Cognitive level
of analysis
What is cognitive psychology
?
 Study
of mental processes
 Study of the way in which the brain
processes information
 It concerns the way we take in
information from the outside world, how
we make sense of that information and
what use we make of it.
Stimulus - response
What is this ?
What are mental processes?
( the thing in the black box)
Decision-making – perceptionlanguage- memory-attention ??
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Billy is walking across the school campus. He spots a
friend and they have a quick chat about last night’s
football training. He then apologises as he rushes off to
his own football training, unsure of whether to cycle or
catch the bus.
Such an every-day sequence of seemingly trivial
events actually involves a sequence of complex
cognitive processes. Which process is being used ?
Billy is able to find his way across campus and
recognize his friend.
He focuses on only a portion of the campus as he
makes his way across it
He remembers his friend, details of the match the
night before and his training session
They chat about the football match
He then has to working out the best form of transport
to get home.
Outline principles
that define the
cognitive level of
analysis:

Outline principles that define the
cognitive level of analysis:
 1.
Humans are information processors
 2.
Mental processes can be scientifically
investigated
 3.
Cognitive processes are influenced by
social and cultural factors
1. Humans are
information
processors
 Human
behaviour is determined
by a set of mental
tasks/processes
 Mental
tasks/processes include;
perception, thinking, problem
solving, memory, language and
attention
 They
are also known as
cognitions
 Cognitive
psychologist see these
cognitions/mental tasks as active systems;
 In between taking in and responding to
information a number of processes are at
work.
 Information can be transformed, reduced,
elaborated, filtered, manipulated,
selected, organized, stored and retrieved
 Therefore the human mind is seen as an
active system processing information, and
cognitive psychologists aims to study these
processes.
 Central
to this information processing approach is
the computer metaphor.
 One of the difficulties facing cognitive psychologists
is that they were trying to study processes that are
not directly observable.
 Consequently the computer revolution of the 1950
provided the terminology and metaphor they
needed.
People,
like
computers, acquire
information from the
environment ( input ).
Both people and
computers store
information and
retrieve it when
applicable to current
tasks;
 both
are limited in the amount of
information they can process at a
given time;
 both transform information to
produce new information; both
return information to the
environment ( output).
 This
information processing approach can
be seen in;
 Models of memory
 Schema theory
(more about each of these later).
Principle 2: Mental processes can
be scientifically investigated
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Cognitive processes are difficult to study.
They often occur rapidly, and inside the mind
so they cannot be observed directly.
It is only the responses that participants make
when given some cognitive task to perform
that can tell us about cognitive processes.
These tasks usually take place under tightly
controlled lab experiments where the main
aim is to isolate a particular component of
the cognitive process for the study.
The stroop effect
 One
of the earliest and most famous
experiments into cognitive processes is the
Stroop Effect.
 The stroop effect is a phenomena involved in
attentional processes.
 Although we will actually focus on the
process of memory this is a good study to look
at.
 People are often introduced to the Stroop
Effect in beginning psychology classes as
they learn about how their brains process
information.
The stroop effect
 It
demonstrates the effects of interference,
processing speed (reaction time) and automaticity
in divided attention.
 The effect is named after John Ridley Stroop who
first published the effect in English in 1935.
Stroop effect
 This
is a classic laboratory experiment that
involves the manipulation of an independent
variable ( colour or name of word ) to see what
effect it has on the dependent variable (
reaction time).
 It attempts to control the influence of all other
extraneous variables – such as other cognitive
processes or skills.
 It also allows us to establish a cause and effect
relationship between task and mental process.
Mental processes can be
scientifically studied
A
further example of the laboratory
experiment was conducted by
Ebbinghaus (1885).
 His experiment intended to isolate the
process of pure memory and show that it
could be studied scientifically under
carefully controlled conditions.
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The aim of the study was to study forgetting, i.e. how
quickly a person forgets what has been learned
100%.
He used himself in most of the studies , i.e. the design
was N=1 and he tested his memory using nonsense
syllables.
 Learned lists of nonsense syllables (e.g., DAX, QEH)
 Why nonsense syllables?
Did not want actual words to influence his ability to
memorize or recall certain words
 He manipulated the independent variable of ‘time
delay before recall’ to find the effect on the dependent
variable of ‘the amount of information retained’ thus
being able eventually to draw the famous ‘forgetting
curve’.

Principle 3:
Cognitive processes are influenced by
social and cultural factors
 Cognitive
processes can be influenced by
our culture
 Bartlett found that schemas ( past
knowledge) can affect our memories –
 Cole and Scribner found that non-schooled
children in parts of Africa struggled with
aspects of memorisation.
 MORE ABOUT THIS LATER……….