BRAIN AND COGNITION WEEK 1- Cognition and cognitive neuroscience
(note the book)!!!
The central notion of theory- system of concepts and principles that organise data so as to explain
human behaviour, though psych can’t usually predict human behaviour=a problem
Scientific psych- explaining human behaviour Data---Theory---Prediction
(theory must be scientifically controlled)
KEY QUESTION- am I connected to reality or not?
Cog. Psych Prehistory- became a science in 19 th century
INTROSPECTION- (Wundt 1874) used structuralism… But it has issues; most mental processes occur
unconsciously
(William James) interested in function of consciousness… Non-experimental and
speculative approach
(Behaviourism) wants objective data and quantify stimulus-reaction, same laws for
animals and humans
COGNITIVE REVOLUTION- WW2 influenced (study attention and fatigue) –
Broadbent 1958 – The computer mind analogy
Miller 1956- magical number 7 capacity limited to 7 in STM
Bruner, Goddnow and Austin 1956
The info processing approach- Newell and Simon- both humans and computers manipulate symbols
and carry out the same processing
If you can change the way you think you can change how to behave eg advertisement
What is it to know someone? Create a theory about someone and hypothesise how they will behave-
if they behave different to how we react we assume data is inaccurate or change our minds about
them
Levels of explanation; Behavioural indicators (observation), Functional explanation and Biological
level (genetic, neural, networks etc) – a good explanation must have all 3
Cognitive psych is the scientific study of mental processes
Cognitive neuroscience is the link between psychological functions and their biological
underpinnings
APPLICATIONS- perception, aesthetics, memory distortions, language, eye witness testimony,
profiling, intelligence tests etc ---- we know how the brain works so we can fix it 😊
The future: extended cognition, brain computer interfaces and virtual realities
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