APPROACHES - COGNITIVE APPROACH

Question 1

What is the cognitive approach?

Answer 1

The cognitive approach involves the study of internal mental processes (IMP), e.g. Memory, Thinking, Attention, Perception, Language

Focuses on how people perceive, store, manipulate and interpret information

Question 2

Define cognitive

Answer 2

Relates to mental processes such as perception, memory and reasoning

Question 3

Define cognitive neuroscience

Answer 3

An area of psychology dedicated to the underlying neural bases of cognitive functions

Question 4

Define computer model

Answer 4

Refers to the process of using computer analogies as a representation of human cognition

Question 5

Define inference

Answer 5

Means reaching a logical conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning

Question 6

Define schema

Answer 6

A cognitive framework that helps to organise and interpret information in the brain. Schemas help an individual to make sense of new information

Question 7

Define theoretical models

Answer 7

In cognitive psychology, models are simplified, usually pictorial, representations of a particular mental process based on current research evidence

Question 8

Outline the use of theoretical models as an explanation of mental processes

Answer 8

• An example includes the Multi-Store Model of Memory and the Working Memory Model
• Often pictorial, represented by boxes and arrows that indicate cause and effect of the stages of a particular mental process
• Some models (e.g. WMM) tend to be incomplete and informal, frequently changed, updated and refined (Baddeley, 2000 adding the episodic buffer)

Question 9

Outline the use of computer models as an explanation of mental processes

Answer 9

• The development of computers + computer programming led to a focus on the way in which sensory information is ‘coded’ as it passes through the system
• Using a computer analogy, information is inputted through the sense, encoded into memory and then combined with previously stored information to complete a task
• A computer model of memory is a good example - information stork on the hard disk is like LTM and RAM corresponds to working memory
• The idea of working memory as a temporary workspace fits the computer model nicely as, like working memory, RAM is cleared and reset when the task being carried out is finished

Question 10

Outline the role of schemas

Answer 10

• Schemas for specific events are based on expectation of how to behave in different situations (e.g. restaurant or classroom) or ion different roles
• They’re useful because they allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting the huge amount of information we have to deal with on a daily basis
  ^— However, schemas cause us to exclude anything that doesn’t conform to our established ideas about the world

Question 11

Explain the emergence of cognitive neuroscience

Answer 11

• Rapid advances in ways of studying the brain in the latter part of the 20th century meant neuroscientist are now able to study the living brain, giving them detailed information about the brain structures involved in different kinds of mental processing
• The use of non-invasive Neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) help psychologists to understand how the brain supports different cognitive activities and emotions by showing what parts of the brain become active in specific circumstances