Cognitive Approach

Assumptions:

• It is a direct contrast to the behavioust approach

• The cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically

• It has investigated the areas of human behaviour that behaviourists neglected

  • Memory

  • Perception

  • Thinking

• These processes are ‘private’ and cannot be observed

• Cognitive psychologists study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people’s minds based on their behaviour

Theoretical and computer models:

• One important theoretical model is the information-processing approach

  • This suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages that include:

    • Input

    • Storage

    • Retrieval

• It also uses computer models, where the mind is compared to a computer (Computer model)

  • By suggesting that there are similarities in the way information is processed

• These models use the concepts of coding and the use of stores to hold information

• Such computational models of the mind have proved useful in the development of artificial intelligence

The role of schema:

• Cognitive processing can often be affected by a person’s beliefs or expectations, often referred to as a schema.

• Schema are ‘packages’ of ideas and information developed through experience

• They act as a mental framework for the information developed for the interpretation of incoming information received by the cognitive system for example:

  • You have a schema for a chair

    • Something with legs that you can sit on

  • This is a package of information learned through experience that helps you to respond to the object appropriately

• Babies are born with a simple motor schema for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping for example;

  • The grasping schema consists of moving a hand towards an object and shaping the hand around the object in co-ordination with visual input

• As we get older, our schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated

• Adults have developed mental representations for everything from the concept of psychology to a schema for example:

  • What happens in a restaurant

  • or what a typical zombie looks like

• Schema enables us to process lots of information quickly and this is useful as a sort of mental short-cut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli

• Schema may also distort our interpretations of sensory information

  • Leading to perceptual errors

The emergence of cognitive neuroscience:

• Cognitive Neuroscience is the study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes

• Mapping brain areas to specific cognitive functions has a long history in psychology

• As early as the 1860s Paul Broca had identified how damage to an area of the frontal lobe (Which became known as Broca’s Area) could permanently impair speech production

• It is only in the last 20 years, however, with advances in brain imaging techniques such as:

  • MRI and PET scans

• Scientists have been able to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes for example:

  • In research involving tasks that require the use of episodic and semantic memory, Tulving et al

  • It was able to show these different types of long-term memory may be located on opposite sides of the pre-frontal cortex

  • As well as this, the system in overall charge of working memory (the central executive) is thought to reside in a similar area

• Scanning techniques have also proved useful in establishing the neurological basis of some mental disorders

• The parahippocampal gyrus and OCD appear to play a role in processing unpleasant emotions

• The focus of cognitive neuroscience has expanded recently to include computer-generated models designed to ‘read’ the brain.

• This has led to the development of mind mapping techniques known as ‘brain fingerprinting’

• One possible future application of this could be to analyse the brain wave patterns of eyewitnesses to determine whether they are lying in court

Keywords:

• Cognitive Approach: The term ‘cognitive’ has come to mean ‘mental processes’, so this approach is focused on how our mental processes (thoughts, perceptions and attention) affect behaviour)

• Internal mental processes: ‘Private’ operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response.

• Schema: A mental framework of belief and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience.

• Inference: The process whereby cognitive psychologists conclude how mental processes operate based on observed behaviour.

• Cognitive neuroscience: The scientific study of biological structures that underpin cognitive processes.