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.
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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.
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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 Culturee.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 .
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