StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Different Facets of Mental Functioning - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
In this essay, the author demonstrates why cognitive psychology is considered one area of the wider interdisciplinary field of cognitive science, which includes, among other areas, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive neuroscience…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.5% of users find it useful
The Different Facets of Mental Functioning
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Different Facets of Mental Functioning"

Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with the scientific study of the mind. Generally, "mind" means the normally functioning human mind, but cognitive psychologists study abnormally functioning human brains (such as stroke or trauma victims), developing minds of young children, animal minds and computers to help develop theories of how the mind performs various tasks. Cognitive psychology as a distinct area of study developed in the mid-20th century around the same time as early computer systems were being developed, so it is no surprise that computers are used both as models and as tools in many experiments. Cognitive psychology is considered one area of the wider interdisciplinary field of cognitive science, which includes, among other areas, computer science, linguistics, philosophy and cognitive neuroscience (Kellogg, 2002). British psychologists Michael W. Eysenck and Mark T. Keane include anthropology as well (2000). Cognitive psychologists look at many different facets of mental functioning, which Kellogg lists as: perception, consciousness, intelligence, thinking, language, knowledge representation, memory and learning (2002). Cognitive psychology began to distinguish itself from an older branch of psychology, behaviorism, when researchers realized that to study the mind often meant studying processes that could not be directly observed, such as the "stimulus-response" experiments common to behaviorism. A central concern of linguists in the cognitive arena is the relationship between language and thought. The linguistic relativity theory, put forth by Benjamin L. Whorf in 1956 states that language either determines thought or influences it heavily. The famous "Eskimos have 27 words for snow" notion, under relativity, means they perceive snow differently from, say, a Florida resident, and therefore have a more highly developed categorizing system for snow. However, the theory did not take into account that different environments, whether physical or created, may affect how much time and effort people focus on various things, which is then reflected by language. Later studies by Heider-Rosch (1972, 1973, in Eysenck, 1984) on color perception across languages with vastly different color naming systems seem to show that it is thought that determines language. However, there may be some cultural or culturally-based learning differences as evidenced by studies on bilingual individuals. The central focus, then, of cognitive psychologists is the structure and processes of the mind, which are generally equated with representation (the structures) and computation (the processes), as well as the inclusive dynamic systems process (Braisby & Gellaltly, 2005). Representation deals with what things are about, such as the subject matter of a book -- versus its physical qualities such as molecular structure, weight and dimensions -- is what the book is about. Computation is how the mind processes information and it is in this area that the mind is most often linked to computers and how they learn. Two major systems of computation have been developed, and supporters argue for the relative importance of them, or some interaction of both. Symbol systems investigate how the mind combines the various discrete symbols in the environment to arrive at conclusions and decisions. Connectionism views this process by relying both on the physical structure of the brain, with the interconnectedness of neurons serving as a basis, plus how networks within a computer system operate; "interconnectedness" is its basic assumption (Braisby & Gellaltly). Artificial intelligence has been defined as "the science that holds that computers, by virtue of their mathematical structure, can reason" (Wagman, 1991, p. 2). Tasks that can be performed include planning, control, scheduling and a variety of recognition tasks such as speech or facial structures. Names such as ELIZA, BORIS and FERMI have been given to various software/modeling systems that process speech, plot points from Shakespearean plays, diagnosing electrical system problems, etc Early AI researchers, strongly supportive of the symbolic system, saw problem solving as the process of creating a symbolic representation of the problem (the problem space) that helps in determining several levels of solutions to the problem (Wagman, 1998). Modern advancements in neuroscience have helped cognitive psychologists study the brain as it is working, through imaging techniques such as PET scans. Braisby and Gellaltly describe a series of experiments over time where imaging science has gotten intricately involved in cognitive theories. They begin with a 1984 experiment (Warrington & Shallice) that described patients whose ability to recognize living things was impaired, though their ability to recognize non-living things was much less or not impaired. A later experiment (Hillis & Caramazza, 1991) showed the opposite -- people who were much better at recognizing living things but whose categorical memory of non-living things was impaired. By 2000, Devlin et al. showed in PET scans that there was no difference in where the information of living versus non-living categories were processed, although it is possible such distinctions are too fine for the scanner to distinguish. However, a computer model study by Greer et al. (2001) showed that a connectionist computer network could be damaged in such a way as to provide a distinction between living and non-living categories. The system, which may model how the human brain works as well, showed that the "living things" category may be more impervious to damaging. This may be because there are more connections and correlations made about living things, such as "That is a dog. It is a mammal. All mammals breathe, have fur, bilateral symmetry, etc" Memory is an important mental process that assists humans (and animals) in everything they do. Memory was first conceived of as a storage-only type process, until an influential article in 1972 by Craik and Lockhart theorizing that it was not important where (in which of many "stores") information was stored, but how it was encoded when it was placed into memory. The greater depth or importance the person placed while processing the memory, the more likely it was the information would be remembered. Memory is commonly described as either short term or long term. Neuroscience has shown that short-term memory is stored in acoustic or speech-based form, but long-term memory is encoded based on meaning (Hitch, in Braisby & Gellaltly, 2005). An important distinction can be also made between episodic memory and semantic memory. Episodic memory involves the incidents that happen to us, our life experiences, including both actual events and our subjective experience of them. General knowledge is called semantic memory, and is the memory used to identify objects, animals and people in our environment. Animal studies in memory have been helpful pinpointing various types and subtypes of memory, such as spatial memory. London cab drivers retain an extensive spatial knowledge of the city and have been shown to have an enlarged hippocampus (Maguire et al., 2000). Likewise, British researchers have found that birds that store their food in many places also have enlarged hippocampi (National Academy of Sciences, 2001, from Franklin Institute Online), lending credence to the belief that the hippocampus is important for spatial memory. More common experiments involve training animals (such as rats) in various tasks to study what is remembered under various experimental variables. Such experiments have shown a linkage, for example, between the production of cortisol, the "stress hormone," and failure to recall previously learned material (Nature, 1998, from Franklin Institute Online). As this brief overview shows, cognitive psychology, as part of cognitive science, covers a broad sweep of subjects related to the concept of mind. It is still relatively new as a formal discipline and will undoubtedly foster many new theories as it matures over time. References Braisby, N. & Gellatly, A. (2005) Foundations of Cognitive Psychology. In Cognitive Psychology, Braisby, N. & Gellatly, A, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Craik and Lockhart (1972). Levels of processing: a framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, Vol. 11, pp. 671-684. In Hitch, G.J., chapter in Cognitive Psychology, Braisby, N. & Gellatly, A, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press (see below). Devlin, J.T., Russell, R.P., Davis, M.H., Price, C.J., Wilson, J., Moss, H.E., et al. (2000). Susceptibility induced loss of signal: comparing PET and fMRI on a semantic task. NeuroImage, vol. 11, pp. 77-115. Eysenck, M.W. (1984). A Handbook of Cognitive Psychology,. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Eysenck, M.W. & Keane, M.T. (2000). Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook (4th ed.). East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press Ltd. Franklin Institute Online. The Human Brain. Retrieved April 18, 2006 from http://www.fi.edu/brain/stress.htm Greer, M.J., van Casteren, M., McLellan, S.A., Moss, H.E., Rodd, J., Rogers, T.T., et al. (2001). The emergence of semantic categories from distributed featural representations. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hitch, G.J. (2005). Working Memory. In Cognitive Psychology, Braisby, N. & Gellatly, A, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hillis, A.E. & Caramazza, A. (1991). Category-specific naming and comprehension impairment: a double dissociation. Brain Language, vol. 114. pp. 2081-94. Kellogg, R.T. (2002). Cognitive Psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. Maguire, E.A., Gadian, D.G., Johnsrude, I.S., Good, C.D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R.S.J., et al. (2000, April 11). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 97(8), pp. 4398-4403. Retrieved April 16, 2006 from http://pavlov.psyc.queensu.ca/flanagan/ PSYC100/pdf/MagGadJoh_PNAS_00.pdf Wagman, M. (1991). Artificial Intelligence and Human Cognition: A Theoretical Intercomparison of Two Realms of Intellect. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Wagman, M. (1998). Language and Thought in Humans and Computers: Theory and Research in Psychology, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Science. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Warrington, E.K. & Shallice, T. (1984). Category specific semantic impairments. Brain, vol. 107, pp. 829-54. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Different Facets of Mental Functioning Essay”, n.d.)
The Different Facets of Mental Functioning Essay. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/psychology/1512830-cognitive-psychology-college-essay
(The Different Facets of Mental Functioning Essay)
The Different Facets of Mental Functioning Essay. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1512830-cognitive-psychology-college-essay.
“The Different Facets of Mental Functioning Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/psychology/1512830-cognitive-psychology-college-essay.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Different Facets of Mental Functioning

Mental disorders: Depression

The increasing prevalence of mental problems has increasingly fuelled the perception that depression and anxiety are over-diagnosed with critics labeling psychiatric as “having gone insane as almost all human emotions categorized as a mental disorder” based on the revised psychiatric manual DSM-V (Barker, Langridge and Vossler 2010, p.... hellip; Mental disorders represent psychological conditions typified by significant disorganization of personality, emotions, and mind to severe damage of psychological and social functioning of the individual....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Culture and the Treatment of Abnormal Behavior

Mostly, psychological disorders involve critical reduction or impairments in someone's overall functioning, although this is not a static case.... 22, the term schizophrenia describes a category of that part of psychotic disorders characterized by effective distortions of reality; emotional and mental disorganization, as well as the withdrawal of individuals from social interaction.... Other investigators argue that abnormal behavior could be viewed via an extremely different lens, which is not related to individual's mental health, rather a significant and positive part of life experiences....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Understanding Mental Health

WHO stresses that mental health "is not just the absence of mental disorder” (WHO, 2001, p.... Our mental health influences our way of thinking, feeling and acting… It also decides our style of handling stress, managing relationships and making choices in our lives.... mental health enables a person to enjoy his life The term mental health refers to a state of complete cognitive, psychological, emotional and social well-being of a person....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

Mental Health Problems and Disorders

mental health problems and disorders range from common worries that most people encounter in their normal life activities to serious conditions that last for a long period before they can be well managed.... mental health problems have a number of effects for instance they affect… Good number mental health problem victims can easily overcome the condition or learn to live with it if they get assistance in time.... These conditions are classified and defined to help mental health specialists refer their clients for proper Proper assessments by psychologists are necessary to discover the exact condition that a victim is suffering from....
4 Pages (1000 words) Coursework

How Does a Psychiatrist or Psychologist Go about Establishing Whether a Person Is Mentally Ill or Not

On the contrary, the majority of mental health doctors maintain that some mental illnesses are connected to chemical changes within the brain, and new methods allow mapping these changes visually using imaging tools (Elster, 1999).... "How Does a Psychiatrist or Psychologist Go about Establishing Whether a Person Is Mentally Ill or Not" paper investigates some of the difficulties in precisely defining mental illness.... Even among cultures that are the same, ideas of a healthy mental state may change over time if society's values or expectations change....
6 Pages (1500 words) Coursework

Consideration of Mental Disabilities Including Eating, Mood, Anxiety and Other Disorders

The paper "Consideration of mental Disabilities Including Eating, Mood, Anxiety and Other Disorders" discusses that Sexual and Gender disorders impact aspects of social behavior such as sexual desire, performance and behavior, gender identity problems and sexual dysfunction.... The definition of mental disorders encompasses several psychic disorders that can be different with respect to severity or level of damage.... The definition of mental disorders encompasses several psychic disorders that can be different with respect to severity or level of damage....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper

Bilingual Advantage in Executive Functioning

This coursework "Bilingual Advantage in Executive functioning" focuses on bilingualism's effect on executive functioning that is part of an advancing field of research that demonstrates its significance in the organization and cognitive executive function.... The effect of bilingualism on behavior becomes pronounced in the form of enhanced executive functioning in individuals.... tudies show that bilinguals will always outperform monolingual counterparts on executive functioning undertakings....
12 Pages (3000 words) Coursework

Abnormal Psychology

Later on, offended the administration of the hospital challenging Rosenhan over admitting the pseudopatients over which they detect the mental issues.... osenhan's experiment has been carried out over two different aspects, as initially, it involves with determining the use of healthy associates including paediatrician, three psychologists, psychiatrists, painters, housewives, and Rosenhan, who were being sane attempted to be admitted in different hospitals of the US....
13 Pages (3250 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us