Cognitive psychology Simply Explained

Summary

The video discusses cognitive psychology, focusing on mental processes like perception, attention, and memory. It highlights the multistore model of memory and studies like Glanzer and Kunit's 1966 experiment on recall effects. It also explores how mental representations guide behavior, referencing the schema theory and Loftus and Palmer's 1974 study on language's impact on memory.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Cognition refers to the processes and complexities of knowledge itself, encompassing how the mind perceives, attends, remembers, and retrieves information.
• 🔍 Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes, contrasting with behaviorism which focuses on observable behaviors without considering intervening mental processes.
• 📚 Cognitive psychologists believe in studying mental processes scientifically to formulate and test theories, using models and scientific methods to understand the unobservable.
• 🔍 The use of cognitive, sociocultural, and biological levels of analysis allows for triangulation in studies, leading to a deeper understanding of subjects.
• 🧠 The multistore model of memory (MSM) is a cognitive psychology model that includes sensory, short-term, and long-term memory stores, each with different durations, capacities, and methods of coding.
• 📚 Iconic and echoic memory are types of sensory memory that capture visual and auditory information, respectively.
• 🔄 Attention is crucial for transferring information from sensory to short-term memory, with rehearsal helping to move information into long-term memory.
• 📈 The study by Glanzer and Kunit in 1966 demonstrated the primacy and recency effects in memory recall, showing that immediate recall emphasized the first items and delayed recall emphasized the last items.
• 🧠 Cognitive psychologists also support the idea that mental representation guides behavior, with cognitive mediators interpreting reality and influencing input-output processes.
• 📚 The schema theory explains how information is organized and clustered into scripts, self, and social schemas, affecting information processing and behavior.
• 📈 The study by Loftus and Palmer in 1974 showed how the wording of a question can influence eyewitness memory and judgments, demonstrating the impact of cognitive schemas on perception and recall.

Q & A

What is cognition?

Cognition is a term that describes the processes and complexes of knowledge itself, encompassing the mental processes involved in gaining and using knowledge.

What is cognitive psychology?

Cognitive psychology is the study of the mind and the processes such as perception, attention, memory, and information processing that are involved when we receive, collect, and retrieve information.

What is the main difference between cognitive psychologists and behaviorists?

Cognitive psychologists believe in studying mental processes scientifically, while behaviorists focus on observable behaviors and argue that nothing intervenes between stimuli and response in terms of mental processes.

What are the two basic principles that cognitive psychologists abide by?

Cognitive psychologists primarily believe that mental processes can and should be studied scientifically, and they utilize cognitive, sociocultural, and biologic levels of analysis for a more comprehensive understanding.

What is the multistore model of memory (MSM)?

The multistore model of memory (MSM) is a cognitive psychology model that proposes information processing approach to memory, consisting of three primary stores: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory.

How do the sensory, short-term, and long-term memory stores differ in terms of duration, capacity, and coding?

Sensory memory has a very brief duration, short-term memory has a limited capacity and is easily affected by rehearsal, while long-term memory has a much larger capacity and can store information for extended periods. Each store advances through different methods.

What is the significance of the study by Glanzer and Kunit in 1966?

The study by Glanzer and Kunit in 1966 is significant because it demonstrated the primacy and recency effects in memory recall, showing how immediate and delayed recall can affect the recall of the first and last items in a list.

What are the implications of the primacy and recency effects in memory recall?

The primacy effect indicates that the first items in a list are more likely to be recalled due to rehearsal, while the recency effect shows that the last items are more likely to be recalled when they remain in short-term memory. These effects support the multistore model of memory.

What is the schema theory in cognitive psychology?

The schema theory in cognitive psychology is a cognitive structure that explains how information is organized and clustered. It helps in processing efficiency and regulating behavior and responses, but can also lead to distortions when the wrong schema is activated.

What was the aim of the study by Loftus and Palmer in 1974?

The aim of the study by Loftus and Palmer in 1974 was to explore the interaction between language usage and memory by changing the phrasing of a question to see its influence on the judgment of speed in eyewitness accounts of traffic accidents.

What were the findings of the Loftus and Palmer study regarding the influence of verb choice on eyewitness memory?

The study found that more violent verbs (like 'smashed') led to higher estimated speeds of the cars in the accident, demonstrating a significant effect between wording and eyewitness answers, potentially due to the activation of different schemas.

How did Loftus and Palmer's follow-up experiment further support their findings?

In the follow-up experiment, Loftus and Palmer showed that participants who were asked about the speed using the verb 'smashed' were more likely to falsely recall seeing broken glass, even though none was shown in the film. This further supported the idea that schemas can distort memory.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Cognitive Psychology and Memory Models

This paragraph introduces the field of cognitive psychology, focusing on the study of mental processes such as perception, attention, memory, and information processing. It contrasts cognitive psychologists with behaviorists, emphasizing the scientific study of mental processes. The paragraph discusses the multistore model of memory (MSM), which includes sensory, short-term, and long-term memory stores. It highlights how information moves through these stores and the role of attention in memory. The paragraph also references a study by Glanzer and Kunit that demonstrates the primacy and recency effects in memory recall, showing that mental processes can be scientifically tested.

05:01

📚 Language and Memory: The Schema Theory

This paragraph delves into the idea that mental representation guides behavior, with cognitive psychologists proposing that reality is interpreted through cognitive mediators. It introduces the schema theory, explaining how information is organized and clustered into scripts, self, and social schemas. The paragraph discusses a study by Loftus and Palmer in 1974, which demonstrated the influence of language usage on memory and judgment of speed. The study manipulated the wording of a critical question to see how it affected eyewitness accounts of a traffic accident. The results showed a significant effect between the verb used and the estimated speed of the accident, suggesting that the choice of words can alter memory and perception. A follow-up experiment further supported this by showing how the use of a more violent verb ('smashed') led to a higher estimate of speed and even influenced recall of non-existent details, such as broken glass.

Keywords

💡Cognition

Cognition refers to the mental processes of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. In the context of the video, cognition is the foundation of cognitive psychology, which explores how we perceive, attend to, remember, and process information. The script discusses cognition as a complex set of processes that cognitive psychologists aim to study scientifically.

💡Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as perception, memory, thinking, and language. The video script emphasizes that cognitive psychologists study the mind and its processes, contrasting their approach with behaviorism, which focuses on observable behaviors without considering intervening mental processes.

💡Stimuli and Response

In psychology, stimuli are external or internal factors that elicit a response. The script mentions behaviorists' belief that there is a direct link between stimuli and response without any mental process in between, which cognitive psychologists challenge by asserting the importance of studying these mental processes.

💡Information Processing

Information processing is a framework that cognitive psychologists use to understand how people perceive, store, and retrieve information. The script introduces the multistore model of memory (MSM) as an example of an information processing approach, highlighting the sensory, short-term, and long-term memory stores.

💡Multistore Model of Memory (MSM)

The MSM is a theoretical model that describes the structure of memory as consisting of three stores: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory. The script explains how these stores differ in duration, capacity, and the methods by which information is transferred between them, which is central to understanding memory phenomena.

💡Iconic Memory

Iconic memory is a type of sensory memory that deals with visual information. The script uses iconic memory as an example of how sensory memory captures visual stimuli, which is a critical first step in the information processing model.

💡Econic Memory

Econic memory is another term for sensory memory that involves the perception of auditory information. Although not explicitly mentioned in the script, the concept is implied when discussing how sensory memory picks up on stimuli.

💡Rehearsal

Rehearsal is the process of repeating information to move it from short-term memory to long-term memory. The script illustrates the role of rehearsal in the MSM, showing how information is maintained and transferred to long-term storage.

💡Primacy and Recency Effects

Primacy and recency effects are phenomena observed in memory where items presented first (primacy) and last (recency) are better remembered. The script describes a study by Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) that demonstrates these effects, showing how they relate to the MSM and the rehearsal of information.

💡Schema Theory

Schema theory posits that knowledge is organized into cognitive structures called schemas that guide the interpretation of information and behavior. The script discusses how schemas can lead to efficient information processing but may also result in distortions if the wrong schema is activated.

💡Eyewitness Memory

Eyewitness memory refers to the recollection of events witnessed by individuals. The script cites a study by Loftus and Palmer (1974) that investigates the influence of language on eyewitness memory, showing how the choice of words can affect the perception and reporting of an event.

💡Demand Characteristics

Demand characteristics are cues in an experiment that suggest to participants how they should respond, potentially leading to biased results. The script mentions demand characteristics as a possible reason for the effects observed in the Loftus and Palmer study, where participants may have adjusted their responses based on the experiment's context.

💡Hawthorne Effect

The Hawthorne effect is a phenomenon where individuals modify their behavior due to their awareness of being observed. The script suggests that the Hawthorne effect could influence eyewitness responses, as participants might use the verb provided in a question to bias their memory recall.

💡Memory Distortion

Memory distortion refers to the alteration of a memory, often due to the influence of external factors or internal cognitive processes. The script describes how the activation of different schemas can distort memory, as seen in the Loftus and Palmer study where the verb used in a question influenced participants' recollection of an event.

Highlights

Cognition describes the processes and complexities of knowledge itself.

Cognitive psychology is the study of the mind, perception, attention, memory, and information processing.

Cognitive psychologists oppose behaviorists, who reject the existence of mental processes between stimuli and response.

Cognitive psychologists believe mental processes should be studied scientifically to formulate testable theories.

The use of cognitive, sociocultural, and biologic levels of analysis allows for triangulation in studies.

The multistore model of memory (MSM) proposes three primary stores: sensory, short-term, and long-term memory.

Sensory memory involves the initial capture of stimuli, such as visual information.

Attention is crucial for moving information from sensory to short-term memory.

Short-term memory has a limited capacity, and information can be transferred to long-term memory through rehearsal.

The multistore model explains the primacy and recency effects observed in memory recall.

Glanzer and Kunit's 1966 study demonstrated the effects of immediate recall and delayed recall on memory.

Primacy effects show that the first items in a list are more likely to be recalled.

Recency effects are less visible in delayed recall due to the loss of short-term memory.

Cognitive psychologists support the idea that mental representation guides behavior.

The schema theory explains how information is organized and clustered in the mind.

Schemas can lead to distortions in memory and behavior when the wrong schema is activated.

Loftus and Palmer's 1974 study showed how language usage can influence memory and judgments.

The study manipulated the wording of a question to observe its effect on the estimation of speed in a car accident.

Different verbs used to describe a collision influenced participants' estimates of the speed involved.

A follow-up experiment by Loftus and Palmer demonstrated the long-term effects of language on memory distortion.

The study found that participants' memories were influenced by the intensity of the verb used in the initial question.

Transcripts

today we're going to talk about the

basic principles of cognitive psychology

but before we dive in what is cognition

exactly well cognition is a term that

describes the processes and complexes of

knowledge itself cognitive psychology in

short terms is the study of the mind and

the perception attention memory and

procedures that are involved when we

receive collect and retrieve

information cognitive psychologists in

Roi are the opposing parties to

behaviorists who believe that nothing

intervened between stimuli and response

in terms of mental processes these

cognitive psychologists abided behind

two basic principles that favored them

in regards to their

opposers they primarily believe that

mental processes can and should be

studied scientifically this was because

their study would provide the

opportunity to formulate theories that

later on could be tested using

scientific methods making models about

the unobservable allowed scientists to

reach conclusions and subjects that

behaviorists never could and in addition

the use of cognitive sociocultural and

biologic levels of analysis provided the

use of triangulation in certain studies

that led scientists reach a whole new

level of depth one model that was

created thanks to the help of cognitive

psychologists proposed information

processing approach to memory this was

the multier model or MSM it is composed

of three primary stores of memory the

sensory then short and finally long-term

stores these three vary in duration

capacity coding and Advance through

varying methods first our sensors will

pick up on stimuli visual information

can be referred to as iconic memory or

as addition econic memory attention is

responsible for memory traveling from

sensory to short-term stores which

unlike sensory and long-term has a quite

small capacity through rehearsal

information will then go to the longterm

and can later be rece retrieved bringing

it back to the short-term store again

there have been several studies made to

research memory phenomena a well-known

one being that of glander and kunet in

1966 this study was taken about by

showing subjects a list of 15 words with

the instruction to memorize them half of

them recalled the words immediately

while the other had a 30-second delay

where they will were told to count

backwards in threes from a three-digit

number in order to avoid rehearsal as

expected with subjects that recalls

immediately researchers received results

with Primacy and recency effects these

being when one recalls smalles the first

and the last words that you read with

subjects that recalls after a delay

recency effects were no longer visible

given that short-term memory was lost

after the 30 seconds but Primacy effects

still affected the curve of recall this

went along with the MSM seeing as

Primacy effects showed how the first

words are commonly the most rehearsed

showing to be the most recalled in both

trials while the recency effect went on

to prove that recall while the recency

effect came on to prove that we recall

best the things that remain in

short-term memory even though they

remain there for a short time period

this therefore shows that mental

processes can can and should be tested

scientifically secondly cognitive

psychologists stood behind the idea that

mental representation guided Behavior

they thought that reality was always

interpreted through cognitive mediators

that hindered the process of input to

Output this went along with the schema

Theory a cognitive structure that

provided an idea as to how information

was organized and clustered according to

this model we divide knowledge into

three categories scripts self and social

schemas these ects allow for information

processing efficiency as well as

regulating behavior and her responses

yet they can also lead to distortions

when the wrong scheme has become

activated a famous study that pinpointed

this idea was that of lus and polymer in

1974 scientists here aim to find

interactions between language usage and

memory by changing the phrasing of a

question in order to see its influence

on the Judgment of speed they tested

subjects in a laboratory experiment

which gave the study high level

selfcontrol yet low eological validity

45 students were shown the same seven

short second long films of traffic

accidents though with varying orders by

the end of each video they received a

questionnaire asking them to give an

account of the accident they had

witnessed and then answer a series of

short questions most of these were

irrelevant except the one critical

question that would determine the

outcome of the study the answer to this

would be the dependent variable this

critical question asked participants to

State the speed the cars were going when

they hit each other however the twist

that made this question be the

independent variable was the verb other

words instead of the word hit were

smashed collided bumped and contacted

groups of nine were shown different

words and their estimate of speed would

determine the lab outcome in the end

results found that there were was an

interaction between these factors seeing

as more violent Birds received a higher

mean speed the results were the

following smashed received 40 points a

mph mean collided received 39.3 mph mean

bumped received 38.1 mph mean hit

received 34.0 milph mean and then

contacted receiv received 31.8 mph mean

showing a significant effect between

wording and eyewitness answers there are

a few reasons why this may have occurred

one being demand characteristics that

may have caused faulty collection like

response bias or hawth effect where

uncertain participants would have used

the verb to bias their response and the

other one being the Distortion of memory

occurring due to the activation of

different schemas the verb would make

the participants see either a more or

less severe accident in their mind in

order to further support their

experiment and rule out the possibility

of data changing effects lff and polymer

conducted a follow-up lab where they

showed 150 participants a 1 minute film

that contained a multiple car accident

the sample of sub object was divided

into three groups one group was asked a

questionnaire including a critical

question that asked the speed that the

cars hit each other the other a

questionnaire and then a critical

question that was phrased with the word

smashed instead and then there was a

final control group that got asked no

questions at all after one week's times

participants were asked to recall the

clip and answer whether or not they saw

any broken glass even though the film

showed none results showed the following

the the group that received the verb

smashed claimed 32% to have seen broken

glass whereas hit 14% And the control

group 12 this showed how the schema

distorted their memory by creating an

expectation of probability that glass

was broken due to the intensiveness of

the verb