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UNIT 4 – COGNITIVE LEVEL OF ANALYSIS
Day 1: Principles & Research
Outcome(s):
Outline principles and vocabulary that define the cognitive level of analysis
Explain how principles that define the cognitive level of analysis and ethics may be demonstrated in research
Agenda
1. Reading Quiz2. Guided Notes – Cognitive Processes3. Verbal Protocols Activity4. The future of Cognitive Psychology?
Homework: Read 67-72 Course Companion
Thinking Map
Cognition
Cognition
Comes from the Latin word cognoscere, which means “to know”
Principles that define the cognitive level of analysis
1. Human beings are information processors and that mental representations guide behavior
2. Mental processes can and should be studied scientifically by developing theories and by using a variety of research methods
3. Social and cultural factors affect cognitive processes
Cognitive psychology: concerns itself with the structure and functions of the mind
Cognitive neuroscience: combines knowledge about the brain with knowledge about cognitive processes
Cognition: the mind is conceptualized as a set of processes including perception, thinking, problem solving, memory, language, and attention
Principle #1 – Mental processes guide behavior
One goal is to discover principles underlying cognitive processes Bottom-up processing: information comes from sensory stem Top-down processing: information is processed via pre-stored
information in the memory Stereotyping: people who have fixed ideas about other people –
more prone to discriminate (we’ll focus more on this in upcoming days)
Reconstructive nature: people do not store exact copies, but rather an outline that is filled out with information when it is recalled
False memories: may sometimes happen when individuals cannot distinguish between what they have experienced and what they have heard after the event
Perception: cognitive process that interprets and organizes information from the senses to produce some meaningful experience of the world
Principle 2: the mind can be studied scientifically
Using scientific research methods Theories, continuously testing New findings result amendments to original
models Cognitive psychologists largely use the
experimental method because it was assumed to be the most scientific method However, the experimental tasks don’t always resemble
what people do in their daily lives Psychologists now study cognition in the
laboratory as well as in daily context
Principle 3: Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors Frederic Bartlett
Schema: a mental representation of knowledge
Distortions – people remember in terms of meaning and what makes sense to them, so memory is subjective Therefore, it needs to be investigated
scientifically
Will it ever be possible to develop robots that can think like humans?
1. Work in partners and compare the human mind and the computer. Make a list of what the human mind can do and what the computer can do. Discuss your list; does it make sense to you to compare the human mind to a computer?
2. What do you consider to be the major difference between the computer and a human being?
3. Discuss how computers are pictured in one-science fiction film that you have seen.
4. Discuss whether you think it will ever be possible to construct a robot that can be exactly like a human.
Studying the mind
Research methods at Cognitive LOA Laboratory – all variables can be controlled;
however, may suffer from artificiality Case studies
Technology (ex: CT, fMRI) Use data to support or refute cognitive
models, or to propose new models
Cognitive processes
Cognitive schemas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
mzbRpMlEHzM Memory researchers believe that what
we know already affects the way we interpret events and store knowledge in our memory
Schema Theory
Schema – “how-to-score knowledge” Schema theory: cognitive theory about
information processing Cognitive schema: networks of
knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about particular aspects of the world
Distortions – mistakes
Schema theory and memory processes
Used to explain memory processes. Memory processes divided into three main stages Encoding: transforming sensory information
into a meaningful memory Storage: creating a biological trace of the
encoded information Retrieval: using the stored information
Encoding Storage Retrieval
Research in Psychology: Anderson and Pichert (1978)
Aim: To determine the influence of schema processing on both encoding and retrieval.
Method: Participants heard a story which contained information about a house. Half of the participants were asked to adopt a home-buyer schema when hearing the story, and the other half, a typical burglar schema. A distracting task was performed for 12 minutes before testing recall. After a further 5 minute delay, half the participants were then given the alternative schema (i.e. home-buyers were given burglar schemas and vice versa), and the other half were asked to retain their original schema, and recall was retested.
Results: Points directly linking to alternative schemas increased by 10%, whilst those relating to previous schemas declined.
Limitations: completed in a laboratory, so issues of ecological validity arise
Evaluation of Schema Theory Cohen (1993)
Says concept of schemas is too vague to be useful
Daniel Gilbert “brain is a wonderful magician but a lousy
scientist”
Can you…
name the seven dwarves…..
Was it easy or hard?
It depends on several things….
If you like Disney movies?
When was the last time you have seen the movie?
Are people around you being loud pain in the butts so you cannot concentrate?
Recall Versus Recognition
Recall
you must retrieve the information from your memory
fill-in-the blank or essay tests
Recognition
you must identify the target from possible targets
multiple-choice tests
The Working Memory Model
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968): among the first to suggest a basic structure of memory
Multi-store model
You need to pay attention to something in order to remember it, and you need to give the material a form (code) which enables you to remember it. Rehearsal means keeping material active in memory by repeating it until it can be stored.
Sensory memory Modality specific –
related to difference senses
Short-term memory (STM) – around 7 items, duration about 6-12 seconds (#s better than letters)
Long-term memory (LTM): vast storehouse of information
Working Memory: Badeley and Hitch (1974)
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) Working memory model
Central Executive – “controlling system”
Slave systems: short-term storage systems dedicated to a content domain (verbal and visuo-spatial, respectively)
Attentional control – the central executive’s most important job. This happens in two ways Automatic level: based on habit and controlled
more/less automatically by stimuli from the environment
Supervisory attentional level: deals with emergencies or creates new strategies when the other ones are no longer sufficient
Episodic buffer Phonological loop Phonological store Visuospatial sketchpad
Evidence of Working Memory Dual-task techniques: interference tasks
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) – asked participants to read prose and understand it, while at the same time remember sequences of numbers. In dual-task experiments, there was a clear and systematic increase in reasoning
Findings show that even though there was impairment, it was not catastrophic
Multi-tasking – performing different cognitive tasks at the same time without disruption
Pickering and Gathercole (2001) Working Memory Test Battery for
Children There’s an improvement in performance
in working memory from 5 years until about 15 years
Problems with working memory are associated with problems in academic performance
Holmes et al. (2008)
Association between visuospatial sketchpad capacity and children’s mathematics attainment in relation to age Children ages 7-8 and 9-10 Older children – mathematical performance
could be predicted by performance on visual patterns test
Long term memory (LTM)
Memory & the Brain
Biological factors in memory Neural networks Lesioning Explicit memory Semantic memory Episodic memory Implicit memory Procedural memory Emotional memory Hippocampus Amygdala
Clive Wearing – brain damage 1985... contracts viral encephalitis Damaged parts of his brain... affected memory Memory span of a few seconds... unable to keep
conversation or go places fMRI scans showed extensive damage to both the
right and left hippocampus... and some frontal regions
Provides insight into the biological foundation of different memory stems – episodic memory and some semantic memory lost Distributed memory system Emotional memory – affection he shows for wife
Milner and Scoville (1957)
Amnesia HM – head inury sustained when 9 Epileptic seizures Removed tissue from temporal lobe, including
hippocampus HM unable to form new memories Suffers from anterograde amnesia, can’t remember
faces of people he meets (like Wearing) MRI in 1997 - damage not as extensive as estimated
Much better chance of testing areas of the brain related to memory and skill learning
Ethics in Research
HM and Clive Wearing are famous case studies in cognitive psychology. HM has been studied extensively, with all kinds of tests, ever since his operation in 1953. He has even donated his brain to science when he dies. We do not know his identity. Clive Wearing’s identity is known to us due to his wife’s book. Discuss why participants in case studies are
anonymous Discuss ethical considerations in studying an
individual with an interesting disorder or brain damage, such as HM and Clive Wearing
Verbal Protocols
Verbal protocols involve trying to make internal thought processes into public rather than private events – thinking aloud. This is a form of interview.
In pairs Partner 1: participant Partner 2: listening, jotting down steps in
the problem solving process The problem:
D O N A L D+ G E R A L DR O B E R T
Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world
http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cognitive_surplus_will_change_the_world.html