Contemporary Issues The Cognitive Approach Aidan Sammonswww.psychlotron.org.uk

Contemporary Issues ‘Students should be able to…explain one contemporary issue or debate using terminology or ideas drawn from the cognitive approach’. Edexcel AS Psychology Specification  Identify key concepts from the approach  Be able to explain them  Be able to apply them to real world situations or problems

Cognitive Concepts  Information processing  Schema driven processing  Reconstructive memory  False memory syndrome

Information Processing Output InputProcessing Storage

Input Processes  Keyboard  Mouse  Scanner  Camera  Microphone  Vision  Hearing  Touch  Smell  Taste ComputerMind

Output Processes  Screen  Projector  Printer  Loudspeaker  Behaviour  Speech ComputerMind

Human Information Processing Behaviour SensesCognition Memory

Cognitive Processes Perception : interpreting incoming sensory information Attention: selecting information for further processing Thinking: sorting, combining, modifying information Memory

The Importance of Memory  Not just a store for information  Influences what is selected  How it is interpreted  Actively involved in all aspects of cognition

Limits of the Computer Metaphor  Processes information passively  Nonsense in, nonsense out  Processes information actively  Tries to make sense of information  Nonsense in, sense out ComputerMind

Computer Information Processing BANG! Can you wreck a nice beach?

Human Information Processing Yes. I can recognise speech. Can you wreck a nice beach?

Schema Driven Processing  Knowledge is organised into schemas  Schemas allow us to make sense of information  Making sense of information can distort it

Schema Driven Processing ‘Pickaxe’ ‘Turf cutter’ InputOutputSchema Bartlett (1932)

Reconstructive Memories  Schemas are used to reconstruct memories  We attempt to recall things so they make as much sense as possible  Biases, errors and alterations in schemas can result in distortions of memory

Reconstructive Errors  Loftus conducted research in which people were deliberately misinformed about what they had seen  She showed that it was possible to alter people’s memories

Key Cognitive Ideas  The mind is compared to a computer, with inputs, processes and outputs  Unlike a computer, the mind is both active and selective in the way it processes information  Schemas are used to interpret experiences and reconstruct memories  Alterations and biases in schemas can affect the accuracy of memory

Alien Abduction The Truth Is In There

Alien Abduction Experiences  Abduction occurs at night  Abductee is conscious but immobilised  Aliens carry out medical investigation  Elements of sexual molestation

Three Possibilities  ‘Abductees’ have really been kidnapped by aliens.  ‘Abductees’ are lying.  ‘Abductees’ believe themselves to have been kidnapped by aliens when they actually haven’t.

Occam’s Razor ‘When two competing theories purport to explain the same phenomenon, in the absence of evidence, prefer the simpler one’

McNally (2003)  Tested abductees’ physiological responses to hearing about trauma.  Increased heart rate, sweating etc.  Same responses as combat veterans, car crash survivors victims of violent crime.  Abductees are genuinely traumatised.

Abductee Stories  Abductees have probably not been kidnapped by aliens  They do not appear to be lying  Therefore, it is possible that they have constructed false memories of alien abduction

Creating False Memories  Requires a person to believe that something happened, when it did not.  This understanding becomes part of that person’s schematic understanding.  As a result, they may spontaneously ‘recall’ a memory that is actually false.

Roediger & McDermott (1995) EXAM QUIZ GRADE STUDY SCHOOL QUESTION SCORE PASS FAIL  Participants studied the wordlist on the right  They were later asked to recall the words  Many ‘recalled’ that the word TEST was on the list

Loftus & Pickrell (1995)  PPs’ relatives interviewed to help construct a plausible story about getting lost on a shopping trip  PPs interviewed (twice) and asked to recall additional information about the event

Loftus & Pickrell (1995)  With repeated discussion, the ‘memory’ was accepted as true by some of the PPs  7 out of 24 accepted the memory and were able to ‘recall’ additional information

Loftus & Pickrell (1995) ‘These results show that people will create false recalls of childhood experiences in response to misleading information and the social demands inherent in repeated interviews’. (Loftus and Pickrell, 1995)  Some PPs accepted that the account was plausible  The input of relatives made it more believable  Once it was accepted as ‘real’, a memory was constructed out of schemas

Loftus (2001; 2003)  Questioned Russian witnesses to terrorist bombings in 1999  Suggested they had seen a wounded animal  6 months later, 12.5% ‘recalled’ considerable detail about the animal

Loftus (2001)  PPs shown fake advert of Bugs Bunny at Disneyland  Asked if they remembered meeting ‘Bugs’ on childhood visits to Disneyland  35% reported doing so  Impossible, because Bugs Bunny is a Warner Bros character

Characteristics of Abductees  Pre-existing ‘New Age’ beliefs (astral projection, tarot cards etc.)  Score highly on measures of fantasy/absorption  Episodes of sleep paralysis McNally (2003)

Sleep Paralysis  Occurs on waking from REM sleep  Body remains paralysed after waking  30% of population experience it at some time  5% of people also experience hypnopopic hallucinations  They continue dreaming, despite being awake

Alien Abduction Memories Construction of alien abduction memory Frightening experience of sleep paralysis Prior belief in alien abduction (schemas) Input from other believers & ‘abductees’ Attempt to make sense of experience McNally (2003)

Alien Abduction Memories  The person experiences sleep paralysis  They also experience hypnopopic hallucinations  They are motivated to make sense of a frightening experience  To do so, they draw on schematic ideas of alien abductions

Alien Abduction Memories  Contact with other ‘abductees’ reinforces their belief in the experience and encourages the development of detail in the memory  In some cases, therapists facilitate this process.  The resulting memory is real enough to cause trauma, even though it does not correspond to real events.  Alien abduction experiences are an example of false memory syndrome Or are they?