Cognitive Level of Analysis

Session 3: The principles of CLOA

Journal feedback

Deadline Reminder

First things first...

I will share a list of words with you

Your job is to try to recall all of them as best you can

Please do not talk during this demonstration

A quick memory test....

Here are the words:

BED

NIGHT

COMFORT

REST

AWAKE

SNORE

DREAM

TIRED

EAT

SOUND

SLUMBER

WAKE

• On a blank sheet of paper, write your name, your full address, phone

number and your parents’ names

• This is what is called a “distracter activity”

Now, write the words you can recall—in any order

Now, how many of you remember the word

“Aardvark”?

How many of you remember the word

“sleep”?

Why do you think this occurred?

CognitionThe mental processes that are involved in perception, attention, memory, problem solving, reasoning, and making decisions

Cognitive Level of AnalysisLooks at how cognition can

affect human behaviour

A brief recap….

1. Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis

2. Explain how principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research

Today’s learning outcomes

Read pages 67-69 of your textbook and make notes on the principles that define the cognitive level of analysis

You have 15 minutes

Task

1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behaviour

2. The mind can be studied scientifically

3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors

The principles of CLOA

People are active information processors We perceive and interpret what is going on around us This is often based on what we already know There is a relationship between our mental

representations and the way we perceive and think about the world

Human behaviour is determined by a set of mental tasks/processes

Mental tasks/processes include; perception, thinking, problem solving, memory, language and attention (a.k.a cognitions)

1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide

behaviour

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, organised, 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.

1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide

behaviour

The Computer Metaphor 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).

1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide

behaviour

Will it ever be possible to develop robots that think like humans?

Read through the activity box on page 69 of your textbook work in pairs to discuss the questions

Be a thinker!

Watch the videos...

Lab Report FeedbackLearning Outcomes1. Outline principles that define the cognitive level

of analysis2. Explain how principles that define the cognitive

level of analysis may be demonstrated in research

Session 3 Part Two

Follow your own feedback carefully but here’s some general tips/common mistakes

Lab Draft Feedback

Intro More detail and research Other studies as well as L&P EWT mistakes stats Limitation of L&P-rationale for replication?? Experimental and null hypothesis Schema theory

Lab Draft Feedback General

Method Independent measures design Wording of question was IV not EWT Experimental conditions= 2 leading qs Control condition NOT variable= q no

suggestive verb Don’t include unnecessary details! Ps from different cultures No of Ps

Lab Draft Feedback General

ResultsGraph and table both with titlesResult can’t be referred to as ‘significant’ no

significance test was applied to resultsDiscuss results

Lab Draft Feedback General

Discussion Ecological validity criticisms Practical implications Support for L&P Conflicting evidence of L&P Theory behind results- schema theory Demand characteristics Sample Future research

Lab Draft Feedback General

General No personal pronouns! Past tense throughout References need to be included and in right

format this could be the difference in a 5 or a 6!

EWT definition confusion

Any questions?

Lab Draft Feedback General

Who can remember the three principles of the cognitive level of analysis???

A brief recap

1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behaviour

2. The mind can be studied scientifically

3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors

The principles of CLOA

Defines cognitive systems as mental representations of knowledge

Mental representations (schemas) are stored in categories in memory

These schemas provide guidelines for interpretation of incoming information when people try to make sense of the world

Schemas influence cognitions in that they create expectations about what will happen in certain situations

Schema theory can, to a large extent, explain reconstructive memory and stereotyping

Principle 1 demonstrated in Schema Theory

Darley and Gross (1983) Performed experiment in which showed videos of a girl

playing in a poor environment and then a wealthy environment

Then saw a video of the girl in what could be an intelligent test

When the participants were asked to judge the future of the girl they all said that the ‘poor’ girl would do worse than the ‘wealthy’ girl

Study demonstrated how people actively process information based on a few salient details to form an overall impression that may not necessarily be correct

Principle 1 demonstrated in Schema Theory

Cognitive researchers use a number of scientific methods to study the mind

These include lab experiments, neuroimaging, case studies, interviews and archival research

The most used method was, for a long time, the lab experiment because it was considered to be the most scientific

2. The mind can be studied scientifically

Performed experiment to test reconstructive memory in relation to EWT

Aim: see whether misleading questions could distort memory Participants were shown a video of a car crash and were

asked to estimate the speed of the car based on question “how fast was the car going when it smashed/hit/bumped/contacted the other car”

The word smashed elicited higher speed estimations Because the experimental method was used it was possible

to establish a cause and effect relationship between the use of specific words and estimation of speed.

Experimental research on memory has, however, been criticised for lacking ecological validity

Principle 2 demonstrated in Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Used MRI scan to observe exact damage to H.M’s brain

HM suffered from amnesia due to a brain operation where the hippocampus and adjacent areas were removed to eliminate his epilepsy

Scans confirmed damage to those areas

Principle 2 demonstrated in Corkin et al (1999)

Research has shown that cognitive processes such as perception, memory and thinking are influenced by sociocultural factors

Bartlett (1932) introduced the concept of ‘cultural schema’

Suggested that schemas influence memory in that they lead to distortion or “reconstructive memory”

Other researchers suggest that the environment in which people live leads to specific cultural and social demands that influence the way that they process information

3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors

DiMaggio (1997) suggests that schemas are: Representations of knowledge (e.g.

Stereotypes and social roles) Mechanisms that simplify cognition in the

form of ‘cognitive shortcuts’ that are shaped by culture

Schematic cognition is shaped and biased by culture (e.g. Cultural based stereotypes)

3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors

Suggested memory is guided by schemas and culture can influence schemas

Previous knowledge determines the way people interpret incoming information and memory

He asked British participants to read an unfamiliar Native American story and reproduce it

Participants changed the details of the story to fit with their own cultural schemas

Principle 3 demonstrated in Bartlett (1932)

Create a mind map for the learning outcome

‘Outline principles that define of the cognitive level of analysis and explain how these principles may be demonstrated in research”

Task

Final lab reports due Monday

If this is not submitted on time then this mark will not be counted in your final grade

Deadline Reminder!