3.1 CLA Outcomes

Learning outcomes for 3.1
Cognitive Level of Analysis & Cognitive Processes:

First of all, what is cognitive psychology?

Cognitive psychology concerns itself with the structure and functions of one's mind. Cognitive psychologists are involved in finding out how the human mind comes to know things about the world and how the knowledge is used.

-Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis

1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behavior.

The mind can be viewed as a complex machine - like an intelligent, information-processing machine that uses hardware (brain) and software (mental images) in order to understand concepts

2. The mind can be studied scientifically by developing theories and using a number of scientific research methods.

This can be demonstrated in theories of cognition which are discussed, then tested. New findings can serve to be amendments for old theories, or can disprove old theories altogether. However: this scientific reliance is not ecologically valid.

3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors.

British psychologist Frederic Bartlett, founder of the term "schema", created this word to define the mental representation of knowledge. Bartlett was interested in seeing how cultural schemas influenced one's memory. For example, people have a hard time remembering other cultures' story, and were prone to reconstruct the story to fit in their OWN culture.

-Explain how principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research

The first principle of the cognitive level of analysis, 'mental processes guides behavior' can be demonstrated by research performed by Dweck and Blackwell (2007). They researched about the role a person's mindset has in affecting a person's behavior. The participants used were low achieving students aged 12-13 y/o. All students were given an introductory lecture about the brain, and study skills. Then, half of the students took lectures of how intelligence can be developed through physical exercise, just as a body can be trained through physical exercise. As a result, the students who were trained to adopt a growth mindset about how intelligence can be improved were more motivated. This was demonstrated in their maths grades. Students in the group that did not attend the intelligence lecture showed no improvement, despite all the other interventions. Dweck states that by telling the students that their intelligence can be developed, their motivations to learn are impacted greatly. This research shows that mental processes do guide behavior.
The second principle, 'the mind can be studied scientifically' is possible because of the amazing technology that we have access to in the 21st century. CAT and fMRI scanes make it possible for us to look into peoples' brain processes. This is shown in theories and modes of cognition that are discussed and continuously tested. At times, new findings result in amendments to the original theory. The old theory or model can even be rejected completely because the empirical evidence does not support it. Also the experimental method is good because the variables can be altered freely, ecological validity is a problem. In the 1960s, Ulric Neisser said that cognitive psychology was too artificial and that researchers should never forget that cognition cannot be isolated from everyday experiences. This is why cognitive psychology is studied both in the lab and out of the lab.
The third principle, 'cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors' can be demonstrated in research done by the British psychologist, Fredric Bartlett. He coined the term 'schema', and carried out research related to how cultural schemas influence rememvering. He found that people have problems when they tried to remember stories from other cultures, and tried to reconstruct the stories according to their own cultural schemas. This also explains why memory can be subject to distortions.

-Discuss how and why particular research methods are used by cognitive researchers

Originally, laboratory experiments were the most popular methods of studies of cognitive psychology. The strengths of lab experiments were that all the variables could be controlled. However, the lack of ecological validity in lab experiments was a large disadvantage - human nature changes depending on the situation. Of recent, case studies have become increasingly popular methods of study in the field of cognitive psychology. Modern technologies (CAT and fMRI scans) are also technologies used by cognitive psychologists to study the areas of the brain that make decisions, etc.

-Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the cognitive level of analysis

For studies that use modern technology such as CAT and fMRI scans, the most worrisome ethical aspects would be: anonymity and the right to withdraw. If the anonymity of a subject is not respected, then their self-esteem can be hurt. Also, for case studies, the anonymity should definitely be kept (confidentiality).

-Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies

A lot of research support the idea that schemas affect cognitive processes such as memory. This theory of schemas is useful in order to understand how people interpret information, stories, and make inferences. A limitation is evident with the schema theory that Bartlett had thought of: this is due to the ambiguity and vagueness of the theory itself. Cohen (1993) criticized the schema theory saying that the concept was too vague to be helpful in understanding the cognitive processes of humans.

A study that supports the fact that schema has effects on memory: Anderson and Pichert (1978) proceeded with an experiment in an attempt to investigate whether schema processing was able to influence encoding and retrieval of the memory making process. Participants heard a story about a pair of boys who skipped school and went to the home of one of them, knowing the parents would not be home. The participants were described the facts of the story - and were told to re-understand the story of the house from the point of view of a buyer and the point of view of a burglar. (This was the encoding period). Then, for 12 minutes the subjects were given tasks that kept their minds off of things. After another 5 minute delay in the experiment, half of the participants were given the OTHER point of view to consider. The other half was told to retain their schema from the "encoding" process. As a result, the researchers found that the group with the CHANGED schema recalled 7 percent more points on the second recall test compared to the first trial. The recall of the points that were directly linked to the new schema was increased by 10 percent, whereas recall points that were important to the first schema (and only the first schema) declined. The researchers found that the group which continued with the first schema remembered FEWER details at the second trial. This research suggested that people encoded information, but this was irrelevant to their prevailing schema. The second schema was more effective. 

-Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process with reference to research studies

Cognitive process: the multi-store and working model of memory
How many: there are two - Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) and Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968): Multi-store model of memory

The multi-store model of memory / Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)

Atkinson and Shiffrin were among the first to create a basic structure of memory, using their "multi-sore model of memory". The model created after this, called the working model of memory was based on this model.
This model is based on the two assumptions that memory consists of a number of separate stores and that the memory processes are sequential. 
"Rehearsing" simply means that a task/something needs to be repeated several times in order to be stored into our heads. Information from the world enters sensory memory, which is modality specific - this means that it is related to various senses. Information in this store only stays for a very short time... only a small amount will be passed onto the short-term memory store. 
The capacity of the short term memory is limited to around seven times, and only lasts for six to 12 seconds. Rehearsals play key roles in determining what traits get to go to the long term memory store.
In the long term memory store, there is a vast, limitless storehouse of information. However, psychologists do not specifically know how much information can be stored there. The material is not an exact replica of events or facts, but is stored in a outlined form. Memories can even be distorted. 

Baddeley and Hitch (1974): the working model of memory

The working model of memory (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974)

This view challenges the multi-store model of memory in the sense that it challenges the fact the short term memory store is a SINGLE store.
The central executive is a sort of controlling system that monitors the operations of other components, called slave systems. It's sort of like the CEO of a company. The central executive (that is, short term memory store) has a limited capacity and is modality free, so any sensory information can be processed here.
There are two important jobs of the central executive, called the AUTOMATIC LEVEL and the SUPERVISORY ATTENTIONAL LEVEL.
- The automatic level: based on habits and is usually controlled by stimuli from the environment. This includes daily and routine procedures and tasks.
- The supervisory attentional level: deals with emergencies and makes new strategies where the old ones are no longer applicable... when a car is zooming and about to hit your bicycle!
People focus a lot on automatic processing in their daily lives. 

The episodic buffer: acts as a temporary and passive display store until the information is needed - like a t.v. screen. Imagine when you try to remember a scenery that you saw a long time ago - this will appear through the episodic buffer.

Phonological loop: divided into two components - the ARTICULATORY CONTROL SYSTEM and hte PHONOLOGICAL STORE. 
- Articulatory control system: is the inner voice. It holds your information in a verbal form. This happens when you try to remember lyrics and repeat them to yourself. This articulatory loop holds words ready as you prepare to speak.
- The phonological store: the inner ear. It holds speech-based material in phonological forms. 
A memory trace can last only 1.5 to 2 seconds if its not refreshed by the articulatory control system. The phonological store can only receive information directly from sensory memory in the form of auditory material, from long term memory into the form of verbal information, and from the articulatory control system.

The visuospatial sketchpad: inner eye. Deals with visual and spatial information from either sensory memory or long term memory.

Evidence of the working memory model: the prediction of the working memory model is that there will be impairment in the concurrent task when a dual-task technique is being used. (Multi-tasking). The findings of the dual-task study show that although there was an impairment in the efficiency of the subject, it was not catastrophic. The researchers take this as evidence that the short term memory has more than one unitary store, and that a total breakdown of working memory demands more pressure than the concurrent task in the experiment.

Evaluation of this model: working memory plays a big role in learning in childhood years. Pickering and Gathercole (2001) used the Working Memory Test Battery for Children and found that there was an improvement in the performance in working memory capacity from the ages of 5-15 years. Holmes et al (2008) studied the association between visuospatial sketchpad capacities and childrens' maths attainment in relation to age. As a result, they found that older children could have their maths performance significantly predicted by their performance on the visual patterns test. According to Eysenck (1988) there is evidence that individual differences in intelligence can depend on difference in working memory quality.

-Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process

Cognitive process: memory
There are two general categories for long-term memory. These are explicit memories and implicit memories. Explicit memories can be retrieved consciously, while implicit memories cannot. There are also two sub-categories within each category. In explicit memory, there are semantic memories (factual memories) and episodic memories (memory based on personal experiences). In implicit memory, there are emotional memories and procedural memories (memories based on habit, repetition and skills).

Eric Kandel found (through animal research) that explicit memories are affected by the hippocampus of the brain. The hippocampus is responsible for explicit memory formation. Case studies of humans who have hippocampal damage and invasive studies on animals have revealed that a damaged hippocampus results in the inability to form explicit memories. However, the interesting fact is that emotional memories are unaffected. Therefore, memories that are intertwined with an emotion tend to stick.

On the other hand, researchers have also found that the amygdala is responsible for the storage of emotional memories. LeDoux, a neuroscientist, claims that certain memories have emotional significance and this may be why memories that are based on emotional events are easier to recall. Something to consider: people with PSTD might have problems forgetting a traumatic event because the event is strongly tied with an experienced emotion. Researchers recently found that damage in the prefrontal cortex of the brain makes memories hard to eliminate, and makes controlling emotional outbursts a difficulty.

-Discuss how social or cultural factors affect one cognitive process

US psychologist Jerome Bruner states that children of any culture learn the basics of culture through schooling and daily interactions with people of their culture. These people can include: parents, grandparents, friends, peers, siblings and teachers. These people are important in the transmission of knowledge (whether the transmission of knowledge is informal or formal, doesn't matter).
There was once an hypothesis that assumed that cognitive processes such as memory follow universal laws, and humans around the globe all process information in the same way. Following this logic, this meant that memory tests could be applied globally, and that researchers could expect the same results (regardless of culture). However, we now know that this was not the case. When Western researchers performed tests with participants in non-Western countries, they found that the results were different - they did poorly. Cross-cultural psychologists know now that if you want to test memory in a group of people, you need to consider the insight and culture of that group.

Cole and Scribner (1974) aimed to investigate the memory strategies in different cultures. They compared the recall ability of a series of words in the US and among Kpelle people in Liberia.
The researchers knew that they couldn't use the same list of words for the Kpelle people as they did with those in the US due to the difference in culture, so they started by observing everyday cognitive activities in Liberia.
This helped them develop relevant memory tasks. They also used Kpelle college students to act as researchers because they spoke the same language as the participants. They also made sure that the words that were used in the experiment were familiar to the Kpelle people.
In spite of these precautions, Cole and Scribner were amazed at the results of this experiment. There were striking cultural differences in the way that the Kpelle people went about remembering and solving the presented problems.
Cole and Scribner asked Liberian children from different age groups to recall as many items as possible from four categories: utensils, clothes, tools and vegetables. It was expected that the older children would recall more items after practice, but researchers found that this wasn't the case UNLESS the children had attended school for several years. The non-schooled children did not improve their recall ability after the age of 10. They remembered around 10 items the first time. After 15 trials, they only remembered two more items. Children who had attended schools learned the lists as rapidly as the children in the US have - they even used the same strategy to recall: based on categorizing similarity of objects.
When the data was analyzed, the researchers found that the illiterate children did not use the strategy "chunking", where bits of information were grouped into larger units. They also found that the Kpelle people did not use "rehearsal", as the position of the word in the list did not have an effect on the rate of recall.
After this, Cole and Scribner presented the items in a meaningful sequence, as a part of a story. This is called a narrative. The illiterate children were able to recall objects easily, and even chunked them according to the roles they played in the story.
Memory studies like this invite reflection. Even though the ability to remember is universal, the strategies that are used to remember are not. It's a problem that so many memory studies are associated with the formal schooling of the participant - especially when the participant has never attended school before. The conclusion is that people learn to remember in ways that are related to their cultures and everyday lives.

-Evaluate the extent to which a cognitive process is reliable

Vocabulary:

• Reconstructive memories: the tendency that people have to try to make/recall a coherent memory - to try to make sense of the world
• Repression: the causation of "forgetting" - a definition by Sigmund Freud. According to Freud, people who have experienced intense emotional and anxiety provoking events may use defense mechanisms such as repression to take these painful memories and send them to the unconscious area of the mind. They "forget" about these events.
• Serial reproduction: when a person reproduces the original story, a second person reproduces the first person's reproduction, a third person reproduces the reproduction of the second person... on and on.
• Ecological validity: the artificiality of a study - can the findings be applied outside the lab?

Empirical testing of the reliability of memory:
Frederic Bartlett (1932) The War of the Ghosts memory experiment: 
Frederic Bartlett argued that memory is reconstructive and schemas affect memory recall. He also demonstrated the role of culture in schema processing with this experiment.
Method: serial reproduction of a story from a foreign culture. Around six or seven reproductions are made in total. This method is meant to duplicate the process by which rumors and gossip are spread, or how legends are passed on through generations.
Procedure: The story used by Bartlett is an American Indian story called The War of the Ghosts. 
a. Asked participants to read the story two times, without telling them what the aim of the study was
b. 15 minutes pass, and Bartlett asks the participants to reproduce the story from memory
c. Tells them to reproduce the story a few more times once they moved to his laboratory
Results:
a. Each participant's memory of an experience changed with each reproduction
b. The story became shorter - the original story was 329 words, but the 6, 7th reproductions were a mere 180 words
c. The story remained coherent no matter how it deviated from the original piece
d. The story became more conventional - it retained only the details that could be assimilated to the shared past experiences and cultural backgrounds of the participants
Interpretation:
a. It was difficult for people from Western cultures to reproduce this story because of the difference in culture
b. The people reconstructed their pasts trying to fit it into existing schemas
c. The more complicated the story, the more likely that it is to be distorted
d. People have an effort for meaning - they try to find a familiar pattern in their own experiences
= As a result, this study shows that FAKE memories can be made. Memory is not always reliable. More experiments and studies that test the reliability of memory are on pages 81-85.
Eyewitness testimonies are often incorrect - a good study to focus on as well.

-Explain the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes

Neuro-imaging techniques allow researchers to obtain images of brain functioning and structures. This knowledge that is gathered is used to understand the relationship between cognitive processes and behavior.
PET scans:
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a scanning device/method that can measure crucial functions in the brain, such as glucose consumption and blood flow. PET scans can even detect brain tumors and memory disorders due to Alzheimer's disease. The use of new technology has helped neuroscientists make methods to detect the signs of Alzheimer's disease so early that patients may not even have thought something to be wrong themselves.
MRI scans:
Magnetic resonance imaging is a technology that provides 3D pictures of brain structures. The MRI and fMRI work by detecting the changes of the use of oxygen in blood. When an area in a brain is more active, it uses more oxygen. This is used to see what areas are active when people perform cognitive tasks such as reading and problem solving. (These scanners can even be used in marketing research, to detect which areas are active when you look at a picture of your favorite brand.)
These technologies make it possible for researchers to observe brain damage - like the case of HM. It's also possible to relate this to cognitive functioning, such as with memory. However, the brain is a very complex organ and not totally understood. Just because one part of the brain is active when it performs a particular cognitive process does not mean that cause-effect relationships can be established between specific brain structures and human preference for things (like brands).