General Learning Outcomes
Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis (for example, mental representations guide behavior, mental processes can be scientifically investigated).
Principle: we are information processors
Study: Craik and Lochart (LOP)
Principle: we are information processors
Study: Craik and Lochart (LOP)
Explain how principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research (theories and/or studies)
Principle: we are information processors
Study: Craik and Lochart (LOP)
Intro:
· The cognitive level of analysis is based on how mental processes such as perception, attention, language, memory and thinking in the brain processes information.
· It concerns the way we take in information from the outside world, how we make sense of that information and what use we make of it.
Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
Body:
· Cognitive tasks like memory are universal, but there are cross-cultural variations in processing mechanisms.
· Schemas are representations of knowledge based on experience
· Mental representations of knowledge created over time from previous experiences (childhood, repetitive exposure, reinforcement)
· Help us to organize information, guide our action and make predictions of the world
· The info a person is exposed to can be determined by the society/culture they are in
· Social and cultural factors: religion, cultural tradition, beliefs, morals. These examples are acquired from gatekeepers
· Study: Frederic Bartlett – War of The Ghosts study (schema theory)
· Prove that memory is reconstructive and schemas influence recall
· Demonstrating the role of culture in schema processing
· Participants were European Americans and Native Americans
· Bartlett asked participants to read a NA folk story twice and then reproduce the story by reciting it 15 minutes after reading
· NA participants found it easier to reproduce the story
· EA version of the story left out or replaced details related to NA (e.g canoe – boat)
· EA filled in the gaps in their memory with their own cultural schema
· People reconstruct the past by trying to fit it into existing schemas. The more complex the info, the more likely elements are distorted
· They try to find a familiar pattern in experiences
Study: Craik and Lochart (LOP)
Intro:
· The cognitive level of analysis is based on how mental processes such as perception, attention, language, memory and thinking in the brain processes information.
· It concerns the way we take in information from the outside world, how we make sense of that information and what use we make of it.
Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
Body:
· Cognitive tasks like memory are universal, but there are cross-cultural variations in processing mechanisms.
· Schemas are representations of knowledge based on experience
· Mental representations of knowledge created over time from previous experiences (childhood, repetitive exposure, reinforcement)
· Help us to organize information, guide our action and make predictions of the world
· The info a person is exposed to can be determined by the society/culture they are in
· Social and cultural factors: religion, cultural tradition, beliefs, morals. These examples are acquired from gatekeepers
· Study: Frederic Bartlett – War of The Ghosts study (schema theory)
· Prove that memory is reconstructive and schemas influence recall
· Demonstrating the role of culture in schema processing
· Participants were European Americans and Native Americans
· Bartlett asked participants to read a NA folk story twice and then reproduce the story by reciting it 15 minutes after reading
· NA participants found it easier to reproduce the story
· EA version of the story left out or replaced details related to NA (e.g canoe – boat)
· EA filled in the gaps in their memory with their own cultural schema
· People reconstruct the past by trying to fit it into existing schemas. The more complex the info, the more likely elements are distorted
· They try to find a familiar pattern in experiences
Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the cognitive level of analysis (for example, experiments, observations, interviews).
Intro: cognitive LOA is focused around the mind. Unlike sociocultural, research methods can be more focused with a smaller sample. As a cognitive process is memory and therefore the investigations are less focused on how people interact in the presence of others. Two commonly used research methods are Lab experiments and case studies.
Lab experiments
+ can be repeated, results tend to be more reliable
+ controlled environment, removes confounding variable
+ isolation of IV and DV give a clear cause and effect relationship
+ can be generalized to a certain extent
+ data easily measured
- low in ecological validity
- may break ethical guidelines (participants are often unaware)
- lower generalizing potential
- possibility of demand characteristics
Case Studies
+ rich data
+ in depth
+ can use method triangulation
+ high ecological validity
+ can show the effects of normal people
- cannot generalize
- time consuming
- cannot repeat
Conclusion: Both types of research method achieves different types of results. Both have pros and cons.
Lab experiments
- Loftus and Palmer - Car Crash
+ can be repeated, results tend to be more reliable
+ controlled environment, removes confounding variable
+ isolation of IV and DV give a clear cause and effect relationship
+ can be generalized to a certain extent
+ data easily measured
- low in ecological validity
- may break ethical guidelines (participants are often unaware)
- lower generalizing potential
- possibility of demand characteristics
Case Studies
- HM
+ rich data
+ in depth
+ can use method triangulation
+ high ecological validity
+ can show the effects of normal people
- cannot generalize
- time consuming
- cannot repeat
Conclusion: Both types of research method achieves different types of results. Both have pros and cons.
Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the cognitive level of analysis.
Clive Wearing
- Lack of informed consent
- Confidentiality
- Lack of informed consent
- Brain manipulated
- Confidentiality
Cognitive Processes
Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies.
Bartlett
Anderson + Pichert
Anderson + Pichert
Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process (for example, memory) with reference to research studies.
LOP - Craik and Lockhart
Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process (for example, Alzheimer's disease, brain damage, sleep depravation).
HM
Discuss how social or cultural factors affect one cognitive process (for example, education, carpentered-world hypothesis, effect of video games on attention).
· Study: Frederic Bartlett – War of The Ghosts study (schema theory)
· Prove that memory is reconstructive and schemas influence recall
· Demonstrating the role of culture in schema processing
· Participants were European Americans and Native Americans
· Bartlett asked participants to read a NA folk story twice and then reproduce the story by reciting it 15 minutes after reading
· NA participants found it easier to reproduce the story
· EA version of the story left out or replaced details related to NA (e.g canoe – boat)
· EA filled in the gaps in their memory with their own cultural schema
· People reconstruct the past by trying to fit it into existing schemas. The more complex the info, the more likely elements are distorted
· They try to find a familiar pattern in experiences
Shows that familiar culture aids with memory
With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable (for example, reconstructive memory, perception/visual illusions, decision making/heuristics)?
Bartlett (Schema Theory)
Flashbulb Memory
Study: Loftus & Palmer
· To prove unreliability of memory
· 45 students shown videos of car crashes and then asked a series of questions about the specific videos
· Critical question: “how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” verb “hit” was replaced with “smashed”, “collided”, “bumped” and “contacted” for diff participants
· Those asked with “smashed” averaged the mean speed of 40.8mph
· Those asked with “contacted” averaged a mean speed of 31.8mph
· Phrasing of q brought a change in speed estimated, due to schema activated by the chosen verb
· Shows unreliability of reconstructive memory
· Something as simple as a word change can change your memory
· Participant has the memory of the accident being either more or less severe than it actually was
· Response-bias factors – participant is unsure and gives an answer to satisfy experimenter (demand)
· Shows that memory can be unreliable and that something as simple as the change of a verb can cause a whole different outlook on a situation
· Brain is able to fabricate illusions that are so realistic, we tend to believe they are true
· Links in with eye witness testimony
Implications and Conclusion:
Brains and memories can be fabricated. There are many things that can change our memories. If something so simple as a change in a verb in a question can change important facts, it suggest that eye witness testimonies are not very reliable. The cognitive process of memory is easily manipulated if one knows how to, which can be very dangerous in changing people realities and creating reconstructive memory. There are many more studies that suggest the malleable nature of memories.
Flashbulb Memory
Study: Loftus & Palmer
· To prove unreliability of memory
· 45 students shown videos of car crashes and then asked a series of questions about the specific videos
· Critical question: “how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” verb “hit” was replaced with “smashed”, “collided”, “bumped” and “contacted” for diff participants
· Those asked with “smashed” averaged the mean speed of 40.8mph
· Those asked with “contacted” averaged a mean speed of 31.8mph
· Phrasing of q brought a change in speed estimated, due to schema activated by the chosen verb
· Shows unreliability of reconstructive memory
· Something as simple as a word change can change your memory
· Participant has the memory of the accident being either more or less severe than it actually was
· Response-bias factors – participant is unsure and gives an answer to satisfy experimenter (demand)
· Shows that memory can be unreliable and that something as simple as the change of a verb can cause a whole different outlook on a situation
· Brain is able to fabricate illusions that are so realistic, we tend to believe they are true
· Links in with eye witness testimony
Implications and Conclusion:
Brains and memories can be fabricated. There are many things that can change our memories. If something so simple as a change in a verb in a question can change important facts, it suggest that eye witness testimonies are not very reliable. The cognitive process of memory is easily manipulated if one knows how to, which can be very dangerous in changing people realities and creating reconstructive memory. There are many more studies that suggest the malleable nature of memories.
Discuss the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes (for example, MRI scan in memory research, fMRI scans in decision making research).
Intro:
Technology can illuminate cognitive processes that could only he hypothesized with other research methods. MRIs can be used to look at memory. This is showcased in Maguire's study on the London Taxi Drivers in the investigation of the amount of the grey matter that they have in their hippocampi which is related to memory.
Give a balanced overview
MRI
Evaluation:
Conclusion: The requirement of learning all of the maps (which is the environmental process) changes the physiological process of the amount of grey matter present in the hippocami of the brain. MRIs are able to illuminate clear differences in size between the control and experimental groups. This shows the relationship between the grey matter, and essentially the hippocampi, and the ability to memorize numerous maps.
Technology can illuminate cognitive processes that could only he hypothesized with other research methods. MRIs can be used to look at memory. This is showcased in Maguire's study on the London Taxi Drivers in the investigation of the amount of the grey matter that they have in their hippocampi which is related to memory.
Give a balanced overview
- ethical nature of the technology
- cost + benefits (the cons/ pros outweigh the pros/ cons)
- financial cost
- accessibility
- benefits to technology
- benefits to humans
MRI
- Study: Maguire (London Taxi Drivers)
· Technology: MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
· Measures brain activity by detecting associated changes in concentration of oxygen in the blood
· Aim: investigate the function of the hippocampus in spatial memory
- Method:
- London taxi drivers with a range of age and experience were the participants because their work requires the extensive use of spatial navigational skills
- Matched pairs design: participants were age and gender matched with a control group
- Two different types of MRI scanning were used to assess how the brains of the taxi drivers differed from the control group
- Quasi experiment
· Participants and controls all scanned with the same MRI machine. Amount and density of grey matter in hippocampus was recorded
- Taxi drivers had significantly larger hippocampi, volume corresponding to amount of time they spent as a driver
- VBM showed significantly more grey matter in both left and right hippocampi of the taxi drivers compared to the control group, but this was restricted to the posterior region.
- For the control group, the pixel counting revealed a larger anterior right hippocampus than the left and larger body of the hippocampus on the right than the left than in taxi drivers, but the posterior hippocampus was larger in taxi drivers than in controls.
Evaluation:
- No researcher bias
- No demand characteristics
- No ethical implications
- Only observed males
- Only observed 16 matched pairs
- Nature vs. Nurture debate: did the driving influence the change in the hippocampus, or did their larger than average hippocampus lead them to become taxi drivers?
- Use a longitudinal study to determine which one it is
- Positive correlation between time spent taxi-driving and the volume of the right posterior hippocampus.
- Quantitative data received
- Allowed us to understand that the hippocampus is one of the parts of the brain that stores memory, which helps us understand how to rehabilitate patients with brain damage
Conclusion: The requirement of learning all of the maps (which is the environmental process) changes the physiological process of the amount of grey matter present in the hippocami of the brain. MRIs are able to illuminate clear differences in size between the control and experimental groups. This shows the relationship between the grey matter, and essentially the hippocampi, and the ability to memorize numerous maps.
Cognition and Emotion
To what extent do cognitive and biological factors interact in emotion (for example, two factor theory, arousal theory, Lazarus' theory of appraisal)?
Zimbardo
Dutton + Aaron
Schacter and Singer
Marshall
Dutton + Aaron
Schacter and Singer
Marshall
Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process (for example, state-dependednt memory, flashbulb memory, affective filters).
Theory - FBM
Theory: flashbulb memory
Essential components: emotional impact, relevance to oneself, consequence in life
· Special kind of memory associated with highly emotional and detailed recall of events
· Amygdala is active
· + areas of brain are active with recalling FBM
· + explains why memory with higher level of emotional connection is remembered better
· - better recall may be due to multiple rehearsals
Study: Tali Sharot (9/11)
· Investigated existence of FBM
· All participants were asked to recall 9/11 incident
· Parahippocampul gyrus (LTM retrieval) was highly inactive when recalling memories from 9/11 than from summer holiday
· Amygdala (emotional) was more active as well
· Different part of brain used for FBM and LTM
- explain the theory before moving to studies
Theory: flashbulb memory
Essential components: emotional impact, relevance to oneself, consequence in life
· Special kind of memory associated with highly emotional and detailed recall of events
· Amygdala is active
· + areas of brain are active with recalling FBM
· + explains why memory with higher level of emotional connection is remembered better
· - better recall may be due to multiple rehearsals
Study: Tali Sharot (9/11)
· Investigated existence of FBM
· All participants were asked to recall 9/11 incident
· Parahippocampul gyrus (LTM retrieval) was highly inactive when recalling memories from 9/11 than from summer holiday
· Amygdala (emotional) was more active as well
· Different part of brain used for FBM and LTM