Cognitive processes

Question 1

Define attention by norman munn

Answer 1

Attention is the mental process of bringing few stimuli into the center of awareness out of many stimuli present

Question 2

Span of attention

Answer 2

It can be defined as the total number of stimuli that we can become clearly aware of in a single glance. Our span of attention is very limited. For a normal adult, it varies from 7 to 8 characters.
The factors like age, profession, intelligence, practice etc may affect our span of attention.

Question 3

Distraction of attention

Answer 3

After focusing on a particular stimulus, our attention drifts towards another stimulus due to internal or external disturbances. this is known as distraction.

Question 4

Division of attention

Answer 4

Many people do two things simultaneously, like reading and walking. In a true sense, an individual cannot perform two tasks at the same time. The individual would be doing one of the tasks mechanically while focusing on the other. If a person tries focusing on two things simultaneously, it results in confusion, increase in mistakes, decrease in efficiency, etc.

Question 5

Fluctuation of attention

Answer 5

Attention keeps oscillating like a pendulum of a clock. We cannot pay attention to a particular stimulus for extended period of time. Our attention shifts to another stimulus for a fraction of time and comes back to the original. this is called fluctutaion of attention.
The factors like fatigue, disinterest, attractiveness of other stimulus may lead to fluctuation

Question 6

define perception

Answer 6

In understanding the world around us, sensation comes first, followed by attention and finally interpretation of the stimulus by the brain. Interpretation of any stimulus requires past experiences. This process is called perception.
Perception can be defined as The process of assigning meaning to the information received about the envirnoment based on past experiences

Question 7

Top down processing

Answer 7

If we pay attention to each and every stimulus in the surrounding, we will be overwhelmed. Therefore our brain uses the context or general knowledge while perceiving a particular stimulus. When we utilize top-down processing, our ability to understand information is influenced by the context in which it appears

Question 8

Bottom-up processing

Answer 8

Many times our perception is based entirely on sensory stimuli and is not influenced by the context in which it appears. In such a case, we take energy from the envirnoment and convert it into sensation and try to interpret it.
Bottom up processing is a process that starts with an incoming stimulus and works upwards until a representation of the object is formed in our brain

Question 9

Laws of perceptual organization

Answer 9

Our brains have the tendencies to organize our sensations as a meaningful whole. This was first explained by german psychologist max wertheimer in 1923 in the form of laws of perceptual organization

Question 10

Laws of proximity

Answer 10

According to this, the stimuli that are close are perceived together than stimulus that are far away from each other

Question 11

Law of similarity

Answer 11

the stimuli that are similar to each other are perceived together than stimuli that are distinct

Question 12

Law of continuity

Answer 12

There is a tendency to perceive a stimulus in continuation according to it’s established direction.
When two stimuli intersect, the continuation of each is perceived apparently

Question 13

Law of closure

Answer 13

there is a tendency to perceive an incomplete stimulus in a complete manner

Question 14

def thinking

Answer 14

“Thinking is the mental activity that uses various cognitive elements and processes that involves manipulation of information, problem solving, reasoning as well as decision making.”

Question 15

Mental representation

Answer 15

Mental representation is “the mental imagery of a thing that is not currently physically available to the senses.” Mental representation is a coded internal sensation. Internal representations are acquired through direct experiences through sense organs or through indirect experiences such as narrations, pictures, videos, etc. Internal representations form the basis for all the cognitive processes

Question 16

Concepts

Answer 16

Concept is “an internal representation which the brain uses to denote a certain classes of things in the world”. The concepts involve extraction of some ‘idea’ on the basis of similarities and differences among many sensations.
Concepts form the basis for all the cognitive processes. Various concepts act as building blocks by connecting with each other to form more complex concepts like schema

Question 17

Schema

Answer 17

A schema is “an internal representation that organizes knowledge about related concepts and relationships among them”.
Schemata influence most of the cognitive processes

Question 18

Language

Answer 18

Language is a system of symbols. Mental representations, concepts and schemata are all better represented by language.
For example, the word ‘cat’ stands for actual cat, so the word ‘cat’ is a symbol for a cat. Thinking by using language is a distinctive
feature of human being’s thinking process.

Question 19

Problem solving

Answer 19

It refers to the process of finding solutions to the problems encountered in life

Question 20

Steps of problem solving

Answer 20

(a) Defining the problem : In this step a person needs to identify and define the problem correctly. If a person defines the problem incorrectly, he will never reach the solution. For example, when a baby is crying due to a stomach ache and if his/her mother wrongly interprets it as due to hunger, the problem remains unresolved.
(b) Generating alternative solutions : For every problem there are various solutions, some effective while some may turn out to be ineffective. In this second step of problem solving a person tries to search for all those possible actions that can solve a problem. For example, if a person is suffering from a severe headache, he/she
may start thinking of taking rest, listening to music, meditating, taking medicines, etc.
(c) Selecting a solution : In this third step of problem solving, out of many possible solutions, the person selects one on the
basis of the reasoning applied. Reasoning ability of an individual helps him/her to solve problems more realistically. For example, if a person recalls that meditation helped him/her in reducing his/her headache last time, he/she will select the same solution for the problem in the current situation.
(d) Implementing and follow up on the solution: In the last step of problem solving a person actually tries out a certain solution and evaluates the outcome on the basis of whether it has helped him/her to resolve the problem or not. If the problem is still unresolved, a person might have to go to one of the previous steps and carry out the problem solving procedure again.

Question 21

Creative thinking

Answer 21

Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions

Question 22

Stages of creative thinking

Answer 22

Preparation: It is the stage of formulating the problem and gathering information, materials, etc. for finding new solutions. Creative ideas do not come from a vacuum. Many tentative solutions are tried out and discarded. No progress seems to be made in this stage.
Incubation : After preparation, a person starts working on a problem but may not get the required solution. This initial failure leads to the stage of incubation. During this stage the person is so frustrated that he /she thinks of giving up. The person then leaves the problem and focuses on other things which are unrelated to the problem. Incubation may help the person to work on the problem without consciously thinking about it. This period, though appears to be non-fruitful, is followed by a period of sudden appearance of the solution.
Illumination : After incubation, suddenly, like a flash of light, the correct solution appears in front of the mind’s eye and the person experiences a rush of excitement. All the bits and pieces of ideas which appeared to be unrelated earlier fall into place. The solution that appears is nearly next to perfect. A person experiences an emotional reaction of joy, knowing that he /she has found a new idea, a solution.
Verification : Following the euphoria of previous stage, the new solution still needs to be tested. In most cases it requires only minor changes. But sometimes it may require a lifetime of study, testing and retesting.

Question 23

Learning by classical conditioning

Answer 23

Learning by Classical Conditioning was explained for the first time by a Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1928) through his experiment on a dog. He inserted a tube surgically in the dog’s salivary gland so that he could measure the amount of salivation. He then presented the sound of the bell and food one after the other several times and measured how much the dog salivated. After several trials the dog started salivating to the sound of the bell even when the food was not given. Based on his findings Pavlov gave a theory of learning called Classical Conditioning. In our daily life we learn many things by classical conditioning.

Question 24

Learning by Operant Conditioning

Answer 24

Learning by an Operant Conditioning was explained by an American psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner. He performed an experiment in which a rat was put in a special box that contained a lever. If the rat pressed that lever, he was given food. Gradually the rat learnt to press the lever to get food. Here the rat is learning to connect his behaviour of pressing the lever with receiving the food. According to Skinner certain behaviours may be learnt to gain positive consequences. Similarly, he also demonstrated that certain behaviours may be learnt to avoid negative consequences.

Question 25

Learning by cognitive processes

Answer 25

Just when Skinner and Pavlov were talking about connections and consequences of behaviour, Edward Tolman demonstrated that though rats in his experiment were not given any food, they still learnt about the different pathways in the maze. That means rats created ‘maps’ in the mind just for the sake of it. His experiment demonstrated that learning may take place in the ‘mind’ using ‘mental’ processes, what we call cognitive processes now.

Question 26

Learning by assimilation and accomodation

Answer 26

Jean Piaget explained that we learn many things by assimilation and accommodation. Jean Piaget is of the opinion that on the basis of the new experiences or new information we keep refining the existing concepts that we have. For example, when a child forms a concept of a cow, he/she extracts some general rule or characteristics to form a concept of a cow. But when he encounters a buffalo, he/she notes the differences between the cow and buffalo and forms a separate concept of a buffalo. This process of forming and refining our concepts on the basis of the similarities and differences is called learning by assimilation and accomodation

Question 27

Learning by observation

Answer 27

According to Bandura, we learn many things by observing someone’s behaviour and later reproducing it. Many of our skills like eating, walking, writing, etc. are learnt by observing others. We observe and imitate not only the movements of the body but also certain ways of thinking, evaluating, judging and decision making, etc.