IBP: Introduction to cognitive psychology

Chapter 1: Introduction

Cognitive psychology: the study of the way in which the brain processes information

Stages of cognitive processing:

1. Perception: analysis of the information taken in by the sense organs
2. Learning and memory storage: recording the input received
3. Retrieval: being able to recall stored information
4. Thinking: in addition to recalling, it involves the rearrangement and manipulation of stored information to make it ft in with a new problem or task

Approaches to the study of cognition:

• Experimental cognitive psychology: involves the use of psychological experiments on human subjects to investigate the ways in which they perceive, learn, remember or think
• Computer modelling of cognitive processes: the simulation of human cognitive processes by computer. Often used as a method of testing the feasibility of an information processing mechanism
• Cognitive neuropsychology: the study of the brain activities underlying cognitive processes, often by investigating cognitive impairment in brain-damaged patients
• Cognitive neuroscience: the investigation of human cognition by relating it to brain structure and function, normally obtained from brain imaging techniques

Early cognitive psychology:

• Among the first to investigate mental processes were the Gestalt psychologists in Germany, and the British psychologist Frederick Bartlett
  • Gestalt psychology: an approach to psychology which emphasized the way in which the components of perceptual input became grouped and integrated into patterns and whole figures
• The schema theory proposed by Bartlett states that all new perceptual input is analyzed by comparing it with items which are already in our memory store, such as shapes and sounds which are familiar from past experience. These items are referred to as ‘schemas’
•  Inspired by the schema theory, Neisser identified two main types of input processing, known as top-down and bottom-up processing
  • Top-down: Processing which makes use of stored knowledge and schemas to interpret an incoming stimulus
  • Bottom-up: Processing which is directed by information contained within the stimulus

Computer models of information processing:

• Computer modelling has provided models of human cognition based on information-processing principles
• Selfridge and Neisser devised a computer system which could identify shapes and patterns by means of feature detectors
• Limited-capacity processor: people have difficulty in attending to two separate inputs at the same time

The structure and function of the brain:

• The frontal lobes: include the motor region of the cortex, which controls movement.
  • Damage to this area is likely to cause problems with the control of movement, or even paralysis.
  • Broca’s area: also in frontal lobe, controls the production of speech, and it is normally in the left hemisphere of the brain
  • Other parts of the frontal lobes are involved in the central executive system which controls conscious mental processes such as the making of conscious decisions.
• The occipital lobes: concerned with the processing of visual input, and damage to the occipital lobes may impair visual perception.
• The parietal lobes: also largely concerned with perception.
  • They contain the somatic sensory cortex, which receives tactile input from the skin as well as feedback from the muscles and internal organs. This region is also important in the perception of pain.
• The temporal lobes: known to be particularly concerned with memory.
  • Temporal lobe lesions are often associated with severe amnesia.
  • The temporal lobes also include the main auditory area of the cortex, and a language center known as Wernicke’s area, which is particularly concerned with memory for language and the
  • Either short-term memory or long-term memory can be separately impaired while the other remains intact. This is known as a double dissociation

Information storage in the brain:

• Cell assembly: A group of cells which have become linked to one another to form a single functional network. Proposed by Hebb as a possible biological mechanism underlying the representation and storage of a memory trace.
• Long-term potentiation: a lasting change in synaptic resistance following the application of electrical stimulation to living brain tissue. Possibly one of the biological mechanisms underlying the learning process.

Automatic vs controlled processing:

• Controlled processing: processing that is under conscious control, and which is a relatively slow, voluntary process
• Automatic cognitive processes: not under conscious control, not voluntary
  • Example: reading is automatic (“do not read this message” -impossible for practiced readers)
  • Blindsight: The ability of some functionally blind patients to detect visual stimuli at an unconscious level, despite having no conscious awareness of seeing them

Resources:

An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology: Processes and Disorders 3rd edition (Groome, David)