Cognitive Processes PSY 334 Nancy Alvarado, Ph.D

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Cognitive Processes PSY 334 Nancy Alvarado, Ph.D. Slide 2 What is Cognitive Psychology? How we process information about the world. Normally we live without examining how we experience our lives. Artists, engineers, product designers, entertainers must consider how we process our world to do their jobs well. Consider The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velzquez (British National Gallery) Slide 3 What would she really see in the mirror? Slide 4 Does the Parthenon look square? Slide 5 Perspective in Architecture Slide 6 Whats wrong with this picture? With the mirror in this position, it would be impossible for her to see her face. We would see our faces or the painters face with the mirror at this angle. See would see us or the painter. Her face is too large it is actual size, not smaller as it would really be. 75% of people asked said she is looking at herself. Slide 7 What should the artist paint? Is it better to paint the womans own face or what would really appear in the mirror? Artists must understand how we perceive in order to paint an image that looks real. If artists painted things the way they would really appear, the painting would look wrong to viewers. Slide 8 Cognition is Full of Illusions Similar cognitive illusions exist in many areas of cognition. Studying these mistakes and oddities of thought give us insight into how people process information. While illusions are interesting, the goal is to understand how people think in a more systematic way. Slide 9 Mind as a Black Box Input: Sensation Output: Behavior What happens inside the box to produce the observed behavior? Slide 10 Information Processing A computer metaphor is used to conceptualize mental activity: Mental processes operate upon mental representations Ops on Reps Flowcharted steps Slide 11 Flow Chart on Flow Charts Slide 12 College Flow Chart http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6469581/fl owchart-can-you-skip-class-today http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6469581/fl owchart-can-you-skip-class-today Luckily, this isnt a morning class. Slide 13 A Functional Approach Mental activity is described in functional terms. Brain location, brain processes and neural representation are ignored. Neuroscience allows us to test functional ideas. Slide 14 Functional Flow Chart Slide 15 How are Models Tested? Because no direct observation of mental processes is possible, behavior is studied. Measurement of response time is used to deduce the steps performed.