computer.
Define Symbol Representation
Information input to a computer is converted to a series of 0’s and 1’s.
It is how the input (or stimulus) is represented by the computer (by symbols - 0’s and 1’s)
What is the mind compared to in the computer approach
Software
What is the body/brain compared to in the computer approach
Hardware
How does the ‘hardware’ (brain/body) know what the ‘software’ (representation/ symbols) means?
Symbol grounding problem
What is the symbol grounding problem
To have meaning, representations need to be ‘grounded’ in something beyond the themselves.
This is the ‘symbol grounding problem’ – the 0’s and 1’s don’t “mean” anything to the computer.
And ‘symbols’ can’t “mean” anything to the brain – they are just a way of expressing the flow of information
By extension, can a computer running a program be said to “think” in the same way as a human does according to the Chinese (thought) experiment
It does not, because it does not “understand” what the symbols it is manipulating mean.
Name an approach which attempts to explain the mind and mental processes in a cognitivist manner
The Computer Analogy
Name another approach to explaining mental processes
Neuroscience
Explain Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychologists sometimes use very expensive magnets to “see” what happens “inside” the head.
More specifically, these are attempts to see “where in the brain” specific cognitive functions occur (i.e., interested in function AND location).
What does fMRI do?
fMRI is based on hemodynamic (literally ‘blood movement’) activity.
Neural processing consumes energy (oxygen, glucose etc.) that is carried by the blood to parts of our bodies.
What do the measurements of the fMRI imply?
If this consumption can be measured at particular regions of the brain then we can infer that neural activity is occurring there.
What are the 2 problems with the use of fMRI
- Does metabolic / hemodynamic activity equal ‘cognitive’ activity.
- Multiple statistical comparisons
Is it logical to assume that metabolic activity at a particular brain location MEANS that the cognitive activity must be located there?
The area identified be inhibiting another area responsible for the cognitive process (Kagan, 2007)
