Cognitive Level of Analysis

1. Cognitive Level of Analysis Session 3: The principles of CLOA

2. First things first... Journal feedback Deadline Reminder

3. A quick memory test.... • 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

4. Here are the words:

5. BED

6. NIGHT

7. COMFORT

8. REST

9. AWAKE

10. SNORE

11. DREAM

12. TIRED

13. EAT

14. SOUND

15. SLUMBER

16. WAKE

17. 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”

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

19. Now, how many of you remember the word “Aardvark”?

20. How many of you remember the word “sleep”?

21. Why do you think this occurred?

22. A brief recap…. • Cognition The mental processes that are involved in perception, attention, memory, problem solving, reasoning, and making decisions • Cognitive Level of Analysis Looks at how cognition can affect human behaviour

23. Today’s learning outcomes • Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis • Explain how principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research

24. Task • Read pages 67-69 of your textbook and make notes on the principles that define the cognitive level of analysis • You have 15 minutes

25. The principles of CLOA • Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behaviour • The mind can be studied scientifically • Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors

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

27. 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.

28. 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).

29. Be a thinker! 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

30. Watch the videos...

31. Session 3 Part Two Lab Report Feedback Learning Outcomes • Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis • Explain how principles that define the cognitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research

32. Lab Draft Feedback Follow your own feedback carefully but here’s some general tips/common mistakes

33. Lab Draft Feedback General 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

34. 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

35. Lab Draft Feedback General Results Graph and table both with titles Result can’t be referred to as ‘significant’ no significance test was applied to results Discuss results

36. 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

37. 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?

38. A brief recap Who can remember the three principles of the cognitive level of analysis???

39. The principles of CLOA • Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behaviour • The mind can be studied scientifically • Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors

40. Principle 1 demonstrated in Schema Theory • 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

41. 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

42. 2. The mind can be studied scientifically • 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

43. Principle 2 demonstrated in Loftus and Palmer (1974) • 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

44. Principle 2 demonstrated in Corkin et al (1999) • 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

45. 3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors • 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

46. 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)

47. Principle 3 demonstrated in Bartlett (1932) • 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

48. Task • 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”

49. Deadline Reminder! Final lab reports due Monday If this is not submitted on time then this mark will not be counted in your final grade