Approaches to Cognitive Psychology

According to McMillan◦ Cognitive Psychology is the scientific study of

human thoughts and the mental process that underlie behavior which includes memory, problem solving, perception and language.

◦ i.e. Cognitive Psychology focuses on internal psychological processes that involves in understanding human thoughts and mental processes that defines human behavior.

Experimental cognitive psychology – foundation for all the approaches in cognitive psychology

◦ Involves: Conducting experiments on normal individuals under

laboratory studies. Scientific method – system of established principles and processes of

scientific inquiry

Identifying a problem

Formulating hypotheses

Collecting data

Analyzing the data

Disseminating findings

Experimental Cognitive Psychologist would usually…. Identifying a problem (define a question of

study). Gather information and resources Formulate hypotheses Conduct scientific experiment Collect data Analyze data Interpret data Make conclusion (in order to build a starting

point for new hypothesis)

◦ Results (findings) will be disseminate

Sample normal individuals under laboratory conditions◦ Controlled environment – to understand

human cognition/thinking process better

People tend to behave differently when they are in the lab situation (when involved in experiment) resulting in inaccurate findings because it does not represent the true process of human cognition.

Normally setting or design of the experiments is carried out in advance according to scientists needs/ requirement little emphasize on respondent’s response.

Measurement on the speed and accuracy of performance provide only indirect evidence about the internal process involved in cognition.

Experimenter have the tendency to ignore the differences in respondents background (IQ, SES etc) could affect the experiment result.

Cognitive Science…◦ Focus on the relationship between artificial

intelligence and Cognitive Psychology by developing computational models in order to understand human cognitions. Artificial Intelligence is the study of human

intelligence such that it can be replicated artificially. i.e. AI:-• Systems that think like humans (focus on reasoning and

human framework)• Systems that think rationally (focus on reasoning and a

general concept of intelligence)• Systems that act like humans (focus on behavior and

human framework)• Systems that act rationally (focus on behavior and a

general concept of intelligence)

A good computational model can:-◦ show us how a given theory can be

specified in detail allow us to predict behavior in new situations.

◦ Help to stimulate better specification of cognitive theories and generates new predictions.

3 main types of computational models:-◦ Semantic networks◦ Production system◦ Connectionist network

Normally computational models are used for/as prop for a theory, rarely used to make prediction because often they have no real predictive function.

Connectionist models claim to have neuro plausibility, do not really resemble the human brain.

Most computational model has been design to stimulate human performance on single task.

Cognitive neuropsychology is a branch of cognitive psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relates to specific psychological processes.

Emphasize on study the cognitive effects of brain injury or neurological illness by inferring to models of normal cognitive functioning (in order to understand the normal human cognition). ◦ Evidence is based on case studies of individual brain

damaged patients who show deficits in brain areas

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Setiap bahagian otak sangat penting dalam mempengaruhi perkembangan bayi berintegrasi juga dengan integrasi dengan emosi dan tingkahlaku sosial.

Otak Tengah: Limbic System

mengawal emosi, ingatan, motivasi, t/l agrasif, kawal suhu badan, lapar, aktiviti sistem saraf, rembesan hormon, dan pusat kepuasan

Otak Luar: Cortex & neocortex

berlipat-lipat, disinilah letaknya ‘intelligence’ (tempat berfikir), kawasan yang mengawal penglihatan, pendengaran, rekacipta, percakapan dan pemikiran. Ia terbahagi kepada bahagian-bahagian (lobes)

Pangkal Otak: Brain stem

Kawal proses-proses hidup,spt bernafas, pergerakan jantung, proses ginjal, tidur, arousal, attention & keseimbangan badan (balance/movement), dll.

Cognitive neuropsychologist assume that cognitive system consists of several modules or cognitive processors within the brain. ◦ i.e. the cognitive processors involved in understanding

speech is different from actual talking. So, some brain damage patients are good at language

comprehension but poor at talking (or vice-versa) . From these studies researchers infer that different areas of the

brain are highly specialized.

Cognitive neuropsychology also uses many of the same techniques and technologies from the wider science of neuropsychology and fields such as cognitive neuroscience (neuroimaging – e.g. PET scan/MRI/CT scan; electrophysiology & neuropsychology test) to measure either brain function or psychological performance

Assume that the cognitive performance of a brain damage patients provide direct evidence of the impact of brain damage (of previously normal cognitive system).

The whole cognitive neuropsychological approach is very complex because every individual are different (in age, size, SES, educational background) , but they have similar kind of brain damage. So????

The study of brain damage patients can lead to underestimates of brain areas involved in performing any given cognitive functioning

Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological component underlying cognition with specific focus on the neural component of mental processes.

It addresses the questions of how psychological/ cognitive functions are produced by the brain focused on uncovering the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive processes.◦ Includes studying about perception, attention,

motor control, language, learning, memory, spatial and social cognition

Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both psychology and neuroscience, overlapping with disciplines such as biology, physiology, physiological psychology, cognitive psychology and neuropsychology.

Therefore, the Cognitive neuroscientists comes from various backgrounds, such as…..◦cognitive neuroscience, neurobiology,

Bioengineering,◦Psychiatry, neurology, physics, computer science,

linguistics, philosophy and mathematics.◦

Methods employed in cognitive neuroscience include experimental paradigms from psychophysics and cognitive psychology, functional neuro imaging, electrophysiology, cognitive genomics and behavioral genetics.

Scientist tried to understand the relationship between the brain and mind from various aspects.◦ Studies of the human brain are done scientifically in

controlled environment (lab)◦ Studies of patients with cognitive deficits due to brain lesions

constitute an important aspect of cognitive neuroscience◦ Theoretical approaches include computational neuroscience

and cognitive psychology.

Cognitive neuroscience relies upon theories in cognitive science, plus evidence from neuropsychology and computational.

Relating to the validity of the data collected (results from the study). ◦ Can the result be generalized to other

situation since each individual (respondents) participated in the study have significant individual differences???