Introduction Cognitive psychology is the study of mental representations that guide behavior. One way to investigate a brain function is through an experiment called Visual Search. Ulric Neisser’s Visual Search is one of the most famous ways to study a particular brain function, which in this case is perception and identification. More formally, it is a type of perceptual task that requires a scan of a visual environment for a certain target among other similar or distinct features. Ulric Neisser in 1964 created his study of Visual Search for the purposes of developing cognitive psychology. The aim of his experiment was to see whether round or angular letters affected one’s ability to locate a letter “Z” (Neisser, 1964). His method was to first ask a person to scan a list (consisting of fifty items) to find a specific target. The list was computer generated, each list either a set of round letters or angular letters with the letter “Z” randomly mixed in. The subject peered through a window onto a box with the list inside. Then he illuminated the list and started the timer. After the subject scanned the list and found the target, he turned the timer off. The results were that it took the subjects less time to find the letter “Z” in the set of round letters instead of the angular letters. He did not specify the age of his participants or the time of day that each subject took the test. Based off of Ulric Neisser’s study, the researchers are conducting an experiment with few modifications to the original experiment. For this experiment, the researchers will be creating their own list of round letters and angular letters, and randomly placing the letter “K” in each list. The AIM of this experiment is to see whether round or angula... ... middle of paper ... ...02 = 8.41 5.48 – 4.90 = 0.582 = 0.3364 2.18 – 4.90 = -2.722 = 7.3984 8.63 – 4.90 = 3.732 = 13.9129 4.11 – 4.90 = -0.792 = 0.6241 2.67 – 4.90 = -2.232 = 4.9729 5.10 – 4.90 = 0.202 = 0.04 3.50 – 4.90 = -1.402 = 1.96 2.40 – 4.90 = -2.502 = 6.25 4.25 – 4.90 = -0.652 = 0.4225 14.70 – 4.90 = 9.82 = 96.04 4.25 – 4.90 = -0.652 = 0.4225 5.88 – 4.90 = 0.982 = 0.9604 2.53 – 4.90 = -2.372 = 5.6169 6.30 – 4.90 = 1.402 = 1.96 5.51 – 4.90 = 0.612 = 0.3721 5.15 – 4.90 = 0.252 = 0.0625 0.4624 +3.9601 +0.5041 +1.0201 +0.0009 +0.6241 +0.144 +0.2916 +1.2321 +0.0676 +2.3104 +0.0961 +0.7921 +11.2896 +0.6561 +0.3249 +1.4161 +0.5776 +2.5281 + 0.0036 0.0225 +2.56 +0.2025 +8.41 +0.3364 +7.3984 +13.9129 +0.6241 +4.9729 +0.04 +1.96 +6.25 +0.4225 +96.04 +0.4225 +0.9604 +5.6169 +1.96 +0.3721 +0.0625 √28.3016/19 = 1.22 √152.5466/19 = 2.83 Appendix VII Continued: Calculations of Standard Deviation
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One of the major differences between humans and animals is our ability to reason and differentiate our actions from our instincts (Barrett, 2011, p. 3). Justin Barrett further explains this distinction in the first chapter of his book, Cognitive Science Religion and Theology. He explains that cognitive science recognizes the uniqueness of the human mind and focuses on explaining the thinking processes that take place(Barrett, 2011, p. 5). This may seem similar to what the field of neuroscience aims to do but, cognitive science is not as interested with the biological functions of the brain. Instead of looking at physical structures Barrett writes, that cognitive science focuses on broader processes such as perception, attention, memory, reasoning and learning (Barrett, 2011, p. 7). All of these processes interact with each other to create the big questions asked in cognitive science. Some of these big underlying questions of cognitive science are explored in this first chapter, questions such as “What is innate?” or “How are mind and bodies
It seems as new minds enter the field so does new ways of thinking, as with anything the science evolves depending on the perspective of the person who views it. Similar to the main character in “The Noticer”. The main character helps people by expanding their perspective. Cognitive psychology is similar in the way it studies the various intricacies of a person’s behaviors and way of thinking. Cognitive psychology is relative because when one considers a person’s perception it usually has a basis in a person’s experience. In other words perception is a series of layers and cognitive psychology has a basis in the various layers of processing information that one acquires and stores.
Historically, cognitive psychology was unified by an approach based on an resemblance between the mind and a computer, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). Cognitive neuroscientists argue convincingly that we need to study the brain while people engage in cognitive tasks. Clearly, the internal processes involved in human cognition occur in the brain, and several sophisticated ways of studying the brain in action, including various imaging techniques, now exist, (Sternberg and Wagner, 1999, page 34).Neuroscience studies how the activity of the brain is correlated with cognitive operations, (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). On the other hand, cognitive neuropsychologists believe that we can draw general conclusions about the way in which the intact mind and brain work from mainly studying the behaviour of neurological patients rather than their physiology, (McCarthy and Warrington, 1990).
According to numerous references in the field of Psychology, a cognitive psychologist is an individual that studies topics such as thinking, problem-solving, learning, attention, memory, forgetting, and language acquisition, among several others. Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes, and its core focus is on how people acquire, process, and store information. While great research has been done within the field of psychology, there are individuals such as B.F. Skinner who criticize its strides, purposes, and research methods.
Cognitive psychology is the study of the brains internal processes that guide behaviour; to study cognition, psychologists examine case studies of patients with damaged brains that can infer areas, and functions involved in particular processes. Patient studies have provided insights into the processes that take place within our minds, and have enabled psychologists to create models, which can be tested and fractionated. Cognitive neuropsychology has developed from cognitive psychology to become a discipline in its own right; it investigates the function and structures of the brain involved in cognitive processes and should not be confused with cognitive neuroscience, which is primarily concerned with neural structures and their functions.
Whilst evaluating the cognitive approach to psychology there are many strengths such as that the cognitive approach takes an understanding of the influence from mental processes on one’s behaviour, focusing on an individual’s thinking patterns and their perception. This approach also relates to many known functions and operations that the human body performs such as memory and problem solving.
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior. In psychology, and all of the other sciences, relying on opinions is abandoned in order to find out which explanations best fit the evidence or data given. Science continually forces us to question our findings and conclusions. Over time, psychology has advanced greatly and a main reason for such progressiveness is because of the change in the research model used.
Several acheivements occurred in the development of cognitive psychology. The study of neuroscience brings us to what we know about cognition today. Cognitive psychology came from the criticisms and flaws of behaviorism. The focus of behaviorism is on observable behaviors, although cognitive psychology became a means to studying mental processes. Cognitive psychology can answer the questions behaviorism could not provide. Behavioral observations are key factors in cognitive psychology, and help with interpreting mental processes and behaviors. Through studying mental processes cognitive psychologists’ expanded psychology through and beyond observations. Behavioral observations helps researchers test cognitive theories. Behaviorists study observable behavior and cognitive psychologists study the mental processes. When studying these processes, researchers attempt to explain how unobservable processes interact with the observable behaviors and helping cognitive psychologists test their theories in
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Throughout the ages, humans have had an inherent interest in studying the complex area of human behaviour, even before psychology was established as a science. Because the study of behaviour is so broad and multifaceted, its scientific study poses particular challenges. Therefore, it can be beneficial to approach the scientific study of human behaviour from the perspective of cognitive psychology. This is the study of cognition, the mental processes that underlie human behaviour (Ling & Cattling, 2012).
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