Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Intermediate 1 and 2
7112
Summer 2000
HIGHER STILL
Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Intermediate 1 and 2
Support Materials
*+,-./
CONTENTS
Statement of standards
Intermediate 1
Intermediate 2
Guidance for teachers
Integration with other units
Recording student attainment
Approaches to learning and teaching
Learning environment
How to use the pack
INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS OUTCOME 1
The Study of Cognitive Psychology
Student information and activities on
Key concept: Perception
Key concept: Memory
Key concept: Language
INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS OUTCOME 2
Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
Student activities on Research Methods
General References
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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STATEMENT OF STANDARDS
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY INTERMEDIATE 1
OUTCOME 1
Describe, in brief, key concepts in cognitive psychology.
Performance criteria
(a) Key concepts in cognitive psychology are identified correctly.
(b) Key concepts in cognitive psychology are described simply and accurately.
(c) The applications of these key concepts to different situations in everyday life are
described simply and accurately.
Note on the range of the outcome
Key concepts: perception; attention; memory; language and thinking.
Evidence requirements
To demonstrate satisfactory attainment of this outcome, candidates should produce
written or oral responses to cover all performance criteria. They are required to do so
for any three key concepts from perception; attention; memory; language and
thinking.
Written/oral responses will typically be short answers and restricted responses to
specific questions.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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OUTCOME 2
Describe, in brief, the main research methods used in cognitive psychology.
Performance criteria
(a) The main research methods used in cognitive psychology are identified correctly.
(b) The main research methods used in cognitive psychology are described simply
and accurately.
(c) Examples of research used in cognitive psychology are described simply and
accurately.
Note on the range of the outcome
The main methods of research used in cognitive psychology: experimental, survey,
interview, observation, case study.
Evidence requirements
To demonstrate satisfactory attainment of this outcome, candidates should produce
written or oral responses to cover all performance criteria. They are required to do so
for two of the following methods of research: experimental and one other from
survey, interview, observation or case study. Candidates should give two examples of
research for each method.
Written/oral responses will typically be short answers and restricted responses to
specific questions.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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STATEMENT OF STANDARDS
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY INTERMEDIATE 2
OUTCOME 1
Describe key concepts in cognitive psychology.
Performance criteria
(a) Key concepts in cognitive psychology are described accurately.
(b) The applications of these key concepts to different situations in everyday life are
described accurately.
Note on the range of the outcome
Key concepts: perception; attention; memory; language and thinking.
Evidence requirements
To demonstrate satisfactory attainment of this outcome, candidates should produce
written or oral responses to cover all performance criteria. They are required to do so
for any three key concepts from perception; attention; memory; language and
thinking.
Written/oral responses will typically be short answers and restricted responses to
specific questions.
OUTCOME 2
Describe the main research methods used in cognitive psychology.
Performance criteria
(a) The main research methods used in cognitive psychology are described
accurately.
(b) Examples of research used in cognitive psychology are described accurately.
Note on the range of the outcome
The main methods of research used in cognitive psychology: experimental, survey,
interview, observation, case study.
Evidence requirements
To demonstrate satisfactory attainment of this outcome, candidates should produce
written or oral responses to cover all performance criteria. They are required to do so
for two of the following methods of research: experimental and one other from
survey, interview, observation or case study. Candidates should give two examples of
research for each method.
Written/oral responses will typically be short answers and restricted responses to
specific questions.
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ADVICE FOR TEACHERS / LECTURERS
INTEGRATION WITH OTHER UNITS
Cognitive Psychology in an optional unit of Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2
Psychology. These units have close links with the introductory units in the
Intermediate Psychology courses. They may be integrated effectively with the
introductory units. The range of psychological key concepts, applications of these
key concepts to different situations in everyday life and research methods covered in
these optional units are directly, and indirectly, relevant to the approaches and
research methods covered in each introductory unit.
Cognitive Psychology can be offered as a freestanding unit at both Intermediate 1 and
Intermediate 2 levels.
UNIT CONTENT
Both the Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 ‘Cognitive Psychology’ units have two
outcomes:
INTERMEDIATE 1
INTERMEDIATE 2
Outcome 1
Outcome 1
Describe, in brief, key concepts in
cognitive psychology.
Describe key concepts in cognitive
psychology.
Outcome 2
Outcome 2
Describe, in brief, the main research
methods used in cognitive psychology.
Describe the main research methods used
in cognitive psychology.
The content of these units is similar across the two levels. They can be summarised
as follows:
•
•
•
•
Key concepts: perception; attention; language; memory and thinking.
Applications of these key concepts to different situations in everyday life
The main methods of research used in cognitive psychology: experimental,
survey, interview, observation, case study.
Examples of research in developmental psychology which uses these methods.
For further information and details about unit content, please refer to the
Psychology Arrangements Document.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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RECORDING STUDENT ATTAINMENT
A recording proforma for teachers/lecturers to complete for individual candidate
attainment is available in the Unit Assessment pack.
Two further proformas can be found in the Appendix of this pack:
•
•
Candidate’s record of progress - for individual candidates to have a record of their
attainment.
Internal Assessment Record - to record their internal assessment results of the
whole student group.
Teachers/lecturers may devise their own alternative system for recording student
attainment.
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APPROACHES TO LEARNING AND TEACHING
In delivering these units, it is useful if teachers/lecturers achieve a balance between
teacher/lecturer exposition and experiential learning. It is important to recognise that
learners acquire and process information in a number of ways to help them learn.
These include visually, aurally, in discussion or exchange with others, during group
based problem solving activities, and during solitary reflection.
Students should be encouraged from the beginning to draw on their own experiences,
perceptions, and their previous and current learning. Personal experience of
interacting with a variety of people, and in a number of different situations is an
invaluable source of knowledge and is highly relevant to developmental psychology.
The sharing of experiences and insights will promote general awareness that
developmental psychology assists self-understanding and an understanding of humans
in a variety of contexts.
Students should also be encouraged to gather and use information about different
people’s actions, thoughts and feelings and to consider how these affect themselves
and others. Relevant quality newspapers and/or magazine articles and video/film
productions are useful resources which bring developmental psychology to life so that
it can be shared by comparatively large groups of people at any one time. This
remains appropriate even when the material is fictional, provided it presents us with a
true picture of the human condition which is not deliberately sensationalised.
In delivering this unit, it is appropriate that a multicultural approach is taken since the
learning needs of individuals vary according to their cultural background. Case
studies, role-play and simulations should incorporate characters and elements from
different social and cultural backgrounds wherever possible.
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UNIT INDUCTION
At the beginning of the unit ‘Cognitive Psychology’, teachers/lecturers should ensure
that students are clear about it’s nature and purpose. Induction for this unit should last
about two hours and should include an introduction to the content of the unit, provide
a programme of work and explain the arrangements for assessment and reassessment.
At this point students can be given the Candidate’s Guide from the Unit Assessment
Pack. This helps explain what the unit is about and how it is assessed.
In order to allow students to make a confident start, reference should be made to links
with previous or other current learning with which they are familiar. It is also
important to discuss and explore the nature of the Course or Group Award being
undertaken by the group.
It may be necessary to include induction exercises, particularly if the group is a new
one. The type and number of exercises used will however depend on the nature of the
particular group, their familiarity with each other and with the teacher/lecturer
concerned.
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The expertise of the teacher/lecturer is invaluable in developing skills in, approaches
to, and insights about the subject of cognitive psychology. Teachers/lecturers should
aim to create a relaxed and enjoyable learning environment which is both motivating
and supportive.
In order that a ‘people’ perspective is always present the following conditions should
be met:
• the provision of a learning climate in which students feel supported and able to
express their thoughts and ideas.
• a teaching style which promotes a supportive learning climate.
• teaching and learning methods which draw on students’ past and present learning
experience and which enable them to integrate new ideas and skills during their
interactions with others.
Further guidance can be found in the Psychology Subject Guide.
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HOW TO USE THIS PACK
Purpose of the pack
This pack is designed to provide guidance and support materials to help
teachers/lecturers in the delivery of the unit. The student information and activities
are designed to be used by teachers/lecturers in whatever way suits their preferred
style of delivery and the needs of their particular student group.
This pack has not been designed for open learning purposes.
Answers to exercises and worksheets will be provided and facilitated by the
teacher/lecturer. The student activities in the pack will require to be followed up and
brought together by the teacher/lecturer in whatever way is most appropriate.
The student activities in this pack cover the two learning outcomes and their
performance criteria at both Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 levels. The material is
presented in such a way that Outcome 1 (Key concepts) is covered first. Outcome 2
(Research methods) is then covered. This sequence of delivery is by no means
compulsory and may be rearranged at the discretion of the teacher/lecturer responsible
for delivering the unit.
Using the materials
The student activity and information materials in the pack have been identified as
either:
•
•
Information
or
Student Activity.
The essential knowledge required for the unit has been covered on those pages which
have headed Information. This is particularly useful as handout material. These
information sheets could also be used as the focus of input by the teacher/lecturer and
to develop ideas further as part of question and answer sessions and group
discussions.
These information sheets can be photocopied as a separate pack should the
teacher/lecturer prefer to use them either as teaching notes or as separate handout
materials. Alternatively, the materials could be assembled into smaller topic packs.
All worksheets, assignments, exercises and group activities have been covered on
those pages which are headed Student Activity. These general activities have been
developed to include exercises for individuals, pairs, triads and small groups to
conduct. Teachers/lecturers may well wish to alter the way in which these activities
are carried out according to the needs of their particular group.
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Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS - OUTCOME 1
INTRODUCTION
For this outcome you will learn about the following three cognitive psychology key
concepts:
• perception
• memory
• language
By the end of this outcome you should know and understand what each one of these
key concepts involves and be able to describe it. You should also know the names of
some of the famous cognitive psychologists associated within each key concept.
Finally, it is expected that you will be able to recognise and state how each key
concept is applied in different situations in everyday life.
For the purposes of the Intermediate 1/2 cognitive psychology SQA particularly
emphasise:
• perception
• memory
• language
OVERVIEW OF UNIT: ‘COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY’
Cognitive psychology concerns the study of our cognitive processes. Cognitive
processes refer to all the ways in which we obtain and use information from our world
in order to operate successfully within it. In this support pack we will first explore
cognitive psychology generally in an attempt to understand what cognition means.
Secondly, we will look at three key concepts which enable us to gain and use
knowledge of the world around us. These key concepts are taken from the whole
range of cognitive processes which include perception, memory, attention, language
and thinking. All of these are inferred and cannot be observed directly. This unit will
explore three of these different aspects of cognition as key concepts i.e. perception,
memory and language and how they might apply in everyday situations e.g. the
application of perception and/or attention to buying behaviour. Choice of other
cognitive processes studied is at the discretion of the teacher /lecturer and students.
A variety of methods of enquiry are used in cognitive psychology. This unit will
therefore provide knowledge about the experimental method in particular and; in
addition; the survey method. Choice of other methods studied is at the discretion of
the teacher /lecturer and students.
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THE STUDY OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Cognitive psychology is the study of the processes that we use:
‘to take in information coming to us from our outside world; to
make sense of this information and to use our interpretation of this
information to act upon, and in, our external world.’
A knowledge of cognitive psychology is useful in that we tend to react to stimuli:
events/objects/people: on the basis of what we each believe is happening. While all
healthy human beings share the same cognitive processes - we each reach a
conclusion as to what is happening (and thus how to behave/react), on the basis of our
individual cognitive processes and meaningful past experiences using them. This can
mean that two people can respond totally differently to the same thing.
A good example of this would be two women, one of whom has experienced domestic
violence. When they see a man walk towards them in the street they both see a man,
but their individual thoughts; feelings and behaviours concerning him will be
different. The theme of similar but different environmental experience affecting each
individual’s own thoughts, feelings and behaviours runs through cognitive psychology
as does the importance of realising the inter-relationships between all our cognitive
processes (perception: attention: language; memory and thinking).
As was stated in the Unit Overview the study of what goes to make up cognitive
psychology i.e. cognitive processes is difficult. This is because our cognitive
processes do not exist in reality. They are hypothetical constructs. If something
does not exist in reality it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to measure or
observe it directly. For a good part of the 20th century psychology placed a great
emphasis on experimentation to generate objective empirical data (hard scientific fact)
about the phenomena it was interested in. This proved extremely difficult to do in
cognitive psychology. Eventually, mainly due to the influences of Edward Tolman
and Jean Piaget, the study of cognitive psychology progressed because cognitive
psychologists realised they could study and produce objective empirical data
concerning their subject matter by studying it indirectly. It should also therefore be
emphasised that what we study in cognitive psychology is inferred.
Cognitive psychology thus concerns a study of the following cognitive processes:
• perception
• attention
• memory and
• language
• thinking.
While the study of cognitive processes should not be exclusive to just one, two, three
or more processes, and with an understanding that they are each related to one
another, SQA emphasises in particular the key concepts of perception; memory and
language.
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The Philosophical and Psychological Roots of Cognitive Psychology
Before turning to these three key concepts of perception; language and memory, it
will be useful to try to understand where cognitive psychology has come from.
Remembering back to Psychology: An Introduction your teacher/lecturer may have
mentioned that the cognitive approach (and thus cognitive psychology) grew out of
criticisms of the behaviourist approach. Behaviourism emphasises that psychology
should only study actual observable behaviour and that human beings should be
understood in terms of all the stimulus-response units of learnt behaviour (via
classical and operant conditioning) accumulated to date. There are good reasons for
this, but a study of actual observable behaviour alone is not enough to understand why
and how it is that we think, feel and behave as we do. The study of the human mind is
also important.
Due to the great influence of behaviourism, a scientific study of the human mind was
difficult until a ‘soft’ behaviourist called Edward Tolman (1930) discovered in his
‘rats in mazes’ experiment that his rats appeared to have done something with their
units of learnt behaviour about the maze. When a rat was put into the maze it initially
sniffed about and explored it in an erratic fashion. It eventually discovered food
placed in a particular position within the maze by Tolman. When later put back into
the maze the rat(s) went straight to the food. They did not go down blind alleys, turn
back on themselves etc., as when first introduced to the maze. Tolman concluded on
the basis of measurement, control and observation, that the rat(s) had formed
primitive cognitive maps of the maze in their heads based on their earlier experience
i.e. by externalising the cognitive process of thinking. As a result the rats were able to
understand and react to this environment better in that they were now aware of blind
alleys and cul-de-sacs and were able to anticipate and take short cuts to the food. The
behaviourists seemed to be wrong. Tolman’s rats suggest that organisms (what
behaviourists call people and animals) do something with previously learned
information in order to behave in a more enriched and enlightened way when they
encounter the same stimulus again.
Results of a study by Saaranin (1973) suggests that humans do the same thing. The
human equivalent of a cognitive map is called a neural network. Saaranin got
American college students to draw maps of their campus. Students tended to enlarge
those buildings which were most important to them and shrink those less important.
They were often found to be completely wrong when describing campus areas that
were not as familiar to them.
Similarly, Briggs (1971) discovered, on asking people to judge how far they thought
one landmark was from another, that they tended to underestimate the distance
between familiar landmark objects and over-estimate the distance between unfamiliar
landmarks. This is further illustrated when as adults we return to a once familiar
childhood haunt i.e. a Scottish coastal summer holiday resort and find it is a lot
smaller and far less exciting than we imagined. The perception of, for example
Girvan, for a Glaswegian whose only experience of the place is during his primary
school years is dramatically brought into focus when returning to the town 30 years
later. It just is not the same.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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Cognitive psychology thus concerns an understanding of what are called our internal
mental structures and processes. We will look at our senses in order to understand
the structure and role of the five higher level cognitive processes of perception;
attention; language; memory and thinking. Each of our cognitive processes can be
studied individually but to understand cognitive psychology completely, their
inter-relationship with each other should be emphasised.
Questions
1. What do you understand by the term ‘cognitive psychology’?
2. What do you understand by the term ‘cognitive processes’?
3. Why did the behaviourists not like the study of cognitive psychology?
4. How did cognitive psychologists overcome this criticism by the behaviourists?
5. What two research methods do you think cognitive psychologists use to
investigate cognitive processes?
6. Why is it that despite seeing the same 90 minutes of football a Rangers fan and a
Celtic fan will report entirely different versions of it?
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KEY CONCEPTS IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: PERCEPTION
Perception, a key cognitive process, can be defined as an active cognitive process
which entails us processing, organising and interpreting information coming to us
from our outside world.
SQA ask that we consider in relation to the study of perception:
• sensation and perception
• illusions
• perceptual constancy
• factors affecting perception
Perception is the way in which we selectively monitor what is happening around us.
In order to do this successfully we are equipped with at least five senses! Our senses
work independently and together to help give us as much information about our
external environment as possible. This is crucial to survival. Of great interest to
cognitive psychologists in their study of perception is our visual system, if only to try
and solve the mystery of why we experience our world in three dimensions. The
images falling on our retinas are two-dimensional much like a photograph. You
should be able to explore this further when looking at visual illusions, and another
ability we have called perceptual constancies. Finally our perception of our world is
not always accurate. This shall be explored when examining the influence of
learning, experience and motivation on perception.
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Perception: Introduction
As usual in psychology we try to first define the concept we are looking at. The study
of perception is no exception.
‘Perception is...the process of assembling sensations into a usable
mental representation of the world...which...creates faces,
melodies, works of art, illusions etc.’
Coon (1983)
‘Perception is not determined by stimulus patterns, rather it is a
dynamic searching for the best interpretation of the available
data...perception involves going beyond the immediately given
evidence of the senses.’
RL Gregory (1966)
We should be careful however for:
‘To perceive seems effortless. To understand perception is
nevertheless a great challenge’.
Dodwell (1995)
It may now be said that:
Perception is the process by which we take in raw sensations from our
environment using our senses and interpret these sensations using our past
knowledge and understanding of the world in order that the sensation or what
we are sensing, becomes meaningful to us.
An understanding of how we do this has intrigued cognitive psychologists for
decades. To date three explanations have emerged, each enriching our knowledge of
perception.
Three Explanations of Perception:
1. The Ecological View (Gibson; Gestalt - ‘organised wholes’): where it is said we
perceive most clues from our environment directly and without interpretation (we
perceive ‘exactly’ what we see/hear/smell/touch and taste). The ecological view
is popularly known as bottom-up processing.
2. The Constructivist View (Gregory; Bruner): where it is said our perceptual
system must often make a reality indirectly out of bits of sensory information due
to the absence of other information. The constructivist view is better known as
top-down processing.
3. Top-Down/Bottom-Up Symbiotic View (Neisser) which says we use the most
appropriate of the above processes depending on the situation we find ourself in.
The two processing models work together. When one type of perceptual process
or aspect of it is impaired, the other process, or an aspect of it, ‘fills’ in or
compensates to give us, at the end of the day, as much an understanding of the
stimulus as possible. Symbiotic processing is best explained in the area of visual
perception using Marr’s Computer AnalogyZKHUH KH VD\V ZH H[WUDFW YLVXDO
information from an image/object/event in four stages and put it all together again
in the brain in what he calls a symbolic representation of the stimulus.
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Whether you advocate a bottom-up (ecological view), top-down (constructivist view)
or symbiotic explanation of perception, it is interesting to note the influence of the
nature-nurture debate to your position. Most of the theorists above suggest that
what we perceive or ultimately understand from what our senses are telling us is the
result of learning and experience (empirical basis to our perceptions). The influence
of Gestalt psychology in the early years of research into this topic does raise the
nativist position; which says our perceptual ability is innate, and needs little if any
‘learning’ to enhance it.
At the end of the day, we can say that perception is influenced by our innate abilities
as human beings. Also, the cognitive apparatus we are born with is used to make
meaningful sense of the many sensory experiences we encounter. What we perceive
(or understand) that we are sensing is also strongly influenced by what we have
learned from past experience of the same, or similar, sensations. Perception is further
influenced by expectations, culture and motivation.
Sensation and Perception
In our original working definition of perception we said that perception concerns
sensing plus our interpretation of this sensation based on meaningful past experience
of it. Central to perception must therefore include a knowledge of how we receive
information from our environment in the first place. This is of course via our senses.
We use our traditional five senses to receive information from our external world i.e.
sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. Psychology is also able to tell us we have at least
one other sense which is called our KINAESTHETIC sense. This is a sense from
within our own body which tells us about movement, or the feel of our muscles or
joints. Our kinaesthetic sense tells us about balance.
Our Visual Sense
Our sense of vision is in many respects our key sense.
Vision, our visual system and visual perception is the
most studied information process of all by cognitive
psychologists, so much so, it is looked at in more depth
in a later section entitled ‘Our Visual System’. Our
sense of vision comes to us via our eyes, the structure
and location of which allow us to perceive our world in
three dimensions: sense colour, sense depth, etc.
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Our Tactile Sense
Touch, is one of our five senses, allowing for our
perception of pressure, touch, temperature (principally
temperature change), pain, and hair movement. We
experience touch using sensory cells called receptors
which are nerve endings in the skin. Touch receptors
are either free ending (in the dermis and around hair
follicles) or encapsulated (branched or coiled,
enclosed in a capsule). Receptors in our skin respond
to a specific type of stimulus and are not evenly
distributed over the body. The sensitivity of
fingertips, for example, results from a large number of
touch receptors we have at this extremity.
Once a receptor is stimulated, it sends nerve impulses to the brain, which locates
and identifies the stimulus involved and assesses its significance. The more intense
the stimulus, the greater the frequency of the nerve impulses.
The skin's sensory system is important in alerting the body to changes in its external
environment. Potentially harmful stimuli may cause pain resulting in either
protective reflex actions (e.g. dropping a hot object), or storing a memory to remind
you to avoid future similar hazards. The perception of pain is unusual as it is also
strongly affected by the emotions and the circumstances in which it is experienced.
Our Gustatory Sense
Taste is effected by the contact of soluble substances
on our tongue Although humans can distinguish
between a wide range of flavours, the sensation of
taste is actually a response to a combination of several
stimuli, including texture, temperature, and smell, as
well as taste.
In isolation, the sense of taste can only identify four basic flavours: sweet, salt, sour,
and bitter, with individual taste buds particularly responsive to one of these. The
10,000 or so taste buds found in humans are distributed unevenly over the top of the
tongue, creating patches sensitive to specific classes of chemicals which give the
taste sensations. Sweet and salt are usually at the tip of the tongue, sour at the
edges, and bitter at the base. Chemicals from food are dissolved in the moisture of
the mouth and enter the taste buds through pores in the surface of the tongue where
they come into contact with sensory cells. When a receptor is stimulated by one of
the dissolved substances, it sends nerve impulses to the brain. The frequency of the
repetition of the impulse tells the brain how strong a flavour is and the type of
flavour is probably registered by the nerve cells which responded.
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Our Auditory Sense
The Ear is our organ of hearing and balance. It is
composed of three parts – external, middle, and
internal - the greater part of which is enclosed within
the temporal bone. The external ear is that portion of
the hearing apparatus lateral to our eardrum, or
tympanic membrane. The eardrum comprises the
external flap of the ear (the auricle, or pinna), and the
external auditory canal, which is 3 cm (1.25 inches) in
length.
The middle ear, on the inner side of the eardrum, houses our mechanism for the
conduction of sound waves to the internal ear. It is a narrow passage, or cleft, that
extends vertically for about 15 mm (0.6 in) and for about the same distance
horizontally. The middle ear is in direct communication with the back of the nose
and throat by way of the eustachian tube, which allows for passage of air into and
out of the middle ear. Across, the middle ear is a chain of three small, movable
bones called the ossicles: the malleus, or hammer handle; the incus, or anvil; and the
stapes, or stirrup. The ossicles connect the eardrum acoustically to the fluid-filled
internal ear.
The internal ear (or labyrinth) is the part of the temporal bone containing the organs
of hearing and balance to which the filaments of the auditory nerve are distributed.
It is separated from the middle ear by the fenestra ovalis, or oval window. The
internal ear consists of membranous canals housed in a dense portion of the
temporal bone and is divided into the cochlea (Greek, ‘snail shell’), the vestibule,
and three semicircular canals. All these canals communicate with one another and
are filled with a gelatinous fluid called endolymph. The disposition and orientation
of endolymph also helps us experience our sense of balance.
The Ear and Balance
The semicircular canals and the vestibule are
concerned with our sense of equilibrium, or balance.
Hairs in these canals, similar to those that form the
organ of Corti, respond to changes in the position of
the head.
The three semicircular canals extend from the vestibule approximately at right angles
to each other, providing sensory organs to record movements of the head in each of
the three planes of space: up and down, forwards and backwards, and to the left or
right. Lying over the hair cells in the vestibule are crystals of calcium carbonate,
known technically as otoliths and popularly as ear sand. When the head is tilted, the
otoliths shift, and the hairs beneath respond to the change in pressure. The eyes and
certain sensory cells in the skin and internal tissues also help to maintain equilibrium,
but when the labyrinth of the ear is damaged or destroyed; disturbances of equilibrium
invariably follow. With eyes closed, a person with a disease or disturbance of the
internal ear may be unable to stand without swaying or falling.
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How do we hear?
Sound waves, which are actually changes in air pressure, are carried through the
external auditory canal to the eardrum, causing it to vibrate. These vibrations are
communicated by the ossicular chain in the middle ear through the oval window to
the fluid in the inner ear. The movement of the endolymph stimulates the
movement of a set of fine hair-like projections called hair cells as the cochlea
vibrates. Collectively these projections are called the organ of Corti. The hair cells
transmit signals directly to the auditory nerve which carries information to the brain.
The overall pattern of response of the hair cells to vibrations of the cochlea encodes
information about sound in a way that is interpreted by the brain's auditory centres.
The range of hearing, like that of vision, varies in different people. The maximum
range of human hearing includes sound frequencies from about 16 to 28,000 cycles
per second. The least noticeable change in tone that can be picked up by the ear
varies with pitch and loudness. A change of vibration frequency (pitch)
corresponding to about 0.03 per cent of the original frequency can be detected by
the most sensitive human ears in the range between 500 and 8,000 vibrations per
second. The ear is less sensitive to frequency changes for sounds of low frequency
or low intensity.
The sensitivity of the ear to sound intensity (loudness) also varies with frequency.
Sensitivity to change in loudness is greatest between 1,000 to 3,000 cycles, where a
change of one decibel can be detected—and becomes less when sound-intensity
levels are lowered.
The variation in the sensitivity of the ear to loud sounds causes several important
phenomena. Extremely loud tones produce in the ear entirely different tones that are
not present in the original tone. These subjective tones are probably caused by
imperfections in the natural function of the middle ear. The harshness in tonality
caused by greatly increasing sound intensities, as when a radio volume control is
adjusted to produce excessively loud sounds, results from subjective tones produced
in the ear. The loudness of a pure tone also affects its pitch. High tones may increase
as much as a whole musical-scale note. Low tones tend to become lower as sound
intensity increases. This effect is noticeable only for pure tones. Because most
musical tones are complex, hearing is usually not affected to an appreciable degree by
this phenomenon. In sound masking, the production in the ear of harmonics of
lower-pitched sounds may deafen the ear to the perception of higher-pitched sounds.
Masking is what makes it necessary to raise one's voice in order to be heard in a noisy
place.
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Our Olfactory Sense
Smell, is one of the five senses by which odours are
perceived. The nose, equipped with olfactory nerves,
is the special organ of smell. The olfactory nerves
also account for differing tastes of substances taken
into the mouth, in that, most sensations that appear
introspectively to us as tastes are in essence really
smells!
Sensations of smell are difficult to describe and
classify, but useful categorisations have been made by
noting the chemical elements of odorous substances.
Research has pointed to the existence of seven primary odours—camphor-like,
musky, floral, peppermint-like, ethereal (dry-cleaning fluid, for example), pungent
(vinegar-like), and putrid—corresponding to the seven types of smell receptors
found in the olfactory-cell hairs. Olfactory research also indicates that substances
with similar odours have molecules of similar shape. Recent studies suggest that
the shape of an odour-causing chemical molecule determines the nature of the odour
of that molecule or substance. These molecules are believed to combine with
specific cells in the nose or with chemicals within those cells. This process is the
first step in a complex series that continues with the transmission of impulses by the
olfactory nerve and ends with the perception of odour by the brain.
Our internal and external senses interact with each other because we are constantly
linking together information obtained from differing sensory MODES e.g. seeing,
hearing, etc. This involves us in what is called cross-modal transfer - where
information gained using one mode e.g. sight is applied to information from another
sensory mode e.g. hearing. Cross-modal transfer gives rise to a richer array of
sensory information upon which we base our interpretation of our own realities
(world) - but by which we often become confused.
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Characteristics of our Sensory System
Our six modalities (or senses) have certain common characteristics. Before looking at
what these are please complete both the common and scientific name for each:
1
Apparatus
Sense
Eye
Visual
2
3
4
5
6
•
•
•
•
•
each respond to a particular form of energy or external information e.g. light
waves, sound waves, skin pressure, etc.
each have a sense organ or ‘accessory structure’ which is the first port of call for
any incoming information on the road to processing and full understanding of the
perceived stimuli
each accessory structure has sense receptors called ‘transducers’. These are
specialised cells which are sensitive to particular kinds of energy. It is as the
stimuli impinges on these transducers that the conversion of the stimuli into
electrical nerve impulses occurs. This electrical activity is the only kind of energy
that can be processed and understood by our brains.
each sensory modality involves a different part of the brain. We are here able to
interpret messages received from our sensory receptors which gives us the
experience of conscious awareness of an object; a person; a word; a sound; a taste
etc.
a certain minimum stimulation of a sense receptor is needed before we can
become consciously aware of the sensory experience which is happening. These
minimum requirements are called absolute thresholds, which are based on a value
given to a stimulus when we can detect it 50% of the time. The threshold at which
we can notice a stimulus differs among and between people, and can be affected
by an individuals physical state, time of day, motivation, the way the stimulus is
presented etc.
This is the area of psychophysics within psychology (the interface between the
physical stimulus and subjective experience of it) which is of great importance to the
development of psychology as a subject in its own right (see Wilhelm Wundt, 1879).
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Our Visual System
Vision and visual perception is by far the largest area of investigation undertaken by
cognitive psychologists. A full understanding needs a little introduction to the eye.
The eye, according to Ornstein (1975) is ‘the most important avenue of personal
consciousness’. We receive around 80% of our information about our world via our
visual system.
As was said previously, sight or our sense of vision is probably the most studied of
all our senses due to the vast amount of work which has been done in the area of
visual perception.
A basic understanding of the structure and function of the eye is therefore of
relevance - if only to give us a clue as to how and why we receive 2-D type
photographic images on our retinas but interpret these two dimensional images in
three dimensions. A knowledge of our visual system is also important to our
understanding of how and why it is we can perceive colour and depth in our world and why it is we can see in the dark, but not as well as cats and other nocturnal
animals!
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Structure and Function of the Human Eye
The pupil: is the small black circle at the centre of each of our eyes. The pupil
controls the amount of light taken in by the eye. In dark conditions our pupil dilates
to its maximum size in order to maximise the amount of light entering the eye and
thus our ability to see (not too well) in the dark. In light conditions our pupil also
dilates, or ‘shrinks’, in response to the intensity of light we experience. Pupil size is
controlled by our autonomic nervous system (ANS) [controls organs and glands].
The ANS is linked to our central nervous system (CNS) [brain and spine].
Interestingly the ANS has two branches:
i.
ii.
the parasympathetic branch which in this instance changes pupil size in
response to illumination, and,
the sympathetic branch which dilates the pupil under conditions of strong
emotional arousal.
The two branches of the ANS are self-regulating rather than under our conscious
control. Regulatory control of the ANS is directed by the hypothalamus found in
the brain. Both branches of the ANS are what psychologists call antagonistic to one
another.
In the eye, dilation of the pupil is
controlled by the iris (the coloured
part of our eye) via the ciliary muscles
which are found in the iris. The lens
of the eye is held in place by
suspensory ligaments. Much like a
camera the lens focuses light on the
retina as an inverted or upside down
image. The shape the lens forms as it
focuses light energy on the retina is
controlled by ciliary muscles. The
lens thickens and increases in
curvature when focusing on nearby
objects and becomes flatter when we
are focusing on objects far away.
The retina which is found at the back of the eye, upon which images we see are
thrown, has three layers. Each of the layers helps explain certain human visual
abilities.
The first layer of the retina contains what are called rods and cones.
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Rods and cones are
photosensitive transducer cells
which convert light energy into
electrical nerve impulses. Our
120M rods help us see in ever
decreasing light. Our 7M cones
allow us to experience chromatic
(colour vision). Different cone
types respond to the three primary
colours of red; green and blue.
This is because of the different
wavelengths each of these colours
has. Mixtures of red, green and
blue allow us to experience all the
colours found in the colour
spectrum.
Bipolar cells, a second layer in the retina, are connected to our rods and cones and
help relay information to the visual cortex in our brain.
Finally in the retina we find a third layer called ganglion cells. Ganglion cell fibres
(axons) help form the beginnings of the optic nerve. Three types of ganglion cell
‘fire’ in response to the contours and movement of objects in our visual array or
field of vision.
The visual pathway from each eye to the visual cortex in our brain is called the
optic nerve (see diagram on next page). Each optic nerve converges and crosses
over at the optic chiasma, thus information from our right eye goes to the left visual
cortex and information from our right eye goes to the left visual cortex. At the
visual cortex, we find three other types of cell structure. These again give those
with an interest in cognitive processes in general and visual perception in particular
clues as to why we can see as we do. These three cell structures are as follows:
Simple cells which have been found to respond to simple features of a stimulus i.e.
straight lines, edges, slits, etc. when found in a particular orientation, or way-up, in
our visual field.
Complex cells which are found to respond to lines of particular orientation
wherever found in our visual field, and, Hypercomplex cells which deal with the
length of visual stimuli.
Our Visual Pathway: Note how information from our right visual field goes to the
left hand side of our brain, and information from our left visual field goes to the
right hand side of our brain. This is one of the clues as to why we perceive our
world in three dimensions.
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Where all sensory information ends up to be processed and understood
This is of course in our brain, the organ concerned with
consciousness. Consciousness is our awareness of our
self and of our environment. It involves our senses and
bodily structure plus perception; attention; language;
thinking and memory. Human consciousness is what
makes us particularly unique as organisms.
The human brain is a relatively small structure,
weighing about 14 kg (3.1lb) and making up about 2 per
cent of total body weight. It is contained within the
skull, which acts as a protective casing.
Although the brain is only a small proportion of overall body weight, information
received about the outside world and from the rest of the body converges at the brain
to be processed. Sensations ultimately arrive at the human brain to be processed,
given meaning (understood) and acted upon. We first begin to perceive what a
particular sensation is (and therefore what it is we are experiencing) on the basis of
how good, bad or indifferent our various senses are individually and collectively
(cross modal transfer). How we reach individual understanding of what particular
sensations mean for us is further based on some innate abilities and any previous past
experiences we have had in connection with the stimulus concerned.
These aspects of perception will now be addressed.
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FACTORS AFFECTING PERCEPTION: EXPLAINING OUR PERCEPTUAL
WORLD
The principles of perceptual organisation
• gestalten
• figure & ground: the answer to illusions?
• Perceptual constancies, with particular reference to, depth perception
Gestalt psychology and gestalten
As was stated at the beginning of our cognitive psychology course, one way of
looking at perception is from the point of view of Gestalt psychology (Kohler;
Koffka and Wertheimer). It is easily understood. Gestalt psychology, which was in
vogue in Germany in the early part of the 20th century, believes we have an innate
disposition to see objects using our inbuilt principles of grouping, or Gestalten.
What gestalten means is our innate ability to construct our world in terms of
organised ‘wholes’. The principles behind gestalten are captured by their Law of
Pragnänz which is us, the organism’s, innate way of perceiving things in terms of
symmetry; uniformity and stability. Individual Gestalten are Proximity
Objects that are close together are perceived by us as a ‘whole’ e.g.
a)
b)
. . . . . .
.......................
How do you perceive a) and b) above?
Similarity
Similar objects are normally perceived by us as belonging to the same group
Above, what similar objects do you perceive as a group which do not exist?!
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Continuity
Sensations appearing to create a continuous form are perceived by us as belonging
together e.g. a fence with slats missing is still perceived as a fence. We organise
sensations appearing together to form a continuous whole e.g.
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Do you perceive the above as a square shape made up of X’s, or 10 separate and
individual X’s?
Closure
Where we, at an unconscious level, fill in contours/gaps in stimuli to form a complete
whole in order to make perceptual sense of it NB the importance of previous past
experience and perception. This is illustrated below. What do you make of this
stimuli? Your teacher/lecturer should explain the significance of this simple
demonstration.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Texture
This is another principle of gestalten where objects of the same texture are perceived
as belonging to the same group e.g. grains of sand and pebbles at the seaside form for
us a ‘beach’.
Simplicity
Where we have a tendency to group stimulus features together in a way that provides
the simplest interpretation of the world for us e.g. houses as opposed to their make-up
e.g. windows, doors, roofs, walls and ceilings. The notion of simplicity does have a
link with the social psychological phenomenon of stereotyping and attribution theory.
Common Fate
This strange term means the principles where individual objects moving together at
the same rate are perceived by us as a group. We group, by common fate, flocks of
seagulls and swarms of wasps. We do not perceive each individual in the flock or
swarm. We innately organise the stimuli into a ‘whole’ in order to perceive and
understand it.
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The principles behind gestalten and gestalt psychology, which are biological in
origin, go some way to explain perception. Perception is more than mere ‘seeing’.
We often find in psychology that abilities which seem to be innate have survival value
for us.
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Figure and Ground: The Answer to Illusions?
What do you make of the visual stimuli below?
This stimuli is known in psychology as Rubin’s Vase and is often used to
demonstrate illusions. As you might be able to ‘see’ from Rubin’s Vase our
perceptual processes try with this 2D image by putting some aspect of the stimuli to
the ‘front’ or foreground (figure) and another aspect to the meaningless background
(ground). Some part of the image always stands out as ‘figure’ and some other part
‘ground’. With Rubin’s vase the principle is reversible. What is meant here is that
you will either perceive a vase to the front or two faces squaring up to each other!
What you perceive (above, a vase or faces) is related to
1 our expectations
2 our culture
3 our experience of the stimuli
4 our motivation.
Please answer the questions which follow concerning the effect expectations, culture
and experience (in particular) have on perception.
Perceptual Set?
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What do you make of the stimuli below? Give an explanation for your answer.
E
A
D
13
A
16
15
14
B
12
the cat sat on the map and licked its whiskers
Questions
1
Whom do you see in the image below? If you see anyone at all (!) is it as a
consequence of expectations, culture or experience? Give reasons for your
answer.
2
Without looking back to the previous page, what is the saying in the triangle?
Please now look back and read what is inside the triangle carefully. What does it
actually say? Why were you so sure about what you thought it said the first time
round? How was your perception affected? The general effect of expectations;
culture and experience is called perceptual set.
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3.
Whom do you perceive in the image below? What factors,
expectations, culture and/or experience could influence your
perception of who this is?
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4. The most famous illusion in psychology?
What do you make of the picture above?
Young Woman or Old?
That depends on your interpretation. Young people tend to see a young girl; older
people, an elderly lady. With effort, you can switch from one to the other: the young
woman's chin becomes the old woman's nose; the old woman's mouth, a band on the
neck of the young woman. You will find that here expectations, motivation, culture
and experience do not help you if you first see a young woman then an old woman,
then a young woman then a ...etc!
By American psychologist E.G. Boring
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Motivation and Perception
Motivation, in psychology, concerns what prompts us to action or to behave in a
particular way. Motivation can effect our perception of objects, events, people stimuli
etc. Motivation in psychology is a study all in itself. Cognitive psychology
understands that our motivation to behave in a particular way is affected by two
things. Our
•
internal biology
and
•
external environment.
Sometimes our internal biology and external environment come together to make us
think, feel and behave in a particular way. The interaction of our biology and
environment as they motivate us to be more perceptually aware produce interesting
and - expensive - results.
When our body needs fuel (i.e. food) it tells us so when we experience hunger pangs.
This is our body’s internal signal or cue to us to eat. Our biology affects our
perception in that when we are hungry and experience hunger pangs, we perceive
food much more vividly. Do not go food shopping in a modern supermarket if you
are hungry. The fruit appears more appealing, the home-baking more delicious, the
meat and fish more tasty looking! We perceive the colour of food more. We perceive
the smell of food more. Perception of food is heightened by internal bodily factors.
External factors like the clever use of lighting to illuminate fruit colouring more and
the aroma of the bakery in the supermarket constantly baking bread and cakes also
influence and motivate us to perceive food more when hungry. The internal and
external factors of motivation will greatly influence your perception of food and in
this situation you may end up buying and spending much more than you needed!
Supermarkets of course are aware of this. A knowledge of cognitive psychology can
affect your waistline, wallet and purse.
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Perceptual Constancy
So far we have identified that perception depends upon bodily structures and
processes; our innate principles of gestalten and us imposing three dimensional
meaning on two dimensional visual experience on the basis of expectations, culture
and experience; sometimes wrongly! Perception is influenced by all these factors
working individually and together. Where this all ultimately happens is within the
human brain centring on the hypothalamus in particular.
We also have a perceptual ability (called together perceptual constancies), which
helps us to perceive our world. Where our perceptual constancies of size, shape,
brightness and depth come from is not fully understood. Cognitive psychologists
disagree as to whether they come about as a consequence of our biology and genetic
inheritance (nature) or as the result of learning and experience (nurture). As far as
depth constancy is concerned, there is good psychological evidence to suggest that
depth perception is innate.
Perceptual constancy is our ability to perceive sameness of visual stimuli even when
the sensory evidence is to the contrary. We have a perceptual constancy in the four
areas below which also help us make sense of our perceptual world.
1
2
3
4.
Size
Shape
Brightness
Depth
Perceptual constancies occur when
our brains correct or modify our
rapidly changing sensory inputs to
give us a more constant perception of
the world. For example, size
constancy ensures that as we watch a
friend walk off into the distance,
although the image of the person
projected onto our retina is rapidly
decreasing in size, we do not perceive
that our friend is actually shrinking!
The knowledge that as the proximal
stimulus (the internal sensory image)
changes, the distal stimulus (the
external object being perceived) does
not, allows us to correct our sensations
and maintain constant perceptions.
Cognitive psychology has over the years had three theories about perception. It is in
the area of perceptual constancies that much supporting evidence to which theory is
the more acepted has emerged.
These theories are summarised overleaf.
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Three Theories of Perception
1 Bottom-Up (Ecological View): (Gibson; Gestalt - ‘organised wholes’): where it
is said we perceive most clues from our environment directly and without
interpretation (we perceive ‘exactly’ what we see/hear/smell/touch and taste).
The ecological view explains perception as being ‘bottom-up’ - our world
impinges on our senses which processes the information to the brain which is
directly interpreted and understood. Bottom-Up theory cannot explain illusions.
2
Top-Down (Constructivist View): (Gregory; Bruner) who say our perceptual
system must often make a reality indirectly out of bits of sensory information due
to the absence of other information. They are top-down in their explanation of
perception. Higher level cognitive functions play a part.
3
Top-Down/Bottom-Up (Symbiotic View): (Neisser: Marr) who say we use both
top-down and bottom-up information processes in the perception of our reality.
Nature and nurture both play a part. Both enhance perception individually and
collectively. When one perceptual process, or aspect of it is impaired, the other
process, or an aspect of it, ‘fills in’ or compensates to give us at the end of the
day the best individual understanding of the image/object/event as possible.
Symbiotic processing is best explained in the area of visual perception using
Marr’s Computer AnalogyZKHUH KH VD\V ZH H[WUDFW YLVXDO LQIRUPDWLRQ IURP DQ
image/object/event in four stages and put this all together again in the brain in
what he calls a symbolic representation of the stimulus. Marr’s computational
model as an explanation of visual perception is illuminating in that it helps
emphasise the role of both bottom-up and top-down processing independently,
collectively and integratively of each other.
For a brief overview of Marr’s Computer Analogy see over.
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MARR’S COMPUTER ANALOGY
Marr’s (1982) 4 Module
Computational Theory Of Vision
In an attempt to understand the
complex make-up of our visual
perception David Marr (1982) thinks
neural activity transforms sensory
(essentially visual) stimulation into
our experience of reality. This is done
gradually, by extracting and
deconstructing specific information
from the object we ‘see’, in four
stages and then putting all this
information together again in our
attempt to recognise and understand
what is we are (visually) perceiving.
This he calls a symbolic
representation.
1. The image or grey-level description
Represented by the intensity of light at each point in the retinal image. This allows us
to discover the boundaries of and regions in the image. Marr thinks our ability to
identify boundaries and regions on this basis is the beginning of visual perception.
2. Primal sketch
Here Marr says we go on to identify surface markings, object boundaries and
markings using the gestalt principles of grouping.
3. 2½-D sketch
A third stage where in the deconstruction of an image we give it depth and
orientation. It is not yet 3-D. Object recognition needs the input matched against
memory so that non-visible points are accounted for (perceptual constancy).
4. 3-D Model representation
The nature and construction of the object is at this final stage confirmed/denied using
higher level top-down processing functions and abilities. This gives rise to a
symbolic representation of our visual reality and is for Marr true object recognition.
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PERCEPTUAL ORGANISATION: FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION
1.
Size Constancy
As previously explained, size constancy refers to the fact that although retinal images
of objects get smaller as the object recedes into the distance, we perceive that the
object does not change in size.
Taking size constancy into account the constructivist view of perception maintains
that size constancy develops because we learn through experience that objects do not
actually shrink as they move away from us. Some cross-cultural evidence is
consistent with this view, in that sometimes people from the dense jungle or heavily
wooded regions, who are not accustomed to viewing objects at a distance, mistakenly
perceive distant objects as being very small. Ecological direct-perception theory on
the other hand maintains that size constancy occurs as a direct result of the
information taken in by our senses and that failure to conserve size results only when
the situation does not provide us with enough direct sensory information.
2. Shape Constancy
Shape constancy, is our ability, innate or learned, to perceive the shape of an object as
being constant even although our retinal image of the object is changing. An example
of this would be the chalkboard at the front of your class. Regardless of where you
are sitting we all perceive the chalkboard as a rectangular shape despite the fact that
we all have different retinal images of it depending upon where we are sitting.
Constructivists, or top-down theorists, see shape constancy coming about as a product
of learning in our environment whereas bottom-up theorists see shape constancy as
being somehow innate and part of the experience of sensation.
3. Brightness Constancy
Lightness, or brightness constancy refers to our perceptual ability to adapt to the
situation where the illumination (brightness) of an object changes but we continue to
perceive it’s brightness and colour as the same or constant. A white sheet of paper
first perceived in bright sunlight will still appear white and of approximately the same
shade when later perceived by us under the shade of a tree. Constructivists (top-down
theory) explains brightness constancy in our learnt knowledge that objects do not
change their ‘brightness’ as lighting conditions change. Ecological theory takes a
bottom-up explanation of brightness constancy. It says that enough information is
present in the sensory experience itself to allow us to maintain a constant (lightness)
perception of the object.
Which is more accurate is very difficult to ascertain. Because babies cannot
communicate very well when born, we have little way of knowing if these constancies
are present from birth, or learned (however quickly), as the result of experience. We
may find a more accurate explanation of the origins of perceptual constancies in an
examination of depth perception.
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Depth Perception
An awareness of depth perception will help us understand why it is we visually sense
the world in two dimensions (like a photograph) but perceive what we see in three
dimensions!
This is demonstrated below:
This is a 2D diagram called an Impossible Triangle. It is obviously two-dimensional.
Are you currently experiencing it in three dimensions? If so, why? Shut one eye. Do
you still experience this in 3D? If you are this definitely contradicts direct perception
bottom-up theory as an explanation perception. Why is this the case?
Without depth perception we would find (among other things) walking, reaching
driving and playing games difficult. We see depth in our visual world because of
i) monocular depth cues and ii) binocular depth cues.
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Monocular depth cues
Monocular depth cues come about due to seeing the world with one eye; or our two
individual eyes singularly...think about it!!
Even if we visually experience our world with one eye, and the image which is
striking our retina is definitely two-dimensional, where things are in our visual field
allow us understand or perceive our world in three dimensions. Monocular depth cues
include things like interposition, linear perspective and relative size.
•
Interposition
One monocular depth cue we call Interposition. Interposition is the monocular cue we
use to perceive depth when we see a scene where one object is partially obscuring
another. The object we can fully see we perceive as nearer than the partially obscured
object - which we perceive as behind. If your teacher or lecturer sits down behind
their desk we can adjudge that the desk is nearer you than they are: you can fully see
the desk and only the top half of their body. The interposition of the desk and the
teacher/lecturer is here a monocular depth cue.
•
Linear Perspective
Linear perspective is another monocular depth cue. If we see two parallel lines
converge into one another in the distance, this tells us about depth. This is easily
demonstrated in a railway station. When it is safe look down at the railway lines.
They are parallel to one another. Now look up the track and you will see the rails
converge (come in on one another). This is linear perspective. If we see this
happening this is a monocular cue to depth or distance. Linear perspective can even
work in two dimensions i.e.
Which of the two horizontal lines above is larger? The one at the top or the one at the
bottom? Measure them. What do you find? Why did you perceive what you did?
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•
Relative size
Relative size is another cue for monocular depth. Relative size occurs when we see
two objects, like two houses, against their backgrounds in our visual field. We see in
two dimensions, that one house is smaller than the other. Indeed the 2D visual
information we receive about the smaller of the two houses would appear to suggest it
is the size of a match-box! This is not the case. We perceive on the basis of relative
size that the visually smaller house is further away from us. The larger of the two we
perceive as nearer. If you are out hillwalking you become absolutely certain that the
smaller a hill is when looked at in comparison to others in your visual field the further
away it will be!
Binocular Depth Cues
Binocular depth cues are easy to understand. Binocular depth cues come about due to
the fact we have two eyes. Binocular cues to depth in our visual field result because
each of our eyes receives a slightly different picture of the same scene. Our nose sees
to that.
The dual and overlapping picture we get as a result is called stereopsis. Stereopsis
give us binocular cues to depth because most of us enjoy binocular (two eye) vision.
We can lose the ability for binocular depth cues to our visual world due to a blow to
the head (that gives us double vision) or damage to the eye due to strabismus
(squints), etc. Sports people generally have excellent binocular vision. You will find
that professional sports people whose game involves a ball of some description are
usually excellent at other ball sports they take as a ‘hobby’. The world famous
snooker player, Stephen Hendry is an excellent golfer. The goalkeeper Andy Goram
has Scottish caps for both football and cricket. Ian Botham played both professional
cricket and professional football.
If we have two eyes, when objects get closer to us, each eye turns inwards. As
objects, or percepts, move further away each eye turns outwards. The brain interprets
this as a binocular cue to how near or how far the percept (image/object) is from us.
This inward and outward movement of our eyes in response to how near or how far a
percept is from us is called binocular convergence.
Because each eye has a slightly different view of the same visual world, this similar,
but different information is also used to judge depth. The closer each retinal image
(or picture) is to one another, the nearer our brain interprets an object is to us. This is
called binocular disparity.
We therefore achieve depth perception due to monocular and binocular depth cues.
Monocular depth cues comes from our visual environment. Binocular depth cues
arise because we have two eyes.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
41
The biology of the human body gives rise to binocular depth cues. Our external
environment gives us monocular depth cues.
Interposition
Monocular Depth Cues
Relative Size
Linear Perspective
Depth Perception
Binocular Convergence
Binocular Depth Cues
Binocular Disparity
Perception: Conclusion
Perception is our way of successfully monitoring what is happening around us in our
environment. In order to do this we firstly use our senses, of which there are at least
five. All our senses have physiological properties which convert one type of external
energy into electrical energy. Cross-modal transfer (the co-ordination and transfer) of
sensory information allows us to very quickly sense what is happening around us.
Our senses send electrical impulses to our brain, the intensity and degree of signals
being translated by our brain ‘telling’ us what it is we are experiencing. Our
perception of sensory experience often involves, and is influenced by, all our
cognitive processes: perception; attention; language; memory and thinking.
Perception is selectively sensing something plus the brains ability to integrate,
interpret and understand this sensory input on the basis of meaningful past experience
- which forms, affects and influences attention; language; memory and thinking.
Cognitive processes are individually and collectively our higher level (brain)
functions. They influence perception as perception influences them.
Three theories exist to explain perception. One advocates a ‘nature’ explanation of
perception; the other advocates the contribution of ‘nurture’. The third takes an
essentially nature and nurture position on the explanation of perception. Bottom up
theorists like JJ Gibson say we interpret experiences directly using our senses alone.
We perceive our reality directly. Our senses analyse stimuli into basic features i.e.
the biology and physiology of the eye allows features of objects such as colour;
motion; orientation; light and darkness to be interpreted by the brain as ultimately
meaning something. Bottom-up theory is lacking. It cannot explain, for example why
we perceive illusions. Direct visual evidence of reality is in conflict with our
perception of reality. Another theory of perception, top-down processing, as put
forward by for example RL Gregory may help better explain perception. Top-down
processing says we make our perceptual reality out of bits of sensory information.
We perceive our reality indirectly. This process is guided by higher level functions
and psychological factors like expectation; culture; experience and motivation.
Perception for Gregory is therefore top-down.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
42
A kind of compromise theory is a third theory of perception called symbiotic
processing. Those who favour an explanation of perception on the basis of symbiotic
processing would include Neisser and Marr. Symbiotic processing theory sees a place
for both bottom-up (from the senses) and top-down (from the brain) theories of
perception. When one type of perceptual process, or aspect of it is impaired, the other
process, or an aspect of the other process ‘fills in’ or compensates to give us, at the
end of the day, as good an understanding of the stimulus as possible.6\PELRWLF
processing is best illustrated in the area of visual perception using Marr’s Computer
 DUU¶V &RPSXWHU $QDORJ\ VD\V ZH WDNH YLVXDO LQIRUPDWLRQ IURP DQ
Analogy 0
image/object/event in four stages and put it all together again in the brain in what he
calls a symbolic representation of the stimulus. Marr’s computational model as an
explanation of visual perception is helpful in that it helps emphasise the role of both
bottom-up and top-down processing integratively and independently. TopDown/Bottom-Up processes working together both contribute, in an enriched way, to
our understanding of the fascinating topic of perception.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
43
Glossary: Perception
attention: our higher level cognitive process which allows us to focus on selected
aspects of our environment.
absolute thresholds: the value given to a stimulus when we can detect it 50% of the
time. The threshold at which we can notice a stimulus e.g. the smell of food differs
among and between people, and can be affected by an individuals physical state; time
of day; motivation; the way the stimulus is presented etc.
auditory sense: this sense comes to us via our ear. Our ear is our organ of hearing
and balance. It is composed of three parts - external, middle, and internal - the greater
part of which is enclosed within the temporal bone. Within the inner ear the
disposition and orientation of endolymph helps us experience our sense of balance.
autonomic nervous system (ANS): part of our body and bodily processes which
controls organs and glands. It is linked to our central nervous system (CNS) or
brain and spine.
binocular convergence: occurs as our eyes turn inwards when something gets closer
to us. It is a binocular depth cue.
binocular disparity: another binocular cue to depth: it occurs because we get two
slightly different and overlapping images of the same scene. This information when
processed in the visual cortex is a valuable binocular depth cue.
binocular depth cues: the clues to depth we get because of the unique biological and
physiological properties of our eyes.
bipolar cells: a second layer in the retina, these cells are connected to our rods and
cones and help relay information to the visual cortex in our brain.
brain: the organ concerned with consciousness. Consciousness is our awareness plus
perception; attention; language; thinking and memory) and the overall control of the
body.
cognitive maps: an animal. such as a rats, ability to actively learn from it’s
experiences.
Edward Tolman (1930) in his rats in mazes experiment discovered that rats formed
these in order to make them more efficient and effective in their environment. The
human equivalent is called a neural network.
cognitive processes: a collective term for perception; attention; language; memory
and thinking.
complex cells: these cells in our visual cortex which respond to lines of particular
orientation of a stimulus wherever found in our visual field.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
44
cones: photosensitive transducer cells which convert light energy into electrical nerve
impulses. Around 7M of these allow us to experience chromatic (colour vision).
Different types respond to the three primary colours of red; green and blue. This is
because of the different wavelengths each of these colours have. Various mixtures of
red, green and blue allow us to experience all the colours found in the colour
spectrum.
constructivist View: a theory of indirect perception put forward by RL Gregory
and Jerome Bruner which says our perceptual system must often make a reality
indirectly out of bits of sensory information due to the absence of other information.
The constructivist view is better known as top-down processing.
ecological View: a theory of direct perception put forward by JJ Gibson and the
Gestalt school which says where it is said we perceive most clues from our
environment directly and without interpretation (we perceive ‘exactly’ what we
see/hear/smell/touch and taste). The ecological view is popularly known as bottomup processing.
experimental method: the scientific practice of gathering hard empirical data
characterised by the experimenter’s ability to control and alter variables.
figure & ground: a perceptual ability where we allocate one aspect of a stimulus to
the foreground (front: figure) and another aspect of it to the background (ground).
ganglion cells: the third layer of the retina these cell fibres (axons) help form the
beginnings of the optic nerve. Three types of this type of cell ‘fire’ in response to the
contours and movement of objects in our visual array or field of vision.
Gestalt psychology: a school or an approach founded in Germany in the early part of
the 20th century by Kohler; Koffka and Wertheimer. Gestalt psychology, believes we
have a innate disposition to see objects using our inbuilt principles of grouping, or
Gestalten. What gestalten means is our innate ability to construct our world in terms
of organised ‘wholes’. The principles behind gestalten are captured by their Law of
Pragnänz which is us, the organism’s, innate way of perceiving things in terms of
symmetry; uniformity and stability.
gestalten: innate principles of grouping which human beings have which help us
organise our perceptual world. Individual gestalten are - proximity (objects that are
close together are perceived by us as a ‘whole’; similarity (similar objects are
perceived by us as belonging to the same group): continuity (sensations which create a
continuous form are perceived by us as belonging together): closure (where we fill in
contours/gaps in stimuli to form a complete whole in order to make perceptual sense
of it): texture (objects of the same texture are perceived as belonging to the same
group): simplicity (where we group stimulus features together in a way that gives us
the simplest interpretation of our world): common fate ( where individual objects
moving together at the same rate are perceived by us as a group):
gustatory sense: taste, another of the five senses, affected by the contact of soluble
substances on our tongue
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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hypercomplex cells: these cells found in our visual cortex deal with the length of
visual stimuli.
hypothetical constructs: a term given to names psychologists give to things which do
not exist in reality. You cannot yet go into a chemist and ask for 250mg of ‘id’!
introspection: asking people to think about, describe and explain the affect a stimulus
has on them. It is subjective self-report which is not a very scientific method of
enquiry.
interposition: a monocular depth cue It is the monocular cue to depth we use when
we see one object partially obscuring another. The object we can fully see we
perceive as nearer than the partially obscured object - which we perceive as behind.
iris: the coloured part of our eye.
kinaesthetic sense: a ‘sixth’ sense from within our own bodies which tells us about
movement, or the feel of our muscles or joints. This sense tells us about balance.
language: a very important cognitive process which allows us to communicate with
others. It depends on biological maturation of the brain i.e. Wernicke’s area, Broca’s
area.
lens: the part of our eye which operates like a camera held in place by suspensory
ligaments. It focuses light on the retina as an inverted or upside down image.
linear perspective: another monocular depth cue. If we see two parallel lines
converge into one another in the distance this cue tells us about depth.
memory: this cognitive process allows us to keep and remember information about
events and experiences in our life.
monocular depth cues: the clues to depth we get from our external environment.
motivation: concerns what prompts us to action or to behave in a particular way.
It can effect our perception of objects, events, people stimuli etc. as a result of both
our internal biology and external environment.
nature-nurture debate: a argument concerning whether we can be explained wholly
from the point of view of our biology or genetics or whether we are as we are as the
result of experiences in our environment i.e. the way we are brought up. In many
instances in psychology where the debate arises e.g. intelligence or personality neither
of the two views are correct. Our intelligence and our personality are the
consequence of our genetics and environment working together.
neural network: formed by human beings as a result of their experiences in their
environment. It is the outcome of all our cognitive processes working together as
influenced by our experiences. The animal equivalent, called a cognitive map, was
discovered by Edward Tolman (1930) in his rats in mazes experiment.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
46
olfactory sense: smell, is one of the five senses by which odours are perceived. The
nose, equipped with olfactory nerves, is the special organ of smell.
optic chiasma: where each optic nerve converges and crosses over. Information from
our right eye goes to the left visual cortex and information from our right eye goes to
the left visual cortex.
optic nerve: the visual pathway from each eye to the visual cortex in our brain.
organisms: behaviourist term for humans and animals.
perception: a key cognitive process, is our way of successfully monitoring what is
happening around us in our environment using our senses, innate abilities and
previous past experience to make sense of our world.
perceptual constancies: those abilities we have to make our world constant i.e. size,
shape, brightness and depth. They arise due to our biology; genetics and experience.
perceptual set: is unconsciously used by us to perceive what we perceive as a result
of expectations; culture; experience and motivation ie the cat sat on the map.
psychophysics: a topic within psychology researching into the relationship and
interface between a physical stimulus and our subjective experience of it. First
popularised by see Wilhelm Wundt, 1879 with his study into perception using
introspection.
pupil: is the black circle at the centre of each of our eyes. The pupil controls the
amount of light taken in by the eye. It gives us our ability to see (not too well) in the
dark.
relative size: another monocular depth cue. We apply it when we see two objects,
like two houses, against their backgrounds in our visual field. We see in two
dimensions, that one house is smaller than the other. We perceive however that in
reality this is not the case.
retina: this structure is found at the back of the eye upon which the images we see are
thrown.
rods : photosensitive transducer cells which convert light energy into electrical nerve
impulses. Over 120M of them help us see in ever decreasing light.
Rubin’s Vase: a famous illusion in psychology which demonstrates the perceptual
ability of figure-ground: even in two dimensions. Our perceptual processes try with
this 2D image to put some aspect of the stimuli to the ‘front’ or foreground (figure)
and another aspect to the meaningless background (ground). What you perceive
above, a vase or faces is related to expectations; culture; experience of the stimuli and
motivation.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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sensation: a sensory process explaining how we receive information from our
environment in the first place.
Senses: the means by which we receive information from our external world i.e.
sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell.
simple cells: these cells in our visual cortex respond to simple features of a stimulus
i.e. straight lines; edges; slits etc. when found in a particular orientation, or way-up,
in our visual field.
stereopsis: the dual and overlapping visual picture we get when seeing. It is
responsible for binocular vision.
stimuli: an event or feeling which prompts some response from us i.e. swearing when
you burn your finger!
survey: a research method often used in social psychology to gather data about
attitudes etc. based on replies to standardised written questions.
tactile sense: touch, is one of our five senses, allowing for our perception of pressure,
touch, temperature (principally temperature change), pain, and hair movement.
thinking: a complex ‘whole-brain’ cognitive process which allows us to problemsolve in our environment.
Tolman: a soft behaviourist famous for his rats in mazes experiment (1930) which led
to the belief that humans are active, as opposed to passive, learners.
Top-Down/Bottom-Up Symbiotic View: a theory of perception which brings
together aspects of top-down and bottom-up theories of perception. Advocated by the
likes of Neisser it says we use the most appropriate of the above two processes
depending on the situation we find ourself in. The two processing models work
together. When one type of perceptual process, or aspect of it is impaired, the other
process, or an aspect of the other process compensates.
vision: in many respects our key sense. It is the most studied information process by
cognitive psychologists. This sense comes to us via our eyes, the structure and
location of which allow us to perceive our world in 3 dimensions; sense colour; sense
depth etc.
percepts: the objects/images/events we perceive.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
48
STUDENT ACTIVITY : MEMORY
1. What do you think the study of cognitive psychology is all about?
Identify by ticking in the boxes below what a student of cognitive psychology might
study in relation to Memory:
the senses
coding, storage, retrieval
episodic memory
psychophysics
selection and attention
memory for facts
selection and attention
meaning of stimuli
motivation
acoustic codes
visual illusions
chunking
learning strategies
forgetting
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
49
2. Please fill in the blank spaces from the boxed word list below:
monitoring what is happening around us in our environment higher level perception;
attention; language; memory and thinking directly indirectly senses Bottom up
theorists culture; experience and motivation symbiotic processing selectively sensing
something top-down processing electrical energy illusions Cross-modal transfer
conflict integrate, interpret meaningful past experience bits of sensory information
‘fills’ in or compensates four stages symbolic representation colour; motion;
orientation; light and darkness computational working together.
Perception is our way of successfully
In order to do this we firstly use our
, of which there are at least five. All our
senses have physiological properties which convert one type of external energy into
.
(the co-ordination and transfer) of
sensory information allows us to very quickly sense what is happening around us.
Our senses send electrical impulses to our brain, the intensity and degree of signals
being translated by our brain ‘telling’ us what it is we are experiencing. Our
perception of sensory experience often involves, and is influenced by, all our
cognitive processes:
.
Perception is
plus the brains ability to
and understand this sensory input on the basis of
which forms, affects and influences attention; language; memory and thinking.
Cognitive processes are individually and collectively our
(brain)
functions. They influence perception as perception influences them.
Three theories exist to explain perception. One advocates a ‘nature’ explanation of
perception; the other advocates the contribution of ‘nurture’. The third takes an
essentially nature and nurture position on the explanation of perception.
using our
like JJ Gibson say we interpret experiences
senses alone. We perceive our reality directly. Our senses analyse stimuli into basic
features i.e. the biology and physiology of the eye allows features of objects such as
to be interpreted by the brain as
ultimately meaning something. Bottom-up theory is lacking. It cannot explain, for
example why we perceive
. Direct visual evidence of reality is in
with our perception of reality. Another theory of perception,
, as put forward by for example RL Gregory helps better explain
perception. Top-down processing says we make our perceptual reality out of
. We perceive our reality
. This process is guided
by higher level functions and psychological factors like expectation;
. Perception for Gregory is therefore top-down. A kind
of compromise theory is a third theory of perception called
. Those
who favour an explanation of perception on the basis of symbiotic processing would
include Neisser and Marr. Symbiotic processing theory sees a place for both bottomup (from the senses) and top-down (from the brain) theories of perception. When one
type of perceptual process, or aspect of it is impaired, the other process, or an aspect
of the other process
to give us, at the end of the day, as good
an understanding of the stimulus as possible.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
50
Symbiotic processing is best illustrated in the area of visual perception using Marr’s
Computer Analogy 0DUU¶V &RPSXWHU $QDORJ\ VD\V ZH WDNH YLVXDO LQIRUPDWLRQ IURP
an image/object/event in
and put it all together again in the brain in what
he calls a
of the stimulus. Marr’s
model as an explanation of visual perception is helpful in that it helps
emphasise the role of both bottom-up and top-down processing integratively and
independently. Top-Down/Bottom-Up processes
both
contribute: ultimately in an enriched way: to our understanding of the fascinating
topic of perception.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
51
3. Perception Gigantic Wordsearch
Solve the clues to the Gigantic Wordsearch that follows. Put a line through the
correct word or phrase in the wordsearch and write your answer beside the clue.
CLUES
Photosensitive transducer cells which convert light energy into electrical nerve
impulses. Over 120M of these help us see in ever decreasing light.
The means by which we receive information from our external world i.e. sight:
hearing: touch: taste: smell.
Where each optic nerve converges and crosses over. Information from our right eye
goes to the left visual cortex and information from our right eye goes to the left
visual cortex.
Part of our body and bodily processes that controls organs and glands.
In many respects our key sense. It is the most studied information process of all by
cognitive psychologists. This sense comes to us via our eyes, the structure and
location of which allow us to perceive our world in 3 dimensions; sense colour;
sense depth, etc.
Touch is one of our five senses, allowing for our perception of pressure, touch,
temperature (principally temperature change), pain, and hair movement.
A theory of indirect perception put forward by RL Gregory and Jerome Bruner that
says our perceptual system must often make a reality indirectly out of bits of sensory
information due to the absence of other information. The constructivist view is better
known as top-down processing.
A ‘sixth’ sense. This sense tells us about balance.
The value given to a stimulus when we can detect it 50% of the time.
A topic within psychology researching into the relationship and interface between a
physical stimulus and our subjective experience of it. First popularised by Wilhelm
Wundt, 1879 with his study into perception using introspection.
A key cognitive process, is our way of successfully monitoring what is happening
around us in our environment using our senses, innate abilities and previous past
experience.
A very important cognitive process which allows us to communicate with others.
Taste, another of the five senses, affected by the contact of soluble substances on our
tongue
A collective term for perception, attention, language, memory and thinking.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
52
The scientific practice of gathering hard empirical data characterised by the
experimenter’s ability to control and alter variables.
A research method based on replies to standardised written questions.
An event or feeling which prompts some response from us
A term given to names psychologists give to things which do not exist in reality.
Our cognitive process which allows us to focus on selected aspects of our
environment.
Problem-solving.
A soft behaviourist famous for his rats in mazes experiment (1930).
An animal’s ability to actively learn from it’s experiences (e.g. a rat).
Behaviourist term for humans and animals.
Formed by human beings as a result of their experiences in their environment. It is
the outcome of all our cognitive processes working together as influenced by our
experiences.
The animal equivalent, called a cognitive map, was discovered by Edward Tolman
(1930) in his rats in mazes experiment.
A theory of direct perception put forward by JJ Gibson and the Gestalt school which
says where it is said we perceive most clues from our environment directly and
without interpretation. The ecological view is popularly known as bottom-up
processing.
An argument arising out of whether our genetics or our environment influences us the
most.
How we receive information from our environment in the first place.
Brain and spine.
The coloured part of our eye
The part of our eye which operates like a camera held in place by suspensory
ligaments. It focuses light on the retina as an inverted or upside down image.
Photosensitive transducer cells which convert light energy into electrical nerve
impulses. Around 7M of these allow us to experience chromatic (colour vision).
A second layer in the retina, these cells are connected to our rods and cones and
help relay information to the visual cortex in our brain.
The third layer of the retina these cell fibres (axons) help form the beginnings of the
optic nerve.
The visual pathway from each eye to the visual cortex in our brain.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
53
These cells in our visual cortex respond to simple features of a stimulus i.e. straight
lines; edges; slits etc. when found in a particular orientation, or way-up, in our
visual field.
The organ concerned with consciousness. Consciousness is our awareness plus
perception; attention; language; thinking and memory) and the overall control of the
body.
This structure is found at the back of the eye upon which the images we see are
thrown.
Innate principles of grouping which human beings have which help us organise our
perceptual world.
A perceptual ability where we allocate one aspect of a stimulus to the foreground
(front:) and another aspect of it to the background (background).
Those abilities we have to make our world constant even although sensory evidence is
to the contrary i.e. size, shape, brightness and depth constancies. They arise due to
our biology; genetics and experience.
A school or an approach founded in Germany in the early part of the 20th century by
Kohler; Koffka and Wertheimer.
Edward Tolman (1930) in his rats in mazes experiment discovered that rats formed
these in order to make them more efficient and effective in their environment. The
human equivalent is called a neural network.
These cells found in our visual cortex deal with the length of visual stimuli.
This sense comes to us via our ear.
A famous illusion in psychology which demonstrates the perceptual ability of
figure-ground: even in two dimensions.
A theory of perception which brings together aspects of top-down and bottom-up
theories of perception. Advocated by the likes of Neisser it says we use the most
appropriate of top-down/bottom-up processes depending on the situation we find
ourself in.
These cells in our visual cortex respond to lines of particular orientation of a stimulus
wherever found in our visual field.
Smell, is one of the five senses by which odours are perceived. The nose, equipped
with olfactory nerves, is the special organ of smell.
Is unconsciously used by us to perceive what we perceive - sometimes contrary to
direct sensory experience. This phenomenon happens as a result of expectations;
culture; experience and motivation i.e. the cat sat on the map.
Concerns what prompts us to action or to behave in a particular way.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
54
It can effect our perception of objects, events, people stimuli etc. as a result of both
our internal biology and external environment.
The clues to depth we get from our external environment.
The clues to depth we get because of the unique biological and physiological
properties of our eyes.
A monocular depth cue. It is the monocular cue to depth we use when we see one
object partially obscuring another.
Another monocular depth cue. If we see two parallel lines converge into one another
in the distance this cue tells us about depth.
The dual and overlapping visual picture we get when seeing. It is responsible for
binocular vision.
The objects/images/events we perceive.
Occurs as our eyes turn inwards when something gets closer to us. It is a binocular
depth cue.
Another binocular cue to depth: it occurs because we get two slightly different and
overlapping images of the same scene. This information when processed in the visual
cortex is a valuable binocular depth cue.
Another monocular depth cue. We apply it when we see two objects, like two houses,
against their backgrounds in our visual field. We see in two dimensions, that one
house is smaller than the other. We perceive however that in reality this is not the
case.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
55
Perception:
Gigantic Wordsearch
perceptionexperimentalmethodsurveystimuli
languagememorycognitiveprocessesattention
hypotheticalconstructsthinkingTolman cognitive
mapsorganismsneuralnetwork
TheEcologicalViewsenseskinaestheticsenseiris
nature-nurture debateTheConstructivistView
sensationlensgustatorysenseauditorysense
Top-Down/Bottom-UpSymbioticViewretina
olfactorysensepsychophysicsintrospectionpupil
absolutethresholdstactilesenserelativesize
rodsconesautonomicnervoussystem(ANS)
opticchiasmabinoculardisparitybipolarcells
perceptualsetcentralnervoussystem(CNS)brain
stereopsisganglioncellsopticnervesimplecells
complexcellsfigure&groundlinearperspective
perceptualconstanciesbinocularconvergence
Gestaltpsychologyhypercomplexcellsgestalten
perceptsmotivationRubin’sVaseinterposition
monoculardepthcuesbinoculardepthcues
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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4. Quick Quiz
1. Identify our five cognitive processes.
2. What is perception?
3. How do we detect information in our environment?
4. What other names can you give for our visual; tactile; gustatory; olfactory and
auditory senses?
5. What is the only type of energy our brains understand?
6. What properties do our senses have which is important in the above respect?
7. What do you call the property where all our senses operate individually and
together to give our brain as much information about our world as possible?
8. Give an alternative name for the direct theory of perception?
9. Give an alternative name for the indirect theory of perception?
10. Which theory is the more acceptable to our understanding of perception? Give a
reason for your answer.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
57
5. Please answer the following questions
a) What is meant by perception in cognitive psychology?
You should
• define perception as an active cognitive process which has us processing,
organising and interpreting information coming to us from our outside world
• say how we do this i.e. via our senses
• give an example
• say what you think perception does for us i.e. it’s function is to give us an
accurate ‘picture’ of the world around us in order that we can operate
successfully within it, and that sometimes this accurate picture can be wrong
• refer to illusions and/or perceptual constancies and/or factors influencing
perception.
b) Read the following scenarios:
A girl looking at her watch.
A boy reading a book.
A mountaineer climbing a cliff-face.
A child working out a jig-saw.
Choose one of these and describe the role of perception in this situation.
Your answer must
• mention what perceptual process is being used in this situation (clue: it begins
with a ‘P’!)
• refer to the situation directly i.e. ‘In telling the time....’
• identify one/some of the senses being used, and make mention of what these senses
are doing for us
• mention what happens when this information reaches our brain. Are other
cognitive processes involved in this activity? If so what are they and why?
• mention the influence of culture/experience/expectations/motivation - but only if
appropriate to the situation chosen.
c) One group of people were shown pictures of capital letters, another group were
shown pictures of numbers. They were then shown the stimulus below and asked
what they saw.
What cognitive process is this a study of?
What method of research is being used? What
do you think participants reported seeing?
What factors affected the participants’
perception of this stimulus?
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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KEY CONCEPTS IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: MEMORY
Memory, another of our cognitive processes, can be defined as a system for dealing
with and organising incoming information coming to us from our outside world. It
is the highest level function we have which allows us to keep and hold information
about events and experiences that have happened to us in the past. The cognitive
organisation of the things we remember and can recall is our memory.
SQA ask that we consider in relation to the study of memory:
• forms of remembering
• episodic and semantic memory
• encoding (registration), storage and retrieval
• short-term memory and long-term memory.
You should become familiar with the different forms which memory can take and that
memory, similar to perception should be seen as an active process. We do things with
our memories, individually and together, to operate in our environment. Memory thus
acts in concert with perception and attention. We cannot attend to something unless
we perceive it, and cannot perceive something unless we attend to it. Whether we
perceive and attend to things often depends upon just how meaningful a stimulus is to
us. Memory will play it’s part here.
We have two types of memory. The first is episodic memory: which is memory of
personal events, experiences and episodes. the second is semantic memory: which is
memory for facts, the detail of which often depends on just how meaningful the fact
was for us at the time. How we code, store and retrieve memories is of interest to us
in the study of memory as is the breakdown in coding, storage or retrieval which
results in the phenomenon we call ‘forgetting’.
Memory does not just happen in one part of the brain. Different parts of the brain are
responsible for different types of memory. With deliberate parallels found in
computing these types of memory have been identified as short-term memory and
long-term memory.
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Cognitive Psychology: Memory
When You Are Old
By William Butler Yeats
WHEN you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.1
Memory is another cognitive process which we are asked to look at. The others are
of course perception, attention, thinking and language. Memory is a cognitive
process closely associated with, and, related to perception and attention. One need
only consider ‘eye witness testimony’ to appreciate this. Because people never lie in
court (!), cognitive psychologists who have lost their grip on reality might claim that
it is their interface which is why differences in evidence arise. We perceive and
attend to things on the basis of just how meaningful it is to us. The things in life
which mean something to us are affected by our biology, culture, expectations and
motivation. Would you look twice at a smartly dressed young man in a car park with
his briefcase open on the top of a sports car? On the other hand, what would you
think about a grubby, shell-suited young man lurking beside the vehicle? Why is this
the case?
In a recent BBC documentary into criminality, the smartly-dressed young man was
a professional car thief. His briefcase covered his very successful efforts to get the
lock out from the sports cars boot. He took the lock back to his own car. On the
boot lock is a key code. As a result of breaking into a locksmiths (!) he had a tool
which made a replica boot lock key - which obviously opens the car doors and turns
the ignition. This he duly did and a top of the range BMW disappeared!
1
While a beautiful and meaningful poem in it’s own right ‘When You Are Old’ reminds the author of
many semantic and episodic long-term memories he has concerning himself, his immediate and
extended family, his collective unconscious, his friendships, his education, his neural networks, his
politics, his personality, outlook etc. In tribute to my dear old dad, Arthur Keegan RIP.
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Memory may best be described as an information processing system for dealing
with and organising incoming information.
There are two traditions into memory research in psychology. The first was started
by Ebbinghaus (1885) who used the experimental method to investigate, in
particular, STM. He felt memory to be a ‘factual record’. The alternative tradition
was established by Bartlett (1932) who saw meaning as important to memory. he
saw memory as an active, dynamic cognitive process.
Memory has different forms which are related to the type of stimulus we encounter
i.e. episodic and semantic memory. Psychology sees memory as a hypothetical
construct - where it’s findings based are used, and will continue to be used, by
computer companies.
At present it is generally accepted that the three main processes of memory involve
encoding (also called registration), storage and retrieval. Any breakdown in
encoding, storage or retrieval, either putting material into memory, or trying to get it
out, is the reason why we ‘forget’. While cognitive psychologists take an
information processing approach to memory see parallels with computers, they do
not think a computer operates in exactly the same way as human memory...yet.
This further interests the likes of Microsoft, as does the capacity and links between
our short-term and long-term memories.
What is Memory?
‘Memory; a cognitive process important to learning, thinking and problem solving,
is the information process we use to store and retrieve information in our brain.’
GA Keegan (2000)
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Where is Memory?
Where memory occurs is a bit of a mystery. Research suggests some aspects of
memory are associated with particular areas of our brain. It has been found we store
and retrieve memories of/for sounds in our temporal lobe. We remember what we
see using our visual cortex. We recognise and remember patterns using our parietal
lobe. We store and retrieve our memories of faces in our frontal lobe. Memory is,
thus, a whole-brain cognitive process. Memory of an event relies on widespread
regions of the brain working together to create a whole (or gestalt). Thus, aspects of
a particular memory are stored by us in our brains as separate sense modalities that
have to be put together anew each time we come across a previously experienced
stimuli (see Forms of Memory).
Our perceptions first occupy an immediate, iconic memory (visual sensory
memory), then move to short-term memory, from which some transfer to longterm stores (see Storage). Recall of what you are sensing depends upon past
perceptual experience of it. Our perception of what it is we are sensing is often
coloured by the memory we have of it. This is connected to the feelings that
accompanied the event at the time. Dull events are hard to remember, life-changing
ones are easy. Meaning is once again central to yet another cognitive process.
Memory helps us ‘make sense’ of our reality based upon just how meaningful a
stimulus is for us - either at that time or at some time in the past. What we
remember, and how detailed and deeply we remember it, is kind of subjective for us
in many ways.
Where in the brain memory happens is problematic. Studies have shown that
damage to the hippocampus (thought to be the centre of our emotions and
autonomic nervous system) impairs episodic memory (personal events,
experiences and episodes), but allows us to still deal with everyday life, The
hippocampus is linked by nerve fibres to our cortex where visual, auditory motor
memories, etc. are located - though’ not all together. Memories of whole events
involve different parts of the brain (EEG & MRI). To remember or retrieve a
memory we have to bring all the relevant ‘bits’ of it together.
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Forms of Remembering:
Encoding (Registration): Storage & Retrieval of Memories
Encoding or Registration
The process we use when putting information into our memory is called encoding.
Taking all our senses and sensory modalities into account this makes sense! We
store/remember using the most relevant code dependent upon the type, or manner,
of stimulus we come across.
1. Acoustic codes represent particular events stored and remembered as a
sequence of sounds
2. Visual codes represent visual information stored and remembered as forms or
images
3. Semantic codes get us involved in remembering things on the basis of their
meaning for us.
Holding memory over time is called storage. We come to store memories in three
main ‘files’ each with a far greater capacity compared to what came before. These
are called sensory register: short term memory and long term memory (stores).
Forms of Remembering: Storage
Sensory: Short- and Long-term Memory Storage
Sensory Register which includes iconic memory holds information from all the
senses, but only for a fraction of a second. It’s role makes us aware of our
surroundings on a ‘real-time’ basis and helps us decide whether a particular stimulus
is worth bothering about and thus involve a range of further, deeper and more
extensive information processing.
Sensory register is more a subconscious state of awareness of an event than a storage
facility as such. Sensory register makes us aware of both visual and acoustic aspects
of our world - but only for a fraction of a second. We would know it more as our
awareness of the sensation of a breeze blowing off our cheek. A baby in a pram
would utilise it’s semantic register more than an adult; why might this be?
Short Term Memory (or ‘Working Memory’) receives the information that was
perceived and selectively attended to in sensory register or retrieved from long term
memory if no further processing occurs. STM has a duration of around 20-30
seconds. STM has two functions. STM helps us
• to form and update a picture of our world on a minute-by-minute basis, and
• to think and solve problems.
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Things you didn’t know about STM
Encoding: cross-culturally people tend to use acoustic codes to encode information
into STM. Visual codes tend to decay faster than acoustic codes.
Storage Capacity: The immediate memory span is the number of items you can recall
perfectly after one presentation of the stimulus. STM is between 5-9 chunks of
information long (Miller, 1956).
The Power of Chunking: the capacity and power of our STM can be increased by
trying to remember bigger and bigger ‘chunks’ of information. Efficient chunking
needs STM and LTM working together.
This can be illustrated easily. Please take 30 seconds to memorise the following
letter string
sruoyylerecnis
Now cover up the letter string - and without cheating - write down as many
letters in sequence as you can remember.
Because our STM capacity is only 7+2 units of information long, you will be hard
pushed to get it right first, second or possibly even third time. However....think about
the power of chunking and look at the stimulus again. Can you see how it could be
committed to memory in two chunks?
Duration of STM: Browne-Peterson procedure research results indicate that the
duration of our STM is 20 seconds long and also that repeating something that has to
be remembered over and over again (maintenance rehearsal using focussed
attention) information can be held in STM almost indefinitely. You would not be
able to do much else however: this is related to our more natural state of divided
attention.
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Forms of Remembering: Storage
Long Term Memory:
1. Encoding: Encoding information into our LTM is the consequence of a deep level
of conscious processing and usually involves some form of semantic coding (you
never forget what you were just doing when you hear a parent dies and events
thereafter, but you are never entirely sure what you wrote in a well-prepared-for
exam or what happened at your well deserved pub post-mortem - especially the
next day...if of course you are over 18!). Visual codes are also utilised to encode
LTM’s. Research of late has indicated that smells and tastes are also stored in
LTM. This shows how flexible LTM is.
Dual-coding theory (elaborated by Craik & Tulving, 1975) recommends we use
both acoustic and visual codes to help us commit important things to memory. If
you want to do well in your Intermediate 2 psychology assessments dualprocessing theory would help by reminding you to pay attention to what your
teacher lecturer is saying and also to read these notes carefully. Doing the student
activities will enhance performance even more. Your teacher/lecturer should
explain why this is.
This is related to Bradshaw & Anderson (1975) in their memory recall task
where they who got subjects to try and remember events which occurred to
famous people e.g. ‘At a critical point in his life Mozart made a journey from
Munich to Paris’. The independent variable was the emphasis (control group:
absence) of semantic meaning i.e. one group were given detail of why an event
was personally important to Mozart, the other group were not. The experimental
group (those who got the ‘treatment’ of personal meaning, remembered more than
the control group (those who did not get the ‘treatment’). The control group’s
memory task was as about exciting as watching paint dry! All Mozart’s comments
about towns and villages along the route made the experimental group’s ability to
remember more detail that much easier.
The independent variable: the one the researcher is changing or manipulating.
The dependent variable: that which the researcher would measure or observe.
Measure in this instance was memory recall score.
This explains why we can remember more vividly, news items which have both visual
and semantic content in them. They help the news item to become more meaningful
for us.
2. Storage Capacity : Most theorists believe there is no limit to the amount of
information that can be stored in LTM. It is the biggest hard disk in existence.
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Episodic and Semantic memory
Types of Memory
In general, memories are less clear and detailed than perceptions but occasionally a
remembered image is complete in every detail. Often called ‘photographic
memory’ this phenomenon is as a result of eidetic memory (or eidetic imagery)
found in 1:20 children. They use it to spell out an entire page of writing in an
unfamiliar language that they have only seen for a short time. They have no way of
remembering it on the basis of meaning. It is gobbledegook to them. Only the few
possess eidetic memory in adulthood.
Episodic Memory, also known as ‘procedural memory’, is according to Tulving
(1972) an autobiographical memory containing our personal memories of past
events, people, objects, etc (i.e. have a spatio-temporal significance for us). They are
remembered by us on the basis of when and where they occurred. They have a
subjective reality. (They are remembered on the basis of just how meaningful it was
for us).
Semantic Memory, on the other hand is our store of general factual knowledge about
the world including concepts, rules and language. It is a
‘mental thesaurus , organised knowledge about words and
other verbal symbols, their meanings and referents.’
Tulving (1972)
Semantic memory is influenced by just how meaningful general factual knowledge
was made for us at the time.
Differences Between Episodic and Semantic Memory
Episodic Memory
Semantic Memory
Uses sensory experience as data
Uses comprehension as data
Units of information are
episodes/events
Units of information are concepts; ideas
and facts
Organised as time-related
Organised as concepts
Emotional content very important
Emotional content less vital
High chance of forgetting
Low chance of forgetting
Source: Tulving, 1983
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Forms of Remembering
Why do we remember.....
Four different forms or types of remembering are distinguished by psychologists:
Ebbinghaus identified:
• recollection
• recall
• recognition and
• relearning.
Recollection involves the reconstruction of events or facts on the basis of partial
cues. These serve as reminders to us of a past event or fact. Recollection would
occur when watching e.g. a scene in Eastenders where the situation reminds you of
something similar which you have experienced. Your mind wanders off and you
build up a memory of this actual event before returning, 5 minutes later, to your
favourite soap.
Recall, in its purest form is our active and unaided remembering of something from
the past. There are two types of recall used by us all the time.
Cued Recall: is where we come across a memory trigger in our
environment which reminds us that we have to do something. We often
remind ourself to buy a particular item at the time we run out of it. When
we are in the supermarket we see the item on the shelf. This triggers the
memory that we have indeed run out of the item at home. We had reminded
ourself at the time that we would buy it the next time we saw it. This is cued
recall. Tying a knot in a hanky would be another form of it.
Serial Recall: is where we have to bring out of our different memory stores
aspects of a particular memory and puts it all together in a set sequence.
This is particularly relevant in the situation of a group having to play and
sing a song. They have to bring together out of long-term memory, the
words (which have been encoded visually); the music (which has been
encoded acoustically) and the meaning of the song (which has been encoded
semantically). Not only that, the band have to individually and collectively
produce the words, tune and emphasis in a set sequence. This is serial recall.
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Serial recall
Cued recall
Recognition is our ability to correctly identify previously encountered perceptions
or internal experiences as familiar. Recognition is when you are standing in Central
Station in Glasgow, for example, and recognise a face from your past. Recognition
is realisation of a previously encountered experience - often buried deep in LTM.
Relearning may show evidence of
the effects of memory. Material
that is familiar is often easier to
learn a second time than it would be
if it were unfamiliar, relearning
suggests there might be another
different type of memory. A
short-cut to a hard-drive perhaps?
.....And why do we forget?
Forgetting or Faulty Retrieval
The course of forgetting over time has been studied extensively by psychologists.
Most often, rapid forgetting occurs at first, followed by a slower rate of loss.
Improvement in the amount of material retained can be achieved by practising
active recall during learning, periodically reviewing the material, and overlearning that is, relearning the material beyond the point of bare mastery. This would
involve reading your psychology notes over and over again as often as you can.
Rehearsal again plays it’s part in efficient and effective memory recall. It is painful
but this process relates memory ability to comprehension. If you look back at
Tulving (1983) you will be able to see why this is important.
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Four traditional explanations of forgetting exist. One is that memory traces fade
naturally over time as a result of organic processes occurring in the brain. Memory
- and ‘forgetfulness’ - can also be affected by brain damage, accident or illness. A
second is that memories become systematically distorted or modified over time. A
third is that new learning often interferes with, or replaces, old learning. Finally,
some forgetting may be motivated by emotional needs and wishes—as when
unpleasant childhood experiences are repressed or denied.
Here is a man making a speech. What things could he
do when preparing for the speech to help him make it
seem easy on the day?
Memory: Conclusion
Memory; a cognitive process important to learning, thinking and problem solving is
the information process we use to store and retrieve information in our brain.
Memory takes different forms which are related to the type of stimulus we encounter
i.e. episodic and semantic memory. Episodic memory is personal to us. It is
autobiographical in content. Semantic memory is our memory for facts. Often what
we remember; in either semantic or episodic form; is related to just how meaningful
an event or a stimulus is to/for us. Past memories will influence our meaningful
perception and attention of the present.
As an information process memory is also studied from the point of view of how we
code, store and retrieve our memories. We (en)code, or register, memories of stimuli
on the basis of particular aspects of it. We store memories on the basis of how
things sound (acoustic code), how things look (visual code) and what things mean
to us (semantic code).
We have three memory stores available to us. Semantic memory is ‘memory’ of our
awareness of an event. Short-term memory is our working memory which can hold
7+2 units or chunks of information at any one time and lasts around 20 seconds.
Short-term memory helps us to form and update a picture of our world on a minuteby-minute basis, and to think and solve problems. Our main memory store is longterm memory. We encode long-term memories on the basis of semantic and visual
aspects of the stimulus.
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Faulty retrieval or ‘forgetting’ happens due to a breakdown in our ability to encode,
store or retrieve memories. Memory and forgetting is a whole-brain cognitive
process. Different parts of the brain are responsible for different aspects of
‘memory’. Someone may therefore suffer damage to the part of the brain
responsible for short-term memory, and be unable to recollect what they had for
breakfast; but on the other hand will be able to vividly remember the day the Second
World War ended. We can use our knowledge of cognitive processes in general and
memory in particular to devise strategies to aid learning. Cued recall and using
rehearsal for serial recall are examples of this. While psychology sees memory as a
hypothetical construct, findings are used (and will continue to be used) by computer
companies.
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Glossary: Memory
acoustic codes: this is an aspect of storage where particular events are stored and
remembered as a sequence of sounds.
capacity: the size of a memory store. Sensory register is immediate and momentary;
short-term memory can handle 7+2 units or chunks of information at any one time;
long-term memory is infinite in size. What we remember from our long-term memory
will depend on it’s visual and acoustic properties and just how meaningful the
image/object/event was for us at the time.
coding: process by which we encode (commit) things to memory. We do this on the
basis of the acoustic and visual properties of a stimulus and just how much this
stimulus means to us.
cued recall: is where we come across a memory trigger in our environment which
reminds us that we have to do something.
dual-coding theory: put forward by Craik & Tulving, 1975 who say we use both
acoustic and visual codes to help us commit important things to memory.
eidetic memory: often called ‘photographic memory’ this phenomenon is as a found
in 1:20 children, who, using it could spell out an entire page of writing in an
unfamiliar language that they have only seen for a short time. Only the few possess
eidetic memory in adulthood.
episodic memory: also known as ‘procedural memory’, is according to Tulving
(1972) an autobiographical memory containing our personal memories of past events,
people, objects etc.
encoding: the process we adopt when coding memories. We encode on the basis of
the acoustic and visual properties of a stimulus and how much it means to us.
Cross-culturally people tend to use acoustic codes to encode information into STM.
Visual codes tend to decay faster than acoustic codes hippocampus: the centre of our
emotions and autonomic nervous system, damage to this part of the brain impairs
episodic memory (personal events, experiences and episodes), but allows us to still
deal with everyday life, It is linked by nerve fibres to our cortex where it is visual and
auditory memories are located - though not together. Memories of whole events have
been found to involve different parts of the brain iconic memory; another name for
sensory register.
long-term memory: our memory for personal events (episodic memory) and facts
(semantic memory). LTM of a stimulus is found in various parts of the brain in
different types of long-term memory stores. Storage depends on the different
properties of the stimulus (acoustic; visual and personal meaning).
meaning: is central to memory. Our memory helps us ‘make sense’ of our reality
based upon just how meaningful a stimulus is for us - either at that time or at some
time in the past. What we remember, and how detailed and deeply we remember it, is
kind of subjective for us in many ways.
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memory: is a higher level cognitive process, which is our system for dealing with and
organising incoming information coming to us from our outside world. It is the
higher level function we have which allows us to keep and hold information about
events and experiences that have happened to us in the past. The brain’s organisation
of the things we remember and can recall is our memory.
recall: a form of remembering which is the active and unaided remembering of
something from our past.
recognition: a form of remembering which allows us to correctly identify
previously encountered perceptions or internal experiences as familiar.
recollection: a form of remembering which involves the reconstruction of events or
facts on the basis of partial cues, which serve as reminders to us of a past event or
fact.
relearning: a form of remembering which show evidence of the effects of memory.
Material that is familiar is often easier to learn a second time than it would be if it
were unfamiliar, relearning suggests there might be another different type of
memory. In computing terms it is a form of remembering which is a short-cut to
our LTM ‘hard-drive’.
retrieval: of memory. This is related to what we remember and what we forget.
Forgetting occurs due to either faulty encoding, storage or retrieval.
semantic codes: is the code we use to remember things on the basis of their
meaning for us.
semantic memory: is our memory of general factual knowledge about the world
including concepts, rules and language. It is a ‘mental thesaurus , organised
knowledge about words and other verbal symbols, their meanings and referents.’
(Tulving (1972)). It is influenced by just how meaningful general factual knowledge
was made for us at the time.
sensory register or iconic memory holds information from all the senses, but only
for a fraction of a second. It is more a subconscious state of awareness of an event
than a storage facility. We would know it more as our awareness of the sensation of a
breeze blowing off our cheek.
serial recall: is where we have to bring out of our different memory stores aspects of
a particular memory and put it all together in a set sequence.
short term memory: (or ‘Working Memory’) receives the information that was
perceived and selectively attended to in sensory register or retrieved from long term
memory if no further processing occurs . STM has a duration of around 20-30
seconds. STM has two functions. STM helps us to form and update a picture of our
world on a minute-by-minute basis, and to think and solve problems.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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storage: our brains capacity to hold memories over time.
We come to store memories in three main ‘files’ each with a far greater capacity
compared to what came before. These are called sensory register: short term
memory and long term memory (stores).
storage capacity : term referring to the size of our three different memory stores.
Short-term memory has a capacity of 7+2 units or ‘chunks’ of information for up to
20 seconds at a time. Long-term memory has unlimited capacity and we can
retrieve memories from LTM many years after experiencing the event...sometimes.
Most theorists believe there is no limit to the amount of information that can be
stored in LTM. It is the biggest hard disk in existence.
visual codes: represent visual information stored and remembered as forms or
images
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STUDENT ACTIVITY : MEMORY
1. What do you think the study of memory is all about?
Identify by ticking in the boxes below what a student of cognitive psychology might
study in relation to Memory
the senses
coding, storage and retrieval
episodic memory
psychophysics
memory for facts
selection and attention
meaning of stimuli
motivation
acoustic codes
visual illusions
chunking
learning strategies
forgetting
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
74
2. Please fill in the blank spaces from the boxed word list below:
episodic and semantic sound semantic code working memory 20 forgetting store and
retrieve visual awareness cued 7+2 long-term memory learning thinking and problem
solving semantic and visual learning autobiographical meaningful code, store and
retrieve whole-brain
Memory; a cognitive process important to
, is the
information process we use to
information in our brain.
Memory takes different forms which are related to the type of stimulus we encounter
i.e.
memory. Episodic memory is personal to us. It is
in content. Semantic memory is our memory for facts. Often what we remember;
in either semantic or episodic form; is related to just how
an event or a
stimulus is to/for us. Past memories will influence our meaningful perception and
attention of the present. As an information process memory is also studied from the
point of view of how we
our memories. We code memories of
stimuli on the basis of particular aspects of it. We store on the basis of how things
: acoustic code; how things look:
code and what things mean to us:
. We have three memory stores available to us. Semantic memory is
‘memory’ of our
of an event. Short-term memory is our
which can hold
units or chunks of information at any one time and
lasts around seconds. Short-term memory helps us to form and update a picture
of our world on a minute-by-minute basis, and to think and solve problems. Our
main memory store is
. We encode long-term memories on the basis
of
aspects of the stimulus. Faulty retrieval or ‘
’
happens due to a breakdown in our ability to code, store or retrieve memories.
Memory and forgetting is a
cognitive process. Different parts of
the brain are responsible for different aspects of ‘memory’. Someone may therefore
suffer damage to the part of the brain responsible for short-term memory, and be
unable to recollect what they had for breakfast; but on the other hand will be able to
vividly remember the day the Second World War ended. We can use our
knowledge of cognitive processes in general and memory in particular to devise
strategies to aid
.
recall is an example of this. While
psychology sees memory as a hypothetical construct findings are used, and will
continue to be used, by computer companies.
Psychology: Cognitive Psychology (Int1/2)
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3. Memory: Not-So Gigantic Wordsearch
Solve the clues to the Not-So Gigantic Wordsearch that follows. Put a line through
the correct word or phrase in the wordsearch and write your answer beside the clue.
This is an aspect of storage where particular events are stored and remembered as a
sequence of sounds.
The size of a memory store. Sensory register is immediate and momentary;
short-term memory can handle 7+2 units or chunks of information at any one time;
long-term memory is infinite in size. What we remember from our long-term memory
will depend on it’s visual and acoustic properties and just how meaningful the
image/object/event was for us at the time.
This is where we have to bring out of our different memory stores aspects of a
particular memory and put it all together in a set sequence.
Information stored and remembered as forms or images
Process by which we encode (commit) things to memory. We do this on the basis of
the acoustic and visual properties of a stimulus and just how much this stimulus
means to us.
Theory put forward by Craik & Tulving, 1975 who say we use both acoustic and
visual codes to help us commit important things to memory.
Often called ‘photographic memory’ this phenomenon is as a found in 1:20 children,
who, using it could spell out an entire page of writing in an unfamiliar language that
they have only seen for a short time. Only the few possess eidetic memory in
adulthood.
Also known as ‘procedural memory’, is according to Tulving (1972) an
autobiographical memory containing our personal memories of past events, people,
objects etc.
The process we adopt when coding memories. We encode on the basis of the acoustic
and visual properties of a stimulus and how much it means to us. Cross-culturally
people tend to use acoustic codes to encode information into STM. Visual codes tend
to decay faster than acoustic codes
The centre of our emotions and autonomic nervous system, damage to this part of the
brain impairs episodic memory (personal events, experiences and episodes), but
allows us to still deal with everyday life. It is linked by nerve fibres to our cortex
where it is visual and auditory memories are located - though not together. Memories
of whole events have been found to involve different parts of the brain iconic
memory; another name for sensory register.
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Our memory for personal events (episodic memory) and facts (semantic memory).
LTM of a stimulus is found in various parts of the brain in different types of longterm memory stores. Storage depends on the different properties of the stimulus
(acoustic; visual and personal meaning).
This is psychological in nature and is central to memory. Our memory helps us ‘make
sense’ of our reality based upon just how meaningful a stimulus is for us - either at
that time or at some time in the past.
This a higher level cognitive process, which is our system for dealing with and
organising incoming information coming to us from our outside world. It is the
higher level function we have which allows us to keep and hold information about
events and experiences that have happened to us in the past.
A form of remembering which is the active and unaided remembering of something
from our past.
A form of remembering which allows us to correctly identify previously encountered
perceptions or internal experiences as familiar.
This is where we come across a memory trigger in our environment which reminds
us that we have to do something.
A form of remembering which involves the reconstruction of events or facts on the
basis of partial cues, which serve as reminders to us of a past event or fact.
A form of remembering which show evidence of the effects of memory. Material
that is familiar is often easier to learn a second time than it would be if it were
unfamiliar, relearning suggests there might be another different type of memory. In
computing terms it is a form of remembering which is a short-cut to our LTM
‘hard-drive’.
This is related to what we remember and what we forget. Forgetting occurs due to
either faulty encoding, storage or retrieval.
This is the code we use to remember things on the basis of their meaning for/to us.
This refers to our memory of general factual knowledge about the world including
concepts, rules and language. It is a ‘mental thesaurus , organised knowledge about
words and other verbal symbols, their meanings and referents.’ (Tulving (1972)).
Known also as iconic memory this holds information from all the senses, but only for
a fraction of a second. It is more a subconscious state of awareness of an event than a
storage facility.
Known also as ‘Working Memory’ this receives the information that was perceived
and selectively attended to in sensory register or retrieved from long term memory if
no further processing occurs. STM has a duration of around 20-30 seconds. STM has
two functions. STM helps us to form and update a picture of our world on a
minute-by-minute basis, and to think and solve problems.
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This is our brains capacity to hold memories over time. We come to store memories
in three main ‘files’ each with a far greater capacity compared to what came before.
These are called sensory register: short term memory and long term memory (stores).
A term referring to the size of our three different memory stores. Short-term
memory has a capacity of 7+2 units or ‘chunks’ of information for up to 20 seconds
at a time. Long-term memory has unlimited capacity and we can retrieve memories
from LTM many years after experiencing the event...sometimes. Most theorists
believe there is no limit to the amount of information that can be stored in LTM. It
is the biggest hard disk in existence.
Not so Gigantic Wordsearch Memory
codingencodingrestoragecapacity
iconicmemorysensoryregister
dual-codingtheorymeaning
long-termmemoryvisualcodes
semanticcodesmemorycapacity
episodicmemoryeideticmemory
acousticcodesrecallrecognition
recollectionhippocampusstorage
retrievalsemanticmemoryserial
learningshorttermmemorycued
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4. Quick Quiz
1. What do you understand by the cognitive process called memory?
2. Why is memory important?
3. Define memory.
4. What two forms do memories take?
5. What might influence the contents of these forms of memory? Give an example
of the affect of this.
6. On what bases do we code, store and retrieve information?
7. What types of memory stores do we have?
8. Give a description of each of these memory stores.
9. Why do we ‘forget’? Give an example of why we might forget something.
10. What is ‘serial recall’?
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5. Please answer the following questions:
a) What is meant by memory in cognitive psychology?
•
•
•
•
•
Your answer should cover the forms of remembering that have been identified by
cognitive psychologists
give some everyday examples in your answer. Is one form better than another?
explain what is meant by episodic and semantic memory
how do the three basic processes of memory (coding, storage and retrieval)
combine to make our memory more effective?
what are the similarities and differences between short term and long term
memory?
b) Read the following scenarios:
A man selecting something in a supermarket
A group on stage just about to start a set
Someone keeping a daily diary
Your Headteacher or Principal making a speech
Choose two of these and describe the role of memory in this situation:
• your answer must mention which perceptual process is being used and why it is
relevant to/necessary in the situation(s) chosen
• refer to the situation directly
• give detail about any particular aspects of memory identified in the situation(s)
• give detail about how memory can be influenced in the situation(s) chosen.
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KEY CONCEPTS IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: LANGUAGE
Language is the last of three cognitive process we will examine. You will become
familiar with the range of functions with which language is associated and develop an
appreciation of the importance of linguistic functioning to the human species in
particular. The influence that language has on cognition generally will be emphasised
and close links with memory and thinking explored. Modern day issues such as
sexism in language and emotive language will be effectively utilised during the
teaching of this concept. You will become familiar with the fact that other species
have effective communication systems and you will be introduced to attempts to teach
human language to chimpanzees and other higher level species. The limitations of
animal language will be acknowledged and the distinctive features of human language
emphasised.
To this end SQA particularly emphasise in the study of language:
•
•
•
humans and language
different language styles – social, cultural influences
animals and language
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KEY CONCEPTS IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: LANGUAGE
Mike Cardwell in the excellent ‘Complete A-Z Psychology Handbook’ defines
language as ‘an agreed set of symbols that enable us to convey meaning and
converse with other members of the same culture that share the same language’.
While the Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus see language as,
A system for the expression of thoughts, feelings etc by the
use of spoken sounds or conventional symbols.
The faculty for the use of such systems, which is a
distinguishing characteristic of man...
The language of a particular nation or group.
The specialised vocabulary used by a particular group.
Agreed definition is difficult. Language has been studied from the beginnings of
time. Is there such a thing as one agreed language? We learn spoken language at
home. We are then sent to school to learn to read, write and converse better in
language! How we speak in the home will hopefully not be the language we use with
our peers. Similarly the language some of us use with our peers will not be the same
when we are talking to small children. We learn foreign languages. We learn the
language of academic subjects which allow us to converse with others who use the
same language i.e. mathematics; music; chemistry; physics; psychology, etc. While
we all share the same spoken language, why is it that the language coming from a
particular person is perceived as more important than another? Language is power. A
knowledge of language from the perspective of cognitive psychology should equip
you to be more effective in your interpersonal relationships.
The psychological study of language is heavily influenced by British philosophy
from the establishment of the British empirical tradition by John Locke in the 17th
and 18th Centuries and continued by George Berkeley, David Hume, John Stuart
Mill, GE Moore and Bertrand Russell in the 19th and 20th centuries. These English
(and Scottish!) philosophers gave birth to what is nowadays called analytic or
linguistic philosophy. As cognitive psychology has it’s roots in philosophy this
influence sees us concentrate on the development, formation and construction of
language; it’s structure and function.
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LANGUAGE: HUMANS AND LANGUAGE
The psychology of language concerns itself with 4 main areas - some of which are
challenging in interest and content.
•
•
•
•
Elements of language
Understanding speech
Learning to talk - stages of language development
The acquisition of language
1. The Elements of Language
From an information-processing point of view, language has two basic elements:
symbols and grammar.
For psychologists, ‘Grammars represent the tacit
knowledge that native speakers have about their language,
which includes knowing how to form grammatically
acceptable sentences, knowing what they mean and
knowing how to pronounce them’ (Carroll, 1986).
We form sentences using words, which themselves are made up two elements.
•
•
Morphemes, a combination of meaning and
and
Phonemes, which are the way words/parts of words sound (phonology).
This can be demonstrated below i.e.
‘Port’ sounds better and is sequentially more grammatically correct than ‘Plort’ or
‘Plorb’.
Rules of syntax determine the way our words go together to form sentences e.g. if
asked to complete the following sentence below, rules of syntax determine that we
must choose a noun (a noun is of course a class, general category or particular
thing!).
‘The psychology lecturer played with ...?’
The answer being of course, ‘bits of paper’ or ‘elastic bands.’
Another important syntactic rule is to do with word order (see Learning to Talk:
Stages of Language Development). ‘John loves Mary’ has a different meaning than
‘Mary loves John,’ both of which are grammatically correct but semantically
(meaning) different.
Semantics are the set of rules governing the meaning of words. Semantics influence
our understanding of something that is being communicated to us. We often put
semantic interpretation on what is being said to/about us on the basis of what we think
the person means. What things mean to us is based on previous past experience.
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What is being said here is that the string of words we use to put a sentence together
has both a:
a) surface structure and a
b) deep structure
This is a neat way of explaining
i)
ii)
iii)
how we mean what we say
don’t often mean what we say, and
what can happen when others interpret what they think we meant about what we
said!
Take the following example:
‘If you don’t shut up I will kill you.’
This sentence is grammatically and syntactically correct. Would you do what you say
you mean to do? If you were the victim of a recent assault and overheard the above,
would this experience colour your interpretation of what is going on?
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Language: Humans and Language
Υνδερστανδινγ Σπεεχη
As demonstrated above, the topic of this section is very definitely the province of
psychology - the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. We use the following
strategies and abilities in our attempt to understand and act appropriately to what is
being communicated to us.
•
Perceiving Words & Phrases
The gaps we hear between spoken words are not real but perceived because of topdown higher level mental processing. Syntax, memories, and knowledge of the world
help us understand and remember verbal and written communication. As a result
when we are engaged in a conversation with someone we very often perceive, or
anticipate, what they are going to say next and jump in with our tuppence worth.
Occasionally our anticipated perception of words and phrases is wrong: and this often
gets us into bother!
In the absence of language percepts (cues which surround language), we are very
careful to wait until we hear a full sentence from people who ‘phone us before we
pitch in. Not so in interpersonal interaction.
•
Using Context and Scripts
An understanding of language depends on constructing information based partly on
the context in which the information is encoded. Put simply the situation in which
the language happens helps understanding of what it means. ‘The Full Monty’ now
means more than just a film title to many of us!! Context of language is created by
the situation, and by personal factors such as education and culture.
Where the same language is appropriate in one context but inappropriate in
another
In 1999 the eminent Scottish QC, Donald Findley, found himself at a Rangers FC
league, Scottish and League Cup celebration. The party, attended by other Board
members, players, officials, and supporters was in full swing when Donald, the then
Vice-Chairman of Rangers got up to sing The Sash. His rendition was very well
received. Within the context of the situation, Rangers’ supporters might have seen the
song as appropriate, if a little unwise for someone in Donald’s position.
Someone took a video of the proceedings which was released to the media. When
taken out of the context within which the events happened, the video caused the
lawyer a lot of criticism. He resigned from his much cherished position at Rangers.
He was heavily fined by the Faculty of Advocates. However, he received hundreds of
letters in support for his behaviour, a number of which came from Celtic fans who had
a certain sympathy for his plight.
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Scripts also help us understand the language being used in a particular situation.
Scripts are our own ideas; thoughts, images of a familiar activity, event or sequence.
A script can also be called a mental representation. Awareness of the script which
goes with a particular activity helps us avoid making embarrassing blunders.
Knowledge of the script helps us understand in a more meaningful way what is being
communicated to us. The ‘script’ is one reason why we show respect when a hearse
passes by us.
•
Conventions and non-verbal Cues
Conventions (customs and etiquette), often built up over years, often govern the
meaning of conversations. They are a sign of the power within which the language is
situated. This ranges from more obvious examples of the Queen’s Speech through to
less obvious, but more pertinent, language conventions e.g. ‘SQA-speak’. We
perceive conventions as important and we sometimes give the convention-delivered
communication over-inflated credibility and respect.
Non-verbal cues like body language, situation and culture also play a part in the
understanding of the situation and language used (and to use). The language of an
interview is hide-bound by ‘NVCs’.
Taking all of the above into account,
•
•
•
•
•
perception
context
scripts
conventions
NVCs
What do you understand by the following?
Πσψχηολογψ: τηε σχιενχε οφ µινδ ανδ βεηαϖιουρ.
Now the hard bit! Give reasons for your answer below:
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Language: Humans and Language: Learning to Talk: Stages of Language
Development
At about four months of age, babies begin to repeat
simple syllables (Ba...ba...ba; Da...da...da). This is
called babbling. At nine months, babies stop uttering
noises that are not within their environmental ‘frame of
reference’. This is the beginning of their perception that
only particular sounds mean something to others.
Real words follow at 12-14 months, usually proper names and objects - Daddy;
Mummy, Teddy etc. At this one word stage they use only one word at a time, and
overextend its use to mean more than one object (see Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development Sensori-Motor Stage).
First sentences come at 18-24 months as two word pairs e.g. ‘There’s bus’, ‘Big
horse’ etc. These first sentences are brief and telegraphic. Next come three word
sentences with subject -verb-object sequences e.g. ‘Me want Barbie’, ‘I want Power
Ranger.’ Word endings begin to emerge but are often misplaced e.g. ‘I going to
nanna’s.’ These rules we learn from others around us.
Finally by age five comes the use of adjectives, and fairly complex sentences full of
progressively correct syntax, surface and deep structural meaning. When a six year
old was asked what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas, she looked deeply
thoughtful for a moment and then said, ‘I don’t mind what presents Santa brings me as long as there are lots of them.’ And there were!
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Language: Humans and Language: How is Language Acquired?
Conditioning, imitation and rules have all been found to play a part. Before these
environmental influences begin our biology must come into play. We have a
biologically determined critical period for language acquisition. This was first
brought to psychology’s attention by Noam Chomsky.
Chomsky, is an American linguist, writer, teacher and political activist. He founded
what is both brilliantly and absurdly called transformational-generative linguistic
analysis! What Chomsky means by this is that as well as the rules of grammar
specific to individual languages, there are also universal rules common to all
languages. This shows that the ability to form and understand language is innate to
all human beings.
Chomsky believes that children the world over are born with an innate language
acquisition device to help them cope with the complexities of language. There
appears to be a critical period for language acquisition. The theory lies within the
biological approach in psychology and is beyond the scope of this course, but suffice
to say it is all down to the epigenic maturation of those parts of the brain that deals
with language. Once this critical period is reached (11/12 according to Lennenberg
(1964 & 1967), little can be done to kick-start language and its attendant potentialities
for the individual. Our ability to switch on to the acquisition of language in early
childhood is uncanny. Bilingualism need only prove this point.
An understanding of language from the psychological side of things must give
students a notion as to its importance. Never again will ‘Oh no, it’s English again’
mean quite the same thing for you. Not getting to grips with language in a complex
and meaningful way, may affect more than your examination mark!
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Language: Different language styles – social, cultural influences
This is a particularly controversial area of psychology. In 1973, Basil Bernstein a
sociologist, suggested that we used two types of language code:
•
•
restricted code and
elaborated code
Termed Bernstein’s verbal deprivation hypothesis whatever code you used is
largely influenced by your class and socialisation. Working-class people use
restricted code (the language of the streets in many ways), and middle and upper class
people use elaborated code (like the Queen or Jeremy Paxman!). Elaborated code
gives better more enriched meaning and understanding to complex situations, issues,
events, objects, experiences, etc. You have to learn elaborated code. Elaborated code
is learned and used in middle-class homes, schools, communities, all the time.
Elaborated code is the language of power. Elaborated code is the key to personal
advancement. Elaborated code encourages thinking in terms of general principles
(hypothesis testing, abstract thought, creativity, etc). Also according to Bernstein,
thinking in terms of restricted code narrows your potential, opportunities and life
chances. The theory carries with it an implication that working-class people are
verbally deprived and ultimately unable to think in the abstract.
The verbal deprivation theory was challenged by Labov (1972). In a series of studies
where researchers chatted informally and colloquially with children about tasks they
wished them to do. They discovered there was no relationship between use of
elaborated code and conceptual ability (abstract thinking and problem solving).
Labov also says that when you look at non-standard English users they linguistically
conform to the same rules of syntax, grammar as elaborated code users. Non-standard
English users in supportive environments have been found to be as competent and
sophisticated in their thinking as anyone else. Labov feels that Bernstein is trying to
push an agenda - on a false premise - where one type of language is seen as ‘better’
than others.
If language falls into just two codes, both have survival value for us. There is a place
for both. In Scotland, it is not a particularly good idea when you find yourself
confronted with someone snarling, swearing and squaring up to you to say ‘Now look
here my man....’ On the other hand in an interview situation for a job in a bank, it is
equally crazy to continually use the phrase ‘’Know what I mean, man...?’
The controversies of the debate aside it is worth mentioning that the code we do use
when communicating with others can influence how people perceive us and, thus,
think, feel and react to us.
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Accent and Social Judgements
Giles (1973) was interested in whether we were influenced in the formation of our
opinions based on the accent used by the communicator. He got a group of 17 year
olds to indicate their views on capital punishment. Seven days later they were
presented with an argument against capital punishment delivered in either received
pronunciation, a South Welsh, Somerset or Birmingham accent (the independent
variable). The participants were then asked to rate the quality of the argument
presented (the dependent variable). Their ratings showed a statistically significant
correlation with the social status of the accent. The more prestigious the accent, the
better the argument was thought to be presented.
This is related to the work of Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968). They discovered that
teachers unconsciously rate children on the basis of speech, appearance, etc. They
attribute a lower intellect to children they perceive as low on social status. They are
attracted to children they perceive on a higher (or same as them) social status.
Academically they expect less of the lower class child. This is called a self-fulfilling
prophecy and influences how teachers may think, feel and behave towards children in
their charge.
Emotive Language
Emotive language is language which conveys a judgement or transmits strong
emotions about something which can influence the listener in a particular way
(Thouless, 1974).
Prior to democratic majority rule in his country a South African once commented to
the author: who supported Nelson Mandela’s military wing of the African National
Congress Umkhonto We Sizwe: that ‘Geography makes all the difference between one
man’s terrorist and another man’s freedom fighter.’
The use of freedom fighter conveys a positive, romantic image or message, the use of
terrorist conveys a negative dark image or message.
In the 19th century the following phrase was often seen hanging in a picture frame:
A Woman’s
Place Is In
The Home.
In the context of the time this was acceptable. Why is this not the case today? Of
what is the above an example?
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Language: Animals and Language
There is a touch of the Doctor Dolittle’s
about this topic! We have always been
fascinated by the mystery of animal
communication; whether/what they
experience as meaningful consciousness and
whether higher level primates like apes and
chimpanzees can be taught to communicate
using human language. This is to what we
shall now turn!
Vocalisation
As far back as 1933, psychologists, Kellog and Kellog
tried to get their young chimpanzee Gua to talk English.
Gua was raised alongside the Kellog’s baby of the same
age. They observed Gua was as quick to learn as their
baby, but in it’s six years with them Gua only learnt
three words in total.
In a similar situation in the Hayes’ study in 1950, their
chimpanzee Vicki was reported to master only four
words which included papa, mama, up and cup. Why
could this be?
Both Gua and Vicki were adjudged, language apart, to be using similar high level
cognitive processes to babies and children of the same age. Without putting too fine a
point on it, these researchers were barking up the wrong tree. Chimps do not possess
the physiology or biology necessary to vocalise correctly. They do not possess the
bodily and, consequentially, the mental structures to speak.
This was realised by Gardner and Gardner (1969) in what is known as the Washoe
study. Gardner and Gardner noticed from natural observation that chimpanzees
used a lot of visual signals to communicate with each other. They taught their young
chimp Washoe to talk using Ameslan (American Sign Language). Taught via
modelling (copying and being praised), and initially having to have her hands
moulded into the correct sign shape, Washoe developed the ability to communicate.
By 20 months she was forming her own two word sentences. By age four she was
able to sign 132 different words, including nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs. In
comparison to a human four year old, who by this age has mastered 4000+ words,
this is not too impressive: but in comparison to other chimpanzees Washoe was a star!
To confirm or otherwise Washoe’s ability the Gardner’s used what is called a doubleblind technique. Independent observers, one of whom could only see the picture
Washoe had to learn the sign for, and the other who could only see Washoe make a
sign confirmed Washoe got it right on 72% of occasions. As the years rolled out it
became evident that Washoe was an active information processor of language, using it
in an proactive manner in conjunction with memory and thinking to communicate her
wishes, desires and intentions. She was not producing passive stimulus-response
Ameslan language units.
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A similar natural observational study was conducted by Patterson (1978) with Koko
the gorilla. Koko also learnt Ameslan. After a year another gorilla called Michael
joined Koko. Patterson found over the seven year study that both apes used signing to
communicate between themselves and with humans.
Koko learnt over 400 signs and 20 which she
developed herself to signify in a consistent fashion
certain things for her. Both Koko and Michael
were, like Washoe, actively using signs to
communicate. It was not mere stimulus-response
units of leant behaviour Koko, it was found, could
even use Ameslan to lie herself out of situations.
This shows the relationship once more between all
the higher level cognitive processes to ensure
survival in our environment - even with apes and
chimpanzees
Species-species knowledge concerning language is limited. There appears to be some
success with teaching (sign) language to some higher level primates. What we have
discovered emphasises the unique human ability of verbal language as an incredible
communication, thinking and survival tool.
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Language: Conclusion
Language, while difficult to define, is the cognitive process we use to communicate
with one another. Language contributes to - and is influenced by - our other higher
level cognitive processes of perception, attention, memory and thinking. Language
involves using agreed words and symbols which allows us to share and exchange
ideas. Language involves both speech and listening skills.
Language takes many different forms spoken; written; non-vocal; non verbal etc.
Language is used by humans and non-humans alike. This is especially true of
dolphins, whales, chimpanzees and apes. All use a form of language to communicate
messages/ideas/meanings which helps individual and group survival.
Humans are no different. Language is the key to the maximisation of all our abilities;
inclinations and potentials whatever they may be. Psychologists like Chomsky
believe, that in order to be all we are capable of becoming, the biological trigger
called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) has to be nurtured and enriched
before our teenage years. If it is not, he thinks, we lose the ability to acquire speech
forever. The LAD essentially withers and dies.
In everyday terms we use shared spoken language which allows us to symbolise and
convey messages/ideas/meanings to another person: and we use listening to receive
messages/ideas/meanings in similar shared symbolic spoken words in return. Often
our perception of what is being said to us in influenced by non-verbal language cues
such as body language, body posture facial expressions, etc.
Language in the written sense is used by us all the time in conjunction with thinking.
Written language is a very powerful medium to convey messages/ideas/meanings to
another person and indeed a mass audience. An understanding of language from the
point of view of cognitive psychology now allows us to perceive it as something more
than English. Language is knowledge in the broadest sense. Language is power.
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Glossary: Language
ameslan: whole body American Sign Language.
analytic philosophy: also known as linguistic philosophy. It is a branch of
philosophy strongly influenced by the British empirical tradition. These philosophers
are interested in the development, formation and construction of language; its
structure and function.
babbling: the repetition of simple syllables (Ba...ba...ba; Da...da...da) by babies from
4 months onwards. The early beginnings of verbal language.
conditioning: behaviourist idea applied to language acquisition. We learn language
as a result of associating that one linguistic ‘event’ follows another, e.g. an adjective
comes before and describes a noun (i.e. ‘the small psychologist’)! Reward and
punishment are also influential, i.e. as a baby we see big people’s excitement when
we say ‘Dada’. We will say this same word in the future to further encourage this
response. Not so very long ago children and teenagers in Scottish schools got one of
the strap on the hand for every mistake in a sentence. Sentences can be big and
complex and its use discouraged the same mistake in the future ... rapidly!
context: the situation within which a communication is set. An understanding of this
helps us understand the communication better.
conventions: customs and etiquette.
critical period: Noam Chomsky says that we have to acquire spoken language within
this period (4 months-14) otherwise we lose the ability to acquire it.
deep structure: what a sentence - even if constructed correctly - means to you. This
is based on previous past experience.
elaborated code: middle and upper-class speech. The code of power.
emotive language: language which conveys a judgement or transmits
strong emotions about something which can influence the listener in a
particular way (Thouless 1974).
epigenic maturation: biological maturation necessary before we are able to do
something, e.g. walk and talk.
grammars: with symbols form human language, this other element of language is our
innate knowledge of our own language, how to form grammatically correct sentences
in it, what these mean and how to say them properly.
imitation: another idea put forward originally by Alfred Bandura concerning the
acquisition of language by us. Using this, we observe, copy and model our own use
of language.
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language: ‘an agreed set of symbols that enables us to convey meaning and converse
with other members of the same culture that share the same language’.
language acquisition device: biological device/abilities innate to human beings
(Chomsky) which help us acquire a key cognitive process essential to our personal
survival in the world.
morphemes: the part of a sentence which conveys meaning to others.
Noam Chomsky: American linguist, writer, teacher, thinker, and political activist
founded transformational-generative linguistic analysis which says as well as the rules
of grammar specific to individual languages there are also universal rules common to
all languages, and this shows that the ability to form and understand language is
innate.
non-verbal cues: NVCs: body language; body posture; situation and culture which
influences our interpretation of the communication .
one word stage: second stage of language acquisition at 18-24 months following
babbling where babies use only one word at a time, and overextend it’s use to mean
more than one thing i.e. all men are Dada!
phonemes: the way words/parts of words sound (phonology) when we speak e.g.
phonetically (and grammatically) port sounds better than plorb. We instinctively
know port to be the correct word to use.
scripts: our own ideas/thoughts/images (mental representations) of a familiar
situation which influences our current perception/understanding of it. This aspect to
language influences our behaviour in the situation i.e. you would not normally laugh
during a funeral because of a previous knowledge of this!
self-fulfilling prophecy: occurs when others react and behave in a particular way
towards you based on how you speak, are dressed, are related to, etc.
semantics: the set of rules governing the meaning of words. A knowledge of it will
influence our understanding of something that is being communicated to us.
sentence: used to convey spoken and written language. It will have a surface
structure and a deep structure.
surface structure: this concerns whether or not a sentence is grammatically and
syntactically correct i.e. if it is constructed correctly.
syntax: written and unwritten; conscious and unconscious rules concerning correct
language.
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restricted code: essentially working-class speech.
verbal deprivation hypothesis: put forward by Bernstein who says that whatever
language code you use (restricted code or elaborated code) is largely influenced by
your class and socialisation process.
vocalisation: the biological, physiological and genetic ability to form words/phrases.
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STUDENT ACTIVITY : LANGUAGE
1. What do you think the study of language is all about?
Identify by ticking in the boxes below what a student of cognitive psychology might
study in relation to Language
syntax
coding, storage and retrieval
episodic memory
semantics
restricted code
selection and attention
vocalisation
phonemes
morphemes
visual illusions
LAD
power
forgetting
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
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]
]
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2. Please fill in the blank spaces from the word box list below:
perception
survival
thinking
words and symbols non-vocal
potentials
shared symbolic
Chomsky
non-verbal
a mass audience
chimpanzees and apes
Language Acquisition Device
cognitive
to communicate with one another
non-humans to acquire speech
messages/ideas/meanings
Language
Language
, while difficult to define is the cognitive process we use
. Language contributes to - and is influenced by - our other
higher level cognitive processes of perception; attention; memory and
.
Language involves using agreed
which allows us to share and
exchange ideas. Language involves both speech and listening skills. Language takes
many different forms spoken, written,
, non-verbal etc. Language is
used by humans and
alike. This is especially true of dolphins,
whales,
. All use a form of language to communicate
messages/ideas/meanings which helps individual and group
. Humans
are no different. Language is the key to the maximisation of all our abilities,
inclinations and
whatever they may be. Psychologists like
believe, that in order to be all we are capable of becoming, the biological
trigger called the
(LAD) has to be nurtured and enriched before
our teenage years. If it is not: he thinks we lose the ability
forever.
The LAD essentially withers and dies. In everyday terms we use shared spoken
language which allows us to symbolise and convey
to another
person: and use listening to receive messages/ideas/meanings in similar
spoken words in return. Often our
of what is being
said to us in influenced by
language cues such as body language, body
posture facial expressions etc.
Language in the written sense is used by us all the time in conjunction with thinking.
Written language is a very powerful medium to convey messages/ideas/meanings to
another person and indeed
. An understanding of language from the
point of view of
psychology now allows us to perceive it as
something more than English. Language is knowledge in the broadest sense.
is power.
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3. Language Not-So Gigantic Wordsearch
Solve the clues to the Not-So Gigantic Wordsearch that follows. Put a line through
the correct word or phrase and write your answer beside the clue.
Customs and etiquette.
Our biological; physiological and genetic ability to form words and phrases. Also
known as linguistic philosophy. It is a branch of philosophy strongly influenced by
the British empirical tradition. These philosophers are interested in the development,
formation and construction of language; it’s structure and function.
The repletion of simple syllables (Ba...ba...ba; Da...da...da) by babies from four
months onwards.
Whole body American Sign Language
What a sentence means to you based on previous past experience.
Middle and upper-class speech. The code of power.
Noam Chomsky says that we have to acquire spoken language within this period (four
months-14 months) otherwise we lose the ability to acquire it.
Behaviourist idea applied to language acquisition.
Language which conveys a judgement or transmits strong emotions about something
which can influence the listener in a particular way (Thouless 1974).
The situation within which a communication is set.
Biological maturation needed before we are able to do something e.g. walk and talk.
This other element of language is our innate knowledge of our own language, how to
form grammatically correct sentences in it, what these mean and how to say them
properly.
Another idea put forward originally by Alfred Bandura concerning the acquisition of
language by us. Using this, we observe, copy and model our own use of language.
‘An agreed set of symbols that enable us to convey meaning and converse with other
members of the same culture that share the same language’.
Biological device/abilities innate to human beings (Chomsky) which help us acquire a
key cognitive process essential to our personal survival in the world.
The part of a sentence which conveys meaning to others.
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American linguist, writer, teacher, thinker, and political activist founded
transformational-generative linguistic analysis which says as well as the rules of
grammar specific to individual languages there are also universal rules common to all
languages, and this shows that the ability to form and understand language is innate.
NVCs: body language, body posture, situation and culture which influences our
interpretation of the communication .
Second stage of language acquisition at 18-24 months following babbling where
babies use only one word at a time, and overextend it’s use to mean more than one
thing i.e. all men are Dada!
Written and unwritten; conscious and unconscious rules concerning correct language.
The way words/parts of words sound.
Our own ideas/thoughts/images (mental representations) of a familiar situation
Happens with teachers for example when others react and behave in a particular way
towards you based on how you speak, are dressed, are related to, etc.
Used to convey spoken and written language. It will have a surface structure and a
deep structure.
This concerns whether or not a sentence is grammatically and syntactically correct i.e.
if it is constructed correctly.
The set of rules governing the meaning of words.
Essentially working-class speech.
Theory put forward by Bernstein who says that whatever language code you use
(restricted code or elaborated code) is largely influenced by class and socialisation.
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Not so Gigantic Wordsearch: Language
languageacquisitiondeviceameslan
selffulfillingprophecyNoamChomsky
semanticssentencedeepstructure
verbaldeprivationhypothesissyntax
vocalisationbabblingcontextemotive
selffulfillingprophecyNoamChomsky
languagecriticalperiodimitation
elaboratedcodenon-verbalcues
epigenicmaturationgrammars
languagemorphemesphonemes
conventionsonewordstage
analyticphilosophyconditioning
scriptsrestrictedcodesurfacestructure
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4. Quick Quiz
1. What do you understand by the cognitive process called language?
2. Why is language important?
3. Try to define memory.
4. Identify the elements of language.
5. How do we understand language?
6. How is language acquired by us?
7. What types of language codes have been identified? Describe them.
8. What is the verbal deprivation hypothesis?
9. What do you understand by the term ‘emotive language’? Give three examples.
10. How successful have we been in teaching language to apes and chimpanzees?
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5. Please answer the following questions:
a) What is meant by language in cognitive psychology?
Your answer should cover
• what purpose language has for us
• what language consists of
• the different types of language used by us to communicate with each other
• how we acquire language.
b) Read the following scenarios:
You are talking to someone of the telephone
You are watching television
You are writing a letter
You are reading a story to your child
Choose two of these and describe the role of language in this situation.
Your answer must
• mention which perceptual process is being used and why it is relevant
to/necessary in the situation(s) chosen
• refer to the situation directly
• give detail about any particular aspects of language identified in the situation(s)
• give detail about how aspects of language can be influenced in the situation(s)
chosen.
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INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS - OUTCOME 2
For this outcome you will learn about two research methods from the following; their
characteristics and their applications as used by cognitive psychology
•
•
•
•
•
experimental
survey
interview
observation
case study
By the end of this outcome you should know and understand what two of these
research methods involve and be able to identify and describe each as applied within
cognitive psychology research.
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RESEARCH METHODS IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
All psychological knowledge is based upon evidence which is gathered by
psychologists in a variety of ways. Students need to develop basic knowledge about
methods and techniques used by psychologists in their research. It is intended in
‘research methods’ to establish the foundations of critical understanding in relation to
psychological evidence and to distinguish this from ‘common sense’ opinion which
explains human behaviour mainly in terms of subjective and idiosyncratic
assumptions and preconceptions. Common to Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2
cognitive psychology these methods are:
a) The experimental method:
• purpose of the experimental method
• main characteristics of the experimental method – cause/effect, control, variables
independent and dependent
• types of experiment – laboratory, field, naturalistic, quasi-experiment
b) The survey method:
• purpose of the survey method
• main characteristics of the survey method – questionnaires (open/closed
questions), representativeness, response bias, standardised design
• types of survey – large scale, small scale, attitude/opinion measurement, rating
scales
c) The interview method:
• purpose of the interview method
• main characteristics of the interview method – detailed information, personal
opinions/views, individualised design
• types of interviews – personal structured, personal unstructured
d) The observational method:
• purpose of the observational method
• main characteristics of the observational method – objectivity, standardised
recording using checklists, detail, accuracy, interactive (for participant
observation)
• types of observational methods – participant observation and non–participant
(direct) observation
e) The case study method:
• purpose of the case study method
• main characteristics of the case study method – individualised, detailed,
personalised, often retrospective,
• types of case study – individual, small group
Much of the above has already been introduced in ‘Psychology: An Introduction’.
Research methods are further extended in other optional units e.g. developmental
psychology, social psychology, etc. This unit will not reinvent the wheel! An
overview of research methods will be given and two particular research methods will
be emphasised i.e. experiment and the survey.
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Ethics in Psychological Research
Based on the British Psychological Society (BPS) Ethical Guidelines and Code of
Conduct 1985.
1. General considerations: especially as much cognitive psychology investigates
people always ensure that the research you do is done from the standpoint of the
participants taking part. Research should never be offensive to anyone. This
means that you should do nothing which threatens a persons health, well-being, or
dignity. You should also be aware that we live in a multi-cultural country of
diverse ethnic communities. Research should be considered from a socially
inclusive, non-sexist, anti-racist and non-ageist perspective.
2. Consent: wherever possible consent should always be got from participants.
3. Deception: deception is not allowed if participants would be unlikely to cooperate in it’s absence. If in doubt the researcher should seek advice from a
teacher; lecturer etc.
4. Debriefing: any research should provide participants with an opportunity to
discuss the outcomes of it. This is called debriefing, and allows discussion of the
specific purpose of the research; interpretation of the participants particular
performance, scores, answers etc, and give them an opportunity to ask questions.
5. Withdrawal from the investigation: all participants should give their permission
to take part in your research. They should also be allowed to withdraw at any
time if they so wish.
6. Confidentiality: unless subject to Scots law and UK statute e.g. the Data
Protection Act confidentiality between participant and researcher should be
observed at all times. If in doubt seek advice from your teacher, lecturer etc.
7. Protection of participants: all participants in a piece of research should be
protected from any physical or mental harm.
8. Observational research: any observation should observe the privacy and
psychological well being of those studied. If consent to be observed is not
possible, observations should only occur where it would be normal that those
observed would/could be by others. If in doubt consult your teacher or lecturer.
9. Giving psychological advice: sometimes during research, the researcher will be
asked their advice concerning a psychological matter which is of concern to a
participant. The golden rule is not to give advice if not qualified to do so. If in
any doubt you should seek advice from your teacher or lecturer.
10. Colleagues: all of us who study psychology share the above set of ethical
principles. It is our duty to encourage others who do psychological research to
observe these ethical guidelines at all times.
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Research Methods: A brief resume
In Psychology: An Introduction we discovered that psychologists use 5 main types of
research methods. These are:
• the experiment
• survey
• interview
• observation
• case study
The purpose of research is to generate and discover evidence about any relationship
between, or probable cause of, psychological phenomena. Research methods give us
a systematic set of investigative tools to allow us to do this. Cognitive psychology
particularly uses the experiment but also makes use of surveys, interviews,
observations and case studies.
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All you want to know about: The Experiment
•
an experiment involves the manipulation of an independent variable (IV) so
that we can measure or observe the effect this has on a dependent variable
(DV).
•
An experiment will observe the experimental method which is characterised by
the establishment of a cause and effect relationship between an independent and
dependent variable; the ability of the researcher to control the environment where
the experiment is being conducted and his/her awareness and adeptness to
anticipate and control variables not relevant to the experiment.
•
Experiments are of three main types; laboratory; field; and quasi-experiment.
The difference between the three is the location and thus the amount of control the
researcher has over variables.
•
The laboratory experiment sees the manipulation of an independent variable
and measurement/observation of the dependent variable and takes place in a
closed heavily controlled setting.
•
The field experiment also sees the manipulation of an IV and
measurement/observation of the DV but takes place outwith the laboratory,
indoors or out.
•
The quasi-experiment also occurs away from the laboratory but here there is no
manipulation of any independent variable as the IV is already ‘in place’.
Measurement/observation of a DV does however follow. An example of a quasiexperiment would be where a psychologist was interested in finding out if there
was a relationship (correlation) between speeding restrictions and road traffic
accidents in two adjacent countries who were similar in all other respects apart
from the legal driving speeds allowed. The independent variable - speed limits is already in place and out of the control of the experimenter.
•
Variables are things that can creep into an experiment and give rise to alternative
explanations for a cause/effect relationship or correlation. These nuisance or
extraneous variables (coming from outside) are of two main types - confounding
and random. Confounding variables can be controlled with careful thought.
Random variables cannot be controlled.
•
The experiment has advantages of better cause and effect evidence in the form
of factual, or empirical, data: precision measurement and control over extraneous
variables.
•
Disadvantages associated with the experiment are that they can often lack
ecological validity (are not ‘real’ compared with normal, everyday behaviour);
participants, and the experiment can suffer from what are called demand
characteristics (participants behaviour is not consistent with their behaviour in
everyday life because they realise that they are taking part in an experiment).
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•
Confusingly a natural experiment is often included under the heading of the
‘experiment’ in psychology. In a natural experiment the researcher usually
observes an animal or human in their natural environment. There is no
manipulation of an independent variable in a natural experiment. The researcher
does not, and cannot, have one. A hungry lion in the South African veldt is not
known for it’s co-operation with psychologists!
• Finally, a laboratory experiment would be very appropriate if as a cognitive
psychologist you wanted to investigate changing cognitive abilities like
perception; attention; language; memory and thinking as a result of the ageing
process; biological deterioration; accident etc.
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The Experiment as used in Cognitive Psychology
Name of Researcher(s): Beltramini (1992)
Aim: To investigate and measure the giving/not giving of a gift (IV) had on
customers’ perception of a business (DV). Customers were randomly allocated to the
experimental group and the control group.
Method: Unrelated Independent Sample Design Field Experiment
Results: The experimental group showed a raised perception of the company in
comparison to the control group. Neither group however bought significantly more
from the company!!
Name of Researcher(s): Ebbinghaus (1885)
Aim: To investigate and measure size and duration of short-term memory
Method: Single Participant Design Field Experiment
Results: Ebbinghaus using himself as a subject committed longer and longer lists of
nonsense syllables (IV) to memory everyday. Putting himself under a variety of
conditions, i.e. a certain period of time, after certain activity etc. he tried to recall
them (DV). He found that he could extend the size and duration of short-term
memory.
Name of Researcher(s): Gibson and Walk (1960)
Aim: To investigate, measure and observe if depth perception is innate or learned.
Method: Laboratory Experiment (and observation).
Results: Using their famous visual cliff, 36 babies were placed on one side of it.
Their mothers were placed at the end. The mothers called the
babies. If the babies were observed to crawl straight over the
glass cliff they were adjudged not to have depth perception. 27
infants moved: 3 crawled over the cliff, 24 refused to cross the
cliff to reach mother. Gibson and Walk found that babies of six months plus did not
crawl over the deep side. The results suggest infants as young as six months do have
depth perception, and that depth perception is probably innate.
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All you want to know about: The Survey
•
A survey is a technique where researchers give the same written questionnaire to
a sample of people to find out information about their thoughts, feelings and
behaviours regards a variety of diverse attitudes and opinions.
•
A good survey will be designed well in that it will be characterised by those
surveyed being given the same easily understood set of instructions (standardised
instructions): it will also have carefully worded (standardised) open and closed
questions which are randomly presented in the survey itself (this stops some
respondents filling in the survey with the answers they think the questioner wants
as opposed to how they themselves think, feel and behave). The survey will be
given to a reasonable representative sample of the desired population upon which
the researcher wishes to draw conclusions i.e. it would be impossible to anticipate
the future voting intentions of the Scottish people if only a representative sample
of people from the town of Kilmarnock was surveyed. You would only be able to
anticipate how the Kilmarnock Westminster MP or Scottish parliament MSP
election result might turn out.
•
An example of an open question in a survey would be ‘What is the biggest
problem facing Scotland today?’ If this was given to 100 different people you
could get 100 different answers. Concluding what these 100 people have in
common would be impossible. Open questions like this in a survey are to be
avoided. They give you too much qualitative information with which you can do
very little. To be of any value to the researcher data in a survey should be
amenable to measurement. It should be quantifiable.
•
How you can get measurable answers to questions in a survey is to use what are
called ‘closed questions’. Closed questions are questions which offer only one
choice of response for the participant. They would include questions on what sex
you are, male/female; what age you are etc. Questions like this often appear at the
beginning of surveys and give the researcher valuable quantitative information as
regards how many men and women took part in the survey, what age they were,
what postcode district they lived in etc. Where closed questions fall down is when
used to try and get quality detailed answers to complex questions. If you consider
the closed question ‘The biggest problem facing Scotland today is the state of
Premier League football: Yes/No’ you are forcing people to make a choice
whether or not they think that football is the biggest problem and you also do not
allow people who genuinely ‘do not know’ to respond thus. You can add up and
measure yes/know answers to questions, but if the question doesn’t really apply to
peoples’ actual thoughts, feelings and behaviours then what you get is
meaningless.
•
One way round the problem of generating quality answers to restrictive closed
questions is to use what is called a Likert Scale. This is named after Renais
Likert who designed it’s use at the University of Michigan Institute for Social
Research in the 1960s . It is often used in the body of surveys today and is
recognisable when you are asked to indicate your strength of feeling about a
particular issue on a rating scale.
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Taking the above question ‘The biggest problem facing Scotland today is the state
of Premier League football’ you would indicate strength of feeling on the matter
by circling 1 2 3 4 or 5 on a rating scale. Circling 5 would mean you strongly
agree, circling 4 agree, circling 3 don’t know, 2 disagree and 1 strongly disagree.
This would allow other questions on unemployment, homelessness, education, the
National Health Service, etc. to be asked and answered elsewhere. At the end of
the day the researcher can generate statistical measurements of peoples attitudes
and opinions on a range of issues which they feel are important in the Scotland of
2000 and beyond. The use of Likert scales of measurement in surveys as a means
of yielding both qualitative and quantitative data is relatively obvious and
widespread.
•
In order to avoid what is called response bias (people putting down the answers
they think you want; or putting down an answer in response to a trigger in the
question i.e. Don’t you agree that..?) a number of strategies should be adopted.
You should first do a pilot survey e.g. given the draft survey to a number of
people whose job it is to pick faults in it’s construction. Once you have sorted out
anomalies and ambiguities you should randomly allocate your questions in the
final draft. Make Question 1 question 14, question 2 question 7 etc.
•
The advantages of surveys are that large amounts of information can be got in a
short space of time; they are cheap and they can form good solid ground for
future research.
•
The disadvantages are that you cannot draw any cause and effect conclusions
from a survey; poor construction suffers from the GIGO effect (garbage in
garbage out) and limited and restrictive questions do not get interesting and
creative answers.
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The Survey as used in Cognitive Psychology
Name of Researcher(s): Harvey(1999) of the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst
Aim: To investigate whether a mother's employment outside of the home influences
childrens cognitive development, self-esteem, academic achievement and behaviour.
Method: Longitudinal Survey by the American National Longitudinal Survey of
Youth (NLSY). The NLSY has surveyed 12,600 individuals annually from 1979
when they were between 14 and 22 years of age. Beginning in 1986, the children of
women in the group were also assessed on, amongst other things, cognitive
development, self-esteem, academic achievement and behaviour.
Results: Following research from 6 previous surveys Harvey (1999) concluded that a
mother's employment outside of the home has no significant negative effects on
cognitive development, self-esteem, academic achievement and behaviour. The study
found that children whose mothers worked during the first three years of their lives
weren't significantly different from children whose mothers didn't work during the
same timeframe. However, two minor differences were found to decline over time:
Children ages 3 and 4 whose mothers returned to work later showed a higher rate of
obedience than the same age group whose mothers returned to work sooner.
However, these differences were small and disappeared by the time the children were
ages 5 to 6. Children whose mothers worked long hours were found to have slightly
lower scores on tests that measure vocabulary and individual student achievement.
However, these differences were small and faded over time.
Name of Researcher(s): Albert; Savage et al (1999)
Aim: To investigate physical and social factors which might influence cognitive
decline as a result of getting older.
Method: Longitudinal 2 year survey of 1,200 elderly people followed for up to
two-and-half years and questioned about cognitive functioning, alcohol intake,
smoking, emotional support, education, social life, body mass index, activity levels
and cholesterol levels.
Results: Length of education and physical activity slows down decline in a person’s
cognitive abilities despite natural ageing.
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Name of Researcher(s): Davie et al (1972) National
Child Development Study
Aim: To investigate if reading/language ability is influenced by social class.
Method: Survey
A survey on behalf of the NCDS was conducted by Davie et al with a large sample of
children born in 1958. Data concerning reading ability, social class, sex, geographical
area, type of house, numbers living in house, social amenities, etc. was collected,
collated and analysed.
Results: Severe reading retardation (Coolican; Research Methods and Statistics in
Psychology Pg. 131!) correlated with overcrowded homes with poor amenities.
Children from Social Class V (unskilled manual workers) were found more likely to
live in such homes.
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All you want to know about: The Interview
•
The late Geoff Cooke, the much-respected Course Leader of the Postgraduate
Diploma in Careers Guidance University of Strathclyde, often described an
interview as a ‘conversation with a purpose’. The interview is a research
technique where the researcher collects detailed information about individuals in
a one-to-one (individualised) situation using oral questions. An interview is
used in psychology often in tandem with a survey to supplement and extend
knowledge about the person(s)/psychological issue under investigation.
Interviews therefore yield qualitative, as opposed to quantitative, data primarily
because of its free-ranging nature.
•
There are many different forms of ‘interview’ used in psychological research and
related occupational areas which fall into two broad categories: the personal
structured interview known as a standardised interview and the personal
unstructured interview known as a clinical interview.
•
A personal structured interview will have the researcher use pre-planned,
carefully constructed and pre-set questions.
•
Personal structured interviews - while done on a one-to-one (individualised)
basis - are very often ‘standardised’ in that the same questions will be asked to
different individuals. Personal structured interviews are lengthy and are aimed at
obtaining a detailed understanding of a persons mental processes and behaviours.
•
A personal unstructured interview is a bit more informal in style. The
interviewer will have some sort of aim or objective but there is little use of formal
pre planned questions. The discussion between the researcher and interviewee is
more free ranging. The questions asked really depend on the last answer given by
the interviewee.
•
Whatever style of interview technique used the interviewer, researcher,
psychologist or facilitator will have undergone lengthy training. A clinical
psychologist , for example, will have studied for over six years completing
undergraduate study in psychology and post-graduate study and supervision as a
probationer clinical psychologist. Many careers officers in Scotland will also
have studied and trained in interview techniques at postgraduate degree level in
order that they give considered careers advice when interviewing young people
and adults who wish their assistance.
•
Advantages of the personal unstructured clinical interview are that they often
give rise to spontaneous information which is very valuable in understanding the
person being interviewed. Personal structured standardised interviews, on the
other hand, allow for generalisations to be made. Clinical interviews give a more
realistic insight into the person being interviewed because of their more informal
free-ranging nature in comparison to the more formal standardised interview.
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•
Disadvantages of the more informal personal unstructured clinical interview is
that you cannot generalise your findings to a larger population. The personal
structured standardised interview often restricts those interviewed to answers to
questions asked. People tend to answer questions in an automatic and routine
way. The interviewer in the more formal structured interview needs substantial
training in order that the interview does not seem too awkward and uncomfortable
for those taking part.
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The Interview as used in Cognitive Psychology
Name of Researcher(s): Barkham (1999); Leeds
University
Aim: To determine whether short-term cognitive-behavioural therapy helps mildly
depressed patients. In their study, they tested what they call a "two-plus-one"
treatment model, in which patients received two therapy sessions one week apart, and
a third session three months later. Participants were 67 men and 47 women in
white-collar jobs. The clients, were classified into three groups as either stressed,
subclinically depressed or clinically depressed (at low levels) based upon scores on
2
the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) . Each individual in each of the three groups
received the two-plus-one treatment either immediately or four weeks after
completing the BDI.
Method: Series of Clinical Interviews.
Results: 'Two-plus-one' CBT works for mild depression, and this very brief therapy
shows considerable promise for successfully treating patients with low-level, or
subsyndromal, depression.
2
Hence the reason Beck’s Bier sponsors the brilliant Frasier on Channel 4!
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All you want to know about Observation
•
Observation is the planned gathering of data on observed behaviour.
•
The characteristics of observation include an in-depth approach to allow us to
objectively record observed behaviours of people using a standardised (planned
and systematic) format e.g. time frames in a video or carefully designed checklist.
This allows for the accuracy and detail needed to come to any firm conclusion
about the reason for the observed behaviour.
•
Observations often take place in peoples homes; school; workplace or in
specially arranged settings such as a laboratory testing or interview room.
Observations can be one-off or longitudinal i.e. you observe the same ability, skill
or behaviour at different points in the participant’s lifetime.
•
Observation is of three main types: naturalistic, participant and non-participant.
Naturalistic observation (observing in a natural setting e.g. a nursery) is often
used in cognitive psychology when children are being studied. Participant
observation sees the researcher setting up the situation and then taking part in it.
Non-participant observation sees the researcher setting up the situation and then
recording what happens unobtrusively using, for example, a two-way mirror. He
or she would not take part as such.
•
There is no manipulation of an independent variable in an observation and there
are umpteen extraneous variables that can pollute even the best planned
observations.
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Advantages of the observational technique include high ecological validity
(observed behaviour is more likely to be consistent with everyday life) and the
spontaneous behaviour of those observed.
•
Disadvantages of observation are that no cause and effect connections can be
made; observations are difficult to replicate in order to confirm the original results
and any observation lacks control from the point of view of the researcher.
Observation is a popular research method in both social and cognitive psychology.
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Observation as used in Cognitive Psychology
Name of Researcher(s): Fagot and Gauvain (1999)
Aim: To observe whether a mother’s reactions during their child’s temper tantrums
affected later problem-solving abilities.
Method: Non-participant Observation
Fagot and Gauvain first observed 93 children's temperaments at 18 months old and
their mothers' behaviour toward them i.e. favourable comments, smiling, criticising,
harsh looks etc. in their homes. One year later, the mothers and children were
observed while working on two problem-solving tasks in a laboratory when the
children were 30 months old.
They found that if the mothers rated their child as having a difficult temperament their
child were observed to make more errors on laboratory performance tasks taken at 18
months and at 30 months. Disapproving behaviour by the mother when the child was
30 months increased the child's likelihood of developing learning problems at age
five. Also, those mothers who gave disapproving looks, criticised or gave support
found their children to achieve lower verbal and maths scores on IQ tests in
comparison to those mothers who did little during their childrens tantrums.
Results: Fagot and Gauvain found that if mothers were cautious or overly critical of
temper tantrums their children’s later cognitive development could be affected. As
we know from Developmental Psychology a child inherits a temperament which may
give rise to a difficult/moody/withdrawn/physically active baby and toddler. His/her
temperament can thus affect how their mother will perceive him/her and this can have
an influence on their interaction. This in turn Fagot and Gauvain discovered could
hinder the child's problem-solving abilities then and in the future.
‘It appears that children perceived as more difficult were more likely to give up on the
problem-solving tasks. Some mothers would intervene and offer help while others
would become more demanding that the child finish the task. Ultimately, these
children were given less opportunity to discover strategies on their own and learn how
to problems solve.’ Fagot and Gauvain (1999)
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Name of Researcher(s): Halliday and Leslie (1986)
Aim: To investigate the development of language acquisition in mother-child
interactions.
Method: Non-participant Observation
Halliday and Leslie wanted to investigate Bruner’s idea that children develop more
sophisticated language/thinking skills out of necessity! They thought that after a while
the child would become less successful in getting what it wants by simply referring to
it/requesting it i.e. ‘Sweets!!’; ‘Get me juice.’ etc.
From a series of pilot studies they discovered 42 different actions occurring during
mother-child interaction e.g. describes/gives information; makes questioning noises;
holds/takes hold of; imitates completely; makes an emotional noise; looks at mother
etc. They then video-recorded 144 half-hour mother-child interaction sessions and
using the pilot study categories scored verbal and non-verbal detail between mother
and child
Results: Bruner is correct in that children use more and more sophisticated forms of
language in their interactions with adults to get what they want!
Name of Researcher(s): Shneidman (1963)
Aim: To investigate whether language competence and thinking skills influenced
person perception.
Method: Non-participant Observation using content analysis.
Developed during the Second World War to investigate the influence of mass media
messages content analysis is ‘the (more or less) systematic, objective and quantitative
description of a communication or series of communications’ (Crano and Brewer
1973). Shneidman (1963) using content analysis analysed, on the basis of logical
argument presented, the televised speeches made by US Presidential candidates
Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
Results: Shneidman concluded that language competence and thinking skills were
measurably better displayed by John F. Kennedy. These televised debates were a first
in American broadcasting history and attracted audiences of millions. Before they
took place Kennedy was ranked a long-shot to win the race for the White House.
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Despite his apparent youth, vitality and Jackie by his side, Kennedy had a political
albatross around his neck - he was a Catholic. Political commentators saw these
televised debates as crucial to Kennedy winning the Presidential election. Shneidman
believed that the logical argument presented by Kennedy during these debates was a
factor to this success. American, EU and UK politics have never been quite the same
since!!
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All you want to know about: The Case Study
•
A case study is an in-depth written investigation into an individual who has been
found to be unique in some way. They are normally conducted face-to-face with
the individual or with individuals in a small group who share something in
common.
•
Characteristics of the case study are that they are orientated towards the
individual concerned and as a consequence can yield great personal detail. The
document your GP holds on you which contains all your medical details from
birth is an everyday example of a case study.
•
Case studies are of two main types: retrospective and longitudinal. A
retrospective case study is when the individual concerned is asked to reflect on
their past. This type of case study is problematic in that the individual can be
deliberately selective about what they reveal about themselves and often they lie
into the bargain. Another type of case study is the longitudinal case study. This is
where you study an individual in depth for a period of time into the future of at
least one year. Details here are based upon the individuals future. Longitudinal
case studies are difficult to manipulate from the point of view of the participant.
A very good example of a visual longitudinal case study is the excellent BBC 7Up series which follows physical, cognitive, social and emotional development of
a cross-sectional group of British babies all born within a particular week in 1955
as they journey through life.
•
Advantages of the case study is that it can give excellent in-depth information
about an individual and treats all participants as individuals.
•
The disadvantages of the case study would be that it’s findings cannot be applied
to everyone (or generalised to the whole population). As a result the case study as
a research tool lacks scientific validity.
•
The case study within cognitive psychology might be used to investigate the
depreciation of memory as a consequence of biological deterioration of parts of
the cerebral cortex.
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The Case Study as used in Cognitive Psychology
Name of Researcher(s): Gregory and Wallace (1963)
Method: Longitudinal Case Study
Gregory and Wallace conducted a fascinating longitudinal case study with SB, who,
blind almost from birth had his sight surgically restored when he was 52. They
studied his new visual ability and development and were also able to gather
qualitative data concerning SB’s emotional reactions to his new experiences. They
recorded SB’s initial euphoria and later depressions due to his disappointment at what
he thought sight might be.
They also considered perception and the nature-nurture debate. They thought that as
SB had spent a lifetime over-compensating with his other senses for his lack of vision
his perceptual learning experiences could not be compared to that of a young child.
Result: Generated useful medical, psychological and psychotherapeutic data regards
the development of visual ability and perception.
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STUDENT ACTIVITY
Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
Answer the following questions:
1a) The experimental method:
•
•
•
What is the purpose of the experimental method?
Identify and describe it’s main characteristics.
What do you understand by the laboratory, field, naturalistic, and
quasi-experiment?
b) The survey method:
•
•
•
•
What is the purpose of the survey method?
Identify and describe it’s main characteristics.
What sort of things in psychology do surveys measure?
How can you measure these things in a survey?
c) The interview method:
•
•
•
What is the purpose of the interview method?
What are it’s main characteristics?
What do you understand by the terms personal structured and personal
unstructured interview?
d) The observational method:
•
•
•
What is the purpose of the observational method?
What are it’s main characteristics?
Describe participant observation and non–participant (direct) observation.
e) The case study method:
•
•
•
What is the purpose of the case study method?
What are it’s main characteristics?
What is the difference between a retrospective and longitudinal case study?
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2. For the experiment as used in COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY please complete
the following:
The Experiment: Please give two examples below:
a) Name of Researcher(s):
Aim:
Method:
Results:
b) Name of Researcher(s):
Aim:
Method:
Results:
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3. For the survey as used in COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY please complete the
following:
The Survey: Please give two examples below:
a) Name of Researcher(s):
Aim:
Method:
Results:
b) Name of Researcher(s):
Aim:
Method:
Results:
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4. For observation as used in COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY please complete the
following:
Observation: Please give one example below:
Name of Researcher(s):
Aim:
Method:
Results:
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5. For the case study as used in COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY please complete
the following:
Case Study: Please give one example below:
Name of Researcher(s):
Aim:
Method:
Results:
6. For the interview as used in COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY please complete the
following:
The Interview: Please give one example below:
Name of Researcher(s):
Aim:
Method:
Results:
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GENERAL REFERENCES
Mike Cardwell The Complete A-Z Psychology Handbook 1998 Hodder and Stoughton
Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus 1992 Collins
Hugh Coolican Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology 1990 Hodder and
Stoughton
Richard D Gross Psychology - The Science of Mind and Behaviour 3rd ed 1997
Hodder and Stoughton
Richard D Gross Key Studies in Psychology 2nd ed. 1994 Hodder and Stoughton
Nicky Hayes A First Course in Psychology 3rd ed. 1984 Nelson
Nicky Hayes Foundations in Psychology 2nd ed. 1998 ITP
Gerard Keegan ‘Psychology at Kilmarnock College: Notes and Materials’ 5th ed.
1999 Kilmarnock College
‘Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of Early Parental Employment on Children of the
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth’ Elizabeth Harvey, Ph.D., University of
Massachusetts at Amherst. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 2 American
Psychological Association Volume 30, No. 5 September 1999
‘CBT and Conventional Psychotherapy’ Professional Psychology: Research and
Practice (Vol. 30, No. 5, p. 470-473).
'Predictors of Cognitive Change in Older Persons: MacArthur Studies of Successful
Aging' by Marilyn S. Albert, Ph.D., and Cary R. Savage, Ph.D., Harvard Medical
School, Kenneth Jones, Ph.D., Brandeis University, Lisa Berkman, Ph.D. and Teresa
Seeman, Ph.D., Yale University, Dan Blazer, M.D., Duke University Medical School
and John W. Rowe, M.D., Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, in Psychology and Aging,
Vol. 10, No. 4, pp 568-589.
'Mother-Child Problem Solving: Continuity Through the Early Years' by Beverly I.
Fagot, Ph.D., University of Oregon and Oregon Learning Centre and Mary Gauvain,
Ph.D., University of California, Riverside, in Developmental Psychology, Vol. 33,
No. 3.
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