cognitive level of analysis: cognitive processes
DESCRIPTION
These are my notes for the 3.1 section of my IB HL Psychology textbook. It focuses on the Cognitive Level of Analysis and cognitive processes, particularly memory. Beware: it's quite long, but I doubt I'll post any presentations longer than this one in the future.TRANSCRIPT
Cognitive Level of Analysis
Cognitive Processes
Principles of the CLA• Cognitive psychology: concerning
the structure and functions of the mind
• Find out how the human mind comes to know things about the world and how this knowledge is used
• Cognitive neuroscience: Combines knowledge about the brain with knowledge about cognitive processes
The Mind• The mind = set of mental processes that
are carried out by the brain• Cognitive processes:– Perception– Problem solving– Thinking– Memory– Language– Attention
• These processes = cognition
Cognition• Cognition is based on one’s mental
representations of the world– i.e. images, words, concepts
• People have different experiences which culminate in different mental representations
1st Principle• Humans are information processors and
mental processes guide behavior• CLA wants to discover possible principles
underlying cognitive processes• The mind is like a complex machine– Information is inputted (bottom-up
processing)– Information is processed (top-down
processing)– Behavior is outputted
Memories• Memory is not infallible because of its
reconstructive nature• Experiences are stored as outlines not
exact copies• False memories occur because one
cannot distinguish between the actual event and what they’ve heard after– The mind can fabricate illusions that are
so realistic we think they are true
Perception• Perception: Cognitive process that
interprets/organizes information from the senses to produce some meaningful experience of the world
• Context, frequency, and recency influence how one percieves a situation
2nd Principle• The mind can be studied scientifically– By developing theories– Using a number of scientific research
methods• Experimental method is the most
“scientific”, but sometimes they are not accurate to daily life
• Now psychologists use both lab studies and real-life studies
3rd Principle• Cognitive processes are influenced by
social and cultural factors– Frederic Bartlett pretty much came up
with this idea• Schema: mental representation of
knowledge• Schemas can influence the mind– i.e. how cultural schemas influence
remembering
Frederic Bartlett• How cultural schemas influence
remembering:– People had trouble remembering a story
from another culture– Reconstructed the story to fit the norms of
their own cultural schema• Memory is not a tape recorder– People remember it in ways that make sense
to them and their pre-existing schemas• Memory is subject to distortions
Studying the Mind• Used to always use controlled experiments– Pro: All variables can be controlled– Con: Artificial
• Now they use other methods such as case studies
• Nuero-imaging technology (i.e. fMRI, CAT) – Allows researchers to see which brain areas are
active during certain activities– See how brain damage affects cognitive
processes
Cognitive Processes• Mental representations:– How you view yourself (self-representation)– How you view others– Objects, ideas, people
• Used when we plan, imagine, daydream…• Manipulations of these mental
representations allow us to think about situations and imagine possible outcomes– Mental representations are categorized– Lots of mental representations stored in memory
Cognitive Schemas• Cognitive schemas: Pre-stored
mental representations – Lead to expectations
• Mental representations are how we store images and ideas in our memories–What we already know affects they way
we interpret events and store knowledge in our memories
Schema Theory• Schema Theory: cognitive theory about
information processing• Cognitive schema: Networks of
knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about particular aspects of the world
• Schemas can describe how specific knowledge is organized and stored in memory so that it can be accessed and used when it is needed
Schema Theory• Schema theory suggests that what we already
know will influence the outcome of information processing
• Based on the assumption that humans are active processors of information
• People don’t respond passively to information– They interpret and integrate it to make sense of their
experiences – (both consciously and unconsciously)
• Brain fills in blanks when info is missing with info from schemas– Can cause mistakes (distortions)
Stages of Memory Processes• Encoding: Transforming sensory
information into a meaningful memory
• Storage: Creating a biological trace of the encoded information in memory, which is either consolidated or lost
• Retrieval: Using the stored information
Encoding:Put into memory
Storage:Maintain in
memory
Retrieval:Recover from
memory
Anderson and Pichert (1978)• Aim: See if schema processing influences
encoding and retrieval • Results: Schema processing must have some
effect at retrieval as well as at encoding because the new schema could only have influenced recall at the retrieval stage– People encode information even when it is irrelevant to
previous schemas• Pros: Variable control to establish cause-and-
effect• Cons: Conducted in a lab (Low ecological validity)
Evolution of Schema Theory• Theory is useful for understanding
how people categorize information, interpret stories, make predictions, etc.
• Helps us understand memory distortions and social cognition
Limitations of Schema Theory• Cohen (1993) says the concept of
schemas is too vague to be useful• Not entirely clear how schemas are
acquired• Not clear how schemas influence
cognitive processes
Multi-Store Memory Model• Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)• Model is based on two assumptions:–Memory consists of a number of
separate stores–Memory processes are sequential
• The memory stores operate in conjunction with the permanent memory store
Memory Stores• Need attention, coding, and
rehearsal for memory• Attention because you need to pay
attention to remember (obviously)• Coding to give the information a
memorable form• Rehearsal to keep the information
active in memory until it can be stored
Memory Stores• Sensory memory store is modality
specific– Hearing info has its own location, visual
info has its own location, etc…• Info stays in these stores for a few
seconds• Only a small portion continue into
short-term memory store (STM)
Short-Term Memory• Capacity is limited to approx 7 items• Lasts about 6-12 seconds• Material is quickly lost if not given
attention• Rehearsal plays a key role in
determining what is stored in long-term memory store
Long-Term Memory• Vast storehouse of information• Indefinite duration, potentially
unlimited capacity• Memories are not perfect; stored in
outlines which can lead to errors–We fill in the gaps of these outlines
Multi-Store Model• This is an outdated model• Very simplistic• Shows the amount of
knowledge available in the 1960s
Working Memory Model• This is a newer, more complex
model for memory• Baddeley and Hitch (1974) based it
on the multi-store model• Challenged the view that Short-Term
Memory is one single storage unit– This model includes many components
for STM
The Central Executive• Controlling system that
monitors/coordinates the other components– These other components are called
slave systems (cute, huh?)• Central executive has limited
capacity and can process info from any of the senses
Attentional Control• Most important job of Central Executive• Two ways for attentional control:– Automatic level: based on habit and is more
or less controlled by the environment• i.e. routine procedures like riding your bike to school
– Supervisory attentional level: Creates new strategies when the old ones are insufficient• i.e. while you’re riding your bike to school, a car
suddenly comes at you• People rely on automatic processing in
daily lives a lot!
The Episodic Buffer• How information appears when we
consciously try to recall the details of a landscape or the sound of a song
• The buffer acts as a temporary and passive display store until the info is needed– Like a television screen
The Phonological Loop• Two components:– Articulatory control system
• AKA the inner voice• Holds information in verbal form• Holds words ready as you prepare to speak
– Phonological store• AKA the inner ear• Holds speech-based material in a phonological form• Receives information from:
– Aensory memory in the form of auditory material– LTM in the form of verbal information– Articulatory control system
The visuospatial sketchpad• The Inner Eye• Deals with visual and spatial
information• Receives information from:– Sensory memory– LTM
Evidence of Working Memory Model• Dual-task techniques (AKA interference tasks)
• i.e. telling a story while learning a list of numbers• Participant carries out a cognitive task that
uses most of the capacity of working memory• At the same time performs a second cognitive
task • If the two tasks interfere and impair one
another, then both tasks are from the same component in STM
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)• Asked participants to read prose and
understand it while also remembering sequences of numbers
• Took more time to reason• There was impairment, but it was not
catastrophic• Concluded that STM has more than one
unitary store• Needs more stress than that to break down
the STM!
Evaluation of the Model• It includes active storage and processing– Makes it useful for understanding all sorts of
cognitive tasks • i.e. reading comprehension and mental arithmetic
• Assumes that mental processes are passive
• Can explain why people are able to perform different cognitive tasks at the same time w/o disruption– AKA Multi-tasking!
Working Memory Test Battery for Children
• Pickering and Gathercole (2001)• There is an improvement in performance
in working memory capacity from the age of 5 years until about 15 years
• Their work provides evidence that problems with working memory are associated with problems in academic performance– i.e. issues with phonological loop = issues in
math and reading
Homes et al. (2008)• Studied association between visuospatial
sketchpad capacity and children’s mathematics in relation to age
• Studied age-related differences• In older children, mathematical
performance could be significantly predicted by performance on the visual patterns test
Biology in Memory• Learning means formation of a memory
(forming neural networks)• Lesioning (AKA WORST THING EVER):
Cutting away brain tissue to see how much needs to be removed before an animal can no longer carry out a task it has learned
• We study people with brain damage to observe the same thing
Long-Term Memory SystemLong-Term Memory
Explicit/Declarative Memories
Implicit/Non-declarative memories
Semantic Memories
Episodic Memories
Procedural memories
Emotional memories
Explicit/Declarative Memories = Fact-based (i.e. “knowing what”)Semantic = General knowledge (i.e. “Obama is president”)
Episodic = Personal experiences (i.e. “I saw Obama’s coronation on TV)Implicit/Non-declarative = Unconscious memories
Procedural = Skills, habits, actions (i.e. “knowing how”)Emotional = Emotions. Duh.
The Hippocampus• Case studies of people with damaged
hippocampus can’t form new explicit memories– Can still form new implicit memories!
The Amygdala• Plays a role in storage of emotional
memories• Not much is known about emotional
memories• Emotional memories are remembered
better (especially for poor PTSD sufferers)• When part of the pre-frontal cortex is
damaged:– Emotional memory is hard to eliminate– Hard to control emotional outbursts
Clive Wearing• Suffers from the most extensive amnesia ever
seen– Both anterograde and retrograde amnesia– Damage to hippocampus and some frontal regions– Episodic memory and some semantic memory are lost– Cannot transfer new info into LTM either
• Can still play piano and conduct music he knew before his illness (part of his implicit memory)– Implicit memory must be in a brain structure other than
hippocampus– Emotional memory is intact (still loves his wife!)
Milner and Scoville (1957)• Case Study of HM• Tissue removed from temporal lobe including
hippocampus to relieve epileptic siezures • HM could recall information, but could not
form new memories– Could carry out a conversation– Unable to remember faces of the people he
meets• Damage to hippocampus, amygadala, and
other close areas
Cultural Factors in Cognition• Different challenges around the world
= different developments of cognitive abilities needed to survive
• Jerome Bruner says children of any culture learn the basics of culture from school and daily interactions (i.e. parents, friends, teachers, siblings, grandparents)
Cole and Scribner (1974)• Investigate memory strategies in different
cultures• The non-schooled children did not improve their
performance on free-recall tasks after age 10• Recalled 10 items first time; after 15 practice
trials only recalled 2 more• Illiterate children did not use chunking
method (grouping bits of info in larger main group)
• Presenting information in a narrative allowed children to chunk/recall info
Memory• Ability to remember is universal, but
strategies for remembering are not!• People learn to remember in ways that are
relevant for their daily lives• These methods do not always mirror the
activities that cognitive psychologists use to study their intelligence and mental processes
Reliability of Memory• Memory isn’t super reliable because
of its reconstructive nature– Brain actively processes information to
make sense of it• However, we use memory like
eyewitness accounts to determine people’s fate/guilt!
Recovered Memories• Sigmund Freud thought people forgot
memories with repression• Thought that people use defense
mechanisms (like repression) to save their conscious self from things they cannot cope with– Send dangerous memories to the
unconscious and repress/deny them
Recovered Memories• Aim of therapy is to gain access to the
unconscious• False Memory Sundrome Foundation supports
families who’ve been shattered by accusations of childhood abuse after their children have gone through therapy
• Some of these recovered memories are false! It is possible to manipulate people’s memories– False memories created by post-event information
Empirical testing of Reliability• Frederic Bartlett argued memory is
reconstructive and schemas influence recall– Demonstrated role of culture in schema
processing• Serial reproduction: One person tells a
story, then another retells it, then another, etc…– Found people reconstruct the past by trying to fit
it into existing schemas– More complicated the story = more likely to
have distorted/forgotten elements
Empirical Testing of Reliability• Efforts after meaning: people try
to find a familiar pattern in experiences
• Memory is an imaginative reconstruction of experience
Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony• Loftus claims the nature of questions can
influence witnesses’ memory• Suggestive questions and post-event
information can cause schema processing which affects accuracy– Use of different verbs used to ask about car crash
(smashed/hit/contacted) caused witnesses to change their view of the cars’ speed (40.8/34.0/31.8)
• Different words = different perception of consequences as well– i.e. Was there broken glass?
Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony• It is possible to create a false memory
using post-event information• Memory is not reliable• Issues with Loftus’s study:– Ecological validity (it was in a lab)– Closed questions (only yes or no answers)– Culturally biased (only US students)– Not everyone is good at estimating speed!
Might not have to do with leading questions at all!
Yuille and Cutshall (1986)• Real life robbery; testing witnesses with
suggestive questions like Lofte• No distortion on memory– Memory for details in this situation was
amazing!– Particularly for those close to the event
• Wording of questions had no effect on recall
• Those who were most distressed had the most accurate memories
Use of Modern Technology to Investigate Cognition & Behavior• New technology allows us to
understand the relationship between cognitive processes and behavior
• Technology such as:– PET scan (Positron emission
tomography)–MRI scan (magnetic resonance imaging)
PET Scan• Measures important functions in the
brain like glucose consumption and blood flow
• Can detect Alzheimer’s disease very early on
MRI Scan• 3D picture of brain structures• Detect changes of oxygen in blood–When brain areas are active, they have
more oxygen in the blood• Therefore, we can see what areas are
active when people are reading/problem solving/etc