the cognitive approach

Question 1

what is the cognitive approach?

Answer 1

• focuses on the examination of internal mental processes such as perception, memory, attention and consciousness.

Question 2

how do we investigate internal mental processes?

Answer 2

• inference = theoretical models and computer models.
• inferences as a means of understanding human experience from observable behaviours.

Question 3

internal mental pocesses

Answer 3

• operations that occur during thinking.
• ## examples = perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving

Question 4

the role of schema

Answer 4

1. schema = a package of ideas that are gained through experience to enable us to interpret and respond to new situations
2. as we age = more sophistcated schema

Question 5

what does it mean by schemas are top-down information processing?

Answer 5

• because they provide us with expectations about what will happen, rather than requiring us to process every single detail, all of the time.
• enable us to act comfortably even when our information is incomplete which makes it much easier to dealwith complex situations.
• However, schemas can lead to errors in information-processing such as prejudice
  and discrimination.

Question 6

the use of theoretical models

Answer 6

• visual representations of internal mental processes
• diagrams or flowcharts
• e.g. multi store model, working memory model

Question 7

the use of computer models

Answer 7

• Computer models of memory have been particularly useful in the development of artificial intelligence (AI).

Question 8

The Emergence of Cognitive Neuroscience

Answer 8

• scanning the living brain while it is actively processing information.
• non-invasive brain scanning techniques like PET and MRIs to understand which parts of the brain are responsible for certain actions
• e.g. parahippocampal gyrus = ocd