Research at the cognitive level

1. Objective 1.3:Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the cognitive level of analysis.

2. Research at the cognitive level • Many different methodologies are used to study cognitive science. As the field is highly interdisciplinary, research often cuts across multiple areas of study (triangulation), drawing on research methods from the biological level of analysis and the socio-cultural level of analysis. • The Principles of the cognitive level of analysis act as building block for the research methodology. • Some methods commonly used at the CLOA are: • Brain Imaging Technologies (Under the assumption of principle 1) • Experiments (under the assumption of principle 2) • Case studies (under the assumption of principle 3)

3. Brain Imaging Technology How would Brain Imaging Technology be beneficial to a cognitive psychologist?

4. Brain Imaging Technology and Cognitive Research • Under the assumption of principle 1: Physiological processes give rise to cognitive processes, studying the physical brain and its chemical components can give us insight into mental processes such as memory, language, emotions, etc.

5. Brain Imaging Technology and Cognitive Research • Under the assumption of principle 1: Physiological processes give rise to cognitive processes, studying the physical brain and its chemical components can give us insight into mental processes such as memory, language, emotions, etc.

6. Brain Imaging Technology and Cognitive Research • Neuroscientists can now study which brain areas are active when people attempt certain cognitive tasks through the use of PET and fMRI scans. • More specifically, scientist can localize physiological causes of cognitive impairments.

7. Brain Imaging Technology and Cognitive Research • Cognitive Psychologist Michael Lipton has been investigating mild cognitive impairment using MRI scans to identify brain regional differences in athletes. • More specifically, he has investigated soccer players who suffer from mild cognitive impairment due to head to ball contact during soccer activities.

8. See it for yourself! • http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmoa3g_science-talk-frequent-heading-in-soccer-can-lead-to_tech

9. Brain Imaging Technology and Cognitive Research • For the study, researchers used an advanced MRI-based imaging technique to scan the brains of 38 amateur soccer players, then compared the images to the number of times they headed the ball during the past year. • Players who frequently headed the ball showed brain injuries similar to those seen in patients with concussions, they also reported "significant injury" in those players who exceeded 1,000 to 1,500 headers per year.

10. Brain Imaging Technology and Cognitive Research • According to Lipton, "Heading a soccer ball is not an impact of a magnitude that will lacerate nerve fibers in the brain," he added. "But repetitive heading may set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells. These are the type of findings that are possible with brain imaging technology”. • Lipton’s brain imaging research identified five areas of the brain—responsible for attention, memory and visual functions—that were affected by heading, according to results.

11. Brief discussion on B.I.T. (things to consider) • How does this brain imaging technique benefit cognitive psychologists? What does it allow for them to do? • What are the ethical benefits of this technology. • Does correlation imply causation? Can we say from this technology that the factor caused the brain damage?

12. Experiments • Under the assumption of principle 2: Models of mental processes can be proposed and investigated scientifically. • One of the most scientific ways to study mental processes is through lab experiment because the high degrees of control allow researchers to isolate a particular component of the cognitive process. For example, participants will take part in memory tests in strictly controlled conditions.

13. Stroop’s example of Cognitive experiments • One example high-lighting the importance of experimentation in cognitive research is the classic study of John Stroop . • In 1935, Stroopcreated a task that demonstrated the cognitive process of attention processing in word recognition. • The classic experiment consisted of two conditions. In the first condition, two lists of words were shown to the participants.

14. Experiments • More so than any other level of analysis, cognitive psychology benefits from scientific evidence because of the ethical ability to use humans in control laboratory situations (as with the stroop effect) • Animals, however, are also used in situations were cause and effect cannot be ethically determined with human participants (as was the case with environmental enrichment studies and acetylcholine studies).

15. Experiments • More so than any other level of analysis, cognitive psychology benefits from scientific evidence because of the ethical ability to use humans in control laboratory situations (as with the stroop effect) • Animals, however, are also used in situations were cause and effect cannot be ethically determined with human participants (as was the case with environmental enrichment studies and acetylcholine studies).

16. Experiments • Often, human participants are instructed to perform tasks in an experimental setup. • Since the 1990s, various software packages have eased stimulus presentation and the measurement of behavior in the laboratory. • Apart from the measurement of response times and error rates, experimental psychologists often use surveys before, during, and after experimental intervention and observation methods.

17. Stroop’s example of Cognitive experiments • One example high-lighting the importance of experimentation in cognitive research is the classic study of John Stroop . • In 1935, Stroopcreated a task that demonstrated the cognitive process of attention processing in word recognition. • The classic experiment consisted of two conditions. In the first condition, two lists of words were shown to the participants.

18. Stroop’s example of Cognitive experiments • The results of these two studies led Stroop to conclude that since people are more practiced at word reading than naming colors, there is less interference with word reading than with color naming.

19. Brief discussion on B.I.T. (things to consider) • How does this experiment (and others) benefit cognitive psychologists? What does it allow for them to do? • What are the ethical benefits of this method. • Can we or should we generalize from controlled lab experiments?

20. Experiment Strengths: Controlled environment offers high replicability and low chances for any errors. We are often able to isolate a specific cognitive process with research experiments.Weaknesses: Has low ecological validity since tests are done in controlled laboratory environment, not very reliable unless a large it is done on a large sample group (which, in turn, can be very costly and time consuming) For example, a person may respond a certain way because they know they are apart of an experiment.

21. Case Studies • This method is used by Cognitive Psychologists when conducting research on an unusual or very specific case. • A case study involves conducting research on just one participant in detail and over a long period of time. For example, cognitive psychologists may use the case study method when looking at rare cases of amnesia or when attempting to understand how social deprivation or enrichment can influence our cognitions.

22. Case Studies Under the assumption of principle one and principle three, case studies can be used to investigate various cognitive processes at the cognitive level of analysis. Case studies allow cognitive psychologist to study environmental factors (such as the case with Genie) as well as pre-existing biological lesions (such as the case with Broca, Genie, and Clive Wearing). These case studies can be mentioned (in the context of cognitive science) as examples of how the method is used specifically at the cognitive level of analysis.

23. Case Studies Strengths: Provides in insight into unusual phenomenon that occurs very rarely or unethical to replicate (e.g. Clive Wearing or Phineas Gage), findings that contradict traditional beliefs about cognitive processes can open windows for new ideas and theories, thus, stimulating new researches For example: Case studies on feral children can lead to further research on language as a cognitive adaptive process.

24. Case Studies Weaknesses: Cases cannot be scientifically replicated. Because of the in-depth nature of case studies, we can only partially generalize from the results. Case studies also do not show cause and effect (because they only describe the cognitive process, not scientifically manipulate the cognitive process)

25. Brief discussion on Case Studies (things to consider) • How does this method benefit cognitive psychologists? What does it allow for them to do (that is different from other methods)? • What are the ethical benefits of this technology method. • Can we or should we generalize from case studies at the cognitive level?