Ch.3 Cognitive Psychology

Speisman et. al

A supporting experiment which demonstrates how cognitive appraisals are affected by bodily responses (emotions) to stressful situations, which is illustrated by Speisman et al. (1964). AIM:To demonstrate the influence of appraisal on emotional experiences. METHOD:Participants were shown a 'stressful' film about 'unpleasant' genital surgery depicting Aboriginal boys have circumcision in the context of puberty. Accompanied by soundtrack, in which investigators manipulated the 'appraisal' of the surgery by showing the film with 3 conditions + 1 control: Trauma condition - pain experienced by boys and use of knife were emphasized Denial - boys anticipation of entering manhood pointed out thus de-emphasizing the pain (presented the p's as happy and deliberate) Intellectualization - soundtrack ignored emotional aspects of situation and emphasized traditions of aboriginal culture Silent - nothing Arousal state measured by galvanic skin response (GSR) measure of electrical conductivity of skin and indicator of autonomic arousal and heart rate.

Bartlett

AIM:Bartlett aimed to investigate the effect of culture on memory. METHOD:Participants used were of an English background. Were asked to read "The War of the Ghosts" - a Native American folk tale. Tested their memory of the story using serial reproduction and repeated reproduction, where they were asked to recall it six or seven times over various retention intervals. Serial reproduction: the first participant reading the story reproduces it on paper, which is then read by a second participant who reproduces the first participant's reproduction, and so on until it is reproduced by six or seven different participants. Repeated reproduction: the same participant reproduces the story six or seven times from their own previous reproductions. Their reproductions occur between time intervals from 15 minutes to as long as several years. RESULTS:Both methods lead to similar results. As the number of reproductions increased, the story became shorter and there were more changes to the story. For example, 'hunting seals' changed into 'fishing' and 'canoes' became 'boats'. These changes show the alteration of culturally unfamiliar things into what the English participants were culturally familiar with, This makes the story more understandable according to the participants' experiences and cultural background (schemas). He found that recalled stories were distorted and altered in various ways making it more conventional and acceptable to their own cultural perspective (rationalization).

Davidson

AIM:To determine whether meditation could affect brain functions. METHOD:Eight adept (10,000 hours of practice) Buddhist monks and ten control subjects were asked to meditate, while Davidson examined brain functions using a PET scan. RESULTS:All subjects showed an increase in the number of gamma waves, which are linked to higher reasoning, during meditation. However, while the control group's brains went back to normal afterwards, the monks' brains continued to emit gamma-waves. The area of their brain associated with gamma-waves was found to be bigger in the monks.

CONCLUSION FOR COG&EMO

According to the information processing view of the brain (supported by Le Doux), emotion is produced as cognitive and perceptual processing occurs in brain regions such as the thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala and the pre-frontal lobe (biological factors). According to the TFT, emotion results from physiological arousal and cognitive labelling According Lazarus' theory of appraisal, evaluation of situations (cognition) determines emotion These theories have been supported through much research, and although there were a few limitations within the studies, there have been no other theories or research that opposes the idea that biological and cognitive factors influence emotion. Therefore, all of these theories suggest that both cognitive factors interact in emotion to a LARGE extent.

HM

Another study which utilizes MRI scans to investigate memory is a study conducted by Milner and Scoville (1957). BACKGROUND: HM suffered epileptic seizures after a head injury at age 9 Doctors performed surgery to stop seizures Tissue from temporal lobe, and hippocampus was removed HM suffered anterograde amnesia He could recall information from early life but could not form new memories HM was studied using an MRI in 1997 FINDINGS: The brain scan showed that there was damage to the hippocampus, amygdala, and areas close to the hippocampus CONNECTION: of study to question By using MRI scanning technology, researchers were able to investigate the cognitive process of memory and make a correlation between certain brain areas (biological factor) and memory (cognitive process). MRI scans were used to see the structures of the brain to determine the extent of brain damage The structures would not be able to be clearly seen using other technologies such as EEGs or CTs.

Bartlett +/-

CONCLUSION:Memory is very inaccurate It is always subject to reconstruction based on pre-existing schemas Bartlett's study helped to explain through the understanding of schemas when people remember stories, they typically omit ("leave out") some details, and introduce rationalisations and distortions, because they reconstruct the story so as to make more sense in terms of their knowledge, the culture in which they were brought up in and experiences in the form of schemas. LIMITATIONS:Bartlett did not explicitly ask participants to be as accurate as possible in their reproduction Experiment was not very controlled instructions were not standardised (specific) disregard for environmental setting of experiment CONNECTION:This study relates to the effect of culture on memory. Participants' recall of the story which was culturally-foreign to them was altered to be culturally familiar when they were asked to recall, due to their schema (knowledge, background and past experiences). Hence, the culture in which people are brought up in influences how they recall and reproduce stories and events to others, introducing cognitive distortions in memory because of their mental representations in the form of schemas. Barlett's work (1932) demonstrated how schemas originating in one particular culture can affect how literature from another culture is recalled. His participants relied on schematic knowledge, acquired within their culture to understand and later recall a story from a different culture.

Cole & Scribner -

CONNECTION:This study supports that culture affects memory. The Kpelle children performed just as well as their US counterparts in a culturally-familiar memory task, but not on a free recall task. This is because the free-recall task that Cole and his colleagues originally used to assess memory among Liberian tribal people has no precise analogy in traditional Liberian cultures, so it is not surprising that the corresponding way of remembering would not be acquired. Cognitive skills (memory) are dependent on the environment - which is made up of education, social interaction, technology and in this case, culture. Therefore culture influences schemas, and thus our memory ability/ability to recall and have advantageous effects if asked to do a task associated with your culture.

TECH

Different types of brain imaging technologies PET: Positron Emission Topography MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging fMRI: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging EEG: Electroencephalogram Explain why Brain imaging technologies are used at the CLA Brain imaging technologies are methods used in psychology to examine the human brain. Brain imaging technologies are quite useful in neuropsychology... As it provides an opportunity to study the active brain Allows researchers to see where specific brain processes take place Predominantly used to define brain differences in groups while they perform cognitive tasks Enables researchers to study localisation of function in a living human brain

Speisman +/-

FINDINGS:Observations and self-reports showed that participants reacted more 'emotionally' to the soundtrack that was more traumatic. Lowest in intellectualization and silent conditions. The way participants appraised (act of assessing someone or something) what they were seeing in the film affected their physiological experience in terms of emotion. LIMITATIONS:Methodological problems - It is possible that the participants' reactions were primarily affected by the music, not that the music affected the appraisal of the situation. CONCLUSION:Thus, according to appraisal theory, it can be concluded that the music affected the appraisal of the situation, which in turn affected the emotional reaction to it. ...the cognitive factor of how we appraise certain situations influences our emotional responses CONNECTION: This supports that cognitive factors DO interact in emotion to a great extent. State connection to cognitive interactions within emotion: Thus, Lazarus' theory of appraisal states that 'we experience emotions when interacting with our environment and appraise good and bad to our well-being. Lazarus suggests that the specific emotions experienced are determined by the pattern of answers the individual gives throughout the components of the primary and second appraisal.

Le Doux Theory

Le Doux discovered that for fear responses, there are two neurological pathways: The short route: that goes from the sensory store in the thalamus to the amygdala The long route: traverses the neo-cortex and the hippocampus before it results in a fear response. Le Doux argues that there is an evolutionary advantage of having two separate pathways for fear responses. During times of danger: The short route is effective, as it will lead to a quick, but often inaccurate response. The long route however, is slower, but will allow for a more thorough evaluation of a situation, and a more appropriate response. Therefore, the amygdala receives input from the sensory processing areas in the neo-cortex and thalamus and projects to areas in the brainstem controlling the fight or flight response.

PET

PET scans require patients to be injected with a radioactive glucose tracer which shows the areas where glucose is absorbed in the active brain. More glucose metabolism means more brain activity. PET scans show a coloured visual display of brain activity; where radioactive tracer is absorbed Red indicates areas with the most activity Blue indicates areas with the least activity STRENGTHS:sensitive, good resolution, can track on going activity in the brain (thinking) LIMITATIONS: very expensive, takes longer than MRI scans, cannot do longitudinal studies, some allergic to tracer.

Brewer & Treyens +/-

STRENGTHS: Strict control over variables to determine cause & effect relationship LIMITATIONS:Lacks ecological validity Laboratory setting artificial environment Task does not reflect daily activity CONNECTION:This study shows how both social and cultural factors can influence schemas and hence what we recall in memory. Participants' typical office schema determined their recall and their non-recall of items because they did not fit into the office schema. But it is important to note that the culture in which the participants were from could also have a major impact on their schema for an office, as different cultures can have different representations of what an office looks like, thus influencing how the participants recalled because of their schema, influenced by culture. However the above argument is valid, the study represents more social effects than cultural, as the participants "typical" office schemas were based on society's representation of an office. Therefore it demonstrates that schemas, thus memory recall are affected by social factors.

Cole & Scribner

STUDY:A further study demonstrating cultural influence on schematic knowledge (in terms of memory strategies in different cultures - USA & Liberia) is by Cole and Scribner (1974). They observed the effects of formal schooling/education (in relation to culture) had on memory. METHOD:Tested the memory ability of non-schooled children in the Kpelle tribe in Liberia and compared them with US school children. Children were expected to remember items on word lists that were organized into different categories. Test was repeated with the children several times. RESULTS:The Kpelle children did not improve their performance in free recall memory tests after the age of 10 in the same way as US children; after 15 trials they only remembered 2 more items. Kpelle children who attended school had similar performance tUS school children. School children in US and Liberia used categorical recall; they appeared to have chunked the items in to linked categories as they recalled them in groups such as utensils, clothes, vegetables, tools. When items were presented as part of a story the Kpelle children (non-schooled) had equally good performance as the US children. Children with formal schooling in America and Liberia used this mnemonic which improved their memory of the items. Children without formal schooling however, did not use the categories to aid their recall and subsequently did not remember as much as children who had attended school.

Brewer & Treyens

STUDY:Further support for cultural factors on the influence of schemas of memory on cognition memory at encoding point was reported by Brewer and Treyens (1981). AIM:To see whether a stereotypical schema of an office would affect memory (recall) of an office METHOD:Participants were taken into a university student office and left for 35 seconds before being taken to another room. They were asked to write down as much as they could remember from the office. RESULTS:Participants recalled things of a "typical office" according to their schema. They did not recall the wine and picnic basket that were in the office. CONCLUSION:Participants' schema of an office influenced their memory of it. They did not recall the wine and picnic basket because it is not part of their "typical office" schema.

Le Doux +/-

Strengths: There is suggestive evidence that separate brain regions process different emotions. And this research still supports the theory that biological factors affect emotion. Limitation: Biological research on emotion is mainly experimental and findings are often based on animals, lacking ecological validity. Le Doux's findings may only be valid for fear, but not for more positive or elevated emotions such as admiration or gratitude. ... The theory also supports cognitive factors in emotion because the situation is appraised though the long route.

Lazarus Theory

The appraisal theory of emotion is based on the evaluation of situations according to the significance they have for us, therefore it has more of a cognitive basis Suggests that cognition is essential. This theory states that emotion is experienced when, in our interaction with the environment, we assess our surroundings as to whether it is beneficial or harmful for our well-being. Appraisals are interpretations of situations and how they will affect one's well-being. Appraisals are both conscious and unconscious; contribute to the quality and intensity of an emotion. The appraisal theory is based on two concepts: Primary appraisal - where the organism assesses the significance or meaning of the event. Three components: Motivational relevance - relevance to goals? (If positive, then there is emotion) Motivational congruence - favourable to goals? (Positive emotion when yes, negative emotion when no) Accountability - who is responsible for what is happening? Secondary appraisal - when the organism appraises the consequence of the event and decides on how to act. It also has three components: Problem-focused coping - cope with a situation by changing it to make it less threatening for an individual to cope Emotion-focused coping - change the situation by how I feel about it (e.g. reinterpreting). Future expectancy - To what extent can I expect the situation will change?

Davidson +/-

The brain adapts to stimulation, whether from the environment or our own thinking.

TECH: MRI

This technique uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce 3D computer-generated images. MRI scans involve people to remove all metal objects and clothing where they lie within an MRI machine. It can distinguish among different types of soft tissue and allows researchers to see structures within the brain. STRENGTHS: practical, safe, fast (1-2mins), can be tested repeatedly. LIMITATIONS: expensive, can be inaccurate due to little movements that can affect image and therefore cause false assumptions, cannot be used on anyone (claustrophobics, obese, patients with pacemakers, or metallic implants)