Approaches to Cognitive
Psychology
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According to McMillan
◦ Cognitive Psychology is the scientific study of human
thoughts and the mental process that underlie behavior
 which includes memory, problem solving, perception
and language.
◦ i.e. Cognitive Psychology focuses on internal
psychological processes that involves in understanding
human thoughts and mental processes that defines
human behavior.
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Cognitive Psychology ….
◦ Help us to understand our environment more, &
◦ What internal process that are involved in
making appropriate decision in life.
 These internal processes includes:
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Attention
Perception
Learning
Memory
Language
Problem solving,
Reasoning
Thinking
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Cognitive scientist have difficulties in
studying cognitive process in human being
because… mental process cannot be seen, unlike
overt behavior.
Scientists need a general framework to guide them,
a set of assumptions that tells them where to start,
what to look for, what to be aware of.
Thus, various approaches to study human
cognitive process were developed:
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Experimental cognitive psychology
Cognitive science
Cognitive neuropsychology
Cognitive neuroscience
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Experimental cognitive psychology – foundation for all the
approaches in cognitive psychology
◦ Involves:
 Conducting experiments on normal individuals under
laboratory studies.
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Scientific method – system of established principles and processes of
scientific inquiry
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Identifying a problem
Formulating hypotheses
Collecting data
Analyzing the data
Disseminating findings
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Experimental Cognitive Psychologist would
usually….
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Identifying a problem (define a question of study).
Gather information and resources
Formulate hypotheses
Conduct scientific experiment
Collect data
Analyze data
Interpret data
Make conclusion (in order to build a starting point
for new hypothesis)
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Results (findings) will be disseminate
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Sample  normal individuals under laboratory
conditions
◦ Controlled environment – to understand human
cognition/thinking process better
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People tend to behave differently when they are in
the lab situation (when involved in experiment) 
resulting in inaccurate findings because it does not
represent the true process of human cognition.
Normally setting or design of the experiments is carried
out in advance according to scientists needs/ requirement
 little emphasize on respondent’s response.
Measurement on the speed and accuracy of performance
provide only indirect evidence about the internal
process involved in cognition.
Experimenter have the tendency to ignore the differences
in respondents background (IQ, SES etc)  could affect
the experiment result.
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Cognitive Science…
◦ Focus on the relationship between artificial intelligence
and Cognitive Psychology  by developing computational
models in order to understand human cognitions.
 Artificial Intelligence is the study of human intelligence
such that it can be replicated artificially. i.e. AI:-
• Systems that think like humans (focus on reasoning and human
framework)
• Systems that think rationally (focus on reasoning and a general
concept of intelligence)
• Systems that act like humans (focus on behavior and human
framework)
• Systems that act rationally (focus on behavior and a general
concept of intelligence)
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A good computational model can:◦ show us how a given theory can be specified
in detail  allow us to predict behavior in new
situations.
◦ Help to stimulate better specification of
cognitive theories and generates new
predictions.
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3 main types of computational models:◦ Semantic networks
◦ Production system
◦ Connectionist network
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Normally computational models are used for/as prop
for a theory, rarely used to make prediction 
because often they have no real predictive
function.
Connectionist models  claim to have neuro
plausibility, do not really resemble the human
brain.
Most computational model has been design to
stimulate human performance on single task.
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Cognitive neuropsychology is a branch of cognitive
psychology that aims to understand how the structure and
function of the brain relates to specific psychological
processes.
Emphasize on  study the cognitive effects of brain injury
or neurological illness  by inferring to models of normal
cognitive functioning (in order to understand the normal
human cognition).
◦ Evidence is based on case studies of individual brain
damaged patients who show deficits in brain areas
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Setiap bahagian otak sangat penting dalam mempengaruhi
perkembangan bayi  berintegrasi juga dengan integrasi dengan emosi
dan tingkahlaku sosial.
Otak Tengah: Limbic System
mengawal emosi, ingatan,
motivasi, t/l agrasif, kawal
suhu badan, lapar, aktiviti
sistem saraf, rembesan
hormon, dan pusat
kepuasan
Otak Luar: Cortex & neocortex
berlipat-lipat, disinilah letaknya
‘intelligence’ (tempat berfikir),
kawasan yang mengawal
penglihatan, pendengaran,
rekacipta, percakapan dan
pemikiran. Ia terbahagi kepada
bahagian-bahagian (lobes)
Pangkal Otak: Brain stem
Kawal proses-proses hidup,spt
bernafas, pergerakan jantung,
proses ginjal, tidur, arousal,
attention & keseimbangan badan
(balance/movement), dll.
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Cognitive neuropsychologist assume that cognitive
system consists of several modules or cognitive
processors within the brain.
◦ i.e. the cognitive processors involved in understanding
speech is different from actual talking.
 So, some brain damage patients are good at language
comprehension but poor at talking (or vice-versa) .
From these studies researchers infer that different areas of the
brain are highly specialized.
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Cognitive neuropsychology also uses many of the
same techniques and technologies from the wider
science of neuropsychology and fields such as
cognitive neuroscience (neuroimaging – e.g. PET
scan/MRI/CT scan; electrophysiology &
neuropsychology test) to measure either brain
function or psychological performance
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Assume that the cognitive performance of a brain
damage patients provide direct evidence of the impact
of brain damage (of previously normal cognitive
system).
The whole cognitive neuropsychological approach is
very complex  because every individual are
different (in age, size, SES, educational background) , but
they have similar kind of brain damage. So????
The study of brain damage patients can lead to
underestimates of brain areas involved in performing
any given cognitive functioning
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Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned
with the scientific study of biological component
underlying cognition  with specific focus on the neural
component of mental processes.
It addresses the questions of how psychological/ cognitive
functions are produced by the brain  focused on
uncovering the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive
processes.
◦ Includes studying about perception, attention, motor control,
language, learning, memory, spatial and social cognition
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Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both psychology
and neuroscience, overlapping with disciplines such as
biology, physiology, physiological psychology, cognitive
psychology and neuropsychology.
Therefore, the Cognitive neuroscientists comes from
various backgrounds, such as…..
◦ cognitive neuroscience, neurobiology, Bioengineering,
◦ Psychiatry, neurology, physics, computer science,
linguistics, philosophy and mathematics.
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Methods employed in cognitive neuroscience include experimental
paradigms from psychophysics and cognitive psychology, functional
neuro imaging, electrophysiology, cognitive genomics and behavioral
genetics.
Scientist tried to understand the relationship between the brain and
mind  from various aspects.
◦ Studies of the human brain are done scientifically  in controlled
environment (lab)
◦ Studies of patients with cognitive deficits due to brain lesions constitute an
important aspect of cognitive neuroscience
◦ Theoretical approaches include computational neuroscience and cognitive
psychology.
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Cognitive neuroscience relies upon theories in cognitive science,
plus evidence from neuropsychology and computational.
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Relating to the validity of the
(results from the study).
data collected
◦ Can the result be generalized to other situation 
since each individual (respondents) participated in
the study have significant individual differences???