Cognitive area Flashcards
What are the defining principles of the cognitive area?
Our behaviour is influenced by internal mental processing such as memory, attention and perception
Your mind is like a computer when processing information: inputted, processed, stored, retrieved
Key concepts within cognitive area
Reconstructive memory
Schema theory
Auditory attention
Cocktail party effect
Strengths of cognitive area
Useful (practical applications) eg in interviews in how to reconstruct accurate memory
Uses lab experiments so heavily controlled = reliable and valid
Not ethnocentric = cognitive processes spans all cultures (universal)
Weaknesses of cognitive area
Lab experiments = Studies lack eco validity so processes in research not accurate to irl and demand characteristics are present
Can’t use observation but self report = flaws in social desirability and demand characteristics
Reconstructive memory
the information we input is processed to not be accurate to reality but a reflection of biases and prejudices about the world
So our memory is reconstructed to fit narratives about the world
Schema theory
Mental representations we have about the world that influence how we process information inputted
To reconstruct our memory of an event
Cocktail party affect
When an affective cue eg someones name is important enough to someone to penetrate an inattentional barrier
That someone put up to rejected auditory channel
How does Moray fit into the cognitive area
Investigates the internal mental process of auditory attention using a dichotic listening task
How does Moray fit into the theme of attention?
Found out about the cocktail party affect - a concept where only an affective cue is able to penetrate an inattentional barrier someone places to a rejected auditory channel
Found that rejected words are almost impossible to be inputted due to concept of inattentional barriers
How does Simon and Chabris fit into the cognitive area?
Investigates internal mental process of Visual attention where someone information directly in field of view is missed by someone due to selecting different information from a task to be inputted
How does SC fit into theme of attention?
Investigated visual inattentional blindness and found 46% of the time, someone will miss an unexpected event
Due to placing their attention (selecting information to be inputted) from a task instead of this event
How does SC change our understanding of attention?
Adds to understanding that we can miss an event due to VISUAL inattentional blindness
Rather than just missing auditory information
But still investigates missing information and found to have same affect
How does SC change our understanding of individual diversity?
Does not investigate individual factors that affect attention
How does SC change our understanding of social diversity?
Does not as the participants in both studies were Uni students from prestigious Uni: does not investigate people of different classes
Both samples had mix of genders so does not contribute to differences in cognition due to gender
How does SC change our understanding of cultural diversity?
Investigates attention in USA instead of UK
But found similar ideas that information rejected is not inputted due to inattention
And does not investigate different cultures that arent western/English speaking
How does Loftus and Palmer fit into cognitive area?
Investigates internal mental process of memory, how the mind’s computer model of input, process, store and retrieve, isnt perfect
Due to concept of falsely reconstructive memory
How does Loftus and Palmer fit into theme of memory?
Investigates concept of reconstructive memory, that information learnt of a staged car crash in the form of severity of verb used in a leading question
Can give someone false memories of the crash to be more severe than reality eg remembering broken glass
How does Grant fit into the cognitive area?
Investigates cognitive process of memory that information is better retrieved in the same condition it is inputted/learnt in
AND
How does Grant fit into the theme of memory?
Investigates context dependent memory using students learning information in a noisy/silent condition then recalling info in either matching/mis matching condition
And found memory is better in matching conditions than mismatched
How does Grant change our understanding of memory?
Adds to our understanding that the condition information is learnt and recalled in affects our memory as well as language in a critical question etc
Nothing to contradict obtaining false memories due to biases/prejudices/ schema theory
Does not change our understanding of internal influences of memory, only external
How does Grant change our understanding of individual diversity?
Does not investigate individual factors affect on memory but only external factors
How does Grant change our understanding of social diversity?
Does not investigate different sects of society as both studies were conducted on students
How does Grant change our understanding of cultural diversity?
Does not because both studies were conducted in the USA
