Cognitive Approach Key Terms

Working Memory Model

Theorised by Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
Challenges Atkinson and Shiffrin, proposes that Short-term memory is split into multiple parts.
Central executive, Visuo-spacial sketch pad, phonological loop, episodic buffer

Central Executive

Monitors + coordinates operations of the slave systems, relaying them to LTM store.

Boss of working memory

Visuo-spacial sketchpad

Stores and processes visual information.

Helps us keep track of where we are in relation to other objects.

Phonological Loop

1. Phonological store = speech perception and holds spoken information in speech form.

2. Articulatory control process links to speech production, information from phonological loop

Episodic Buffer

Temporary hold of information until information is needed - limited capacity

Schemas

Mental frameworks that organize + store knowledge about concepts, objects, or situations, shaping how we perceive and interpret new information.

New processed information = organized and determined by our previous experiences, knowledge and stereotypes. 

Shortcuts to interpret vast information

Memory

Cognitive process - the capacity to store and retain information

It is reconstructive

Assimilation

The process of incorporating new information into existing schemas.

Accomodation

Process of modifying or creating new schemas to fit new information that can’t be assimilated

Leveling

Shortening long/extensive information, omitting parts seen as useless

Sharpening

Changing information to conform better to existing schemas

Dual Process Model of Thinking

2 systems of thinking - Intuitive (system 1) and rational (system 2)

Heuristics

Shortcuts used to simplify and prevent cognitive overload

Focuses on one aspect of complex issues, ignores others

Intuitive - system 1 thinking

Automatic way of thinking that relies on heuristics.

Fast + efficient, but prone to mistakes.

Past experiences and existing schema to form an adaptive reasoning mechanism.

95% of our everyday decisions

Unconcious, automatic, error prone

Rational - System 2 thinking

Slower, requires more effort

Deep thinking + analysis ability

Effortful + logical, allowing for calculating, complex, logical reasoning.

More depth and analytical thinking, it is slower than system 1 thinking.

Reconstructive memory

Retrieval of memory = influenced by past experiences, memories, existing schemas, beliefs, etc.

Anchoring Bias

People make estimates based on initial/starting value (first impression) to adjust and yield a final answer

Starting point = anchor which subsequent information is based on and future answers are determined by

Flashbulb Memory

Highly detailed, exceptionally vivid snapshot of the moment when a surprising and emotionally arousing event happened

Amygdala

Located in the medial temporal lobe
Associated with fight or flight, processing strong emotions and emotionally charged memories

Memory

A cognitive process by which the brain encodes, stores and retrieves information

Betablockers

Drug (agonistic substance) that inhibits effect of adrenaline on sympathetic nervous system. Interferes with the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline

Flashbulb Memory

(Proposed by brown and Kulik)

Highly detailed, exceptionally vivid snapshot of moment when a surprising or emotionally arousing event happened.

• Different characteristics than ordinary memories

• Resistant to forgetting

Reconstructive memory

• Actual memory of event + info received after event

• Memories not saved as complete coherent whole, retrieval of memory is influenced by schemas + environment

Digital Native vs Digital Immigrant

Anyone born after 1980, grew up/is growing up with technology and in a digital world.

Anyone born before 1980 or who hasn’t grown up with the digital world, remembers life before technology

Internet

Has become a massive store of external memory and is accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Digital Amnesia/Google Effect

• Individual relies on digital device to store and retrieve information

• Leads to reduced memory recall due to trust in digital tool to provide information, instead of remembering

• On one hand, makes humans lazy as they don’t have to remember

• On the other hand, leaves more space and power towards complex cognitive tasks

Video Games + Visual working memory

Theorised to have limited capacity, but findings have indicated that playing video games can improve visual working memory capacity and encoding precision.

• First person shooter action games = greatest benefit due to demand of making quick decisions in 3D space

Availability Heuristic

Mental shortcuts relying on immediate examples that come to a person’s mind when coming to conclusions and evaluating

• Eg. most likely to remember posts of people having most fun in comparison to you

Self-esteem

Person’s overall subjective evaluation of their own worth