Verbal Study Guide (20p)
For each of the 8 items below prepare a response to the task. This response will be done
verbally as a group in front of class and should be about 10 minutes long. You do not need
PowerPoints or anything like that. Just use the notes you make.
That which needs to be in the response is a clear answer to what the prompt is asking you to
do. For instance, if you are asked to evaluate then you need to discuss the strengths and
weaknesses of the theory or process. The key here is that you need to discuss this in light of
relevant research. Each point needs be discussed with the help of at least 3 research studies.
You also will need some form of evaluation of these studies.
The catch is that you don’t know which one you will be getting, so you need to prepare a
response for all of them.
 Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis and explain how
principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated
in research (that is, theories and/or studies).
 Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies.
 Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process with reference to
research studies.
 Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process.
 Discuss how social or cultural factors affect one cognitive process.
 With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive
process reliable?
 To what extent do cognitive and biological factors interact in emotion?
 Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process.
With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is
one cognitive process reliable?

Introduce topic
o One cognitive process that involves questioning of reliability is memory, more specifically, its significance
towards eyewitness testimony (EWT).
 Define EWT
o EWT is an important area of research into cognitive psychology and memory.
o EWT is a legal term. It refers to an account given by people of an event they have witnessed.
 Give an example (optional)
o For example, they may be required to give a description at a trial of a robbery or a road accident they have
witnessed.
 Where is EWT used?
o EWT is vital and used in legal systems as evidence in criminal trials in countries all over the world, which
relies on the accuracy of human memory/EWT to decide whether a person is guilty or not.
o Therefore, the reliability of the testimonies is important as it determines ones precious future.
 State connection between memory and EWT
o Memory is very important and plays a significant role in EWT.
 Talk about reliability of memory in EWT
o Beforehand, EWT was generally seen as very trustworthy and convincing; Judges, jurors, police and parts of
the law enforcement saw and treated EWT as very reliable.
o However research from various sources now shows that memory can be subjected to distortion and
reconstruction.
o Researchers have demonstrated that memory may not be as reliable as we think through the use of DNA
technology; psychologists have demonstrated that eyewitnesses can be wrong.
o Memories may be influenced by other factors than what was recorded in the first place, due to the
reconstructive nature of memory.
 The term “reconstructive” refers to the brain’s active processing of information to make sense of
the world.
 State what you are doing in the essay (in terms of factor & cognitive process):
o Therefore, the reliability of memory in EWT will be investigated, considering the merits from both sides of
the arguments regarding its reliability, *however with a focus on how EWT (in laboratory situations?) can be
disturbingly inaccurate. This argument will be discussed in relation to appropriate evidence in the form of
research studies and experiments.
Body Paragraph
 Introduce significant researcher in EWT, Elizabeth Loftus and her arguments
o One of the leading researchers in the field of EWT research, Elizabeth Loftus, supports Bartlett’s idea of
memory as reconstructive.
 The idea that memory is a reconstructive process is crucial to an understanding of the reliability of
EWT, is the idea that eyewitnesses do not reproduce what they witness, but rather, reconstruct their
memories on the basis of relevant schematic information (personal interpretation dependent on our
learnt or cultural norms and values – the way we make sense of the world) thus illustrating how
memory is unreliable, as our schemas can be misled or influenced (by culture, social and
environmental factors) and are not always correct.
o She expressed concern at the over-reliance on EWT’s in court, with her research showing:
 That our memories can reconstruct information.
o Therefore Loftus has argued that EWT can be highly unreliable, because of the ability of our memories to
reconstruct events.
 Example
o Many people believe that memory works something like a videotape. Where:
 Storing information is like recording and remembering is like playing back what was recorded,
with information being retrieved in much the same form as it was encoded.
o However, memory does not work in this way. It is a feature of human memory that we do not store
information exactly as it is presented to us. Rather, people extract from information the gist, or underlying
meaning.
o

In other words, people store information in the way that makes the most sense to them. We make sense of
information by trying to fit it into schemas, which are a way of organising information.
o Schemas are mental 'units' of knowledge that correspond to frequently encountered people, objects or
situations. They allow us to make sense of what we encounter in order that we can predict what is going to
happen and what we should do in any given situation. These schemas may, in part, be determined by social
values and therefore prejudice.
o Schemas are therefore capable of distorting unfamiliar or unconsciously ‘unacceptable’ information in order
to ‘fit in’ with our existing knowledge or schemas. This can, therefore, result in unreliable eyewitness
testimony.
Link to question
o Bartlett tested this theory using a variety of stories to illustrate that memory is an active process and subject
to individual interpretation or construction. In his famous study 'War of the Ghosts', Bartlett (1932) showed
that memory is not just a factual recording of what has occurred, but that we make “effort after meaning”. By
this, Bartlett meant that we try to for what we remember with what we really know and understand about the
world. As a result, we quite often change our memories so they become more sensible to us.
Main Study: Loftus & Palmer (1974) – Automobile Reconstruction
Introduce Study:
 The idea that memory is a reconstructive process, is what forms the vast work/research on EWT by Loftus and her
colleagues.
 Loftus has performed and demonstrated a vast majority of research in EWT, but the work with her fellow colleague,
Palmer, proved to be one of her most significant research studies in EWT. The idea that memory is a reconstructive
process, is what forms the work on EWT by Loftus and her colleagues. Link to question:
 Loftus claims that the nature (wording) of questions can influence witnesses’ memory of an experience.
 Leading questions – that is, questions that are suggestive in some way (hints) – and post-event information facilitate
schema processing which may influence accuracy of recall.
o Our memories can be affected (interfered) with by post-event information such as misleading questions.
Aim:
 To investigate the effect of leading questions on eyewitness testimony of an event
Method:
 Participants (p’s) were shown 7 films of car accidents (5-30 seconds)
 After each clip, p’s were given a questionnaire asking:
o To give an account of the accident
o Number of questions, including the critical question “How fast were the cars going when they?”
o Verb in the critical question was changed to smashed/collided/hit/bumped/contacted
 Experimental conditions: Participants were split in 5 groups of 9 – each group were asked the question with a different
verb
Results:
 Results showed that that the speed estimates were influenced by the wording (verb) used.


The more severe-sounding verb produced higher speed estimates
Example: ‘smashed’ gave an estimated 9m/h higher than ‘contacted’
Conclusion:


L & P concluded that the wording of the question did have an effect on the speed estimates given.
Suggested it may be because:
o People are poor judges of speed
o People are affected by the wording of a question
Findings can be explained by Bartlett’s view of memory as an active reconstructive process.
o The verbs used in the various conditions activated slightly different schemas which influenced the speed
estimates.
o In this study, information was received after witnessing the accident researchers used a leading question.
o Thus after the accident was reconstructed in the participant’s mind, the schema that were influenced by the
leading question relating to the different verbs associated with speech explains how reconstructive memory
works.
Supports the idea that when people witness events, they usually report inaccurate and numeric details like time,
distance and speed.


Supporting Study: Loftus et al. (1987)
Introduce Study --> link to question:
 A further study by Loftus et al. (1987) demonstrating how another factor, ‘repression’ may influence recovered
memories, thus leading to unreliable answers from eyewitnesses, investigated on...
Aim:
 demonstrating how another factor, ‘repression’ may influence recovered memories, thus leading to unreliable answers
from eyewitnesses, investigated on the weapon-focus effect.
Method:
 Participants heard a discussion going on in the room next door.
 There were 2 conditions:
o No weapon condition (man with greasy hands emerging from another room holding a pen)
o And weapon condition (a man coming from another room with a bloody paper knife).
 Participants were asked to identify the man from a selection of 50 people.
Results:
 Results showed that participants from the no-weapon condition were more accurate in recall.
Conclusion:
 Loftus concluded that the weapon drew more attention than the pen, so their attention was allocated to the weapon than
the face.
Connection of study to question
 This study relates to the unreliability of memory in EWT because it was found that the more dangerous situation
affected their recalling of the people’s face.
 This can be explained by repression, as the knife may have provoked their memory and emotion thus creating false
memories, which is very unreliable in EWT.
Evaluation of research (both studies) on EWT:
 Loftus’ research indicates that it is possible to create a false memory using post-event information. These results
indicate that memory is not reliable but like all research studies, there are some limitations that need to be considered
relating to its validity/ecological validity (EV).





Loftus and colleges made important
contribution to understanding of the
unreliability of EWT
research shows that memory from events can
be altered by misleading post event
information
o this is important for the way police
question the witness and in the
courtroom
strict control over variables- laboratory
experiment
realistic task but not real car crashes (only
videos)





in real life may not occur (laboratory experiment)
lacks ecological validity
some participants may have been consciously bias
towards the verb or may have given answers they
thought the experiment wanted
watching a video is far less stressful than actually
experiencing an accident or crime in real life
many real life eye witness testimonies are provided by
the victims themselves
Connection of study to question
 Although Loftus’ research is still valid to some extent (especially the Automobile Reconstruction) as it relates to the
unreliability of memory in EWT because it was found that the leading question asked to eye-witnesses caused a
distortion of memory as the result of the reconstructive processes of memory.
o 'smashed' lead participants to remember the accident as more severe than 'contacted
 Therefore it is clear that leading questions can change/influence previously stored information in memory – (make us
reconstruct memories).
 But, due to demand characteristics, it cannot be concluded that the verb in the leading question completely influenced
participants' speed estimates, but played a part in its influence.
COUNTER-ARGUMENT/STUDY
 Present Counter-Argument
o However, other studies have also shown that EWT can be reliable, acquiring more EV.
Supporting Study 2: Yuille & Cutshall (1986)
Introduce Study --> link to question:
 Yuille & Cutshall [Y&C] (1986) argues and criticizes against Loftus and Palmer’s viewpoint on the accuracy of EWT
in real-life settings as their research lacked ecological validity (EV).
Aim:
 Y & C investigated the accuracy/effectiveness in recall EWT using real eyewitnesses from a real crime.
 Background (details of the crime):
o In this study, the crime was a real theft and gun shooting crime scene.
o Incident took place in Vancouver.
Method:
 There were 21 witnesses interviewed by the police originally who had witnessed the event from different viewpoints:
(passing by in the car, walking on the street or within buildings).
o Twenty of those eyewitnesses were contacted by the researchers four-to-five months after the event, asking
them to take part in a scientific study.
o Of those 20, thirteen agreed to participate in the study.
o All aged between 15-32; only three female, and ten males
o The victim was not asked to participate as he did not wish to relive the trauma.
 The researchers interviewed the participants at this four or five month period after the incident.
o The interviews were recorded and transcribed.
o They used the same interviewing procedure as the police had used with them allowing them to give their
account first and then asking questions.
 Of course, one of the aims was to look into the effects of leading questions, and so following Loftus' procedures, two
leading questions were used.
o Half the group were asked if they saw a broken headlight, and the other half if they saw the broken headlight,
when in fact there was no broken headlight in the thief's car.
o Similarly, half of the participants were asked about a yellow panel on the car, and the others about the yellow
panel, whereas the quarter panel was really blue.
 A scoring procedure was introduced to turn the qualitative data collected into quantitative data.
o This was carefully devised, as the researchers needed to know not only the true details of the event, but also
be able to compare the results to those of the police interviews.
o The researchers decided to use systems of 'action details' and 'description details' (split further into ‘object
descriptions’ and ‘people descriptions’ to collate information from the interviews.
Results:
 The researchers ended up obtaining more details than the police had.
 The police found 392 action details against the researchers' 552 action details.
 What was found is that the misleading questions had very little effect on their recall.
 Ten of the eyewitnesses said that there was no broken headlight and no yellow quarter panel at all on the thief's car
which was correct to identify.
Discussion/Conclusion:
 This was the first case study of EWT, which was a field study and a study therefore of a real case that had not been
manipulated by the researchers.

It was useful to compare the findings of this, therefore valid, study against other studies (such as Loftus and Palmer),
which were laboratory experiments, and so tended not to be valid.
o This enabled the researchers to see the extent to which the conclusions of such previous studies were reliable.
 It was found that eyewitnesses were actually very reliable.
 There were several factors which made this true, including correctly recalling large numbers of accurate details; almost
always arguing the misleading questions and a healthy comparison between the police and research interviews.
 However, they agreed it would be hard to generalise the findings of this study, as the case (as with any other case
study) is unique, and it is difficult to find a similar one naturally occurring again.
o Even more so, as there were only thirteen participants to this study eight of the original witnesses either
moved or did not want to take part.
 Yuille and Cutshall concluded that eyewitnesses were in fact not inaccurate, contrary to the findings of the vast
majority of previous research into eyewitness testimony, which had all been from laboratory experiments. The
misleading questions had had little effect on the eyewitness, which again disagreed with a Loftus' theory of misleading
questions.
Evaluation:



this is a field study that looks at a real
incident with real eyewitnesses.
therefore has strong validity, which
laboratory experiments lack
great care was taken when counting
the details from the real incident to
make sure the witnesses’ testimonies
did not alter which really happened,
this scoring procedure allowed for
reliable findings
the scoring procedure also produced
quantitative data from qualitative
data, required no subjective
interpretation and is easier to base
conclusions upon


the study lacks generalizability as this was based on a incident
and a field study and the researchers themselves have suggested
that this may be a case of flashbulb memory which suggests that
a certain event is remembered in more detail and more
permanently explaining how those who were more involved in
the event remembered more details correctly and therefore more
reliable
there were some weaknesses in the scoring procedure which was
set up, such as the question based on age as the thief was 35
years old but when asked to estimate age the eyewitnesses said
he looked as if he was in his early 20, which was recorded as
inaccurate memory, but he may have looked that age
RINIOLO ET AL. (2003)
The accuracy of eyewitness testimony in a real life situation -- the plunge of the Titanic
AIM
To investigate the reliability of memory for a central detail of eye witnesses
to the Titanic’s final plunge (i.e. whether the Titanic sank intact or broke in
two before it went down)
It was believed at the time that the ship went down intact
The researchers used archival data i.e. transcripts from two hearings in
1912, one in the USA and one in the UK
METHOD
The researchers identified 20 cases from the total amount of 21 survivors in
the hearings who had explicitly addressed the state of the ship during its
final plunge
75% of the eyewitnesses in this study (15/20) said that Titanic was breaking
apart during sinking and 25% said Titanic was intact when it was going
down
RESULTS
The majority of the 20 selected eyewitness testimonies in this study said that
the ship broke in two before the plunge so central traits of the event were
recalled accurately, although the memory was formed during traumatic
conditions (high emotional arousal)
Historically, after the hearings, it was concluded that the Titanic sank intact,
likely due to the belief that the Titanic could not sink and that memory is
impaired when witnessing a traumatic event, and this “myth” has been
repeated in literature until the discovery of the wreck
CONCLUSION
Eyewitness testimony from people who witnessed a traumatic event in real
life is relatively accurate for the main occurrences
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Ecologically valid
Eyewitnesses were a subgroup

EVALUATION

Taken from archival
data of a real life
situation
Contributes to
important knowledge
about accuracy of
memory

Not representative of all the
witnesses

Small sample size and wasn’t
possible to interview all
eyewitnesses from time period for
clarification (deceased)

Not possible to measure trauma
Eyewitness testimony (memory) is relatively accurate and reliable in the
face of trauma, (although other studies have shown that trauma can cause
repression and there isn’t a way to measure the traumatic quality of the
Titanic event).
CONNECTION However, could be a Flashbulb Memory (in that the heightened emotions
allowed for a better recollection of the event). The situation is still
representative of an eyewitness testimony, and the general success of the
participants in remembering the key detail counters the conclusions drawn
by Loftus & Palmer.
Conclusion
To what extent is memory reliable?
 Because the findings of Loftus & Palmer's experiment are considered invalid, and the
experiment lacked ecological validity in comparison to Yuille & Cutshall study and

RINIOLO ET AL., which were natural or real life situations experiment, it can be
concluded that memory in eyewitness testimony is still reliable, but only to some extent.
The unreliability of reconstructive memory (which can be influenced by
incorrect/distortive schemas) and research by Loftus shows that memory is reliable to a
small extent. However, due to the limitations and artificial nature of Loftus’ work,
including that it lacks ecological validity and demand characteristics were present, which
is overcome by Yuille & Cutshall real EWT study. This suggests that memory is reliable
to a great extent. Overall, it can be considered that memory is reliable to some extent, and
is generally accurate when concerning the main concept and central details of an event
for the majority of people.
Prompt: Discuss how social and cultural factors affect one cognitive process
 Define schemas
o Schemas are cognitive structures that organise knowledge stored in our memory.
o They are mental representations of categories from our knowledge, beliefs and
expectations.
 Expand on schema
o Any information about particular aspects of the world the world, such as people,
events, and actions are stored in a person’s brain in the form of schema.
o The information that people are exposed to is affected by the society and culture
they are in.
o Because people in different societies and cultures are exposed to different
information, they will have different schemas.
o There are three different types of schemas
 Scripts – provide information about sequences of events that occur in
particular contexts
 Self-Schemas – organize information we have about ourselves
 Social Schemas – represent information about different groups of people
 Schemas contain stereotypes and expectations acquired during life
 Explain briefly how schemas and memory interact
o Schemas are influenced by external factors such as social and cultural aspects,
which then affect what is stored in our memory processes.
 Define Memory
o The cognitive processes whereby past experiences is remembered.
 Relationship between cultural influences on memory
o Memory content opens up a window through which we can observe cultural
influences on the ways in which individuals attend to represent, organize,
retrieve and share event information.
MEMORY
 Cognitive schema theory
o Picnic basket
o Clock experiment


Brewer & Treyens – “picnic basket” (1981) – social setting; however your culture can
also dictate – interaction and integration between. However, these studies are deemed,
and can be explained in a social/cultural state.
o Aim
 To see whether a stereotypical schema of an office would affect memory
(recall) of an office
o Methods:
 Participants were taken into a university student office and left for 35
seconds before being taken to another room.
 They were asked to write down as much as they could remember from the
office.
o Results:
 Participants recalled things of a “typical office” according to their schema.
 They did not recall the wine and picnic basket that were in the office.
o Conclusions:
 Participants' schema of an office influenced their memory of it.
 They did not recall the wine and picnic basket because it is not part of
their “typical office” schema.
o Strengths:
o Strict control over variables to determine cause & effect relationships but
lacks ecological validity
 Laboratory setting artificial environment
 Task does not reflect daily activity
o Connection of study to question
 This study shows how both social and cultural factors can influence
schemas and hence what we recall in memory.
 Participants' typical office schema determined their recall and their
non-recall of items because they did not fit into the office schema.
 But it is important to note that the culture in which the participants
were from could also have a major impact on their schema for an
office, as different cultures can have different representations of
what an office looks like, thus influencing how the participants
recalled because of their schema, influenced by culture.
 However the above argument is valid, the study represents more
social effects than cultural, as the participants “typical” office
schemas were based on society’s representation of an office.
Therefore it demonstrates that schemas, thus memory recall are
affected by social factors.
French and Richards – Culture (how people can determine time – differently – some
cultures might not use clocks, western cultures – clocks; schema for clock = roman
numerals)
o Aim:
 to investigate the schemata influence on memory retrieval
o Methods:
 In the study there were three conditions
o Results:

In the first two conditions, the participants reverted to the conventional IV
notation, whereas in the third condition, the IIII notation, because of the
direct copy
o Conclusions:
 the findings supported the idea that subjects in the copy condition were
more likely than subjects in other conditions to draw the clock without
invoking schematic language of roman numerals
o Evaluation:
 Strengths:
 Strict control over variables to determine cause & effect
relationship
 Limitation:
 Lacks ecological validity!!!!!!
Summary of evaluation of schema theory:
 Strengths of schema theory:
o Supported by lots of research to suggest schemas affect memory process
knowledge, both in a positive and negative sense.
o Through supporting studies, schema theory was demonstrated in its usefulness for
understanding how memory is categorized, how inferences are made, how stories
are interpreted, memory distortions and social cognition
 Weaknesses of schema theory:
o Not many studies/research evidence that evaluate and find limitations of schema
theory
o Lacks explanation
o It is not clear exactly
 How schemas are initially acquired
 How they influence cognitive processes
 How people choose between relevant schemas when categorizing people
Psychology Oral Presentations - Group Six
1. Outline the principles that define the cognitive level of analysis and explain how
principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research
(that is, theories and/or studies) (Jasmyne)
2.
Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies. (Caroline)
a.
Schema theory: “as active processors of information, humans integrate new information,
humans integrate new information with existing, stored information”
b.
Supporting studies: Bartlett (1932), Anderson & Pichert (1978), Brewer & Treyens
(1981), French & Richards (1933)
c.
Strength of the theory:
i.
The theory is supported by many different research that suggest how schemas affect
memory processes knowledge, both in a positive and negative sense
ii.
Schema theory was is useful for understanding how memory is categorized, how
inferences are made, how stories are interpreted, memory distortions and social cognition.
d.
.
theory
i.
ii.
iii.
Limitation of the theory:
Not many studies and research evidence that evaluate and find limitations of schema
It lacks explanation
Does not clearly explain...
1. how schemas are initially acquired
2. how they influence cognitive processes
3. how people choose between relevant schemas when categorizing
people
Cohen (1993) argued that:
1. The concept of a schema is too vague to be used
2. Schema theory does not show how schema are required. It is not
clear which develops first, the schema to interpret the experiences
or vice versa.
The
3.
Evaluate two models of theories of one cognitive process with reference to
research studies (Luke)
a.
Both the Working Memory Model and Multi-Store Memory Model theorize the processes
of short-term and long-term memory.
b.
The Working Memory Model is a model that was developed during the study by
c.
The Multi-Store Memory Model was created by Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968). It states that
we have three types of memory: Sensory memory; environmental stimuli, Short-term memory;
maintenance rehearsal and memory that is said to only stay anywhere from 10 to 15 seconds
without repeated rehearsal, and Long-term memory; memory built with elaborative rehearsal.
4.
a.
Explain how biological factors affect one cognitive process (Allison)
How biological factors affect the cognitive process of memory in Alzheimer’s disease
i.
Cognitive processes have biological basis
ii.
Memory: cognitive process by which information is retained and the then recalled.
Memory processes are used to acquire, store, retain and then retrieve information from past
experiences and knowledge.
iii.
Alzheimer’s Disease: Degenerative brain disease in which the neurons in our brains die
1. symptoms develop gradually but progressively and cannot but
reversed
2. impairs the person’s ability to create and retain new memories
3. Episodic memory is most affected, semantic memory slowly
declines, procedural memory usually pretty inact
iv.
Biological factors involved AD:
1. medial temporal lobe
a.
plays a role in episodic memory
b.
first area in the brain to show pathological changes in the brain during AD
c.
Schwindt and Black (2009)
i.
aim: to test the effect of episodic memory on AD
ii.
Method: COnducted a meta-analysis of fMRI on episodic memory in AD patients and
compared them to the results to participants without AD
iii.
Results: the results indicated that there was greater brain activity in the MTL and frontal
lobe in the participants that did not have AD. AD patients showed decreased activity in the MTL
and increased activity in the prefrontal cortex. Results were consistent in similar studies.
iv.
Conclusion: AD patients show decreased activity in the MTL than those who do not have
AD
2. deterioration of neurons → production of acetylcholine
.
prevalent i the hippocampus
a.
hippocampus found to affect memory
b.
Mosconi (2005)
.
Aim: test how the hippocampus interacts with AD/ to investigate metabolism in the
hippocampus which is when the neurons in the brain activate responses in the body and dies
i.
Method: followed sample of 52 participants for 9-24 years. Used brain scan based
computer program which measures metabolic activity in the hippocampus.
ii.
Results: reduced metabolism in the hippocampus was associated with AD patients
3. amyloid plaques
.
plaque accumulates in the spaces between neurons and damages the membranes of
axons and dendrites
a.
plaque forms from the degeneration of axons and dendrites
b.
Murphy and Levine (2010)
.
Aim: to investigate whether there is a relationship between default activity patterns in
cortical regions in early adulthood and amyloid deposition in elderly AD patients
i.
Method: 18 older participants enrolled in longitudinal sample of the Washington
University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre and screened to exclude neurological illness,
psychoactive medications and medical conditions may produce cognitive impairment
ii.
Results: presence of amyloid-B protein in early AD starts a chain of events that leads to
AD
iii.
4. Neurofibrillary tangles
.
microtubules found in cell body and dendrites of neurons, which forms abnormally and
causes the microtubules to tangles
a.
when tangles, the neutrons lose their structure and support and therefore shrivel and die
5. Genetic predisposition
5.
Discuss how social or cultural factors affect one cognitive process (Jasmyne)
6.
With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process
reliable?(Caroline)
a.
LOP is one of the cognitive process that can be reliable
b.
LOP predicts how deeply people process information determines how well it is stored in
memory: deeper, meaningful processing creates stronger, longer-lasting memory traces.
c.
LOP also states that memory is a by-product of processing information:
i.
maintenance rehearsal (repetition to hold info in STM) is shallow processing and leads
to short-term retention of info: opposed the argument of MSM
ii.
Elaboration rehearsal (meaningful analysis of information) leads to better recall.
d.
There are three structures to LOP: structural encode the physical qualities, phonological
encode sound, semantic encode meaning and associate it with existing knowledge.
e.
Supporting Study: Hyde and Jenkins (1973):
.
The study’s aim was to investigate whether people could remember without intentionally
trying to and whether deeper processing leads to better recall.
i.
They read each group of participants a list of words and they were told to recall the
words with different tasks
ii.
The result of the study was that the recall was significantly better for words analyzed
semantically than superficially
7.
To what extent do cognitive and biological factors interact in emotions? (Luke)
.
Cognitive and biological factors interact frequently to produce emotions in response to
some kind of an event.
a.
Cognitive analysis aims to study the inner processes of the mind and how cognitive
processes guide behavior.
b.
Within this level of analysis, emotion is investigated in terms of behavioral and cognitive
factors.
c.
Emotion is the body’s response to a particular situation.
d.
Ekman et al (1972) investigated emotion, discovering six universal human emotions:
fear, anger, surprise, sadness, happiness, and disgust. These emotions are expressed facially
throughout many cultures worldwide, which suggests that emotion has to do with biological
factors rather than cognitive factors.
e.
Some biological factors of emotion include: hormones, facial expression due to mental
state, and brain activity.
f.
Some cognitive factors of emotion include: conscious and unconscious mental
processes.
g.
It’s assumed that emotions consist of three components: physiological changes,
subjective emotions, which leads to an associated behavior and therefore emotion is expressed.
h.
This suggests that cognitive and behavioral factors interact in emotion.
8.
Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process.
a.
Cognitive Level Analysis: aims to study the inner processes of the mind and how
cognitive processes guide behavior
b.
Emotion: body’s adaptive response to a particular situation
c.
Ekman et al. (1972):
i.
identified/discovered 6 fundamental emotions that were consisted across cultures
1. fear
2. anger
3. surprise
4. sadness
5. happiness
6. disgust
ii.
viewed as universal emotions (expressed facially in the same way and are recognized
by all members of diverse cultures)
iii.
Flashbulb Memory (FBM):
1. emotional memory which refers to vivid and detailed memory
(usually highly emotional events and traumatic events). It is very
vivid, detailed, accurate, long-lasting, consistent and easy to
remember.
a.
Brown and Kulik (1977):
i.
Theory: biological memory mechanism of FBM is triggered when an individual
encounters significant (often unexpected) emotional events or experiences
ii.
Aim: to investigate FBM and how it works to argue their theory
iii.
Method:
1. interviewed 80 americans
a.
40 African-Americans
b.
40 Caucasian-Americans
2. Had to answer questions about 10 events
.
a.
9 of these events were mostly on assassinations or attempted
assassinations of well-known American personalities
3. Asked how much they rehearsed these
events (overtly or covertly)
.
overtly: discussion with others
a.
covertly: ruminating
iv.
Results:
1. 90% recalled JFK’s assassination
2. African-Americans recalled more FBMs of
civil rights leaders
3. 10th event (Self-selected) most participants
recalled shocking events i.e: the death of a
parent
v.
Conclusion:
1. Supported the theories of FBM:
.
formed in situations where the individual experienced surprising and highly emotional
information
a.
maintained by means or rehearsal
b.
different from other memories (more vivid, last longer, more consistent and accurate)
c.
require the involvement of specialized neural mechanism which stores information
permanently in a unique memory system
vi.
Evaluation:
vii.
Strengths



Weaknesses
Many participants → high
ecological validity
Reactions and memories
were from real life events
Interviewers allow more
flexibility than a questionnaire
FBM may be affected by
emotion would






viii.
Participants and related events questioned on
were all related to Americans → cannot be
generalized to rest of population
retrospective → hard to test memory and how
vivid and accurate they are vs when they were
processed
Research lack validity → hard to replicate
FBM may be affected by emotion as memory
is either enhanced through rehearsal or
repressed → if it is repressed b/c it is a
traumatic experience it will not be as vivid
Participants might have been distressed → no
participant protection since all events needed
to be of assassinations or something similar in
significance
being in an interview forum → qualitative data
collected as it was only recalled verbally →
researcher bias as no quantitative data was
collected
—FBM can be explained in how emotion can
affect/influence memory by either enhancing it or
impairing it.
1. —Enhanced memory leads to more vivid
memories of the event (FBM) Impairing
memory leads to
2. —Repression due to traumatic events
3. —Repression is used to describe a certain
type of memory, usually of a traumatic type,
when information cannot be retrieved as a
result of being locked out of our
consciousness.
4. Mood dependent on memory, emotion
dependent
h. Study 2: Conway et al (1994) “UK and non-UK on Flashbulb
Memory”
viii.
—Aim:
1. To test the theory of Flashbulb Memory
ix.
—Methods:
1. Participants were either UK or non-UK
undergraduates
2. —Was based on the resignation of Margaret
Thatcher (British Prime Minister,1990)
3. —Participants were interviewed about the
event a few days after it took place
4. They were asked again 11 months after the
event
x.
—Results:
1. They found that 86% of UK participants still
had FBM of the resignation of Margaret
Thatcher
2. —While 29% non-UK participants had flashbulb
memories of the event
xi.
—Conclusions:
1. Thus, Conway claimed that this event met the
criteria for FBM for British people (it was an
unexpected and highly significant event
pertaining to their culture therefore arousing
deep emotions, influencing the special neural
mechanisms → creating FBM of the event).
xii.
—Evaluation:
a.
b.
c.
.
1. Strengths :
—Ecologically Valid: real event
—Interview: in depth qualitative data
—Not focused (don't have specific questions Questionnaire)
2. —Limitations
—Distress in having to remember a tragic event
3. Connection of study to question
b. Suggests that flashbulb memories exist
and are different from normal
memories
c.
—Suggests that FBM may only exist for events with personal significance
ii.
Evidence arguing against Flashbulb Memory: Neisser
and Harsch (1992)
2.
—Aim:
.
To investigate the accuracy of flashbulb memory
3. —Methods:
.
Participants were asked to report on the circumstances of their learning about the challenger
space disaster (1986).
a.
—Neisser and Harsch investigated people’s memory accuracy of the incident 24 hours after the
accident and then again two years later.
4. —
Results:
.
1 day after the disaster, 215 of the participants reported that they heard about the disaster on
television
a.
—Those that recalled 2 and a half years later, 45% said they heard it on T.V
b.
—Their memories of how they learned the news about the challenger disaster changed over
time
c.
—UNder the assumption that participants' memories were more accurate one day after the
disaster, it can be concluded that their memories about how they had heard about the news had
deteriorated significantly during the subsequent two and a half years.
5. —Conclusions:
.
Connection of study to question
a.
—This thus suggests that FBM are not reliable (as influenced by post-event information).
b.
—Neisser and Harsch claimed that such findings suggest that FBM's may just be ordinary
memories
6. —Strengths:
.
—The type of methodology used was interview thus questions asked in the experiment were
not focused thus could vary from participant to participant
7. —Weaknesses:
.
—Ethics (asked to remember tragic events)
a.
—Not ecologically valid because the these events are deemed not personal/emotional (does
not meet the criterion of FBMs)
8. Connection:
.
—Does not support this theory of flashbulb memory
a.
—Differ from other memories in that they are more vivid, last longer and are more consistent
and accurate
b.
—This study showed that flashbulb memories are not different as they don't last as long as
assumed by Neisser.
—In conclusion, FBM (affected by emotion) can
influence the recall of memories.
d. —Hard to test accuracy of memories as
the evidence is very retrospective
5.
—Overall Strengths: The majority of research into flashbulb memories is naturalistic. It all
involves people’s reactions and memories that were formed from real life events and experiences →
high in ecological validity.
6.
—Overall Weaknesses: Studies can lack reliability as they cannot totally be replicated. → we
cannot test to see how consistent the results are. Much of the research is retrospective, so we cannot
reliably measure how accurate people’s initial memories are.
Rhiannon, Astra and Tracy
Verbal Study Guide: Cognitive Psychology

Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis and explain how principles
that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research (theories
and/or studies)
o Principle 1: Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide
human behavior
 What humans already know influences what they perceive and interpret
 Demonstrated in
 Schema theory
o Cognitive schemas = mental representations of knowledge.
They are stored in categories (concepts) in memory. These
schemas provide guidelines for interpretation of incoming
information when people try to make sense of the world.
They influence cognition by creating expectations about
what will occur in specific situations. This theory can, to a
large extent, explain reconstructive memory and
stereotyping.
 Darley and Goss (1983) an experiment in which they showed a
video of a girl playing in two separate environments (a poor
environment and a rich environment). Then participants were
shown a video of the girl in a scenario like taking a intelligence
test. When participants were asked to judge the future of the girl,
they all said that the “poor” girl would do worse than the
“wealthy” girl. This study demonstrated how human beings
actively process info based on a few conspicuous details to form an
overall impression.
o Principle 2: The mind can be studied scientifically
 researchers use a number of methods to study the mind (lab experiments,
neuroimaging, case studies, interviews, and archival research).
 Demonstrated in
 Loftus and Palmer (1974) an experiment to test reconstructive
memory in relation to eyewitness testimony. The aim was to
determine whether misleading questions can distort memory. They
showed participants a picture of a car crashed and were asked to
o

estimate the speed of the car based on questions like “How was
fast the car going when it smashed/hit/bumped into the other car?
Words like “smashed” elicited higher estimations of speed.
Through this experimental method, it was made possible to the
researchers to determine a cause and effect relationship between
the usage of specific words and the estimation of speed.
Experimental research of memory has weaknesses in ecological
validity however.
 Corkin et al. (1999) used MRI scans to observe the brain damage
of H.M. (who suffered from amnisia due to the removal of his
hippocampus (and other areas) to eliminate his epilepsy. The scans
confirmed the damage. The small part of his hippocampus that
remained was not able to support the storage of new memories.
Principle 3: Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
 Shown through research that perception, memory, and thinking are
influenced by sociocultural factors.
 Demonstrated by
 Bartlett (1932) introduced the concept of “cultural schema” in
memory research. He suggested that schemas influence memory by
leading to distortion or reconstructive memory. In this study, he
suggested that memory is guided by schemas that are influenced by
culture. Previous knowledge determines the way people interpret
info (memory distortion). He asked British participants to read an
unfamiliar Native American story (War of the Ghost) and then to
reproduce it. The participants changed details of the story to fit
with their own cultural schemas.
 Cole and Scribner (1974) investigated how memory strategies were
influenced by culture. The study asked children from a rural area in
Liberia and children from the USA to memorize items from four
different categories: utensils, clothes, tools, and vegetables.
Children from the US improved performance after practice but the
Liberian children did not unless they attended school. Learning
memory strategies like “chunking” appears to be dependent on
schooling and the illiterate children in the study did not use these
strategies. The researchers concluded that the way cognitive
psychologists study memory processes does not always reflect the
way people learn to remember in real life.
Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies




Schemas are cognitive structures that organise knowledge stored in our memory.
They are mental representations of categories (from our knowledge, beliefs and
expectations) about particular aspects of the world such as people, objects, events, and
Knowledge that is stored in our memory is organized as a set of schemas (or knowledge
structures), which represent the general knowledge about the world, people, events,
objects, actions and situations that has been acquired from past experiences.
Types of schemas:
 Scripts provide information about the sequence of events that occur in particular
contexts (e.g. going to a restaurant, visiting the dentist, attending class).s

o
o
o
o
Self-schemas organise information we have about ourselves (information stored
in our memory about our strengths and weaknesses and how we feel about
them).
 Social schemas (e.g. stereotypes) – represent information about groups of
people (e.g. Americans, Egyptians, women, accountants, etc.).
Define schema theory
 Cognitive theory of processing and organizing information.
 Schema theory states that “as active processors of information, humans integrate new
information with existing, stored information.”
Expand on schema theory Effects
 Existing knowledge stored in our memory (what we already know) and organized in the
form of schemas will affect information processing and behaviour in specific settings.
 E.g. Information we already know affects the way we interpret new information
and events and how we store it in our memory.
 It is not possible to see how knowledge is processed and stored in the brain, but the
concept of schema theory helps psychologists understand and discuss what cannot be
seen.
 Schema theory can describe how specific knowledge is organised and stored in memory
so that it can be retrieved.
ways in which schemas may affect memory
 People tend to remember the meaning of something, not the actual wording
 People use stored knowledge to make sense of incoming info. If the info is unclear or
incomplete, they fill in the blanks or interpret using their schemas. This is called
“reconstructive memory” and results in distortion.
 People tend to ignore info that is not in line with their schemas. This may lead to bias in
info processing (like stereotyping)
Darley and Gross (1983) laboratory experiment on schema processing in the
social world
 Participants wre shown two videos of a girl. In video 1, a girl was playing
in a poor environment, while in video 2, a girl was playing in a rich
environment. Then, participants saw a video of the girl in what might be
an intelligence test. They were then asked to judge the future of the girl, to
which they all said that the “rich” girl would do well and the “poor” girl
would do less well.
 This study demonstrates that participants probably used pre-stored
schemas of what it means to be poor and rich and interpreted the
ambigous infomation accordingly. Participants processed
information based on a few conspicous details to form an overall
imporession that may not necessarily be correct
 Eval: lab study can determine cause and affect bc of strict control
over variables. However, this is not natural and lacks ecological
validity. And it is assumed that the participants most likely used
their preconcieved schemas to reach their conclusion.
Bartlett (1932) - “War of the ghost”
 Aim: aimed to determined how social and cultural factors influence schema and hence can lead to
memory distortions
 Method: participants were of an english background
 were asked to read the war of the ghosts - a native american folk tale
 tested their memory of the story using serial reproduction (recalling things in order) and repeated
reproduction, where they were asked to recall six or seven times over various retention intervals.
o
o

Serial reproduction: the first participant reading the story reproduces it on paper, which is
then read by a second participant who reproduces the first participants’ reproductions and
so on until it is reproduced by 6 or 7 different participants
repeated reproduction the same participant reproduces the story 6 or 7 times from their
own previous reproductions. their reproductions occur between time intervals from 15
minutes to as long as several years
Results
o
o
Both methods lead to similar results
# of reproduction increased, the story became shorter and there were more changes to the
story
 like canoes to boats
o these changes show the alteration of culturally unfamiliar things into what the English
participants were culturally familiar with
o makes the story more understandable according to the participants’ experiences and
cultural background (schemas)
o found that recall stories were distorted and altered in various ways making it more
conventional and acceptable to their own cultural perspective (rationalization).
 Assimilation: the story became more consistent with the participants own cultural
expectations
 leveling: the story became shorter with each retelling as participants omitted info
that wasn't seen as important
 sharpening: participants also tend to change the order of the story in order to
make sense of it using terms more familiar to the participant’s culture.
 Conclusion
o Memory is very inaccurate
 it is always subjected to reconstruction based on pre-existing schemas
o the study helped to explain through the understanding of schemas where people
remember stories, they typically omit some details and introduced rationalisations and
distortions bc they reconstruct the story so as to make more sense in terms of their
knowledge, the culture in which they were brought up in and experience in the form of
schemas
 Evaluation:
o Limitations
 Bartlett did not explicitly asked participants to be as accurate as possible in their
reproduction
 Experiment was not very controlled
 instructions were not standardised
 disregard for environmental setting of experiment
o Was repeated many times (which supports the findings)
o Supports schema theory
French and Richards (1933)
 Aim:
o to investigate the schemata influence on memory retrieval
 Methods:
o in the study there were three conditions:
 Condition 1: Participants were shown a clock w/ roman numerals and asked to
draw from memory
 Condition 2: the same procedure execp the participants were told beforehand that
they would be required to draw the clock from memory
 Condition 3: The clock was left in full view of the participants and just had to
draw it
o

The clock used represented the number four with IIII not the conventional IV
Results:
o


in the first two conditions, the participants reveerted to the conventional IV notation,
whereas in the third condition, the IIII notation, because of the direct copy
o They found that subjects asked to draw from memory a clock that had Roman numerals
on its face typically represented the number four on the clock face as “IV” rather than the
correct “IIII”, whereas those merely asked to copy in typically drew “IIII”
Conclusions
o French and Richards explained this result in terms of schematic knowledge of roman
numerals affecting memory retrieval
o The findings supported the idea that subjects in the copy condition were more likely than
subjects in the other conditions to draw the clock without invoking schematic knowledge
of roman numerals.
Eval
o Strengths:
 strict control over variables to determine cause and effect relationship
o Limitation:
o Lacks ecological validity
 lab setting
 not natural
o


used deception (the participants were not told about the real purpose of the
experiment) but they were debriefed afterwards and were not harmed. The study
could not have been made without deception so it was justified.
o Sample bias: university students were used as participants so it may possibly be
difficult to generalize the results
Strengths of schema theory
o has been proven to be extremely useful in explaining many cognitive processes
(like perception, memory, and reasoning)
o can be used to explain the reconstructive nature of memory, for example in eye
witness testimony, stereotyping, gender identity, and cultural differences.
o many studies and experiments to support the theory
Weaknesses
o Cohen (1993) argued that the concept of schema is too vague to be useful and it is
not clear how schemas are acquired in the first place

Overall, with the amount of evidence, schema theory should be considered an important theory that provides
insight into information processing and behaviour.
o It has contributed largely to our understanding of mental processes.
o But the theory requires further research and refinements to overcome its limitations and uncover its
unclear aspects

Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process with reference to research
studies

Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process*** <--- This is the topic
that our presentation must be on!
o Biological factors may affect memory in Alzheimer's disease
o
o
State interaction between cognition and biological factors
 Human cognitive processes have a biological basis
Define memory

o
o
o
o
o
o
a cognitive process whereby information is retained and recalled from past
experiences, in which memory processes are used to acquire, store retain, and
later retrieve info from past info and knowledge
Define Alzheimer’s disease
 a serious and progressive degenerative brain disease, which leads to the loss of
neurons and often leading to dementia
Outline Alzheimer’s
 Onset of symptoms is gradual but its progression is irreversible (bc the neurons
are dead)
 AD impairs the creation of new memory but procedural memory (how to ride a
bike) is largely unaffected
 episodic memory (of events and personal experiences) is the most severely
affected. Earliest symptoms of AD
 causes a steady decline (takes about 30 years) in the semantic (what things mean)
memory - general knowledge about the world, concepts, and language
State biological factors affecting AD
 Medial temporal lobe
 deterioration of neurons involved in the production of Acetylcholine
 Amyloid plaques (plaque in the neurons that isn’t wanted which causes the
neurons to die)
 Neurofibrillary tangles (as a result)
 to a great extent, it’s caused by a genetic predisposition
Emphasize:
 The link between the biological causes and effects of AD will be investigated in
regards to the effect it has on a person cognition of memory processing
What to talk about:
 how AD affects the brain and cognitive processes
 Medial temporal lobe is crucial
MLT
 Biological factor 1: medial temporal lobe
 has been investigated bc it has known to play a role in episodic memory
and first area to show pathological changes in the brain
 Schwindt and Black (2009)
 Aim: to test the effect of AD on episodic memory
 Method: meta analysis (looking at many case studies) of fMRI studies on
episodic memory in AD patients and compared to normal
 Results: greater brain activity in MTL and frontal lobe in control
o AD patients showed decreased activation in MTL and increased
activation in the prefrontal cortex
o number of consisting findings across previous studies
 Conc: well-established that AD patients show decreased activation in the
MTL
 connection: study supports the biological factor of the MLT in causing
AD and as a result the impairment in memory
 Outline the series of stages that AD develops in so you could link it w/
the next biological factor
o AD develops thru series of stages. MLT is effected especially
hippocampus, than parietal lobes and other brain regions
o symptoms seemed to be caused by loss of brain cells and
deterioration of neurons
o
o
o
Biological factor no 2: deterioration of neurons involved in the production of
acetylcholine hippocampus
 prevalent in the hippocampi area of the brain
 Hippocampus have been found to affect memory from cases of amnesia patients
such as HM and Clive Wearing
 Mosconi (2005) - shows how bio factors occurring in the hippocampi play a role
in AD and therefore affect memory
 AIm: test how hippocampi region interactions w/ AD / To investigate
metabolism in the hippocampus, which is when the neurons in the brain
activate responses in the body and dies
 Method: follow a sample of 52 normal participants for a period of 9 -24
years
o used a brain scan based program that measures metabolic
activity in the hippocampus
 Results: reduced metabolism in the hippocampus was associated with
later AD
 supports the role of the hippocampus in AD
 low concentrations are found in people w AD and opposite with normal people
 results from severe brain tissue loss from forebrain, known to secrete ace
 Outline the series of stages that AD develops to link
 Autopsies reveal two characteristic abnormalities in these ace-producing
neuron
 these neurons in AD patients also show abnormal levels of amyloid
plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
Biological factor 3: Amyloid plaques
 Ad is caused by deposits of amyloid-B protein which accumulates in spaces
between neurons and damages the membranes of axons and dendrites (Lorenzo et
al, 2000)
 Amyloid plaques are formed from the degenerating axons and dendrites and
contain a dense core of amyloid-B proteins in which the plaques accumulate in
the spaces between neurons
 Most AD patients accumulate amyloid plaques before the onset of AD (Selkoe,
1990)
 Supporting study: murphy and levine (2012)
 To investigate whether there is a relationship between default activity
and patterns in cortical regions in early adulthood and amyloid
deposition in elderly AD patients
 Method: 18 older participants, longitudinal sample, of washington
university AD research centre and screened to exclude neurological
illness, psychoactive medications, and medical conditions that may
produce cognitive impairment
 Results: Presence of amyloid-B protein 42 in early AD starts a chain of
events that leads to AD
 Connection of study to question: Therefore, the results of this study
support the biological factor of amyloid-B protein in AD
Biological Factor 4: Neurofibrillary tangles
 As well as amyloid plaques, another factor which plays a role in the degrading of
neurons that is significant for the onset of AD is neurofibrillary tangles
 The tangles are microtubules found in the cell body and dendrites of
neurons, which forms abnormally and causes the microtubules to tangle

o
o
o
o
When they tangle, the neuron loses its structure and no longer has
support, thus shrivels up and die
 Inhibition of the movement of neurotransmitters across the synapse
prevents electrical messages to be passed from one neuron to the other;
therefore, certain actions in the body are unable to be activated.
 Caused by the accumulation of an abnormal form of tau proteins around
the support structure of neurons that causes them to collapse.
Biological Factor 5: Genetic predisposition:
 Another important biological factor in causing AD is our genetic predisposition
to diseases such as AD
 Research has found that genes play a role in producing amyloid-B protein,
research by many groups.
 Lott (1982)
 ect
 But genes do not provide a full explanation of AD
 St George-Hislop: Half of all ALzheimer’s patients have no relatives
with the illness
 Hendrie: Yoruba people have Alzheimer’s genes, but much lower rates
of illness.
Conc:
 All play a role in the development of AD affecting memory processing which is a
significant part of our cognitions
State its physiological basis:
 seen that AD interacts directly with physiology because it is caused by biological
factors such as a genetic predisposition to the disease; damage in the brain; and
the formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
Therefore! It can be assumed that biological factors affect memory in Alzheimer's
Disease

Discuss how social or cultural factors may affect one cognitive process

With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process
reliable?

To what extent do cognitive and biological factors interact in emotion?

Evaluate on theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process.
Tracy, Rhiannon, Astra
 Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process*** <--- This is the topic
that our presentation must be on!
o Biological factors may affect memory in Alzheimer's disease
o
o
o
State interaction between cognition and biological factors
 Human cognitive processes have a biological basis
Define memory
 a cognitive process whereby information is retained and recalled from past
experiences, in which memory processes are used to acquire, store retain, and
later retrieve info from past info and knowledge
Define Alzheimer’s disease

o
o
o
o
o
o
a serious and progressive degenerative brain disease, which leads to the loss of
neurons and often leading to dementia
Outline Alzheimer’s
 Onset of symptoms is gradual but its progression is irreversible (bc the neurons
are dead)
 AD impairs the creation of new memory but procedural memory (how to ride a
bike) is largely unaffected
 episodic memory (of events and personal experiences) is the most severely
affected. Earliest symptoms of AD
 causes a steady decline (takes about 30 years) in the semantic (what things mean)
memory - general knowledge about the world, concepts, and language
State biological factors affecting AD
 Medial temporal lobe
 deterioration of neurons involved in the production of Acetylcholine
 Amyloid plaques (plaque in the neurons that isn’t wanted which causes the
neurons to die. yikes)
 Neurofibrillary tangles (as a result)
 to a great extent, it’s caused by a genetic predisposition
Emphasize:
 The link between the biological causes and effects of AD will be investigated in
regards to the effect it has on a person cognition of memory processing
What to talk about:
 how AD affects the brain and cognitive processes
 Medial temporal lobe is crucial
MLT
 Biological factor 1: medial temporal lobe
 has been investigated bc it has known to play a role in episodic memory
and first area to show pathological changes in the brain
 Schwindt and Black (2009)
 Aim: to test the effect of AD on episodic memory
 Method: meta analysis (looking at many case studies) of fMRI studies on
episodic memory in AD patients and compared to normal
 Results: greater brain activity in MTL and frontal lobe in control
o AD patients showed decreased activation in MTL and increased
activation in the prefrontal cortex
o number of consisting findings across previous studies
 Conc: well-established that AD patients show decreased activation in the
MTL
 connection: study supports the biological factor of the MLT in causing
AD and as a result the impairment in memory
 Outline the series of stages that AD develops in so you could link it w/
the next biological factor
o AD develops thru series of stages. MLT is effected especially
hippocampus, than parietal lobes and other brain regions
o symptoms seemed to be caused by loss of brain cells and
deterioration of neurons
Biological factor no 2: deterioration of neurons involved in the production of
acetylcholine (əˌsētlˈkōˌlēn) in the hippocampus
 prevalent in the hippocampi area of the brain
 Hippocampus have been found to affect memory from cases of amnesia patients
such as HM and Clive Wearing

o
o
Mosconi (2005) - shows how bio factors occurring in the hippocampi play a role
in AD and therefore affect memory
 AIm: test how hippocampi region interactions w/ AD / To investigate
metabolism in the hippocampus, which is when the neurons in the brain
activate responses in the body and dies
 Method: follow a sample of 52 normal participants for a period of 9 -24
years
o used a brain scan based program that measures metabolic
activity in the hippocampus
 Results: reduced metabolism in the hippocampus was associated with
later AD
 supports the role of the hippocampus in AD
 low concentrations are found in people w AD and opposite with normal people
 results from severe brain tissue loss from forebrain, known to secrete ace
 Outline the series of stages that AD develops to link
 Autopsies reveal two characteristic abnormalities in these ace-producing
neuron
 these neurons in AD patients also show abnormal levels of amyloid
plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
Biological factor 3: Amyloid plaques
 Ad is caused by deposits of amyloid-B protein which accumulates in spaces
between neurons and damages the membranes of axons and dendrites (Lorenzo et
al, 2000)
 Amyloid plaques are formed from the degenerating axons and dendrites and
contain a dense core of amyloid-B proteins in which the plaques accumulate in
the spaces between neurons
 Most AD patients accumulate amyloid plaques before the onset of AD (Selkoe,
1990)
 Supporting study: murphy and levine (2012)
 To investigate whether there is a relationship between default activity
and patterns in cortical regions in early adulthood and amyloid
deposition in elderly AD patients
 Method: 18 older participants, longitudinal sample, of washington
university AD research centre and screened to exclude neurological
illness, psychoactive medications, and medical conditions that may
produce cognitive impairment
 Results: Presence of amyloid-B protein 42 in early AD starts a chain of
events that leads to AD
 Connection of study to question: Therefore, the results of this study
support the biological factor of amyloid-B protein in AD
Biological Factor 4: Neurofibrillary tangles
 As well as amyloid plaques, another factor which plays a role in the degrading of
neurons that is significant for the onset of AD is neurofibrillary tangles
 The tangles are microtubules found in the cell body and dendrites of
neurons, which forms abnormally and causes the microtubules to tangle
 When they tangle, the neuron loses its structure and no longer has
support, thus shrivels up and die
 Inhibition of the movement of neurotransmitters across the synapse
prevents electrical messages to be passed from one neuron to the other;
therefore, certain actions in the body are unable to be activated.

o
o
o
o
Caused by the accumulation of an abnormal form of tau proteins around
the support structure of neurons that causes them to collapse.
Biological Factor 5: Genetic predisposition:
 Another important biological factor in causing AD is our genetic predisposition
to diseases such as AD
 Research has found that genes play a role in producing amyloid-B protein,
research by many groups.
 Lott (1982)
 ect
 But genes do not provide a full explanation of AD
 St George-Hislop: Half of all ALzheimer’s patients have no relatives
with the illness
 Hendrie: Yoruba people have Alzheimer’s genes, but much lower rates
of illness.
Conc:
 All play a role in the development of AD affecting memory processing which is a
significant part of our cognitions
State its physiological basis:
 seen that AD interacts directly with physiology because it is caused by biological
factors such as a genetic predisposition to the disease; damage in the brain; and
the formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
Therefore it can be assumed that biological factors affect memory in Alzheimer's Disease
Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process with reference to research studies
There are three main types of models of memory: The multistore model, working memory
model, and the levels of processing model.
We will be evaluating the multistore model and the levels of processing model.
Multi-Store Memory Model
Proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
Consists of three memory stores;

Sensory Memory (SM): Decays rapidly, unlimited capacity, encodes information picked
up by our senses into different stores (Iconic= visual, echoic= auditory, haptic= touch)

Short-term Memory (STM): 15-30 sec, capacity of 7 +/- 2, encodes acoustically

Long-term Memory (LTM) that is used for different tasks: Long lasting (48 years),
unlimited capacity, encodes primarily semantic, but also acoustic and visual, information
Supporting Study 1: Baddeley (1966)
Experiment 1: short term memory
Aim: to investigate encoding in the short term memory store.
Methods: Participants were given that were : acoustically similar, acoustically different,
semantically similar, semantically different. which their recall on the words were tested.
Results: In short term memory, better recall of acoustically different than acoustically similar
words. and slightly better recall of semantically different words than semantically similar words.
Conclusion: in the short term memory , information is encoded acoustically because recall is
affected by the sound of words.
Experiment 2: Long term memory:
Aim: to investigate encoding in long term memory.
method: participants were given the same lists of words in the previous experiment for short term
memory and their recall of the words were tested.
Results: In LTM, no difference in recall of acoustically similar or different words. Much better
recall of semantically similar and different words.
Conclusion: In LTM, there is semantic encoding because recall is affected by meaning of words.
evaluation: STRENGTHS: laboratory experiment-- strict controls over variables, WEAKNESS:
task is unrealistic-- does not reflect daily activity the participants would do.
Connection of study to question: this study supports the MSM model of memory because it
shows that STM and LTM have different encoding processes. Thus, STM and LTM are separate
stores.
Supporting Study 2: Clive Wearing- Sacks (2007)
Background: Clive Wearing was a musician who got a viral infection encephalitis, leaving him
with serious brain damage in the hippocampus, which caused serious memory impairment.
He suffers from:

Anterograde amnesia= impairment in ability to remember events after a particular
incident

Retrograde amnesia= impairment in ability to remember events before a particular
incident.
Findings: Wearing still has ability to talk, read, write, and sight-read music (procedural
knowledge)

He could not transfer information from STM and LTM

His memory lasted 7-30 seconds, and was unable to form new memories
Conclusion: STM and LTM are separate stores and STM has limited duration
Evaluation:
Strengths

Case study; realistic

In depth information
Limitations

Can’t be generalized to the whole population
Connection of study to question: This study supports the multi-store model because it shows
that…

STM and LTM are separate stores

Wearing has STM intact but could not access LTM

STM has limited duration
o
Wearing could only use STM and he experienced time elapses of around 30
seconds. It also provides support for anterograde amnesia
However, does not support the multi-store model of memory because…

Wearing had significant damage to his declarative memory but his procedural memory
were fully intact

This suggests that LTM is separated into declarative and procedural, rather than a single,
unitary store as the MSM assumes
Levels of Processing Model
—Proposed by Craik & Lockhart (1972)
—LOP predicts that how deeply people process information determines how well it is stored in
memory (deeper, meaningful processing creates stronger, longer-lasting memory traces and
shallow processing leads to weaker memory traces).
Also states that memory is a by-product of processing information

Maintenance rehearsal (repetition to hold information in STM) is shallow processing and
leads to short-term retention of information

Elaboration rehearsal (meaningful analysis (e.g. images, thinking, associations etc.) of
information) leads to better recall.
Supporting Study 1: Hyde and Jenkins (1973)
Aim: Investigating whether people could remember without intentionally trying to, and whether
deeper processing leads to better recall
Method: Participants were presented with auditory list of 24 words

Different group of participants were asked to perform one of the following tasks
requiring different levels of processing

o
Rating words for pleasantness
o
Estimate frequency with which each word is used in the English language
o
detect occurrence of letters e and g in other words
o
decide part of speech appropriate to each word (ex. noun, adjective)
o
decide whether words fit into a particular sentence frame
Half participants were told in advance that they would be asked to recall words
(intentional learning group)

Other half were not (incidental learning group)
Results: Minimal differences in the number of words correctly recalled between the intentional
and incidental learning groups

Recall was significantly better words analyzed semantically (ex. rated for pleasantness)
than words which had been rated more specifically (ex. detecting e and g)
Conclusion: Maintenance rehearsal is not necessary for learning
Evaluation:
—Strengths

—Laboratory experiment
o

Strict control over variables
—Able to determine a cause-effect relationship between
—Limitations

—Laboratory experiment
o

—Lacks ecological validity
—Task is unrealistic; does not reflect daily activity participants would do
Connection of study to question:
Supports the LOP theory because it shows that…
 Semantic
processing is deeper than structural and leads to better memory
 Intention
is unnecessary for retention
o
supports Craik and Lockhart's belief that retention is a by-product of
processing
Bintou Bandeh, Ayleah K. Hill, Natalie Pratt
A. Stewart
IB Psychology P.3
February 8, 2016
Psychology Presentation: Cognition
I.
Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis and explain how
principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research.
A.
Cognitive Psychology: Focuses on how the mind works, and examines processes and
how they work, role of of mental and biological factors. ----—
B.
—Refers to a process that is based on one's mental representations of the world,
such as images, words and concepts —
C.
Purpose of principles: These principles are the main ideas that have driven focused
research on specific areas of behaviour and physiology.They also allow us to understand how
behaviour can be caused of influenced by cognitive processes.
D.
Principles: The main ideas that drive research on specific areas of behavior and cognition
and help us understand how behavior can be influenced by cognitive processes
1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide
human behavior
2. The mind can be studied scientifically
3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
E.
Principle 1: Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide human
behavior
1. Computer analogy: The way a computer processes information
a.
The mind selects and codes incoming information and represents knowledge to itself
while processing it and combining it with previously stored information and how inferences are
made based on this info
b.
Both people and computers store information and retrieve it when applicable to current
tasks
1. People, like computers, acquire information from the
environment (input)
2. Both transform info, produce new info, and both return the
info back to the environment in the form of behaviour
(output)
2. Schema theory
.
Assumed to operate through top-down processing (when the information is processed there is
some output in the form of behaviour) the role of a schema shapes perception and increase
efficiency of processing, but can cause distortions
a.
Allow us to take short-cuts in interpreting large portions of info
3. Darley and Gross (1983)
.
Aim: to investigate whether a schema or pre-exisiting idea will make people form
stereotypes for a particular person
a.
Procedure: participants were told that a girl called Hannah was either rich or poor. The
people that were told she was rich split off into a separate group to those that were told she was
poor. Both groups watched exactly the same video about her.
b.
Results: participants in the "wealthy family" group rated Hannah's performance above
fourth grade, whereas the "poor family" group rated her performance below fourth grade, in spite
of watching the same ambiguous video.
c.
Conclusion: these findings demonstrate that stereotypes about socioeconomic status
affect perceptions of intelligence.
F.
Principle 2: The mind can be studied scientifically
1. Mental processes can be studied empirically, even if they aren’t tangible
.
Testable theories can be developed from unobservable processes
a.
These theories can be tested with scientific experimentation
b.
Thus, the mind can be studied scientifically
2. Loftus and Palmer (1974)
.
Performed an experiment to test reconstructive memory by purposefully asking
misleading questions and recording the effect on memory.
a.
When asked “how fast was the car going when it smashed, hit, bumped, collided,
contacted” Words like “smashed” elicited higher speed estimations in comparison to “contacted”
b.
Because researchers used the experimental method, there is a cause and effect
relationship
3. Corkin et al. (1999)
.
H.M. had a brain operation where scientists removed his hippocampus in an attempt to
eliminate his epilepsy
a.
He developed amnesia as a result
b.
M.R.I. scans confirmed the exact damage to H.M.’s brain, which helps us scientifically
study the brain because a cause and effect relationship can be established.
G.
Principle 3: Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
H.
An example of cognitive processes is schema, our mental representation influenced by
culture and society of the world will affect how we store information
1. Bartlett (1932)
.
Suggested that schema influences memory and is guided by culture. For example,
previous knowledge determines how people interpret new information and memory (memory
distortion).
a.
British participants were read a Native American story, and when asked to reproduce it
they changed details to fit their previous cultural schemas.
b.
Not controlled, however, shows us how recall/memory can be influenced by social values
and previous knowledge.
2. Connection: social and cultural factors affect cognitive processes as:
The difference in participants and the stimuli used in terms of culture affected mental
representations (schemas).
I. Conclusion:
There are three fundamental principles that define the cognitive level of analysis, which
help research into cognition. However, views from all levels of analysis need to be taken
into account before reaching a determined decision on influences on human behaviour.
To what extent do cognitive and biological factors interact in
emotion?
Include in essay:
Describe cognitive level of analysis:
-studies inner processes of the mind and how those cog. processes guide one’s behavior
-mention that emotion has been investigated in both bio. and cog. influences
Then…
Define emotion: body’s adaptive response to a certain
situation; Ekman et al. (1972) discovered 6 fundamental emotions consistent across varying
cultures: Fear, Anger, Surprise, Sadness, Happiness, Disgust
-set of emotions universal, recognized by member from diverse cultures….
Suggesting that emotion is genetic(biological), rather than cognitive
Explain how emotion can be a result from interaction between cog. and bio. factors
-emotions dependent or initiated through physiological and/or cog factors
Define Cognition: Can be defined as the mental processes of acquiring/processing and
understanding through experiences and senses in the mind; the mind can’t exist or function w/o
these processes
Define Physiology: internal,
biological mechanisms of living organisms
State Purpose of Essay: Aim to consider the argument or concept of how both cog. and bio.
factors interact in emotion and influence how humans experience emotion. Then, Conclusion to
be made in regards to the extent in which factors influence emotion
Theories
Le Doux Theory
James Lange Theory
Cannon-Bard Theory
Schachter and Singer’s Cognitive theory a.k.a Two-Factor theory
Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory
Lazarus’ appraisal theory of emotion
-State which theories will be discussed: For both Biological focus and Cognitive focus
Biological Factors in Emotion
-Viewed as primarily somatic (bodily) process: Body arousal, horomones, Expressions, brain
activity, neurochemical processes
Cognitive Factors in Emotion: Focus on the mental aspects of emotions, how conscious and
unconscious mental processes influence emotional experiences and actions.
-Guides cog. and
rational emotive therapies that assume cognitions and emotions are interrelated, negative
cognitions lead to negative emotions: Those negative emotions may come out of faulty
interpretations of experiences
The Interaction
-Emotions can be initiated through physiological and cog. factors
-It’s
assumed that emotions consist of 3 components: physiological changes (biological reactions),
subjective feeling of the emotion (cognitions), leads to associated behavior and so emotion is
expressed
-Cog. and Bio. factors
interact and produce an emotional response to an event:so there’s a relationship between cog.
and bio. factors in emotion
Theory 1: Le Doux’s Theory
Explain: discovered that there are 2 neurological pathways for fear
-Argues that is evolutionary advantage: During times of danger
-Amygdala receives input from sensory areas and thalamus and projects to areas in brainstem
that control fight response
Study supporting theory: Le Doux Rat Experiment (a summary)
-Study to find out where emotional memory stored, which pairs tone and shock in memory
demonstrating theory
-Aim: Investigate emotional circuit
-Method: Made lesions in pathways to determine functions, lesions in auditory context, and
auditory thalamus
-Findings: brain structures play different roles in generation of emotion, pathways w/ lesions that
led to thalamus or amygdala affected emotional responses
-Conclusion: damage to brain could damage generation of emotions
-Connection to Question: bio. factors DO interact in emotion, greatly
Explain how theory suggests interaction w/ bio. & cog. factors
-amygdala central for control of emotional responses
-connection between structures allow amygdala to transform sensory info into emotional
signals
-supports cog. factors, because situation appraised through long route
Other supporting studies to Le Doux theory
Gazzaniga et al. (2000), Branchard and Branchard (1972), Philips (1964)
Evaluate Studies: Strengths and Weaknesses
theory # 2 Two-Factor theory
-Two Factors interact to determine emotions: physiological arousal, interpretation and labelling
of such arousal
-strength of phsiological arousal determines deteremines intensity of emotion
-Interpretation of physiological arousal determines which particular emotion represented
HOW SUPPORTS INTERACTION:
-Perception — of stimulus may lead to bodily physiological arousal
—-Physiological arousal is necessary for emotional experience, but needs to be labelled or
interpreted by cognitive appraisal of the situation
-—If a state of unexplained bodily arousal is induced, people will look around and try to explain
the arousal in terms of their environment
—-This cognitive appraisal results in labelling of the arousal as an emotional experience.
Study 2: Schacter and Singer 1962
—
Aim:
To test the two factor theory of emotion (that emotion arises from a combination of
cognition and arousal), using the hormone, adrenaline
State method:184 college males, told given injection
State Results
State conclusion
Connection of study to question