The University of the West Indies

 
PSYC2008 - Cognitive Psychology
 
Case Study
 
 
E-Tutor: Leandra Lewis

Course Coordinator: Dr. Techar Cuffy

Hazel Fernando-Sandy: 307000053

Raynardo Grant: 320051534

Date Due:  July 8, 2022

 
 
 
Executive Summary
This paper will seek to provide an analysis of the given case utilizing principles of

cognitive psychology and will seek to address issues involving the aspects of cognitive

psychology that are evident in the case. This paper will also provide an understanding of the

relationship between brain structures and mental processes and the development of

cognition from the case as well  as explore the implications that the ideas/issues arising

from the case have for treating matters related to cognition in the Caribbean context.
Finally, recommendations will be made on how to improve research in the Caribbean to

address cognitive issues.

Introduction

The study of cognitive psychology focuses on how the brain processes information. It

covers research on language, thinking, memory, learning, and perception. Historically there

have been four main strands of research which have all contributed to our present

understanding of cognitive psychology. They are experimental cognitive psychology,

cognitive neuroscience, cognitive neuropsychology and computer modeling of cognitive

processes. Experimental cognitive psychology has provided theories to explain how the

brain interprets incoming information, such as the schema theory which postulates that past

experience is used to analyze new perceptual input. Computer modeling has provided

models of human cognition based on information-processing principles, and it has

introduced important new concepts such as feature detector systems and processors of

limited channel capacity. Cognitive neuropsychology provides knowledge about brain

function, based on the study of people who have suffered cognitive impairment as a result

of brain lesions while cognitive neuroscience makes use of brain-imaging techniques to

investigate the relationship between brain function and cognition. The science of cognitive

psychology has generated new concepts and theories, such as the distinction between top-

down and bottom-up processing, and the distinction between automatic and controlled

processing.

Aspects of Cognitive Psychology Evident in The Case

The aforementioned case involves both biopsychology and cognitive psychology.

Sternberg (2012) theorised that cognitive psychology is "the study of how people perceive,

learn, remember, and think about information." Solso (2015) defined cognitive psychology as

the study of processes underlying mental events. Thus, cognitive psychology can be defined
broadly as the branch of psychology concerned with how people acquire, store, transform, use,

and communicate language. Cognitive psychologists research the various cognitive processes

that comprise this branch. These processes include attention, which is the process by which we

focus on a stimulus; perception, which is the process by which we interpret sensory information;

pattern recognition, which is the process by which we classify stimuli into known categories; and

memory, which is the process by which information is stored for later retrieval, among others.

Biopsychology is the study of how the brain, neurotransmitters, and other aspects of our

biology influence our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. This branch of psychology is known by

many different names, including biopsychology, physiological psychology, behavioral

neuroscience, and psychobiology (Cherry, 2020).

The many tests that have been carried out to evaluate SDM’s cognitive performance and

talents, as well as her ultimate interaction with the brain, have shown this. The knowledge

gained from the tests and assessments can be used to make important inferences about the

SDM’s mental and developmental processes and to determine the appropriate course of

treatment. It is evident from this case that the SDM’s processing speed, language processing,

memory, and visuospatial abilities are not up to par. When it comes to organizing her thoughts

and putting them together to form complex sentences, SDM has a slower response time. Her

difficulties with language processing and visuospatial abilities were evident in her slow writing

and difficulty communicating her ideas on paper. Everything can be traced back to her memory

and its various subparts, which are affecting her cognitive abilities.

Humans are far more capable of using complex language than any other species on the

planet. We work together to communicate using language; language is frequently used to

communicate about, and even construct and maintain, our social world (kashima, 2022). Human

sociality and language use are inextricably linked to Homo sapiens as a biological species.We

use language in our daily lives. If psychology is a science of behavior, scientific research into

language use must be one of the most important topics, because language use is so pervasive.
Every human group has a language; human infants (with the exception of those with unfortunate

disabilities) learn at least one language without being explicitly taught. Pickering and Garrod

(2004) contend that we achieve conversational coordination by being able to interactively align

each other's actions at various levels of language use, including lexicon (i.e., words and

expressions), syntax (i.e., grammatical rules for arranging words and expressions together), and

speech rate and accent. 

Whilst SDM had no difficulties expressing herself verbally, it was not a similar story when

it came to written language. Dysgraphia is a type of learning disability that affects written

communication. This neurological disorder is divided into two categories: motor-based

dysgraphia, in which students have impaired fine motor skills, affecting their handwriting (also

known as developmental coordination disorder), and language-based dysgraphia, in which

students have difficulty converting the sounds of language into written form (also known as

specific learning disorder with impairment in written expression). By all accounts SDM does

appear to be afflicted with the latter based on her impairment with written expression. 

Another  aspect of cognitive psychology that is present in the case study is attention,

specifically selective attention. Many reports have argued that altering attention is the key to

altering human memory (Nelson & Fivush, 2004; Posner & Rothbart, 2007). However, there are

different processes that make up attention; it is not a single function. Our ability to focus on a

single task or input while disregarding distracting information,is termed selective attention.

Divided attention, often known as multitasking, is the capacity to shift our attention between

tasks or outside stimuli. This capacity also gets better as we get older (Carlson, Zelazo, & Faja,

2013). Through childhood and throughout adolescence, the capacity to do tasks requiring

selective attention gets better. Adolescents show the capacity to select and prioritize stimuli for

attention consistently, whereas children's selective attention may be erratic during middle

childhood. The intricacy of the stimulus or task, the child's temperament, and possibly whether
the inputs are visual or aural all have an impact on how well this aptitude develops (Porporino,

Shore, Iarocci, and Burack, 2004). (Guy, Rogers & Cornish, 2013). In tests conducted SDM

displayed the ability to continuously focus on tasks for extended periods of time, an indication

that her sustained and selective attention were operating at an optimal level. 

It has been discovered that the structure of the brain, as well as its neurochemistry, has

an effect on mental processes and cognitive development. In this case, SDM it would appear

suffers from dysgraphia, a learning disorder caused by a damaged parietal lobe. SDM was also

seen to be having difficulty processing information. This is the function of grey matter in the

cerebrum. Furthermore, the importance of memory can be seen in this case study, and the

temporal lobe plays an important role when it comes to using short-term memory for processing

information as well as language. Damage to any of the aforementioned areas in the form of

injury, developmental issues, or a lack of nutrients can all contribute to the development of

cognitive problems.

Changes in executive function also affect attention and the working memory system.

Executive function (ef) is the term used to describe self-regulatory mechanisms that allow for

adaptive reactions to novel situations or the accomplishment of a certain objective. Early

childhood is when executive function skills gradually begin to emerge, and they continue to grow

throughout childhood and adolescence. Executive function skill development is influenced by

experience and brain maturity, particularly the prefrontal cortex, as is the case with many other

cognitive changes. The executive function abilities of a child are higher when the parents are

more warm and responsive, use scaffolding when the child is attempting to solve a problem,

and create intellectually challenging situations for the youngster (Fay-Stammbach, Hawes &

Meredith, 2014). 

Whenever there are time constraints involved in tasks SDM appears to be at a

disadvantage, primarily due to her slow processing speed. Sensory memory functions to store

sensory information in memory for a short period of time, just long enough for it to be processed
further. Each of the five senses has its own sensory memory, but all are assumed to function in

essentially the same way(Cherry, 2020). When it comes to visual stimuli, it appears that sensory

memory is temporarily limited rather than visually limited. That is, a large amount of visual

information is registered, but it decays very quickly without further processing. The difficulty for

SDM would therefore be twofold as the information decays quickly coupled with the fact that she

processes information slowly. 

Humans acquire, organize, and learn to utilize knowledge through cognitive

development (Gauvain & Richert, 2016). The study of cognitive development in psychology has

frequently only looked at young children. Nevertheless, cognitive development lasts throughout

adulthood and adolescence. It entails learning language and knowledge, as well as thinking,

memorizing, deciding, solving problems, and exploring (Von Eckardt, 1996).

Most of this heavy lifting is done in the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex, the top layer

of the brain, is where our sharpest mental talents reside. Between 14 and 16 billion neurons can

be found in the cerebral cortex, which is mostly constituted of grey matter, a type of neural

tissue. Even though it is only a few millimeters thick, the cerebral cortex makes up around half

of the weight of the entire brain. The cerebral cortex has deep sulci and bulges, which are

collectively referred to as gyri, that give it a wrinkled appearance.

The cerebral cortex's numerous folds and wrinkles provide a larger surface area for an

increasing number of neurons to reside, enabling it to process vast amounts of information. The

four lobes of the cerebral cortex contain the association regions. These areas function by

combining information from these brain regions, which frequently makes their tasks more

complex.In order to organize and give meaning to the information in the sensory and motor

areas, these association areas can also make connections with those regions. The frontal lobes'

association areas play an important role in fundamental functions like thinking, feeling, and

planning. The difficulties experienced by SDM’s in regards to planning and organizing could

stem from some level of impairment in the association region. 

As stated above, cognition is a term that refers to the mental processes involved in

gaining knowledge and comprehension. Some cognitive processes include attention,

language, learning, memory, perception and thought (Cherry, 2022). The psychological

report from this case study covers the assessment of the following neurocognitive functions

in a teenager whose low processing speed issues have been affecting her functioning in

school. The below table gives a summary of the findings and the ideas and issues that was

noted:

Neurocognitive Definition Ideas/Issues

Complex Sustained or divided attention SBM was better able to manipulate

Attention and processing speed (Richey, symbolic information such as letters

Peters, n.d.). and numbers better than verbal

information or visual information.

Executive Mental skills that include Challenges with functioning

functioning paying attention, organizing, effectively in time sensitive

planning and prioritizing, situations that required problem

staying focussed on tasks and solving or performing tasks quickly.

keeping track and self-control.

Issues with executive

functioning can make it hard to

focus, follow directions, etc

(The Understood Team, n.d.).

memory skill or knowledge and memory information held in short term

is the expression of that skill or memory, has problems

knowledge (American remembering verbal information

Psychological Association, when compared to symbolic

n.d.). information however, is better able

to recall meaningful verbal

information than rote learning.

There was also challenges

remembering picture information

and suggested the possibility why

her symbolic memory was stronger

than her working memory

Language A systematic means of Has no problems with verbal

communicating ideas or communication, she has problems

feelings by the use of with written expression. The tests

conventional signs, sounds, she took (LDDI) did not accurately

gestures, or marks (Merriam- pick up on her challenges with

Webster, n.d.) written expression as it was more

aimed at writing expression

disorders relating to issues such as

shape and letter discrimination,

awkward handwriting, etc.

An article on the CXC website discusses the changes in Caribbean education over

the last twenty years which have sought to address problems in the system. Though access

has been granted for every child to have a secondary education, the “one size fits all”

aspect of education is still an issue. Further work is needed to ensure there are multiple

pathways to success catering for the multiple types of learners into secondary schools. 

From the neurocognitive function assessments summarized above, we can see that

although SBM has been described as a brillant, intelligent teenager and has been able to

make it through the school system to secondary school level her low processing speed has

caused her to have many challenges similar to  many other children who may have different

learning abilities. The challenges that she had to face caused her to become frustrated and

stressed until she was pulled from school and with this change interestingly she was able to

excel in different areas including taking spanish lessons and starting her own business and

most notably the short term memory and stimulus overload were no longer present. . One of

the issues identified in her tests was the challenge in being able to manipulate information

held in short term memory; however after being pulled from school this is no longer a

problem. So is the school environment part of the problem? 

For many children in the Eastern Caribbean, school is not a place where they feel

wanted and nurtured as there are many children who have different capabilities; it has been

shown that students who are taught in a way that caters to their specific learning style often

achieve better results, however, in the caribbean sometimes school can stressful without

systems to help students cope and handle the varying needs of all the students. Research

shows that even a slow learner is capable of achieving academic success but, changes to

fit the slower learners ability are necessary to prevent them from failing and dropping out
(Greenidge-Horace, 2021). An example of a learning style that teachers still use in the

Caribbean even from kindergarten is learning by rote.  Rote learning is memorizing

information based on repetition such as multiplication tables, the alphabet and numbers..

This method requires memorization which is not the most effective way to learn for students

like SBM. Early word recognition in kindergarten schools has also been based on rote

learning. A disadvantage of this method of learning is that it does not allow for a deeper

understanding of the information being taught and does not form a connection between new

and previous knowledge, this method will not work for students who have issues with

memory (Oxford Learning, 2017). It was noted that rote learning was particularly difficult for

SBM to retain information compared to learning by meaningful information. A typical

question on a CSEC exam would ask a student to examine or analyze which is difficult for

many students today as not enough focus is placed to understand what they are being

shown (Caribbean Journal, n.d.). Caribbean countries have guaranteed secondary school

placings but focus is not placed on appropriate standards and remedial support available to

help the students achieve their full potential (Caribbean Examinations Council, n.d.). 

Texas Education Review (2019) quotes UNESCO in their article entitled

“Education for Some”  that all children with disabilities have the right to education; it

goes on to state that Trinidad and Tobago the draft National Policy on Persons with

Disabilities defines inclusive education as all persons learning together in all levels of

schooling with the appropriate networks of support. Although this may be the intention

there are challenges which include lack of training for the teachers and lack of

prioritization. Though the CXC article as cited above discusses the need to stop the

“one size fits all” learning this is still so. Trinidad and Tobago attempted to implement

inclusion by enrolling children with disabilities in regular schools but again there was a
lack of trained teachers to support this initiative (Charran & Seetahal, 2018).  From

SBM’s case it was evident that being away from the school environment improved her

coping abilities and improved her memory which was a major part of her learning

problem. This suggests that not all her challenges stemmed from low processing but

from her environment. 

Recommendations:

Traditional learning mainly focuses on memorization instead of trying to achieve

mastery in a particular subject, although this may work for some it does not stay in

memory for long and does not connect the learner to anything they memorized or

crammed for. This has been the system for many years but this method does not work

for all students and different learning environments are needed to shift fully away from

rote memorization learning to deeper and meaningful learning to ensure that the

concepts learned can be applied to new situations (Hansen, 2018) in other words

cognitive learning needs to be practiced. Cognitive learning is a learning style that

focuses on maximizing the brain’s potentials making it easier to connect the information

learned to existing ideas and apply them which in turns makes the information easier to

memorize and retain. For this to work the education system in the caribbean needs to

be restructured as for cognitive learning to be efficient the student must understand why

they are learning what they are to have a deeper understanding of the subject which

would aid in memory by relating new knowledge with previous experiences and helps in

applying the new information learned to life situations (Valamis, 2022). Steps have been

made in researching cognitive issues in different areas, for example the Morris

Foundation in Trinidad and Tobago who participated in a dyslexia intervention study

be prevented for kindergarten aged children who are already at risk and older children

with poor reading skills can make great improvements with reading skills and

phonological awareness from the appropriate treatment from the center. The study was

done teaming up with scientists from Florida State University and the University of

Florida, showing that external assistance is beneficial in filling the gaps in research of

cognition issues in the Caribbean (The Morris Centre, n.d.). 

Another solution in recommendation for improving cognitive research in the

caribbean  is awareness; in an article discussing a program between the University of

the West Indies (UWI), the Inter-American Development Bank and the Ministries of

Health of Jamaica, St Lucia and Antigua decided to study what would happen if they

created videos and a specific program of parenting guidelines for mothers in the waiting

rooms of pediatric centers, also in Jamaica home visits to new parents were also

implemented; as a result it was noted that children of these parents showed significant

benefits in their cognitive development along with their mothers who showed

improvements in knowledge in child development. Upon analyzing these interventions it

was found that they both significantly benefited cognitive development. This shows that

creating awareness even by the use of videos benefited cognition (Boo, 2016).

Improving health facilities and family support are also other ways that research

into cognitive issues can be improved as the more support and awareness the “slow

learners” or “problem children” can be pinpointed early and given early intervention

which would reduce the occurrence of cognitive issues. An education system where

there is provision for each stage and different pathways for different learners will
progressively improve cognition issues in the Caribbean with different opportunities

made available from multiple pathways and aid in research in the Caribbean (Caribbean

Examinations Council, n.d.). 

From this case study we can see that brain structures and mental processes

does affect cognition however early intervention and awareness can make a difference

and allow many individuals who may have issues with cognition to have normal lives.

 
 
 
 
 
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