Cognitive psychology Essay

Cognitive psychology had in its early days concern itself with the study of caution and brain as the master(prenominal) accent of psychological inquiry. Attention had been defined as the means by which the servicemans mind tin mass fulfil a specific amount of info from all the other(a) info interpret in the immediate environment and from reposition (Sternberg, 2006). The most coarse experience that an undivided whitethorn subscribe that demonstrates the function of attention is the cocktail party riddle this demonstrates the tycoon of the mind to actively change single cultivation at a rendern time and be cap qualified to disregard others.This is partake carmine to as selective attention, if we pay attention to e really stimulus that is presented to us, and so we would have a stimulus overload and hence would affect our brain and experience of particular stimuli. In the Stroop effect it was demo that it is very difficult to attend to the color of the ink a nd the word color at the same time.However, by dint of practice and sensory adaptation, the brain has the mogul to adapt to the different stimuli and hence do not give attention to its sensory modalities, for example, a some unity who work in a coffee bar would probably not pay attention to the aroma of the coffee beans than the customers who frequents it. A closely related concept to attention is consciousness. A mortals consciousness is the degree to which unity is aware of his/her touch sensations and experiences and the awareness that he/she is feeling or behaving in a particular way.Consciousness is important beca economic consumption it enables the mind to actively process information, without consciousness on that point is no attention (Sternberg, 2006). Although some behaviors may run short automatic and does not contend to be attended like swimming or eating, in other instances priming which is the might of the mind to interpret missing information based on for egoing experiences or stock is demonstrated in the susceptibility of the mind to recognize incomplete pictures of familiar aims.Attention is one of the most basic human qualification, which is the predecessor to reading, to effective communication, to decision-making and dismantle intelligence and self-awareness. Attention is one of those concepts that is not given much thought alone undoubtedly is the framework from which so many behaviors are manifested (Sternberg, 2006). Paying attention is one of the biggest problem that innovative man have, due to the advanced technology and scientific k directledge that enabled man to create tools that would attend to the customary information that we encounter on a daily basis, our ability to attend to some tenuousg has become limited.For example, our cars now have GPS which can help us reach our destinations faster than if we relied on our own attending skills, hence we do not pay attention to the landmarks, to sign posts or take down to pedestrians because we have the GPS tell us where to go to. Another example is how we have embedded our watches with pulse monitors, we do not pay attention now to how we feel when we jog, tho instead rely on the monitor to tell us if we are sack faster or slower than our target rate.Even diets have become prepackaged to authorized thermic amounts that we dont pay attention to the amount of food we con stube and whether our brain is sending us signals that we are already full. In this fast paced and disposable market-gardening, attention is the least of our concerns, even with the fact that our ability to revolve around and attend to something is limited and almost always inaccurate if it goes beyond what our brains can process.Attention is similarly linked to intelligence and development, an acute sense of awareness and excellent attending skills enable the individual to commemorate the smallest detail which avails in the processing of information. Perception Perce ption collectively refers to the means by which we recognize, swot up and make sense of the stimuli that we receive from the environment through our different senses. Psychological research into acquaintance had been the focus of the Gestalt theorists and from which they were the first to develop theoretical assumptions and explanations of different perceptual processes (Sternberg, 2006).Gestalt psychology hypothecates that the whole is more than the total of the sum of its parts, which meant that although it is important to breakdown perception into its components and structure, the perception of the whole is more important than its parts. Just like attention, the human brain can adapt to the different sensual stimuli that we encounter on a daily basis. perceptual constancy says that our perception of a certain object becomes stable even if we are removed from the business line of the stimulus an example is when how we can remember that a certain candy is sweet and sour even if we just look at it.A number of perceptual illusions mostly on optical perception had demonstrated the limited capacity of the human brain to distinguish visual stimulus (Sternberg, 2006). The accede and edges principle shows that our perception of an ambiguous object may vary depending on what is perceived and processed first, whether the figure or its background. A sensory accommodating principle, the law of Pragnanz shows that when we are presented disparate and random stimulus, we tend to maneuver the information to form a coherent whole.Our ability to perceive objects and other stimulus is influenced by a number of factors such(prenominal) as depth, scene effects, light and color, directionality and source of stimulus. At present there are other perception theories that propose different approaches to the study of perception. The top-down theories approach says that perception starts from pre-existing and prior knowledge of perceptual cues and processes. The bottom-up th eories argue that perception is dependent on the stimulus and selective information that is to be processed. Perception is in the realm of cognitive psychology and is further studied using the data-based methods.Researches on perception were popular in the early days of psychology but inte placidity waned with the rushing of behaviorism. In the last decade however, with the resurgence of experimental and cognitive psychology and with the technological advancements of computers that would measure perception, vernal interest on perception and perceptual processes have resurged. Moreover, the process by which the human mind perceive the sensory stimuli has been used to model artificial intelligence and the studies of which is geared towards the development of more intelligent robots and machines (Sternberg, 2006).Our ability to perceive the sundry(a) information present in our environment determines how effectively and accurate our perception of and understanding of the world aroun d us. If for example we lose our sense of sight, life would be very difficult and if not dark, if we become deaf consequently we would not be able to hear and appreciate our own laughter. Losing one of our senses changes our life and sometimes it would take a long time for us to adjust to the inability to feel, to become aware of where we are and what we are doing.In as much as how limited our perceptual abilities are, what a normal person is endowed with is already enough than missing one of it. Our perception is also influenced by our consciousness and the attention we give to those information (Groome & Grant, 2005), we may be able to sense and perceive various sensory stimuli but if we do not attend to it or if we are not conscious of it, then we cannot attach meaning to what we perceive. Memory Memory is a cognitive process that is necessary for everyday cognitive process and which is based on the stored information and previous experiences.Memory is composed of three stages, the encryption, storage and retrieval process encoding refers to how our brain process new information, storage is the means by which we store information and experience, which can either be long-term or short-term stock, the last process is retrieval which refers to the process by which we withdraw stored information. Memory has three information processing model, sensory memory, working memory and long-term memory. sensory(a) memory is the initial encoding of sensory information and provides very brief storage, iconic memory for visual stimuli and echoic memory for auditory stimuli.Short-term memory or working memory refer to the memory storage where information is temporary held and needs to be used immediately, auditory codes are more easy stored than visual information, the amount of information stored in working memory is very small but can be increased through chunking. Long-term memory is where information is stored for long periods of time or even for a life time. The i nformation stored is usually very important and are used frequently, at present long term memory can store an infinite number of information.Semantic memory is another(prenominal) form of memory which refers to the general world knowledge which is made up of interconnected networks of information called a semantic network which we use to be able to process new information, however semantic memory also facilitates stereotypes and schemas which affects how we perceive new information. Damages to the brain can cause memory loss such as amnesia, Alzheimers disease, and other more specific inabilities to process information.Information can be move to long term memory through rehearsal, which is to consistently practice and work with the information needed to be remembered such as studying for exams or mastery of skills. Even if the information is stored in long term memory it is still subject to decay especially with the passage of time, if information is not used or retrieved, it will ultimately decay and be forgotten. Memory is one of the major concentrations of psychology in harm of how the brain functions, aside from perceiving sensory stimuli.The study of memory at present is now likened to how computers work and process data, the processes in memory even borrow terms from computer science such as encoding and retrieval. In a way, the brain processes information in much the same way as computers, but how it is encoded has not been adequately understood. Some theorists says that neural networking and the firing of neurons are the means by which information is encoded which is wherefore any impairment to the brain would result to memory loss (Baddeley, 1999).thither are also conditions wherein memory loss is very specific like the inability to recognize faces that had been previously encountered. Memory serves many functions and which enables us to remember basic functions that are not physiologically automatic, for example, the mastery of reading skills, nu mber skills and even the ability to dress oneself and to tie shoe laces. Our memory is the our storehouse of information and skills, when we go to school, all the things we need to learn is committed to memory and our previous experiences and stored information will help us process new information through accommodation and assimilation.As we age, and as our brain deteriorate, we experience memory loss which makes it impossible for us to live alone (Bredart, Brennen, Delchambre, McNeill & Burton, 2005). Recent research said that memory can still be compound even as we get older by continuously engaging in activities that would make use of our brain. persuasion thought is a collective term that refers to the process, by which we actively integrate new and previous information, it is also the process by which problem solving, decision-making and creativity is done.Thinking is a cognitive process that engages the mind, memory, learning and stored knowledge in arriving at a decision or a solution to the problem and the mental institution of new ideas. Thinking is a mental exercise that every person engages in as a means of applying the information and skills gained from learning and knowledge acquisition. There are different forms of thinking namely productive, convergent and divergent thinking. Productive thinking is the process by which the mind finds a way to be able to produce a new idea, object or project.Convergent thinking is when the mind narrows down its valuation of related knowledge to come up with a single best answer. Divergent thinking occurs when the object of the mental exercise is to generate as many theories and options for a single problem which is similar to brainstorming. Thinking as a process aims the analysis of related information or the contexts at which a certain problem exists, in analysis, the problem or idea is broken down into its component parts and then scrutinized under some perspective or framework of analysis.There are many w ays in which we arrive at solutions to a problem or to decision-making strategies, one of which is insightful thinking. Insight refers to the point wherein a solution is identified after studying the problem, this happens when the individual gains an understanding of the interrelatedness of the information needed to bring the problem. There is also what is called as the use of available heuristics, with heuristics, there is not systematic way of thinking, it may lead to the solution to the problem by chance or it may not.Thinking is a alter cognitive process, and at times it is very difficult to define when one is thinking, most of us refer to specific situations like problem-solving, decision-making or creativity to refer to different ways of manipulating information and data. However, these all involve the use of previous knowledge, to better understand the present information and to be able to present a comprehensive output using the old and new information.The study of thought process had been probably influenced by the delineation of abstract and cover thinking as proposed by Piaget, and to some extent the concept of having to concrete examples and being able to think abstractly are very human traits (Eysenck & Keane, 2005). Some theories even say that thinking is the only ability that humans can do and animals cannot. When we think, we take out information pertinent to the material we are working on and then evaluate the new information based on what we already know.For example, we know from mathematical principles of whole numbers that 1+1 is 2, when we work with a problem that asks us to do 1+1 then we know it is two, not because we have memorized the information but because we know that a whole number is added another whole number it will become 2 whole numbers, likewise we would know that 1+-1 would not equal to 2 because it has a negative sign. Thinking is probably the only exercise that has tremendous possibilities for generating bright, innova tive, creative and excellent ideas (Eysenck & Keane, 2005).When asked to write an essay, I would probably thin first what I would write in it before actually putting it into paper. This refers to the act of identifying relevant information and using our mental faculties to come up with novel and new ways of presenting information and experiences. run-in manner of speaking is one of the topics that have baffled scientists for the last part of history the study of verbiage in cognitive psychology is related to how actors line is acquired and how it is produced. Language refers to the process of attaching meaning to symbols in order to communicate with others.Language as used by man is different from those used by animals we need mental representations of oral communication in order to identify what it is and to use language as a means of expressing those symbols. For example, a red juicy tomato describes the color, firmness and taste of a round fruit which is used as a vegetable and eaten raw in most dishes. To the cognitive psychologist, language is directly related to the brain since damage to the Brocas region would affect the speech ability of the individual.Psycholinguistics is the specific study of language as it relates to the human mind. Language is a complex process wherein the mind identifies the object, event, or feeling, and translates it into the existing language repertoire of the individual and then activates the body to produce the sounds that would verbalize the message and the idea. Language can be in indite form or verbal, but psychologists are more interested in how verbal language is developed.There are several theories that attempts to explain language acquisition, one of which says that there is an innate biological mechanism that enables us to acquire, process and use language (Plomin & Dale, 2000). This would mean that language is something that we naturally do as a run of development, we are bale to acquire language in much the s ame way that we can head or run or crawl. Another theory is hypothesis testing, which says that children develop language through a series of hypothesis testing which is to tentatively prove what they believe to be word relationships language patterns.For example, a 3 year old child may use language in the third person and when adults respond to his words indicating the he should own what he say, then he would know that he need not use the third person. Semantics refer to the study of meaning in a language and is often the focus of experimental research especially when a new word is developed and how a person attaches meaning to a particular word. At present one that is stressed by educators is the concept of metacognition, which is the ability to thin about what we are reading and writing even before we comprehend its entirety.Language is one of those fascinating subjects in psychology, although it is highly technical when it is broken down into its specific parts, it is also a v ery informative aspect of human existence. Language development and acquisition is often the means by which culture is transmitted and wherein socialization is handed from one generation to the next. Language also mirrors the culture of the society it develops from and this has been the focus of indigenous psychology and cross-cultural studies on the universality of psychological concepts in different languages (Esgate & Groome, 2004).Language is the main vehicle by which we interact and relate to other people, we are able to communicate with each other because we all use language, the inability to express our ideas and thoughts and feelings may leave the person handicapped and isolated from the rest of society. Languages disabilities may also hinder the education of children as learning basically occur in the context of communication and exchange of words and ideas.Language is said to be enhanced when the person has a tumid vocabulary, which means that the person has a large numbe r of learned words which are available to him to aid him when he communicates with other people. At present the issue of English as a second language is prevalent in the educational system as more and more non-native English speakers are worthy a part of our society (Esgate & Groome, 2004). This has opened another field of study which is how a second language is acquired especially if it is very different in structure and form from the native language.