Cognitive Level of Analysis

Cognitive Processes

Principles of the CLA• Cognitive psychology: concerning

the structure and functions of the mind

• Find out how the human mind comes to know things about the world and how this knowledge is used

• Cognitive neuroscience: Combines knowledge about the brain with knowledge about cognitive processes

The Mind• The mind = set of mental processes that

are carried out by the brain• Cognitive processes:– Perception– Problem solving– Thinking– Memory– Language– Attention

• These processes = cognition

Cognition• Cognition is based on one’s mental

representations of the world– i.e. images, words, concepts

• People have different experiences which culminate in different mental representations

1st Principle• Humans are information processors and

mental processes guide behavior• CLA wants to discover possible principles

underlying cognitive processes• The mind is like a complex machine– Information is inputted (bottom-up

processing)– Information is processed (top-down

processing)– Behavior is outputted

Memories• Memory is not infallible because of its

reconstructive nature• Experiences are stored as outlines not

exact copies• False memories occur because one

cannot distinguish between the actual event and what they’ve heard after– The mind can fabricate illusions that are

so realistic we think they are true

Perception• Perception: Cognitive process that

interprets/organizes information from the senses to produce some meaningful experience of the world

• Context, frequency, and recency influence how one percieves a situation

2nd Principle• The mind can be studied scientifically– By developing theories– Using a number of scientific research

methods• Experimental method is the most

“scientific”, but sometimes they are not accurate to daily life

• Now psychologists use both lab studies and real-life studies

3rd Principle• Cognitive processes are influenced by

social and cultural factors– Frederic Bartlett pretty much came up

with this idea• Schema: mental representation of

knowledge• Schemas can influence the mind– i.e. how cultural schemas influence

remembering

Frederic Bartlett• How cultural schemas influence

remembering:– People had trouble remembering a story

from another culture– Reconstructed the story to fit the norms of

their own cultural schema• Memory is not a tape recorder– People remember it in ways that make sense

to them and their pre-existing schemas• Memory is subject to distortions

Studying the Mind• Used to always use controlled experiments– Pro: All variables can be controlled– Con: Artificial

• Now they use other methods such as case studies

• Nuero-imaging technology (i.e. fMRI, CAT) – Allows researchers to see which brain areas are

active during certain activities– See how brain damage affects cognitive

processes

Cognitive Processes• Mental representations:– How you view yourself (self-representation)– How you view others– Objects, ideas, people

• Used when we plan, imagine, daydream…• Manipulations of these mental

representations allow us to think about situations and imagine possible outcomes– Mental representations are categorized– Lots of mental representations stored in memory

Cognitive Schemas• Cognitive schemas: Pre-stored

mental representations – Lead to expectations

• Mental representations are how we store images and ideas in our memories–What we already know affects they way

we interpret events and store knowledge in our memories

Schema Theory• Schema Theory: cognitive theory about

information processing• Cognitive schema: Networks of

knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about particular aspects of the world

• Schemas can describe how specific knowledge is organized and stored in memory so that it can be accessed and used when it is needed

Schema Theory• Schema theory suggests that what we already

know will influence the outcome of information processing

• Based on the assumption that humans are active processors of information

• People don’t respond passively to information– They interpret and integrate it to make sense of their

experiences – (both consciously and unconsciously)

• Brain fills in blanks when info is missing with info from schemas– Can cause mistakes (distortions)

Stages of Memory Processes• Encoding: Transforming sensory

information into a meaningful memory

• Storage: Creating a biological trace of the encoded information in memory, which is either consolidated or lost

• Retrieval: Using the stored information

Encoding:Put into memory

Storage:Maintain in

memory

Retrieval:Recover from

memory

Anderson and Pichert (1978)• Aim: See if schema processing influences

encoding and retrieval • Results: Schema processing must have some

effect at retrieval as well as at encoding because the new schema could only have influenced recall at the retrieval stage– People encode information even when it is irrelevant to

previous schemas• Pros: Variable control to establish cause-and-

effect• Cons: Conducted in a lab (Low ecological validity)

Evolution of Schema Theory• Theory is useful for understanding

how people categorize information, interpret stories, make predictions, etc.

• Helps us understand memory distortions and social cognition

Limitations of Schema Theory• Cohen (1993) says the concept of

schemas is too vague to be useful• Not entirely clear how schemas are

acquired• Not clear how schemas influence

cognitive processes

Multi-Store Memory Model• Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)• Model is based on two assumptions:–Memory consists of a number of

separate stores–Memory processes are sequential

• The memory stores operate in conjunction with the permanent memory store

Memory Stores• Need attention, coding, and

rehearsal for memory• Attention because you need to pay

attention to remember (obviously)• Coding to give the information a

memorable form• Rehearsal to keep the information

active in memory until it can be stored

Memory Stores• Sensory memory store is modality

specific– Hearing info has its own location, visual

info has its own location, etc…• Info stays in these stores for a few

seconds• Only a small portion continue into

short-term memory store (STM)

Short-Term Memory• Capacity is limited to approx 7 items• Lasts about 6-12 seconds• Material is quickly lost if not given

attention• Rehearsal plays a key role in

determining what is stored in long-term memory store

Long-Term Memory• Vast storehouse of information• Indefinite duration, potentially

unlimited capacity• Memories are not perfect; stored in

outlines which can lead to errors–We fill in the gaps of these outlines

Multi-Store Model• This is an outdated model• Very simplistic• Shows the amount of

knowledge available in the 1960s

Working Memory Model• This is a newer, more complex

model for memory• Baddeley and Hitch (1974) based it

on the multi-store model• Challenged the view that Short-Term

Memory is one single storage unit– This model includes many components

for STM

The Central Executive• Controlling system that

monitors/coordinates the other components– These other components are called

slave systems (cute, huh?)• Central executive has limited

capacity and can process info from any of the senses

Attentional Control• Most important job of Central Executive• Two ways for attentional control:– Automatic level: based on habit and is more

or less controlled by the environment• i.e. routine procedures like riding your bike to school

– Supervisory attentional level: Creates new strategies when the old ones are insufficient• i.e. while you’re riding your bike to school, a car

suddenly comes at you• People rely on automatic processing in

daily lives a lot!

The Episodic Buffer• How information appears when we

consciously try to recall the details of a landscape or the sound of a song

• The buffer acts as a temporary and passive display store until the info is needed– Like a television screen

The Phonological Loop• Two components:– Articulatory control system

• AKA the inner voice• Holds information in verbal form• Holds words ready as you prepare to speak

– Phonological store• AKA the inner ear• Holds speech-based material in a phonological form• Receives information from:

– Aensory memory in the form of auditory material– LTM in the form of verbal information– Articulatory control system

The visuospatial sketchpad• The Inner Eye• Deals with visual and spatial

information• Receives information from:– Sensory memory– LTM

Evidence of Working Memory Model• Dual-task techniques (AKA interference tasks)

• i.e. telling a story while learning a list of numbers• Participant carries out a cognitive task that

uses most of the capacity of working memory• At the same time performs a second cognitive

task • If the two tasks interfere and impair one

another, then both tasks are from the same component in STM

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)• Asked participants to read prose and

understand it while also remembering sequences of numbers

• Took more time to reason• There was impairment, but it was not

catastrophic• Concluded that STM has more than one

unitary store• Needs more stress than that to break down

the STM!

Evaluation of the Model• It includes active storage and processing– Makes it useful for understanding all sorts of

cognitive tasks • i.e. reading comprehension and mental arithmetic

• Assumes that mental processes are passive

• Can explain why people are able to perform different cognitive tasks at the same time w/o disruption– AKA Multi-tasking!

Working Memory Test Battery for Children

• Pickering and Gathercole (2001)• There is an improvement in performance

in working memory capacity from the age of 5 years until about 15 years

• Their work provides evidence that problems with working memory are associated with problems in academic performance– i.e. issues with phonological loop = issues in

math and reading

Homes et al. (2008)• Studied association between visuospatial

sketchpad capacity and children’s mathematics in relation to age

• Studied age-related differences• In older children, mathematical

performance could be significantly predicted by performance on the visual patterns test

Biology in Memory• Learning means formation of a memory

(forming neural networks)• Lesioning (AKA WORST THING EVER):

Cutting away brain tissue to see how much needs to be removed before an animal can no longer carry out a task it has learned

• We study people with brain damage to observe the same thing

Long-Term Memory SystemLong-Term Memory

Explicit/Declarative Memories

Implicit/Non-declarative memories

Semantic Memories

Episodic Memories

Procedural memories

Emotional memories

Explicit/Declarative Memories = Fact-based (i.e. “knowing what”)Semantic = General knowledge (i.e. “Obama is president”)

Episodic = Personal experiences (i.e. “I saw Obama’s coronation on TV)Implicit/Non-declarative = Unconscious memories

Procedural = Skills, habits, actions (i.e. “knowing how”)Emotional = Emotions. Duh.

The Hippocampus• Case studies of people with damaged

hippocampus can’t form new explicit memories– Can still form new implicit memories!

The Amygdala• Plays a role in storage of emotional

memories• Not much is known about emotional

memories• Emotional memories are remembered

better (especially for poor PTSD sufferers)• When part of the pre-frontal cortex is

damaged:– Emotional memory is hard to eliminate– Hard to control emotional outbursts

Clive Wearing• Suffers from the most extensive amnesia ever

seen– Both anterograde and retrograde amnesia– Damage to hippocampus and some frontal regions– Episodic memory and some semantic memory are lost– Cannot transfer new info into LTM either

• Can still play piano and conduct music he knew before his illness (part of his implicit memory)– Implicit memory must be in a brain structure other than

hippocampus– Emotional memory is intact (still loves his wife!)

Milner and Scoville (1957)• Case Study of HM• Tissue removed from temporal lobe including

hippocampus to relieve epileptic siezures • HM could recall information, but could not

form new memories– Could carry out a conversation– Unable to remember faces of the people he

meets• Damage to hippocampus, amygadala, and

other close areas

Cultural Factors in Cognition• Different challenges around the world

= different developments of cognitive abilities needed to survive

• Jerome Bruner says children of any culture learn the basics of culture from school and daily interactions (i.e. parents, friends, teachers, siblings, grandparents)

Cole and Scribner (1974)• Investigate memory strategies in different

cultures• The non-schooled children did not improve their

performance on free-recall tasks after age 10• Recalled 10 items first time; after 15 practice

trials only recalled 2 more• Illiterate children did not use chunking

method (grouping bits of info in larger main group)

• Presenting information in a narrative allowed children to chunk/recall info

Memory• Ability to remember is universal, but

strategies for remembering are not!• People learn to remember in ways that are

relevant for their daily lives• These methods do not always mirror the

activities that cognitive psychologists use to study their intelligence and mental processes

Reliability of Memory• Memory isn’t super reliable because

of its reconstructive nature– Brain actively processes information to

make sense of it• However, we use memory like

eyewitness accounts to determine people’s fate/guilt!

Recovered Memories• Sigmund Freud thought people forgot

memories with repression• Thought that people use defense

mechanisms (like repression) to save their conscious self from things they cannot cope with– Send dangerous memories to the

unconscious and repress/deny them

Recovered Memories• Aim of therapy is to gain access to the

unconscious• False Memory Sundrome Foundation supports

families who’ve been shattered by accusations of childhood abuse after their children have gone through therapy

• Some of these recovered memories are false! It is possible to manipulate people’s memories– False memories created by post-event information

Empirical testing of Reliability• Frederic Bartlett argued memory is

reconstructive and schemas influence recall– Demonstrated role of culture in schema

processing• Serial reproduction: One person tells a

story, then another retells it, then another, etc…– Found people reconstruct the past by trying to fit

it into existing schemas– More complicated the story = more likely to

have distorted/forgotten elements

Empirical Testing of Reliability• Efforts after meaning: people try

to find a familiar pattern in experiences

• Memory is an imaginative reconstruction of experience

Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony• Loftus claims the nature of questions can

influence witnesses’ memory• Suggestive questions and post-event

information can cause schema processing which affects accuracy– Use of different verbs used to ask about car crash

(smashed/hit/contacted) caused witnesses to change their view of the cars’ speed (40.8/34.0/31.8)

• Different words = different perception of consequences as well– i.e. Was there broken glass?

Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony• It is possible to create a false memory

using post-event information• Memory is not reliable• Issues with Loftus’s study:– Ecological validity (it was in a lab)– Closed questions (only yes or no answers)– Culturally biased (only US students)– Not everyone is good at estimating speed!

Might not have to do with leading questions at all!

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)• Real life robbery; testing witnesses with

suggestive questions like Lofte• No distortion on memory– Memory for details in this situation was

amazing!– Particularly for those close to the event

• Wording of questions had no effect on recall

• Those who were most distressed had the most accurate memories

Use of Modern Technology to Investigate Cognition & Behavior• New technology allows us to

understand the relationship between cognitive processes and behavior

• Technology such as:– PET scan (Positron emission

tomography)–MRI scan (magnetic resonance imaging)

PET Scan• Measures important functions in the

brain like glucose consumption and blood flow

• Can detect Alzheimer’s disease very early on

MRI Scan• 3D picture of brain structures• Detect changes of oxygen in blood–When brain areas are active, they have

more oxygen in the blood• Therefore, we can see what areas are

active when people are reading/problem solving/etc