1. Re-cap
Two strengths and two limitations of the Bobo doll study (1960, Bandura)

2. The Cognitive Approach
TASK: write down as many similarities as you can between the human brain and a computer.
EXTENSION: write down any differences you can think of.
Aim: To explain and apply examples of the cognitive approach

4. The Cognitive Approach
Keywords: Internal mental processes: private operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response. Cognitive Neuroscience: the scientific study of biological structures that underpin cognitive processes.

6. Broca's area - Language
Broca's area is a region in the frontal lobe with functions linked to speech production.

7. The computer analogy
Computers encode, process, store and output information
The human eye sees and encodes information
Feeds it to brain via neural pathways
Brain processes it and transforms it into a decisions
Output may be spoken, or written, or physical information i.e. our BEHAVIOUR in relation to the information

8. Key Words
Cognition: “thinking” – the brain’s ability to process the information received via the senses Schema: a mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognition. They develop from experience.
5min

9. The Cognitive Approach
Keywords: Internal mental processes: private operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response. Cognitive Neuroscience: the scientific study of biological structures that underpin cognitive processes.

11. Bugelski and Alampay (1962)
Two groups of participants were shown a series of pictures, either faces or animals in a sequence. They were shown the ambiguous figure of the rat man (see left).
Which group were more likely to see a face here? How does it relate to schema?

12. Milner’s study of HM (1957)
Diagnosis: HM was a patient who suffered severe and frequent epilepsy . Seizures are based in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. In 1953, the doctors decided to remove the part of the brain surrounding this area. Results: HM’s epilepsy was reduced, but he suffered memory loss. He had only a short-term memory left and no long-term memory. He had difficulty recalling the route to his house and would read things over and over without knowing he had read them before. He could still talk and show previous skills but had difficulty recalling past events and word meanings. His procedural memory was unharmed, although his episodic (memory for events) memory was affected by the operation
20min

13. Broca's area - Language
Broca's area is a region in the frontal lobe with functions linked to speech production.
Language processing has been linked to Broca's area since Broca reported impairments in two patients.They had lost the ability to speak after injury to the posterior inferior frontal gyrus of the brain. Explain why it is important that these cognitive abilities have a physical area in the brain

14. The approach may be too simple because it doesn’t include . . .
Machine Reductionism; the means that human behaviour is reduced to simple components/parts
Strengths or weaknesses?
The cognitive approach is scientific and objective (based on unbiased facts)
Lab studies have low EV. This means that they are artificial because . . .
The approach may be too simple because it doesn’t include . . .
The approach is less deterministic than other because we are free to think before responding to stimuli (soft determinism)
The cognitive approach has a real-life application because . . .

15. Loftus and Palmer (1974) Study
45 American students formed an opportunity sample. This was a laboratory experiment with five conditions, only one of which was experienced by each participant (an independent measures experimental design).
7 films of traffic accidents, ranging in duration from 5 to 30 seconds, were presented in a random order to each group.
After watching the film participants were asked to describe what had happened as if they were eyewitnesses.  They were then asked specific questions, including the question “About how fast were the cars going when they (smashed / collided / bumped / hit / contacted) each other?”

18. AQA Case Study Questions
Q1: Explain how the study of HM provided support for cognitive psychological thinking (4marks)
Q2: Explain why animal studies have been criticised for lacking validity. (3marks)
SWAP CASE STUDIES WITH YOUR PARTNER AND ANSWER THEIR QUESTION WHEN FINSISHED!!!!

19. Computational and Connectionist Models
Computational Model
The focus is on explaining how our cognitive system operates in terms of goals, plans and actions that are involved when we perform tasks.
I WANTED TO PLAY THAT SHOT TO WIN THE POINT!

20. The Connectionist Model
To understand and react to the world around us, we build up ideas (or NODES) of the world and then link them together to form a SCHEMA.
KEYWORD: Schema – a mental representation of the world
This is a NODE: it is a NEURAL idea about a certain stimulus.
According to Connectionists, when all these nodes are activated, it represents that learned representation e.g. of a mammal

21. Practical Applications of the Cognitive Approach
Eye Witness Testimonies How do people process information and then recall information? Police use the cognitive approach to help eye witnesses remember a crime or criminal

22. Evaluation of the Cognitive Approach
Keywords: Internal mental processes: private operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response. Cognitive Neuroscience: the scientific study of biological structures that underpin cognitive processes.

23. Different Cognitive Models:
Information processing approach: information flows through the cognitive system in a series of stages: INPUT -> Storage -> Retrieval Computer Model: there are similarities in the way that information is processed (compares the brain to a computer)

24. Model Answers – how observant are you?
Claims
Evidence
Evaluation
SPAG!

25. 1 mark for response A: processing is limited capacity (when performing demanding/novel tasks)
1 mark for response B: processing is sequential (when performing demanding/novel tasks).

26. 12mark Question
Cognitive psychologists use a computer as an analogy for the mind. They say that the human eye sees and encodes information and feeds it to the brain via neural pathways. These messages transformed by the brain into decisions. This is how human behaviour is exsplained – by a process of encoding, transforming, outputting information in the form of behaviour. The process of encoding is achieved mainly through the use of schema, which are mental frameworks we use in order to organise and make sense of the reality around us. Since cognitive psychology is concerned with attention, memory and perception, the idea of schema allows us to see how our behaviour is shaped by our perceptions. For example, the “ratman” illusion allowed Bugelski et al to see that judgements about the illusion were based on previous experience of seeing either a rat or a person if shown a set of the same images beforehand. Schema are based on previous experiences, which shows us that the brain analyses the world based on schemas constructed from memory. Research methods liked by the cognitive approach are mainly case studies and laboratory experiments. For example, in Milner’s study of HM (1957), a patient with damage to his hypothalamus retained his procedural memory but lost his episodic memory of events that had happened in his life. This gives weight to the cognitive approach because it has proposed different models of memory which help us understand how our perception of events is remembered and forgot. Research into teaching chimps sign language has also aloud cognitive psychologists to understand cognitive patterns which aid learning. Washoe the chimp (Gardner & Gardner 1969) was able to successfully encode and remeber information at roughly the same rate as a human child. This proved that cognitive abilities are relitively similar despite differences in species. The cognitive approach has been applied to various disciplines, allowing psychologists to provide useful and effective treatments in the form of cognitive behavioural therapy. The different memory models proposed have also assisted eyewitness testimony because they are able to explain how people recall important information. However, much of the research from this approach has been carried out within artificial laboratory settings. This means that results from this research lack validity since they are unrepresentative of everyday behaviours.

27. Evaluating the Cognitive Approach
Strengths
Weaknesses
Unlike behaviourism, cognitive psychologist take into account our internal mental processes
Most of the data is obtained in artificial settings, which is why there are questions over ecological validity – would this behaviour happen naturally?

28. Ex: Teaching ASL to a chimp (1969)
METHOD: Washoe the chimpanzee was raised like a human child and taught American Sign Language by cognitive psychologists RESULTS: Washoe had learnt 34 signs by the end of the 22nd month of the project CONCLUSION: Washoe learnt language at roughly the same rate as human children using sign language. Her acquisition of the language was also dependent on her interacting with others around her. She was unable to learn grammar. EVALUATION: Washoe was taken from the wild for the experiment (ethical considerations). There are also issues of external validity – it is not possible to generalise examples from a chimp to human children.