Cognitive PsychologyCognitive Psychology
What is Cognitive Psychology?What is Cognitive Psychology? mental processes The cognitive approach to help us to understand how mental processes shape our behaviour knowing Cognition means knowing: how we come to know the world around us computer The human mind is compared with a computer – we are information processors Cognitive processors actively organise and manipulate information that we receive – humans do not merely passively respond to their environment Key areas: perception; memory; language and thought; attention
A typical cognitive type questionA typical cognitive type question Is perception learned or innate? Sensation vs. Perception Our senses encode information accurately (sensation) Then our mind interprets it according to what makes most sense (perception)
Cognitive Psychologists try to find out how the mind works.
For example in unit one we try to figure out what we mean by memory Is it remembering the places you have been?
What is memory? remembering Is it remembering how to ride your bike?
What is memory? recognising Is it recognising the faces of people you know?
What is memory? learning recalling Is it learning and recalling information?
What is memory? remembering Is it remembering important events?
How accurate is memory? Can we rely on it?
So what exactly is Memory?So what exactly is Memory? Memory has been defined as the ability to retain knowledge and information, as well as the ability to retrieve retrieve the information and knowledge which has been stored.
Psychologists use the term ‘memory’ to refer to these three processes. Encoding Storage Retrieval
Encoding This refers to how we encode sensory information so that we can make sense of the information. For example sound waves enter your ears and these are converted by your brain into words that have meaning.
This information can then be stored in your memory for use at a later date
Retrieval refers to the ability to recover information from storage.
There are 3 Different types of retrieval. Recall This is when you retrieve information that is stored. Like writing down the number of words you can recall from a word list.
Recognition is when you know something is familiar.
Reintegration this is when you reconstruct a memory using cues.
Psychologists describe two main types of memory. Short Term Memory - (STM) and Long Term Memory – (LTM)
Research has shown that short term memory differs from long term memory in four ways 1. Encoding in STM is mainly acoustic.
2. The capacity of STM is quite small. Miller calls it the Magic no.7 (+/- 2) This means you can only keep about 7 bits of information in it at a time
3.The Duration of STM only lasts for about 30 seconds. Meaning if it doesn’t make it into long term memory it will be lost
4. STM is organised sequentially This means you remember in the order the information went in
Memory experimentMemory experiment WWe are now going to do a memory experiment to test the theory of short-term memory capacity YYou will not be harmed during this experiment YYou have the right to withdraw at any time OOkay? Then we’ll begin… read the instruction sheet on your desk
The following model describes how early cognitive psychologists described memory
What would life be like if you had no short term memory?
You could look for Clive Wearing on U tube to find out more about living without STM
What if your memory was incredible and you could remember tiny little details ? Stephen Wiltshire is one such person
Long term memory is not always reliable. Do you trust your memory? Remember the Eskimo Indian tale we read in a previous lesson?
Working on YOUR OWNWorking on YOUR OWN WWRITE DOWN THE STORY IN AS MUCH DETAIL AS YOU CAN NB
What about the image I showed you last lesson? Use coloured pens to draw the image as you remember it
Stop – 2014 students do the test instead Procedure You will see some numbers flash up on the screen As soon as they disappear, please write down the numbers in the order you saw them
256
7598
62534
978513
That was the end of the experiment
What was the capacity of your STM?