Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis

Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis. (8)

Outline (8) – Give a brief account or summary.

Principle 1 – Humans are information processors, mental processes guide our behaviour.

Multi-store model (Theorist: Atkinson and Shiffrin)

The Multi-store model suggests that there are three memory stores.
Each memory store responsible for a different type of memory.

The Multi-store model of memory
	Sensory memory	Short Term Memory (STM)	Long Term Memory (LTM)
Input	Sensory stimulus (e.g. visual, audio etc.)	Conversion from Sensory Store through selective attention (choosing to retain the memory)	Encoded from STM Store through rehearsal (repeatedly giving attention to the memory)
Loss	Decay – Loss due to passage of time	Displacement – loss due to replacement of other memories	Interference – rehearsal gets interfered during retrieval
Process	-	Repetitive rehearsal in order to retain the memory	Memory gets stored away in a conceptually indefinitely large store. Retrieved to STM store when needed.
Duration	3 to 5 seconds	1 to 2 minutes	Indefinite
Capacity	-	Limited, around 7 items	Unlimited

Glanzer & Cunitz – Primacy and recency experiment (Multi-store model)
[A]	Test primacy-recency effect.
[P]	Participants were asked to read a series of 20 words. They were then asked to recall the 20 words in any order. In another variation, a distraction task was performed before recall.
[F]	Participants remembered the the first and last few words better. Results reliably fall into a pattern known as the “serial position curve”.
[C]	First few words – because they had more time to rehearse the words, encoding them into their long term memory store. Last few words – because it is still in the short term memory store. In the variation, the last few words were not recalled because of loss through decay. Provides evidence for multi-store model of memory.
[E]	Low in ecological validity, lab environment. Ignored participant’s understanding of the words. Only one culture tested Education in some cultures may train students to remember things.

Principle 2 – The mind can be studied scientifically.

fMRI – Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Technology that measures brain activity by detecting associated changes in concentration of oxygen in the blood.
Deoxygenated haemoglobin is more magnetic than Oxygenated haemoglobin.
Requires the patient to be still in a small area for a long time.
May spark claustrophobia
People with metal parts on their body cannot use a MRI machine because MRI has a strong magnetic field.
Different from MRI which only provide a 3D image, fMRI provides a 3D animated model of the brain.

Tali Sharot – 9/11 Flashbulb Memory (Flashbulb Memory)
[A]	Investigate upon the existence of Flashbulb Memory.
[P]	24 witnesses of the 9/11 incident were found from different location of Manhattan as subjects. Subjects were placed in an fMRI machine. Subjects were asked to recall the event of 9/11. Subjects were also asked to recall their summer holiday (for control purpose).
[F]	People closer to where the event happened (where the World Trade Center was) had a more in-depth recall of the event. When compared to subject’s summer holiday, the level of detail given for 9/11 incident was higher. Parahippocampal Gyrus (Para-hippo-campal Gy-rus – responsible for LTM retrieval) was relatively inactive when recalling memories from 9/11 when compared to recalling events from summer holiday. Amygdala (responsible for processing memory of emotional reaction) was relatively more active when recalling memories from 9/11.
[C]	Different part of the brain was used for different Flashbulb Memory retrieval and general LTM retrieval. Supports Flashbulb Memory as a different type of memory than LTM. Collectivist culture – tend to suppress emotion, memory encoded at a shallow level. Individualist culture – encouraged to express emotion, memory encoded at a deeper level (Levels of processing theory – Craik & Lorkhart).
[E]	Observing the concentration of deoxygenated haemoglobin is an accurate measure for brain activity. Ecologically valid. Questions were asked about real life situations. May argue that it is still laboratory condition, overtly observing may cause Demand Characteristics. Pressure under lab conditions may cause alteration of results. Possible confirmation bias. No cause-and-effect relationship can be established through the scan. Relies heavily upon the interpretation of the researcher. The Amygdala showing response may well be the subject’s expression of depressed emotion while recalling 9/11. Ethical considerations: Privacy of the subjects may be invaded because the fMRI indicates a general representation of their thought process.

Principle 3 – Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors.

Schema theory (Theorist: Frederic Bartlett)

Mental representation of knowledge created over time from previous experiences.
Childhood experiences
Repetitive exposure
Reinforcement
Helps us organize information, guides our action and make predictions of the world.
Encoding -> Storage -> Retrieval

Frederic Bartlett – War Of The Ghosts study (Schema)
[A]	Prove that memory is reconstructive and schemas influence recall. Demonstrate role of culture in schema processing.
[P]	Participants were European Americans and Native Americans. Bartlett ask participants to read a Native American folk story twice. Then asked them to recite reproduce the story 15 minutes after reading. No participants knew the aim and purpose of the task.
[F]	Native American participants found it easier to reproduce the story. European American version of the story left out or replaced details related to Native American Culture e.g. Canoe -> Boat. European Americans filled in the gaps in their memory with their own cultural schema.
[C]	People reconstruct the past by trying to fit it into existing schemas. More complex the information, the more likely elements are forgotten/distorted. People try to find a familiar pattern in experiences, past or new. People uses existing schemas to fill in the gaps of their memory, subconsciously. Memory, according to Bartlett, is an imaginative reconstruction of experience.
[E]	Methodology not sophisticated. No IV, DV or Control. Making it difficult to measure or compare outcome. Emic approach: Result specific to European American and Native American culture. Low potential generalising ability .