COGNITION

 Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology

that studies mental processes including how people
think, perceive, remember, and learn. As part of the
larger field of cognitive science, this branch of
psychology is related to other disciplines including
neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics.
 Cognitive comes from the Latin cognito, meaning
to Apprehend or understand
 Cognition- A general term including all mental
processes by which people become aware of and
understand the world.

Cont…

▪ Cognition is the process by which the sensory

input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored,
recovered, and used.
▪ In science, cognition is the mental processing
that includes the attention of working memory,
comprehending and producing language,
calculating, reasoning, problem solving, and
decision making.

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Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology

that focuses on the study of ________.
a) Human society
b) Human behavior
c) Human thinking
d) Human development

Stages of cognitive processes

(A) Sensation: It refers to our awareness about various

stimuli which we encounter in different modalities such
as vision, hearing, touch smell and taste.

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 Cont…

(B )Perception: In the case of perception we process

information and make out the meaning of the stimuli

available to us. For example, we look at a pen and

recognize it as an object used for writing.

Examples of different types of perception

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Types of Examples
perception
Visual • Colour perception of product
perception
• Form perception of product
• Product size perception
etc.
Auditory • Loudness perception
perception (amplitude of sound wave)
• localization
(location and direction of sound source)
• All these things are associated with product experience. For example,
users may perceive a metallic glass, or a plastic made glass when fall in
the concrete floor without seeing these glasses as the sounds different.
Smell perception • Noxious smell of ammonia.
• Sweet smell of a fragrance.
Touch • Smoothness or roughness of the product surface
perception
• Softness of soft toys
Taste perception • Food taste sweet/ bitter etc.

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Sensation is to ________ as perception is to

________.

a. vision, olfaction
b. conscious, unconscious
c. awareness, interpretation
d. taste, vision

Detection of the sound of a bell ringing is referred to as

a _______. Once you interpret the stimulus as the
sound of your alarm clock, it is referred to as a
_______.
a. perception; sensory adaptation
b. sensation; perception
c. perception; sensation
d. sensory code; perception

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 Topic 2
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INFORMATION
PROCESSING

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INFORMATION PROCESSING
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 Listening & visualizing → an important element in

communication.
 Through auditory perception and visual perception
(stimulus)…
 A person can understand what message the other person trying to
convey
 How to respond back to the perceptions

 Stimulus received → is then process (information

processing) → where individual digest (process) what
information he has learn from his environment →
then store them in the memory.

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 Information12 Processing
 Cognitive psychology developed around late 50’s.
 Primary focus of cognitive psychology is on memory
(the storage & retrieval of information).
 Information Processing theorists proposed that like
the computer → the human mind is a system that
processes information through the application of
logical rules and strategies.
 Like the computer, the mind has a limited capacity
for the amount and nature of the information it can
process.

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Information Processing
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 This group of information theorist used computer

as a model for the way human think, where they
look at:

 The way people

focusing on attention,
 take in, perception &
 process , and memory.
 act on information

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 Information Processing Approach
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© What is memory?
 Memory is the retention of learned material

 Information processing model are used to

 describe and explain cognitive (mental) process, such as
thinking & problem solving.
 Whenever one's senses are activated (physical energy) the
information immediately is placed in sensory
store/register → Information that one "attends to" is
transferred to Short Term Memory (STM)→
Information in STM that is rehearsed is transferred to
Long Term Memory (LTM).

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Information Processing Approach

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 Humans have three types of memory:-

 Sensory Register
 Short Term memory
 Long Term memory

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 Types of Memory
 Sensory register
Part of memory that receives16all the information a person

senses from the environment and stores it fleetingly.
 Short term memory
 A part where new information is stored temporarily, until
it is either lost or placed into long term memory
 Also known as working memory (working space), where a
decision must be made to discard information or to transfer
it to permanent storage, in long-term memory.
 Long Term memory
 Part of memory which has unlimited capacity & can hold
information indefinitely.
 the encyclopedic mental processing unit in which
information may be stored permanently and from which
it may be later retrieved.

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Information Processing Approach

 When people pay attention17to an information→ the
sensory register will pick the information → goes into
the working memory.
 Once in working memory → information is processed/
practiced within 15-20 sec → then transfer to the long
term memory.
 If people don’t pay attention → the information is lost.
 Information in the LTM is retrieve through a process
of identification & recall for a particular purpose.

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Strategies In Encoding/ Memorizing

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 Chunking
 Rehearsal
 Imagery
 Mnemonics

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 Strategies in encoding/ memorizing
 Chunking 22

 Breaking the information into manageable chunk.

 eg. OFHRTJUDYCX → OFH RTJ UDY CX
 Rehearsal
 Simple repetition
 Imagery
 Conjured image of an object/related meaning.
 Mnemonics

 Memory strategy to help remember information

 Examples: ROY G. BIV, The order of operations for math is Parentheses,
Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract = PEMDAS, For those who have to
remember the order of color coding on electronic resistors: BLACK, BLUE, RED,
ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BROWN, VIOLET, GRAY, WHITE, SILVER, GOLD.
Bad Boys Rile Our Young Girls, But Violet Gives Welts (to) Silly Guys

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Mind Maps
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Information Processing
Model: The Stage Theory
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( AT K I N S O N & S H I F F R I N , 1 9 6 8 )

I n formation I s Pr oces sed & S t o red In 3 Stages:

• Sensory M emor y
• Short Term Memory
• L ong T erm Me mory

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 Information Processing Model: The Stage Theory
(Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968)

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Sensory Memory (SM)

 Memory starts with a sensory input
32 from the environment , i.e.
sensory as source of information (vision, light, sound, smell,
heat, etc)
 In the SM → input are held for a very brief time → several
seconds.
 Memory in the SM is very short
 Vision = less than ½ second; Hearing = less than 3 sec
 SM is a very important stage because the person must attend
to the information receive at this initial stage in order to transfer
it (info) to the next stage.
 Individual are more like to pay attention to a stimulus if:
 It has an interesting features
 It activates a known pattern

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 Short Term Memory (STM)
 Also known as working memory → Relates to what we are
thinking about at any given moment
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in time.
 STM is created through:-
Attention to an external stimulus
Attention to internal thoughts
Both external stimulus and internal thoughts.
 STM will last for 15-20 sec →unless is repeated (known as
maintenance rehearsal) → can last for up to 20 min.
 Attention → focused on items of information→ repeated over &
over (silently/loudly)→ processed in such a way & link it to other
prior information that has already been stored in the memory.
 Elaborative rehearsal:→ giving the material organization &
meaning as it is being rehearsed → use strategies that give
meaning & organization to material → so that the to-be-
remembered information can be fitted in with the existing
organized long term memories.

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Long Term Memory (LTM)

 Unprocessed information → will be lost/ forgotten.
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 When information are placed in LTM, they are put into
organized categories → where they reside for days, months,
years, life time.
 When you remember something → a copy of the item is
withdrawn (retrieve) from the LTM.
 Some theories believe → there is no true forgetting from the
long-term memory → because once information is stored, it is
there for good.
 If/when we seem to forget → it is because we have trouble
retrieving or getting access to what has been stored
(information stored in unorganized way).
 Thus, information in the Long Term Memory must be
encoded, stored and placed in memory in organized
way → for easy retrieval.

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 Divided Attention
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 What is Attention?
 What is Divided Attention?

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 What is Attention?
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 Attention is…..
a concept studied in cognitive psychology that

refers to how we actively process specific
information present in our environment.
 the cognitive process of selectively concentrating
on one aspect of the environment while ignoring
other things.
 Attention has also been referred to as the allocation
of processing resources.

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Attention
 Examples…
Listening to a mobile phone conversation
 39

while driving a car

 Listening carefully to what someone is
saying while ignoring other ‘noisy’
conversations in a room.
 Numerous sights, sounds and sensations
going on around you – the pressure of
your feet against the floor, the sight of the
street out of a nearby window, the soft
warmth of your shirt, the memory of a
conversation you had earlier with a friend.
 How do we manage to experience all
of these sensations and still focus on
just one element of our environment?

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 How are we able to concentrate on one specific
thing while there are many stimulus around us?
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 According to William James,
attention “is the taking possession of the mind, in clear and

vivid form, of one out of what may seem several
simultaneously possible objects or trains of thoughts…It
implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal
effectively with others” 1.
 Think of attention as a highlighter

 Attention allows you to “tune out” information, sensations and

perceptions that are not relevant at the moment and instead
focus your energy on the information that is important.

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What is Divided attention?

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 Divided attention is
 the condition of paying attention to more than one stimulus
or to a stimulus presented in more than one modality.
 The process by which an individual can perform multiple tasks
at the same time.
 An individual attention can be divided between
two:
 Verbal task
 Visual task

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 A person can pay simultaneous attention on both

verbal and visual tasks because:
 They have enough practice (often do it)
 They are able to divide their attention automatically (acquire
a high degree of automaticity)

 Our brain has the ability to pay attention to

selected aspect of the environment and further
divide the attention between tasks (verbal &
visual).

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CAN WE REALLY
MULTITASK?
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 Study suggests why cell phones and driving
don’t44 mix
 Study suggests why cell phones and driving don’t mix:
 According to a study carried out by a Johns Hopkins University
psychologist, the reason why talking on a cell phone makes drivers
less safe because…
 the brain can’t simultaneously give full attention to both the
visual task of driving and the auditory task of listening
 “Directing attention to listening effectively ‘turns down the volume’
on input to the visual parts of the brain. When attention is deployed
to one modality (for e.g. , talking on a cell phone) - it necessarily
extracts a cost on another modality - in this case, the visual task of
driving.”

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Automaticity Processing
 What is automaticity?
Automaticity refers to knowing how to perform some arbitrary

task at a competent level without requiring conscious effort—
i.e. it is a form of unconscious competence.
 Automaticity is the ability to do things without occupying the
mind with the low-level details required, allowing it to become
an automatic response pattern or habit → i.e. performing of
a primary task is minimally affected by other ongoing tasks
 People often refer to automaticity by saying “I can do
the task on auto-pilot or in my sleep”.
 Examples speaking, bicycle-riding, assembly-line work, and
driving a car.
 It is usually the result of learning, repetition and practice.

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 Automaticity Processing
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 Practice played a major role in determining

one’s performance.
 After an activity is sufficiently practiced, it is
possible to focus the mind on other activities or
thoughts while undertaking an automaticized
activity (for example, holding a conversation or
planning a speech while driving a car).

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Practice played a major role in determining

one’s performance.
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 But, the more you practiced, the more automatic your
action (e.g. driving) became, until you could actually drive
without thinking about what to do.
 In fact while driving, at the same time your mind could
be thinking about something else, you are talking to
someone or you could be listening to the radio, etc…
 Processing activities
become automatic as
a result of prolonged practice

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 Look at the following chart and name each color you see - not the
printed word!
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Cont…

 Learning: It helps us acquiring new knowledge and

skills through experience and practice. The acquired
knowledge and skills further bring a relative change
in our behavior and facilitate our adjustment in
varied settings. For example, we learn language,
riding a bicycle and applying mathematical skills to
solve various problems.

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 Cont…

Thinking: In the case of thinking we use our stored

knowledge to solve various tasks. We logically establish
the relationships among various objects in our mind
and take rational decision for a given problem. We also
evaluate different events of the environment and
accordingly form an opinion.

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Cont
…

Decision making: the thought process of selecting

a logical choice from the available options. When trying
to make a good decision, a person must weight the
positives and negatives of each option, and consider all
the alternatives. For effective decision making, a person
must be able to forecast the outcome of each option as
well, and based on all these items, determine which
option is the best for that particular situation.

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 Cont…
Problem-solving is a mental process that involves
discovering, analyzing and solving problems. The ultimate
goal of problem-solving is to overcome obstacles and find
a solution that best resolves the issue.
The best strategy for solving a problem depends largely
on the unique situation. In some cases, people are better
off learning everything they can about the issue and then
using factual knowledge to come up with a solution. In
other instances, creativity and insight are the best options.

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