PYC3703/501/3/2024

Study Guide

Cognition: Memory, Thinking and

Problem Solving

PYC3703

Semesters 1 and 2

Department of Psychology

BARCODE

Open Rubric
 Tutorial Letter 501/2024

Contents

Page
Introduction 3

Study Unit 1 Introduction to Cognitive Psychology 12

Study Unit 2 Cognitive Neuroscience 26

Study Unit 3 Perception 35

Study Unit 4 Memory 42

Study Unit 5 Problem-Solving 58

Study Unit 6 Judgement, Reasoning and Decisions 67

List of Sources Referred to in this Tutorial Letter 76

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Introduction
In this module, we introduce you to cognitive psychology, a dynamic area of psychology in which
researchers explore the human mind and develop theories and models of how the mind works. It is
closely related to biological- and neuropsychology, in that cognitive researchers also investigate the
neural basis of cognition and seek to clarify the relationship between the mind and the brain. However,
the field is perhaps more accurately described as a study of how the brain processes information
(Groome, 2006). Cognitive psychology is a rather broad, umbrella-like domain because researchers
have typically employed a “divide-and-conquer” strategy in their attempts to unravel the mysteries of the
mind. Hence your prescribed book is divided into chapters that focus on particular aspects of cognition
such as perception, memory, knowledge representation, and so forth. These aspects, which each
highlight a particular stage or component of the information-processing chain of activity, start with
attention followed by perception, memory and higher-level cognitive activities such as reasoning and
decision-making.

We will explore some of these different stages or components in some detail in this module by peering
inside the proverbial “black box” to see how each component works. Almost all that we consider relates
to basic research findings of cognitive processes, but it is important to note that cognitive psychology is
not just about basic science. The aims of cognitive psychological research are to enhance our
understanding of the mind so that these insights can be applied in education and industry and to help
us understand mental dysfunctions and the cognitive consequences of brain injury. Cognitive
psychology also has close connections with neuroscience and artificial intelligence. However, probably
the primary reason for studying the field is because cognitive psychologists ask fascinating questions
such as:

● How is the mind related to the brain? This question leads to further issues, such as where is
consciousness located in the brain (or is that not a sensible question to ask?), and what are the
neural mechanisms underlying cognitive processes?
● Why does brain injury sometimes result in bizarre perceptual errors, such as the patient who
mistook his wife for a hat in Oliver Sack’s (1985) intriguing case study
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Mistook_His_Wife_for_a_Hat)?
● Can we learn something without being aware that we have seen it? If so, does this suggest that
some aspects of memory and learning occur “subliminally” (i.e., below the level of awareness)?
● How do we remember, and are memories true copies of our experience, or are they sometimes
changed, distorted, and “embellished” over time?
● How can we improve our own problem-solving and thinking skills, or are we stuck with the abilities
with which we were born?
● Can we develop machines that are smarter than we are?

These are just a few of the many interesting issues that cognitive psychologists investigate. As you
study cognitive psychology, you will discover answers to some of these questions. However, we hope
you will also become a critical and scientific thinker, someone who looks for evidence and supporting
arguments and does not tolerate pseudoscientific claims and loose or fuzzy thinking about psychology.

TEACHING APPROACH

The teaching philosophy underlying our approach in this module is to act as a facilitator in your search
for knowledge and understanding. We proceed from the viewpoint that you must be actively involved in
your learning because active participation through self (and in some instances informal peer) assessment is
critical to effective learning and memory. We have planned the module so that you can pace yourself by
doing exercises after each study unit that probes your understanding. We have also included a few
activities to help you gain some practical experience.

We hope that we succeed in making the learning environment a constructive one.

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THE PRESCRIBED BOOK

The module is based on one prescribed book. You cannot expect to pass the module if you do not have
this prescribed book: as the core information that you will have to assimilate, the topics and questions
that you can expect in the exam, and the tasks that you have to prepare to test your understanding of
the module are all based on this book: Cognitive psychology (2nd Edition) by Goldstein and Van Hooff.
You will find complete details about the edition you should buy in the first tutorial letter for this module
(Tutorial Letter 101 for PYC3703).

The book, which is essentially an advanced undergraduate-level textbook that explores the basics of
cognitive psychology, offers both accessible writing and practical applications. It also provides
reasonable coverage of some of the current research themes in the field. The text includes chapter
summaries organised according to main themes, key terms and a glossary. A list of major questions
dealt with in each chapter emphasises factual, analytical, creative and practical thinking. These
questions also reflect the chapter outlines. Each chapter includes activities that will provide you with
the opportunity to engage in active learning experiences that are easy to do without special equipment.

Because we are going to often refer to the prescribed book, and because the course deals with
cognitive psychology, we shall refer to it as CP – the first letters of the two words in the title. We aim
to help you work through some of the important chapters in CP using the topics in this tutorial letter.
However, you are not expected to study all the chapters in CP. There are three important
considerations when it comes to studying CP:

● You should ignore some chapters – you may read through them if you are interested, but you
don’t have to. The chapters on attention, knowledge, visual imagery and language (Chapter 4,
9, 10 and 11) fall in this category. You will not be examined on these chapters as their content
overlaps substantially with other modules currently offered by our department and other
academic departments at Unisa. For example, the Department of Linguistics offers modules on
various aspects of linguistic theory and language use and language learning.
● The other chapters are prescribed. At the beginning of each study unit, we indicate the
sections in CP on which you should concentrate when you study. However, even though some
pages and sections may not be highlighted for study, this does not mean that you can ignore
them totally. Instead, you should read these pages carefully to get important background
information and to familiarise yourself with certain concepts (or discussions of techniques).
Moreover, you should read through these sections for the sake of continuity to get an overall
impression of the content of a chapter before you start concentrating on the sections that have
been chosen for study.
● The sections in the prescribed chapters that we have marked for study form the syllabus for
the module. You are expected to work carefully through these sections as the exam questions
will be drawn from them.

Please note that this tutorial letter relies heavily on CP, which contains almost all the essential
information for this module. In only a few cases, we added some clarifications in the tutorial letter. For
the most part, we see our function as solely guiding you through CP by indicating the material selected
for examination, helping you master this material and allowing you to monitor your own progress. The
exposition and discussion in CP are reasonably up to date and will give you good exposure to cognitive
psychology. It presents some of the most important latest research findings on human cognition
accumulated over the past years. However, of course, no book is perfect. Some chapters in CP are
better than others. Hence, while some sections in the tutorial letter will simply help you find your way
through a chapter in CP, others will expand or “filter” the material in CP to make it more accessible.

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At least three streams of students take this course. The first, and probably largest, consists of students
who hope to major in psychology and choose the cognition module to meet their course requirements.
We hope that many of these students are genuinely interested in learning more about human cognition
either in their capacity as practitioners of the neural, psychological and behavioural sciences or in their
involvement in clinical or counselling work. The second stream is made up of students of education or
human resources management who want to learn more about how the human mind works, intending to
apply their knowledge either by teaching study skills or by promoting effective staff training techniques.
The third stream consists of computer science students and philosophy students interested in cognitive
science. These students may want to find out what psychologists have discovered about the operation
of the human mind to be able to apply this knowledge when they develop intelligent software products
or theories of mind. We tried to accommodate each of these streams of interest when we prepared the
module.

AIMS OF THE MODULE

Perhaps more than any other area of psychology, cognitive psychology invites the mind to reflect upon
itself. When studying this subject, you are likely to find yourself attending to information about attending,
thinking about thinking, solving problems as you learn about problem-solving, and (we hope)
remembering something about memory!

Apart from work in the first-year module in basic psychology, no specific background, training or prior
exposure to cognitive psychology is required for this module. Essentially, we teach almost everything
you need to know for the course. However, even though there are no prerequisites (apart from the first-
year module), the module is pitched at a reasonably advanced undergraduate level. It is advanced both
in terms of content because some reasonably sophisticated issues are considered. In terms of
approach, we assume that the students taking this module have had some preliminary exposure to the
interpretation and evaluation of research data.

Even though cognitive psychology is a relatively challenging research field in which a large body of
factual knowledge has been accumulated about human cognition, our approach is not primarily directed
at memorising “facts”. Of course, you will have to absorb a lot of information (there is no escape from
that). However, our main emphasis is to promote active participation and concentrate on cognitive
psychology. We want you to have an active learning experience in which you will assimilate information
from CP and have opportunities to practise and improve your own thinking, reasoning, and memory
skills. We hope your critical thinking and research skills will develop as you come to grips with the current
state of cognitive psychological knowledge on the human mind. The envisaged outcomes associated
with the module are as follows:

● You will obtain a general overview of the field of cognitive psychology and become a reflective
thinker concerning your own cognitive abilities.
● You will gain insight into the scientific aspects of psychology by learning to approach the human
mind not as a deeply mysterious “black box”, but as a complex system that can be studied
systematically (even if we are very far from understanding it completely).
● You will be expected to develop your own skills in interpreting and reading cognitive research. In
the process, you will become equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to interpret and
evaluate cognitive theories and become an active participant in developing these theories.
● You will develop critical thinking skills that will make you a more cautious and analytical
consumer of scientific information. Cognitive psychology, a domain of intensive research,
exploits scientific methodologies such as experimentation and computer simulation. Let’s,
therefore, consider some of the implications of this scientific orientation for you before you
embark on this module of study.

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THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Cognitive psychology adopts an experimental scientific approach. It should be noted that the scientific
approach was often used historically as a means to justify racialised oppression (Dubow, 1995). The
status and definition of science is a rather contentious topic, even more so within the African context,
and hotly debated in books and articles dealing with the philosophy of science. In short, one can say
that the scientific method is a set of directions that are designed to lead to answers and questions.

Scientific and experimental psychology is largely a Euro-American “article of export” which has
historically marginalised and discriminated against African ontologies, and this “export” commodity is
indigenous psychology rooted in a particular cultural tradition, namely that of the European
Enlightenment (Curran, 2011; Ramose, 1999). African worldviews, considered to be more holistic as
opposed to logical positivism/reductionism, offers a different frame of reference from that which
informs contemporary psychology. Cognitive psychology, and psychology in general, must thus be
contextualised within this broader and complex politico-ideological background. Current methods and
tools of the discipline cannot easily and comprehensively capture or translate Africa’s sources of
knowledge such as folklores, idioms, the spatial use of cues, touch, garden metaphors and
participatory processes into Euro-American psychological jargon. Psychology’s value in Darwinian
evolution and Watsonian behaviourism, for example, which has prevailed for many decades, may be
inadequate (Nsamenang, 2007). Some Darwinian evolutionists proposed, for example, that white
races - especially Europeans - were evolutionarily more advanced than the black races, thus
establishing discriminatory race differences and a racial hierarchy. Evolution, for example, is regarded
by some thinkers to be a far more complex, creative and holistic process, as opposed to the cause-
effect relationship that Darwinian natural selection proposes. Evolution may take place when the
whole supports a new trend so that matter, life and mind participate in a holistic process that cannot
be attributed solely to physical, biological or environmental factors. Holism as a concept is intrinsic to
the African theory of the universe, and science’s emergent considerations are markedly holistic – the
comprehensiveness of the Newtonian scientific epitome is progressively interrogated. As an ontology,
holism, for example, suggests a specific way of looking at the world, which includes both matter and
living organisms, regardless of their properties. It fuses together apparently disparate facets of the
universe (and everything in it, including the mind and how the mind operates) into a coherent frame of
reference.

African theories of the universe, and the social thought and psychology that follow from them, are thus
structured with ethnotheories and epistemologies that differ from those that drive traditional Western
thought and psychology, and there remains much scope for developing the field of cognitive
psychology and the broader field of psychology in general, based on these precepts (Adésínà, 2002).
The newly developing field of complex adaptive systems based on the tenets of holism simulates
evolutionary processes such as learning and adaptation and incorporates unceasing alterations of the
principal system, which may be important for the wider evaluation of phenomena. Ultimately,
however, complex adaptive systems approaches may not necessarily propose a comprehensive
description of the pertinent processes of multifaceted realities – there are limitations based on the
incomplete knowledge sets on which they are constructed. Cognitive psychology, as it is currently
understood, may still not be where it should or could be in terms of scientific advancement. The
scientific community in particular, and the world at large, deserve evidence-based knowledge on how
the African ethnoculture primes psychological and psychosocial differentiation, and the opportunity
lies before this generation of African scholars and students to take this forward – where alternative
ontologies and hybridism can edify innovative theorising and creative scholarship.

Bearing these complexities in mind, scientific enquiry begins with questions that arise when
researchers observe and think systematically about a natural phenomenon (such as cognition). A basic
tenet of science is that we should rely on data rather than on assumptions, beliefs or claims. But not
just any data will do. Data must meet the scientific standards of dependability and accuracy. To do so,
data must be gathered in a way that:

● accurately shows the relationships among variables

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● produces results that apply to more than just the particular individual studied
● produces consistent and accurate information

Even if all these standards are met, scientific theories are best viewed as yielding only a provisional
understanding of a phenomenon. Theories do not last forever: they are simply attempting to make
sense of a phenomenon at a given time based on the general state of scientific understanding,
observation and analytical techniques available at the time. Science is really more of a process, a set of
activities, than just a body of knowledge. Cognitive psychologists take part in this scientific process
when they seek empirical answers to questions about the functioning of the human mind. As they base
their theories on systematic observation and experimentation, they (as scientists) perform certain
common activities:

● They observe some interesting phenomena associated with human cognition.

● They develop a theory (a general principle) that might explain the principles or mechanisms that
underpin the phenomenon.
● They test the theory by making specific predictions (these are called hypotheses) about what
should be found in other situations if the theory is valid.
● They collect evidence to test the hypotheses or predictions to see if they hold.

Once a theory has been developed, it is not simply accepted as true – further testing is needed to
establish whether the theory stands up to scrutiny as new data becomes available. In fact, the
philosopher of science, Karl Popper (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Karl_Popper), argued that the primary
condition for a good scientific theory is that it should be falsifiable; in other words, it should be stated in
such a way that it can be disproved. If a claim can never be contradicted, this means that it can never
really be tested, and a theory that cannot be tested is not considered scientific.

The well-known cosmologist, Stephen Hawking (1988, p. 10), phrased it rather nicely:

Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it. No
matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the
next time the results will not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theory by finding
even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory. As the philosopher of
science, Karl Popper, has emphasised, a good theory is characterised by the fact that it makes a number of
predictions that could in principle, be disproved or falsified by observation. Each time new experiments are
observed to agree with the predictions, the theory survives, and our confidence in it increases; but if ever a
new observation is found to disagree, we have to abandon or modify the theory. At least, that is what is
supposed to happen, but you can always question the competence of the person who carried out the
observation.

How does one test a theory? The basic strategy is to tease out an implication from it. An implication is
basically a “what-if “ statement. We think of what we can expect if the theory is “true”. For example,
some cognitive researchers have postulated that mental imagery and perception are based on very
similar cognitive processes. An implication of this “theory” of mental imagery is that similar brain
structures are implicated when subjects employ mental imagery and when they perceive some or other
actual (i.e., physical) object. The theory can be tested by using a neural-imaging technique such as fMRI
(functional magnetic resonance imaging) that illuminates the portions of the brain involved in a
cognitive activity (these techniques are discussed in Chapter 2 in CP). If the evidence collected fails to
support the hypotheses, then it is “back to the drawing board” to generate a new theory or to modify the
old one. Even if the predictions are consistent with the evidence collected, the process does not really
stop because science is a continuous activity – theories are refined and used to generate new
hypotheses all the time. The point is that you should not treat the research findings and interpretations
of these findings in CP as true for always. Even more important than dealing with the important theories
is developing a proper scientific attitude.

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A SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE

There are several approaches that a scientist should adopt. For example, a good scientist is always
sceptical, always on the lookout for alternative explanations of what has been observed. If researchers
present a particular interpretation of their data, one should try to determine whether there is not an
alternative interpretation that they have overlooked, and researchers should also be sensitive to
ethno-political aspects (Nogueira & Guzzo, 2016).

A good scientist is systematic and does not tolerate errors in logic or sloppy research. You should,
therefore, critically consider the method researchers used to collect their data and the inferences that
they drew from their research data to establish whether their conclusions really follow logically. A
good scientist should also be parsimonious, seeking out the simplest, or least complicated, the theory
that can still provide an accurate explanation of the facts.

The general principle involved in this attitude is called “Ockham’s razor”. The aim of science is to
make everything as simple as possible – but not any simpler than that!

Bear in mind as you work through this module that researchers try to interpret their findings rationally,
in the context of available theory and in the light of the research of others. However, their interpretation
of their own findings can be analysed, judged and even challenged, if a different perspective is
adopted, if new data becomes available that challenges certain findings, or if it defies logic. As a
reader of cognitive psychology experiments, you yourself are involved in the scientific process, and
your own engagement as a critical evaluator of the research process is similar to a researcher’s
engagement. However, the responsibilities are somewhat different. A researcher’s primary task is to
actually carry out the research process. The critical reader’s crucial task is to validate the researcher’s
interpretation by performing a “virtual” study in the mind, as the figure below illustrates.

Researcher

States Forms Conducts Interprets Refines

theory hypotheses study data theory

Reader

Considers Analyses Examines

Identifies data and Evaluates
statement hypotheses methodology theory
of theory of study analyses the
and interpreta-
assumptions tion
of data

Figure 1.1 An illustration of the scientific process from the twin perspectives of the researcher and the reader.
The figure illustrates that the two perspectives are clearly related.

Now that you are informed about your critical duties as a reader of cognitive psychology research and
how you should approach your study of CP, you may want to find out what is in store for you. To this
end, we provide a quick bird’s-eye view of the module’s content in the next section.

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YOUR SYLLABUS AT A GLANCE

The syllabus for the semester is set out in Tutorial Letter 101, and you should consult that letter for
detailed information about the prescribed material for the semester for which you are enrolled. The table
below sets out the chapters in CP (i.e., Goldstein & Van Hooff, 2020), as well as the corresponding
topics in this tutorial letter. The following table, therefore, gives you an idea of the study material
included in this tutorial letter, and how it relates to CP:

Table 1.1 Prescribed chapters in CP

Name of chapter Applicable chapter(s)in CP

Introduction to cognitive psychology 1

Cognitive neuroscience 2
Perception 3
Short-term and working memory 5
Long-term memory: Structure 6
Long-term memory: Encoding, retrieval and consolidation 7

Everyday memory and memory errors 8

Problem-solving 12
Judgement, reasoning and decisions 13

NB: The order of the chapters shown in the table above is based on Goldstein’s and Van Hooff’s book
Cognitive psychology (CP) (2nd EMEA Edition) on which this tutorial letter is based. Use the table above
as a guide to which chapters are prescribed, and the information about the prescribed sections with
regard to each chapter as an indication of the content that should be studied in each chapter. Note that
some chapters in the prescribed book are not prescribed, but you should still read through them
carefully for continuity, as the concepts, models, theories and research problems covered in these
chapters constitute important aspects of the research domain of cognitive psychology.

STUDY UNITS

This tutorial letter is divided into six study units. These are further divided into smaller sub-units where
necessary (for example, the study unit on Memory) so that you can plan your study more efficiently.
Each study unit covers particular aspects, or one particular aspect, of cognition – as indicated by the
heading of that study unit.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

You will see that there are learning outcomes for each study unit. These provide students with a clear
purpose to focus on in their learning efforts and also serve as a good guide to various assessment
strategies. The learning outcomes also serve as an important basis for the knowledge, insights and
practical skills we hope you will gain.

KEY CONCEPTS

This model covers a number of important key concepts. Understanding these key concepts plays an

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important role in grasping the study material in this module.

ADDITIONAL EXPLANATIONS

In a few topics, additional explanations are provided. These explanations should be studied as you
may get questions based on them in the examination. Consider them as additions to the prescribed
sections in CP, and study them in conjunction with the prescribed content of the book when you
prepare for the examination.

ACTIVITIES

There are certain activities set for each study unit:

● At the beginning of each study unit, we list the chapter in CP on which you must concentrate.
It may seem obvious, but we do this to emphasise that without CP, you will not be able to do
the work required in this module.

NB: Here are some tips for studying a chapter in CP. Read through the whole chapter without getting
lost in detail; just try to get a general impression of the themes that are discussed. Note in particular
the headings and subheadings that the author has used to organise his information. Also, read through
the list of key terms associated with the chapter – these give you an idea of the most important concepts
discussed in it. Next, read the chapter summary at the end of each chapter because the main points
developed are highlighted there. If you are not sure about the meaning of a technical term while
reading through the text, consult the glossary at the end of the book to see if its meaning is defined. If
it is not defined in the glossary, look up the meaning in a psychology dictionary, a good language
dictionary (e.g., Collins, Encarta, Oxford), or search for it in online encyclopaedias such as Wikipedia.
Remember also to consult the index at the back of CP that often indicates where a term is first used
(and probably defined by the author). Finally, make your own brief summary of the most important
points discussed in the chapter to refer to when you revise for the exam.

● Under Activities in the study, units are the practice questions that you should do in order to
monitor your understanding of the material. However, bear in mind that these questions do not
cover all the sections that you have to study for the examination. They only give you a rough
idea of your progress and are not intended to be a perfect reflection of the types of questions
you will get in the examination. The mock exam assignment included in Tutorial Letter 202
for this module is illustrative of actual exam questions. Once you have completed the practice
questions, you can compare your responses with the feedback given at the end of the topic.

● We have also included a few practical tasks as Additional activities that are intended to
increase your insight into the cognitive processes that you will study in the module. Unlike the
practice questions, you will not get feedback on these tasks. They have been included to
encourage you to think independently and creatively about the cognitive phenomena that you
are studying; however, they do not form part of the syllabus, and no assignment or
examination questions will be based on them.

● Towards the end of each study unit is a special activity called Glossary check. In this activity,
you are required to define and exemplify some of the important terms referring to concepts
and constructs introduced in the study unit. An important part of the activity is that, where
possible, you must think of your own examples to illustrate these terms. The latter aspect is an
elaborative activity (you have to do something instead of just passively assimilating
information), and it promotes good understanding.

● General resources have been included at the end of each study unit. These resources
include interesting and relevant websites, youtube videos and apps/software that might

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interest you. It is not compulsory to consult these resources, but if you do, it will enrich your
overall learning experience.

We trust that all these activities of studying and reading the prescribed material and tackling the
practice questions will make it easier for you to assimilate the material in the prescribed sections of CP,
and in this way, contribute to your enjoyment of the module. After completing your study, you will have
increased your understanding of human cognition. However, we also hope that the module will be of
practical value in helping you in your other studies, work, and daily life!

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 Study Unit 1:
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Prescribed reading:

CP, Chapter 1 (Introduction to cognitive psychology)

Recommended reading:

Eysenck, M.W. & Keane, M. (2015). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook (7th ed.). Psychology
Press, Chapter 1.

Matlin, M.W. & Farmer, T.A. (2017). Cognition (9th ed.). John Wiley & Son, Chapter 1.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After working through this study unit, you should be able to:

● briefly discuss the philosophical and psychological origins of cognitive psychology

● explain the emergence of cognitive psychology
● explain why it is said that Donders and Ebbinghaus were cognitive psychologists, even though
in the 19th century there was no field called cognitive psychology
● describe the rise of behaviourism and how this has affected research on the mind
● describe the research methods that cognitive psychologists employ to study human cognition
● describe what is meant by ‘the information-processing approach’ and how it is relevant for
cognitive psychology
● explain how psychologists have reasoned about the central component of human cognition
● point out some of the important key issues and fields within cognitive psychology
● describe some of the core ideas that have shaped research in cognitive psychology
● explain why models are regarded to be important to cognitive psychology and define what
structural and process models are and how they relate to each other
● explain what AI as a field entails, and what the most important current developments in the
field are
● point out why research and developments in AI are relevant to cognitive psychologists
● explain why the Chinese room argument is regarded as a powerful criticism of the strong
artificial intelligence position

KEY CONCEPTS

Analytic introspection, artificial intelligence, behaviourism, choice reaction time, classical conditioning,
cognition, cognitive map, cognitive psychology, cognitive revolution, dichotic listening, empiricist
approach, information-processing approach, interleaving, logic theorist, mind, operant conditioning,
process model, reaction time, retrieval-based learning, savings, savings curve, simple reaction time,
structuralism, structural model.

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ORIENTATION

Start by scanning through the whole prescribed chapter to get an overview of its content. The aim of
this chapter is to provide a general introduction to cognitive psychology by placing it in a theoretical and
historical context. The first section of the chapter presents the general historical influences that have
shaped cognitive psychology as a discipline. The second section highlights specific research methods
and procedures used by cognitive psychologists to study human cognition – these methods provide the
discipline with its unique identity. In this section, some of the key issues that researchers have grappled
with in their attempts to understand the mind, and to develop theories and models of human cognition,
are also briefly described.

You are encouraged to consult some of the recommended books listed below. Copies of these books
are kept in the study collection of the library. However, please note that you will not get any questions
based on them in the examination; the recommended books are intended for enrichment only. We
emphasise again: it is not compulsory to consult these recommended books for the purpose of completing
this module. They are:

Braisby, N. & Gellaty, A. (Eds.) (2012). Cognitive psychology (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Eysenck, M.W. & Keane, M. (2015). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook (7th ed.). Psychology
Press.

Haugeland, J. (Ed.) (2000). Mind design II: Philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Matlin, M.W. & Farmer, T.A. (2017). Cognition (9th ed.). John Wiley & Son.

Braisby and Gellaty (2012) is an edited volume that provides an excellent coverage of the field with
chapters written by experts. It provides a modern perspective on research in cognitive psychology and
has particularly good chapters on perception, reasoning and cognitive neuroscience. This book is highly
recommended for students contemplating postgraduate studies in psychology.

Eysenck and Keane (2015) is a more advanced book about cognition than CP and is intended for
students who require systematic and in-depth discussions of the topics covered in the prescribed book.
CP is mainly targeted at beginner students and is quite successful in that regard; however, intellectually
curious and scientifically oriented students, who require more details about how the mind works, may
be a little frustrated by the sometimes superficial discussion in CP. They can appease their curiosity by
consulting Eysenck and Keane’s book.

Haugeland (2000) will help you to familiarise yourself with the interesting intersection between cognitive
psychology, artificial intelligence, and philosophy. The book is relatively easy to read and should be of
interest to those of you who want to find out about topics such as artificial intelligence, neural networks,
and the dynamical systems perspective in cognition. The book includes Alan Turing’s exposition of the
Turing test, and John Searle’s article containing his “Chinese room” argument.

Matlin and Farmer (2017) adopt a hands-on, research-oriented approach to the study of cognition. Their
motto is much the same as Eliza’s refrain from the musical My Fair Lady, “don’t just talk, do”. The book
has a large number of practical demonstrations that will allow you to discover aspects of your own
mind’s functioning, and that will familiarise you with the process of doing scientific research.

In this section, you are also briefly introduced to artificial intelligence (AI), a field that has had a close
relationship with cognitive psychology since the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists are concerned with
the workings of the mind and make extensive use of computer simulations to construct and to test
theories of human cognition. Computer simulations are particularly important in the case of higher-
order cognitive processes (for example, language and reasoning) because it is difficult to devise
laboratory experiments that will control all the variables that can complicate drawing conclusions when
these processes are investigated. Furthermore, from the beginning, AI researchers have adopted

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models of thinking and learning from cognitive psychology, while cognitive psychologists have again
patterned many of their experiments on questions first raised by AI researchers. In fact, AI research
has given psychologists many fresh ideas and stimulated the use of computer technologies to model
mental abilities. In this regard, Schank and Childers (1984) state bluntly: “AI [research] has
contributed more to psychology than any other discipline for some time.”

Because they share so many interests, it has been suggested by some researchers that AI
researchers think less like computer scientists than they do like psychologists and philosophers.
Mainly, for this reason, researchers from AI and cognitive psychology have come together to form a
separate discipline known as cognitive science. This name has also been adopted by some
companies offering AI services and products. Even though it has not reached a stage where it can be
classified as a mature science, AI is a very dynamic research field that offers the potential for broad
applications. Applications have already been proven in areas such as transport (the google car),
medicine (applications based on IBM’s Watson jeopardy system), law (legal advisors, search
engines), manufacturing (industrial robots), economics (data mining), banking (neural nets for risk
analysis), biology (bioinformatics), defence (intelligent missile tracking devices) and of course the
entertainment industry (computer games, ”cyborgs” in movies --- remember The Terminator!) and so
on.

The first topic in this study unit entails a brief discussion of the philosophical and psychological
antecedents or “precursors” of cognitive psychology. You are introduced to “early dialectics” of
cognitive psychology such as structuralism, and you are then exposed to behaviourist theory which
logically preceded cognitive psychology.

Cognitive psychology can be viewed as a reaction to the rather restrictive assumption of the
behaviourists that the internal processes of the mind, such as memory and reasoning, cannot be
studied scientifically.

The second topic relates to the emergence of cognitive psychology. Your task here is to discover what
factors created a climate that was conducive to the development of cognitive psychology. You should
note the role of (a) psychobiology (the contributions of Chomsky); (b) information-processing theory,
and early developments in artificial intelligence; and (c) applied, engineering applications (the
contributions of Broadbent).

One also needs to consider the distinctive research methods used in cognitive psychology. These
research methods adopted throughout the prescribed book emphasise four broad approaches that
are currently used by cognitive psychologists. Thus, the exposition in CP focuses on the experimental
paradigm, the neuroscience approach, the use of observational techniques such as self-reports and
case studies, and finally, the computational approach in which the human mind is explored by way of
building computer or mathematical models of it.

You should be able to distinguish between the different research techniques, and you should be able
to explain why controlled laboratory studies and neuroscientific research are important in cognitive
psychology. You should also know what is meant by simulations in cognitive psychology.

DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

To understand current research and the theories and models in cognitive psychology, we need some
understanding of how this scientific field has developed, and what its origins are. In this section, you
will learn about some of the philosophical concepts and psychological theories that have had an
influence on the development of cognitive psychology.

One can often conceptualise the evolution of ideas in a science or discipline by thinking of this evolution
as a dialectical process. In such a dialectical process, two extremes (opposite or antithetical theories)
first exist, and a synthesis or compromise between the two alternatives then emerges. Note that the
idea is simply that a dialectical process accounts for how the progress of understanding on a
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problematic issue sometimes occurs, because opposite perspectives on an issue are often merged or
combined into a synthetic, and thus more moderate, viewpoint. However, the dialectical process is NOT
intended as a general explanation of how scientific theories always develop. New theories are not
necessarily a synthesis of two pre-existing opposites; in some cases, a new theory is just a slight
modification or tweaking of an older theory. In other cases, the new theory may constitute a radically
different way of thinking about a scientific phenomenon.

Most theories of aspects of cognition place emphasis on empirical observations, but theories cannot
simply emerge from data. Observations are filtered and interpreted based on subjective and rational
factors. The researcher has to come up with an interesting hunch or “theory” to tie the observations
together in a coherent framework. Thus, there is a considerable creative component to theory building.
The theory is then used to make further observations, and these observations serve to test the theory.
When studying the different psychological origins of cognitive psychology, you should know (a) the
primary theorist(s) associated with each of the theories: structuralism, analytical introspection,
behaviourism, operant conditioning, and structural and process models and Gestalt psychology
(Chapter 3); and (b) the way in which each of these theories conceptualises the mind. Any information
related to the biographical details of the theorists need not be studied, just read through it. Refer to
Table 1.1 and Figure 1.7 in CP, pages 8 and 10, for an outline of the early pioneers in cognitive
psychology, and the timeline showing early experiments studying the mind in the 1800s and the rise of
behaviourism in the 1900s.

ADDITIONAL EXPLANATION

Assumptions

Let us explore the notion of “assumption” briefly. An assumption is a statement or a fact whose truth is
presupposed. In an assumption, something is taken for granted without there necessarily being
sufficient evidence to know that it is “true”. In essence, an assumption is a “fact” statement or claim for
which no conclusive proof or evidence is given, but which is nevertheless accepted (either implicitly or
explicitly) as true.

Researchers have to make assumptions when they study the mind because they cannot study
everything at once and must focus on some aspect of the mind as a starting point. Even seemingly
neutral scientific activities, such as making observations, require some or other preconception about
what must be observed and how these observations must be made. Hence, when researchers study
cognition, they have to make implicit or explicit assumptions about what the mind is and how it works.
Various assumptions about the mind have been made in the history of psychology, and these are
typically influenced by the dominant technology of the time. For instance, in Freudian psychology, the
mind was conceptualised according to a metaphor of a hydraulic system with pressure release valves,
and much of the theory involved explaining what happens when pressure builds up in the system and
how it is released via the id. In cognitive psychology, an assumption of the mind as a computer still
dominates (although a growing number of researchers now feel that there are problems with this
approach). Refer to Figure 1.10 (CP, p. 12) of an early computer and a flow diagram for Broadbent’s filter
model of attention.

It is generally assumed in cognitive psychology that the mind is an information processing system, and
a computer metaphor is typically used to describe its operation. This computer metaphor of the mind
stems from the beginning of the computer era in the 1960s and 1970s. It is largely inspired by
information theory and the early development of cybernetics and computer science. Influenced by
these developments, cognitive researchers contend that although there are obvious differences
between the operation of a computer and the human mind, these two systems nevertheless function
according to similar general principles. For example, they point out that both computers and the human
mind process, store and retrieve symbols, have a large but not unlimited memory capacity, and can
therefore be viewed as “machines” operating on the information. Moreover, they argue that in a way that is
analogical to the way that a computer functions, the human cognitive system can be described at two
different levels, involving either a level of software description (i.e., the mind) or a level of hardware

15
description (i.e., the brain).

The computer or information processing conception of the mind still features in cognitive psychology,
but there are now some cracks in this paradigm. For example, some researchers criticise the computer
approach arguing that human goals are very fluid and complex (whereas computer programs are much
more rigid). Artificial intelligence researchers have not made much progress in developing computers
capable of simulating human intelligence conversing in natural language. Hence, they contend that a
computer may not be the appropriate metaphor for thinking about the mind. As a result, alternative
conceptions have emerged. These are based on the mathematical theory of dynamical systems, as
well as approaches that stress the importance of neuroscience and parallel distributed processing
(PDP) networks to describe the mind. The PDP approach (also called “connectionism” or “neural
networks”) is briefly described in Chapter 9 of the prescribed book. Note that this chapter is not
prescribed. We do not study these alternative approaches in depth in this module, but the important
point to grasp is that “how” we describe the mind and conduct research are influenced by assumptions
of what the mind is and how it operates. One cannot do science without making at least some
assumptions about the phenomenon that one is investigating.

After this short excursion, let us return to the behaviourist approach. Suppose you read Goldstein and
Van Hooff’s exposition of this approach in psychology. In that case, you will notice that the
assumptions made by the behaviourists relate to methodology and to how one should study
psychology. They made explicit assumptions about the way in which psychological research should be
conducted, because they tried to convince other psychologists that there is only one “right” way to do
psychology, holding that this involves focusing on overt, directly “observable” behaviour, and ignoring
“internal”, mental processes (see CP, Figure 1.11, p. 14 for the events associated with the decline of
the influence of behaviourism).

Cognitive psychologists reject the behaviourist position and take a different approach which is in turn
based on a rather different set of assumptions. The two most important assumptions are:

● The mind can be conceptualised as an information processing system.

● Internal mental activities exist, and they can be studied systematically using a scientific approach
without having to rely on overtly subjective and introspective methods.
● Note that the second assumption is basically a methodological assumption. It is based on the
idea that experimental procedures, modern technological instruments, computer simulation and
mathematical modelling can be applied to study the mind scientifically. Cognitive psychology is
almost synonymous with experimental psychology, and it is certainly the field within psychology
that makes the most sophisticated use of scientific techniques and instrumentation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In CP, Goldberg and Van Hooff don’t do a particularly good job of describing either the relevance of AI
to cognitive psychology or the scope of the field. The biggest problem is that their discussion of the
developments in this field is much too cursory and does not properly reflect the important connection
between computer science and cognitive psychology in cognitive science, and the fast growing
application (“intrusion”?) of AI technologies in almost every aspect of our lives. The discussion in CP
conveys the incorrect impression that the field is relatively static and that not much progress will occur
in the years to come. We have therefore included a few links and some books that you may consult if
you want to find out more about the current state of AI research. A useful exposure to some of the
excitement in the field and current research and innovations stemming from it can be found on Ray
Kurzweil’s website https://www.kurzweilai.net. There is also a free “Introduction to artificial intelligence”
course presented by Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun (https://www.udacity.com/course/intro-to-
artificial-intelligence--cs271). As always, the Wiki page on AI is a good starting point, and you can also
read the online article by Brian Tomasik, Thoughts on Robots, AI, and Intelligence Explosion, at:
http://foundational-research.org/thoughts-on-robots-ai-and-intelligence-explosion/.

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However, bear in mind that many introductions to AI are relatively informal expositions that merely
communicate some of the general directions in which AI research is pursued. In actual fact, AI is a
highly technological field and requires at least some expertise in computers and programming. In many
respects, it can be regarded as a field of applied mathematics because most AI theories are presented
in some or other formalism. Many theories are only presented mathematically, with the implicit
expectation that the theory will eventually be implemented on a computer. For a good introduction to AI
concepts and techniques, and their connections with cognitive psychology and philosophy, read Russel
and Norvig (2009), Artificial intelligence: A modern introduction. This book gives good coverage of the
field and is used as a prescribed book at many universities.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY – BLOG ACTIVITY

Because AI is such an important and controversial topic, we include a final task that invites you to ponder its
significance:

Go to MyUnisa and in the Blog section write a short essay in which you speculate about how AI will change
our lives in the 21st century.

Here are some issues to consider when you work out your answer:

What achievements can we expect? Will AI specialists manage to crack the cognitive code and develop
software systems that equal or surpass human intellectual capabilities? This is already happening in some
domains such as chess, where the current generation of software products (e.g., Stockfish) play better chess
than even top grandmasters. In many other domains, such as natural language processing, AI specialists
have made only little headway. The talking robot of science fiction stories is still a remote and somewhat
elusive goal. However, things can easily change because there is considerable research on robotics, and
new technologies in machine learning such as “deep learning” seem to promise that fundamental progress in
AI may be possible within a few decades. For some real hubris, try locating Hugo De Garis’s speculation
about an “artilect” war. He is actually an esteemed scientist, a “brain builder”, and portions of his book on a
possible artilect war can be found on the Internet if you do some searching (use “de Garis” and “artilect” as
your search terms in a good search engine such as Google).

It is quite likely that inexpensive humanoid robots, “softbots”, agents of all kinds, natural language systems
and expert systems will have a major economic impact on our lives. But will the use of these systems lead to
massive unemployment, or will they, just like previous technologies, create more jobs than they eliminate?

Some researchers, and this as long ago as Weizenbaum (1976), are concerned about a somewhat different
problem: the dangers of using AI systems in tasks for which they are inappropriate, such as counselling,
teaching and judging. Automated systems create the illusion of being able to perform tasks that they cannot
really perform, and there is a distinct danger of premature reliance on AI technologies. For instance,
Weizenbaum himself was both astounded and dismayed by the ease with which his very simple program,
ELIZA, that reacted purely to cue words and “pretended” to understand language, but with no real
intelligence, still managed to fool seemingly intelligent people into thinking that they were conversing with an
actual person.

The most profound impact of AI will be the effect these technologies will have on our perception of ourselves.
Copernicus moved us from the centre of the universe to inhabiting a small planet in one of the billions of
galaxies. What will happen to our already diminishing self-esteem when we ultimately succeed in building
machines that are smarter than we are? For an interesting take on this issue, watch Nick Bostrom’s TED

Talk at:
https://www.ted.com/talks/nick_bostrom_what_happens_when_our_computers_get_smarter_than_we_are?l
anguage=en.

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Searle’s Chinese room argument

Searle’s Chinese room argument is directed at what Searle refers to as “strong artificial intelligence”.
Strong artificial intelligence is the position that, if the dreams of AI researchers are realised, and they
succeed in developing a program that accurately models the mind and manages to pass the Turing test,
then such a program would be intelligent and would understand language in the same way that a human
does.

Strong AI researchers assume that the mind is just a computer. Searle rejects this conclusion and argues
that computers cannot exhibit any real understanding of language and are simply mindlessly following
instructions. Therefore, he argues that only “weak” AI is a viable research paradigm. In support of his
position, he presents the following argument based on a thought experiment:

Imagine a man in a room, on his own, and with only two slits in a door through which he can send out notes
out to, and receive notes from, the world outside. The man cannot speak any Chinese, but there are people
outside the room who understand Chinese. These people pass pages with Chinese symbols scrawled on
them through one of the slits in the door. The man in the room (the Chinese room) cannot read or decipher
the meaning of the Chinese squiggles, but he has a manual with detailed instructions. The manual contains
rules, in English, which tells him what to do for any particular set of Chinese squiggles. For example, it
states rules such as “If you have such and such a squiggle and squiggle, then return the following squiggle
and squiggle”. The rules get a bit complicated because the man has to deal with bunches of Chinese
symbols and not just single ones. The rules are, however, complete, and when the man has performed his
actions, he writes the symbols on a page and passes the page with the new symbols, resulting from the
application of the rules to the people outside. The man thus applies rules to generate Chinese text but does
not have any understanding of Chinese.

Searle draws two conclusions from his Chinese room thought experiment. First, he argues that it is clear
that the man in the room does not understand any Chinese, and is just manipulating what to him are
meaningless squiggles. He contends secondly that the scenario inside the room captures the symbol-
processing behaviour of digital computers, and just as much as the man inside the Chinese room does not
understand any Chinese, so too does a computer program not evince any real understanding of the
symbols it processes, nor can it ever acquire such understanding. Just like the man in the Chinese room, a
computer program also merely manipulates symbols according to a set of rules. It executes instructions to
manipulate symbols and strings of symbols, but has no understanding of what these symbols mean.
Alternatively stated, the computer program is carrying out syntactic operations; it performs structural
operations on strings of symbols, but has no access to the semantics, the meaning, of the symbols.

Many AI researchers reject Searle’s position and have presented alternative interpretations, of which two
are discussed briefly below, together with Searle’s rejoinders.

The systems reply

The most common rejoinder to Searle’s argument is that, whereas it is intuitively clear that the human does
not understand Chinese, it is quite plausible to regard the system as a whole (.ie. human, room, pens,
papers, and instructions taken together) as showing understanding. According to the systems reply, the
man is merely part of a whole system, and the whole system does understand the Chinese writing it
processes.

Searle’s (1980, p. 420) retort is to let the individual internalise the whole system by memorising the rules
and scripts and doing the lookups and other operations in his head. He argues that the man would still not
understand anything of the Chinese sentences, and submits that it is absurd to contend that while the man
by himself does not understand Chinese, “somehow the conjunction of that person and bits of paper might”.

The robot reply

The robot reply asks us to suppose that instead of a room, the program is placed into a robot that can
wander around and interact with its environment. This would create a causal connection betwe en the
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symbols and things they represent, and the robot could therefore acquire genuine understanding and other
mental states.

Against the robot reply, Searle maintains that the same experiment applies, but with only a slight
modification. Put the room, with the man in it, inside the robot; imagine some of the Chinese symbols come
from a television camera attached to the robot and that other Chinese symbols that the man presents as
output, serve to manipulate the arms and legs of the robot. In this case, the person in the room is still just
following rules and has no knowledge of what the symbols mean because he does not see what comes into
the robot’s eyes. Searle (1980, p. 420) also charges that the robot reply ‘‘tacitly concedes that cognition is
not solely a matter of formal symbol manipulation’’ after all (as “strong AI” supposes), because it adds a set
of causal connections to the outside world (Searle, 1980).

SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY 1

NB: Some of the following questions require you to do some additional research on the Internet, and cannot
be answered only on the basis of CP.

Activity 1.1

In order to understand a research area, we must know what the goals of the research are. So, what are
the goals of research in cognitive psychology?

Activity 1.2

Consider the following statement:

Chomsky argued that research on the language development of young children supports Skinner’s
theory of operant conditioning because it shows that language is learned by operant conditioning.

The statement is:

1. true
2. false

Activity 1.3

In an experimental design, this is often the outcome or the variable that is being measured (e.g., score
on a test).

1. extraneous variable
2. independent variable
3. dependent variable
4. confounding variable

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Activity 1.4

Yaun participated in an experiment in which he saw various stimuli on a computer screen. After the
experiment, Yaun was asked to provide feedback about what he thought was going on cognitively. This
would be an example of a - - - - - method.

1. naturalistic observation
2. verbal protocol
3. case study
4. psychobiological

Activity 1.5

Give two reasons why cognitive psychologists should be interested in AI.

Activity 1.6

How does Searle attempt to refute the possibility of an artificial intelligence program that actually conve rses
in natural language and understands spoken language? Before answering this question, read the additional
explanation of the “Chinese room argument” in this tutorial letter.

Activity 1.7

What is an expert system in the context of AI research? Name one of the well-known expert systems that
have been developed and explain how it is applied. Do some web searching to answer this question because
the notion of an “expert system” is not explained in CP.

Activity 1.8

What is “deep learning”, and why is this machine-learning technique of relevance to cognitive psychologists?
Note that deep learning is not mentioned in the prescribed book, but this is a very “hot” topic, and just about
all the large global Internet companies (e.g., Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook) are investing heavily in
research on deep learning.

Activity 1.9

In cognitive science, a distinction is drawn between “strong” and “weak” AI. First, explain what the difference
is between these two approaches to AI (do some searching on the Internet), and then discuss the following
statement:

Roberto: “I think that the Turing test is a true test for artificial intelligence, and I would further argue that if a
program passes the Turing test, then that program is necessarily a manifestation of strong AI.”

GLOSSARY CHECK

Briefly define the following terms in your own words and give your OWN example of each:

Analytic introspection, artificial intelligence, behaviourism, choice reaction time, classical conditioning,
cognition, cognitive map, cognitive psychology, cognitive revolution, dichotic listening, empiricist
approach, information-processing approach, interleaving, logic theorist, mind, operant conditioning,
process model, reaction time, retrieval-based learning, savings, savings curve, simple reaction time,
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structuralism, structural model.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY - BLOG ACTIVITY 2

On MyUnisa in the Blog section, describe three different research methods to study cognition,
explaining the main differences between them. Give examples illustrating how these methods can be
used to study cognition.

(Please note that no answers are provided to the essay questions. These questions are only included
so that you can test your own understanding of the material in CP. All the content necessary to assess
your own answer is in CP, and you are therefore invited to evaluate your own answer with the aid of
the information provided in the prescribed book).

FEEDBACK ON SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

Activity 1.1

One of the goals is to understand human cognition and the brain-mind relationship; and construct
theories to explain the mechanisms underlying cognitive processes. Another goal is to develop
intelligent artefacts (e.g., artificial intelligence products) – these artefacts are mostly based on theories
of aspects of human cognition.

Activity 1.2

The statement is false because Chomsky wrote a very critical review of behaviourism in which he
argued that Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning cannot account satisfactorily for the ability of young
children to develop language, and to use language creatively by constructing novel sentences.

Activity 1.3

Alternative 3 is correct. The variable that is being measured is called the dependent variable, because
it is assumed to be influenced by, or “dependent” on, the variable that is being manipulated in
experimental studies, the independent variable.

Activity 1.4

Alternative 2 is correct because the researchers want Yaun to describe aloud what he was thinking
while the experiment was being performed. The experimenters are therefore eliciting a verbal protocol
(i.e., a verbal report) from Yaun.

Activity 1.5

(a) AI programs embody theories about intelligence and are therefore of interest to cognitive
psychologists who are trying to understand the factors (knowledge structures and processes)
underlying human intelligence.

(b) AI can be viewed as an applied area of cognitive psychology in which intelligent artefacts based on
aspects of human intelligence are created.

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Activity 1.6

Searle invokes a thought experiment, which he calls the Chinese room argument. He asks us to imagine a
man inside a cubicle shut out from the outside world with which he can only communicate via a small slot in
the room’s wall. The man knows no Chinese but has a comprehensive set of Chinese symbols and a
complete set of instructions, in English, for manipulating and combining Chinese characters. The man
passes combinations of symbols through the slot and receives other combinations via the same slot, which
he then manipulates with the aid of his instructions.

Searle’s main point is that the person is in the same position as a programmed computer, the instructions
being the program, and that the manipulations, however extensive, will be insufficient to give the person a
true understanding of Chinese. To put it more succinctly, Searle stresses the distinction between
manipulating syntactical elements of a language and actually understanding the semantic aspects or
meanings associated with the symbols. Obviously for Searle, thinking can only occur in very special
machines --- living ones made from proteins.

However, Searle’s view is not shared by many other cognitive and AI researchers, and his Chinese room
argument has evoked a huge amount of debate. For example, one argument is that if Searle's argument is
valid, then it can be taken to its logical extremity as follows:

Individual nerve cells in the human brain do not process symbols. They process pulse sequences with
varying frequencies. Therefore, the human brain does not really understand language --- it merely
processes pulse sequences!

Searle’s position is set out in much more detail in Searle (1980), which also contains reactions of many
artificial intelligence researchers to his Chinese room argument. See also the additional explanation in this
tutorial letter.

Activity 1.7

An expert system is a computer system that has considerable knowledge about a particular, rather
circumscribed domain. In this domain, it is capable of simulating to a limited degree an experienced human
agent and can make diagnoses or suggest suitable courses of action when presented with relevant data.
One example of a successful expert system is MYCIN which can diagnose bacterial infection. Another
example is a program called PROSPECTOR, which has considerable knowledge about geological
formations, and can advise its users about the feasibility of mineral exploration on the basis of an analysis of
rock samples obtained from a geological region.

Activity 1.8

Deep learning is a machine learning technique in which artificial neural networks (another more commonly
used term for the terms “connectionist” or “parallel-processing distributed” systems used in CP) are
developed on the basis of very large data sets to perform intelligent tasks. These networks are not
programmed in the conventional sense of the word but are “learning machines” and they are trained by
exposure to relevant data. It is by such exposure to typically large collections of data that they learn to
discover, with the aid of learning algorithms, the relevant function underlying the mapping between inputs
(the data given) and outputs (the data that the network is required to produce). Neural networks are actually
a fairly old technology, but the modern era of this field started in the 1980s following the discovery of an
important learning algorithm called “backpropagation”.

Deep learning is a relatively new development in this field involving complex networks comprising several
layers (hence the name “deep”), with complex connections between units in the network. In deep learning
networks, sophisticated machine learning techniques are used, together with very powerful computer
systems (thousands of processors, extensive use of GPUs [graphical processing units], and often massively
large data sets). Remarkable successes have been achieved with deep learning in areas such as natural
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language processing, image processing and interpretation. These systems are now deployed in various
practical applications, robotics, even in healthcare! A widely publicised success of the deep learning
technology is a system developed by Google called AlphaGo, which learned to play the complex board game
Go at the level of the top players in the world, and beat Lee Sedol (arguably one of the best Go players in the
world) with four wins to one in a five-game match (see https://deepmind.com/alpha-go).

Deep learning is of relevance to cognitive psychologists for two reasons. Firstly, deep learning is a
development of “connectionist systems” or “parallel distributed systems”. The research and development of
connectionist systems is an area of a longstanding interest in cognitive psychology and cognitive science.
Some of the prominent connectionist researchers, such as James McClelland and David Rumelhart, who
was one of the main developers of the learning algorithm “backpropagation” used in neural networks, were
cognitive psychologists. These systems have also been used extensively to simulate and explore aspects of
cognition such as visual perception, learning, and memory in cognitive psychology research.

Secondly, deep learning researchers are focusing their research on the “difficult” areas of (artificial) cognition
such as vision, learning, natural language processing, and general knowledge. Any progress on these
topics, which are also core areas of cognitive psychology, is of obvious interest to cognitive psychologists
and cognitive scientists.

You can find out more about “deep learning” at the website dedicated to this technology:
http://deeplearning.net/.

Activity 1.9

“Weak AI” is used in cognitive science to refer to an approach in AI in which the main objective is to simulate
human intelligence. In this approach, there is no implication that the AI system is the equivalent of the
human mind; instead, it is regarded purely as an engineering product, and its ‘cognitive’ processing or
computational properties may be very different from those of humans. A weak AI system emulates and does
not reproduce a mind.

In “strong AI” researchers claim that the AI program is a mind, that the human mind itself can be regarded as
a computational system. Furthermore, there is nothing that the human mind can do that cannot be
reproduced exactly by an AI system. According to this approach, an AI program can be conscious, and can
in principle fully understand language, in contrast to what Searle claims with his Chinese room argument.
Proponents of strong AI maintain that although no such fully intelligent AI system currently exists, nothing
precludes the possibility that they might be developed in future.

Given the explanation above, it is clear that Roberto’s claim or assumption is incorrect that a program
passing the Turing test constitutes necessarily evidence for “strong” AI. The problem with his statement is
the use of the word “necessarily”. A program can pass the Turing test, and dupe its interlocutors into
believing that it is intelligent and that it truly understands natural language, whereas in actual fact the
program may not have any real intelligence at all and may only be reacting appropriately to certain cues in
the discourse. For example, there is now abundant evidence provided by various chatbots on the Internet
(“chatting robots”, which are computer agents capable of rudimentary language skills). It is very easy to fool
humans into believing that they are conversing with an actual person and not a software agent. Of course, a
program that is a true manifestation of “strong” AI will also pass the Turing test, but the point remains that if
we are only informed that a program has passed the Turing test, we do not know whether it is an example of
“weak” or “strong” AI. We need additional stronger evidence than a simple behavioural test such as the
Turing test.

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GENERAL RESOURCES

Go Cognitive (from APA):

Free educational materials, including many videos of famous modern cognitive psychologists:
www.gocognitive.net

Teaching Top 40 playlist (from APA): www.psychologicalscience.org/members/teaching/top-40

Web links

Classics in the history of psychology:

Resource for students interested in the history of psychology: psychclassics.yorku.ca

Milestones in psychology:

Searchable database of accessible blog posts on those psychology studies that make an important,
thought-provoking and novel contribution to the field of psychology. Many of these are about cognitive
psychology topics: www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html

MIT portal for the brain sciences:

An essential resource for those interested in cutting-edge primary research across the range of fields
that study the nature of the human mind: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/brain-and-cognitive-sciences/

Research on how the mind works:

This site is about scientific research into how the mind works, written by British psychologist and
author, Dr Jeremy Dean: www.spring.org.uk/get-the-latest-from-psyblog

Cognitive science dictionary:

A site available for those who may be unfamiliar with the many unique terms found in the related fields
of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, and cognitive neuroscience:
www.bcp.psych.ualberta.ca/~mike/Pearl_Street/Dictionary/dictionary.html

Videos

TED talks on psychology: tedtalkspsychology.com

The History of Cognitive Psychology (time 2:29):

Chronological history of cognitive psychology organized around some famous psychologists who are
also mentioned in the textbook: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE76tJ88-0E

Early Reaction Time Research in Psychology (time 5:48):

Exploring the history of reaction time experiments and different methods and instruments used to
measure time. The experiment by Donders is included about halfway into the video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UhQoYBPfpQ

Noam Chomsky v. B. F. Skinner (time 58:04):

A compilation of short video segments of Chomsky and Skinner and their thinking on psychology:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlyU_M20hMk

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Or if you want a summary (time 9:08): www.youtube.com/watch?v=zobBTuX03D8

How to Study Effectively (time 5:25):

Top tips from memory researchers about how to study best: vimeo.com/169193980

Apps and/or software

Reaction Test Pro (Free):

A simple reaction time app with timing to the millionths of a second: itunes.apple.com/us/app/reaction-
tpro/id493360516?mt=8%20reaction%20time

Dual Music ($0.99):

Though a little different from the experiment of Cherry (1953) cited in the text, the following app allows
for simultaneous playing of non-DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected files which can give the
listener some insights into the difficulty of processing simultaneous signals from different sources:
itunes.apple.com/us/app/dual-music-listening-background/id658408034?mt=8

PsychGuide (Free):

An app designed for psychology students to easily access information about their discipline from
history, to jobs, to classic studies: itunes.apple.com/us/app/psychguide/id440790994?mt=8

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 Study Unit 2:
Cognitive Neuroscience
Prescribed reading:

CP, Chapter 2 (Cognitive neuroscience)

Recommended reading:

Eysenck, M.W. & Keane, M. (2015). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook (7th ed.). Psychology
Press, Chapter 1.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

When you have worked through Chapter 2, you should be able to:

● outline why cognitive neuroscience should be studied

● describe the structures of the neuron and synapse, and explain how neural transmission occurs
● recognise and briefly describe the different techniques that have been developed to study the
neural basis of cognitive processes
● describe the principle of neural representation and sensory coding
● explain what information localisation studies have yielded about the functions of the brain
● discuss some of the theoretical issues connected to localisation studies, and brain imaging
evidence for localisation function
● describe what a neural network is and how electroencephalogram EEG can be used to study
neural networks
● discuss distributed representation across the brain

KEY CONCEPTS

Neuron, dendrite, axon, synapse, electroencephalogram (EEG), neurotransmitter, event-related

potential, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron
emission tomography (PET), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), magnetoencephalography
(MEG), functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS),
localisation of function, cerebral cortex, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe.

ORIENTATION

Cognitive neuroscience is an area at the intersection of cognitive psychology and neuroscience, and its
aim is to elucidate the connection between brain and mind. This connection is investigated at different
levels involving molecular and chemical processes in the brain, the functioning of individual neurons,
and the information processing activities or “neurocomputational processes” associated with networks
of neurons. In addition, sophisticated visualisation techniques such as PET, fMRI, and MEG are used
to explore the brain activities associated with various cognitive processes.

Technologies for visualisation brain functioning have become very sophisticated, and some of the main
techniques are discussed in this chapter of the prescribed book. For example, PET and fMRI are used
to track the brain areas associated with cognitive functions and to explore the temporal aspects of
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cognitive processes, but they still have relatively poor temporal resolution involving several seconds,
whereas the time course of cognitive processes needs to be measured in milliseconds. A newer
technology called MEG (magneto-encephalography) uses superconducting quantum interference
devices (SQUID) to measure the magnetic fields resulting from electrical brain activity – these fields can
be detected because the skull is almost transparent to magnetic fields. This device yields very accurate
measurements of the temporal dimension of cortical activity.

Clearly, cognitive neuroscience is a growing field, new technologies are being developed, and more
tractable ways of probing the neural correlates of mental activities are becoming available. In fact,
cognitive neuroscience is advancing at such a rapid rate that it is essential for cognitive psychologists
to get a reasonably good grounding in basic neuroscience.

Almost a decade ago Eysenck and Keane (2015) already pointed out that cognitive neuropsychology
and cognitive neuroscience are currently the two fastest-growing research areas in cognitive
psychology, and Kandel, Schwartz and Jessel (2000, p. 1227) put it even more strongly:

As we have emphasized throughout this book, neural science and cognitive psychology have now found
common ground. We are beginning to benefit from the increased explanatory power that results from the
convergence of two initially disparate disciplines.

Chapter 2 in CP describes some techniques used in cognitive neuroscience research, but its main aim is
to provide a brief introduction to the core neuroscience knowledge that you will need when you study the
other chapters. Your first-year psychology module will have already given you exposure to some basic
neuroscience, so you should not have much difficulty in mastering the material presented in Chapter 2
of CP, which is presented at an elementary level.

ADDITIONAL EXPLANATION

The blood-brain barrier

The cells that form the walls of the capillaries in the body outside the brain have gaps that permit the
free passage of substances into and out of the blood. However, the cells that form the walls of the
capillaries in the brain press together to block many substances from entering the brain, while allowing
others to pass. They create a blood-brain barrier.

The blood-brain barrier is actually a complex system involving gateways complete with chemical keys
and chemical “passwords” that protect the brain from a wide range of harmful substances in the blood.
Two categories of molecules can easily cross the blood-brain barrier: small uncharged molecules such
as oxygen and carbon dioxide, and molecules that dissolve in the fats of the capillary walls. Thus, most
psychiatric drugs reach the brain because they dissolve in fats, as do drugs such as heroin and
nicotine. Although the blood-brain barrier protects the brain from harmful substances, it also keeps out a
number of useful chemicals, such as glucose (the brain’s main fuel), amino acids, hormones, and
certain vitamins. An active transport mechanism is required to get these chemicals into the brain. Two
proteins, zonulin and zot, have been discovered that interact with receptors in the brain to selectively
open the barrier at certain sites. These proteins bind to cell-surface proteins in the brain tissue, and
thereby induce a cell to open its tight junctions at certain sites, allowing beneficial chemicals to enter.

Cognition in the brain

In this section, we continue our study of cognitive neuroscience by focusing on some basic
neuroanatomy because the prescribed section outlines the structure and function of some of the
significant brain areas. We first learn about the gross anatomy of the brain and also consider research
findings relating to hemispheric specialisation (i.e., the lateralisation of brain functions in the two
hemispheres) and find out about the functions of the association areas.

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Double dissociation

An important technique used to find out about the role that brain structures may play in cognition is
called double dissociation. In the case where a particular area in the brain is damaged (for example,
the visual cortex) and we find that the patient experiences difficulty in perceiving objects, but has no
difficulty in perceiving sounds, we have a single dissociation between vision and auditory perception.
Consider now a more complicated case: Suppose we have one patient (Mary) who sustained damage
to her occipital lobe and now experiences some difficulty in visual perception but has no impairment in
processing auditory stimuli. Another patient (Vusi) sustained damage to his temporal lobe, and his
auditory processing is impaired, but he has an intact ability to perceive objects visually. Note that Mary
and Vusi have a somewhat opposite pattern of deficits:

Mary (vision impaired, but audition not impaired)

Vusi (audition impaired, but vision not impaired)

Cognitive neuroscientists refer to such a pattern of deficits as a double dissociation. In this example,
the double dissociation is between the neural structures mediating visual and auditory perception.

SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY 2

NB: Some of the following questions require you to do some additional research on the Internet and cannot
be answered on the basis of CP alone. When you have finished, you can compare your responses to
these questions with those in the feedback section.

Activity 2.1

Which part of the neuron houses the DNA molecule?

Activity 2.2

Fill in the appropriate word in the sentence below:

The - - - - - are small knobs found at the end of the branches of an axon.

1. synapses
2. dendrites
3. nodes of Ranvier
4. terminal buttons

Activity 2.3

The hippocampus contains high concentrations of (a) - - - - - which is a neurotransmitter and appears to
play a role in (b) - - - - -.

1. (a) GABA (b) sleeping and dreaming

2. (a) glutamate (b) pain relief
3. (a) dopamine (b) attention and learning
4. (a) acetylcholine (b) memory

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Activity 2.4

Which one of the following neurotransmitters has been specifically linked to both increased aggression
and loss of appetite?

1. acetylcholine
2. serotonin
3. glutamate
4. GABA

Activity 2.5

As part of a research project for a cognitive neuroscience class, you are assigned to work with
experienced researchers who have access to the latest research equipment that allows you to study
the human brain. Describe any two in vivo techniques and explain how they would allow you to learn
about the human brain.

Activity 2.6

Mrs K has incurred brain damage and is now unaware of objects on her left side. Which functional
section of her cortex is probably damaged?

1. visual cortex
2. motor cortex
3. association areas
4. temporal cortex

Activity 2.7

Fill in the missing words in the following sentence.

The hindbrain which comprises the - - - - -, the - - - - - and the - - - - - is the - - - - - part of the brain to
develop prenatally and is also evolutionally the - - - - - part of the brain.

Activity 2.8

How would examining a damaged brain help scientists to learn about the functions of different parts of
the brain?

Activity 2.9

Beethoven was able to compose music even after becoming profoundly deaf. In terms of association
areas and plasticity, hypothesise how it was possible for him to do so?

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Activity 2.10

A famous case of frontal lobe damage is that of Phineas Gage, as described by Harlow (1868, 1893).
Prior to the damage, Gage was a conscientious and industrious railroad engineer. While setting off an
explosion, a 3,5-metre long tamping iron penetrated his skull, passing through the left frontal lobe and
exiting through the right frontal lobe. Gage survived the injury but started to undergo personality
changes.

1. Based on your knowledge of the functions of the frontal lobe, what effects would you predict the
accident had on Gage’s cognitive functioning?

2. Suppose the experiences of Phineas Gage were the only source of information that
psychologists had about the frontal lobe. In the light of what you learnt about single case
studies in the previous study unit, why would psychologists then hesitate to draw conclusions
about the functioning of the frontal lobe?

GLOSSARY CHECK

Briefly define the following terms in your own words and give your OWN example of each:

Neuron, dendrite, axon, synapse, electroencephalogram (EEG), neurotransmitter, event-related

potential, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron
emission tomography (PET), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), magnetoencephalography
(MEG), functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS),
localisation of function, cerebral cortex, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe.

Essay question

You have stepped on a nail protruding from the floor. Describe the various processes involved in
relaying information from the time you pull your foot away. Be sure to include effectors and receptors in
your answer.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

1. You are a biological psychologist, and you must figure out what symptoms or effects certain
diseases have on each of your participants. One participant has Parkinson’s disease, the other
participant has Alzheimer’s disease, and one is schizophrenic. Briefly explain the symptoms that
you expect each of these people to exhibit.

Hint: Carefully read the section on neurotransmitters in the prescribed book and this tutorial
letter.

2. Each of the four lobes of the brain is responsible for the processing of different information. Give
an example of a task or activity that would require the use of at least three of the lobes. In
describing the task, make sure you show how each of the lobes is involved.

Hint: This task is not that difficult! You simply need to look up the function of the lobes in CP and then
think about an aspect of cognition in which at least three of them will be involved. Here is an example: if
you compose a piece of music, you will be using the frontal lobe to plan the sequence of notes, you will
use your occipital lobe (visual cortex) when you look at (i.e., visually process) the notes you have
scribbled on your paper, and you will employ the auditory processing functions of your temporal lobe to
practise the tune in your head. Now think of your own example.

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FEEDBACK TO SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

Activity 2.1

The DNA is housed in the nucleus of the cell.

Activity 2.2

The small knobs are called terminal buttons.

Activity 2.3

Alternative 4 is correct. Acetylcholine has been strongly linked to memory.

Activity 2.4

Alternative 2 is correct. High serotonin levels serotonin may play a causal role in anorexia and in
aggressive behaviour. Serotonin has also been linked to mood, particularly depression, but there is
controversy among researchers about this connection.

Activity 2.5

The table below sets out information about the different neuroscience techniques in chronological
order. In your answer, you should have described any two of these techniques in more detail.

Table 1: Neuroscience techniques

Technique How it works

ERP Brief change in EEG signal in response to a stimulus; can give
Event-related potentials accurate temporal information about the electrical activity
associated with cognitive processes.
CAT (1970s) X-rays reflect the relative density of cells; if X rays pass
Computerised axial tomography through an area of the brain at different angles, a 3-D
representation can be constructed.
PET (1980s) Ingestion of glucose containing a short-acting radioisotope;
Positron emission tomography glucose transported by the blood to brain; active neurons uses
more glucose (i.e., greater blood flow).
MRI (1990s) Magnetic field aligns atoms; radio waves beamed across
Magnetic resonance imaging atoms emit signals that are characteristic of the number of
atoms.
fMRI (1990s) Heightened brain activity increases oxygen in the blood, which
Functional magnetic resonance in turn affects the magnetic properties of the blood; a rapid
imaging series of images can show blood flow as a person engages in
a cognitive process. This technique is also referred to as
BOLD (blood-oxygen-level-dependent contrast).

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TMS A non-invasive method. A large electric coil is placed on the
Transcranial magnetic stimulation head, and an electric field is passed through it. The field
disrupts the firing pattern of neurons in a small area below it,
so that their role in cognitive processing can be studied.
MEG Measures magnetic fields produced by brain activity using
Magneto-encephalography SQUID (superconducting quantum interference devices).
Magnetic field of the brain is very weak (10fT: femtotesla), but
the device is very sensitive and can detect small fluctuations.
fTCD Ultrasound measurement of blood flow. Non-invasive and
Functional transcranial Doppler provides very accurate temporal, but limited spatial resolution,
Sonography and therefore may not be very suitable for most cognitive
neuroscience studies where knowledge of the areas implicated
in processing is important.
NIRS Uses blood flow and levels of oxygen in the blood with the aid
Near-infrared spectroscopy of a sensor placed on the forehead. Inexpensive, portable, and
can be used with children.

Activity 2.6

Alternative 1 is correct. She is experiencing difficulties with vision, and it is therefore likely that her
visual cortex is involved, because the visual cortex (the occipital lobe) is mainly responsible for visual
processing.

Activity 2.7

The hindbrain, which comprises the pons, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata is the first part of the
brain to develop prenatally, and is also evolutionary, the oldest part of the brain.

Activity 2.8

By examining the patterns of cognitive deficits associated with damage to specific areas of the brain,
psychologists and neuroscientists develop hypotheses about the role that these areas play in cognition.
For example, if many people who have lost the ability to speak have sustained damage to the left side
of their brains, it would be reasonable to hypothesise that the left side of the brain plays a role in the
processing of language.

Activity 2.9

The nerve connections in the association area of Beethoven’s brain, which retained the sounds of notes,
remained intact. His brain plasticity enabled him to form new connections to replace those that
deteriorated as he became deaf.

Activity 2.10

1. The frontal lobe is implicated in planning and judgment, and we can therefore expect that Gage
would have shown impairment in these abilities. In actual fact, his intelligence remained
relatively intact, but he became unreliable and showed poor judgment and social skills after the
injury.

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2. Because the sample consists of only a single individual, we cannot assume that it is
representative of the general population, and generalisation is therefore problematic.

GENERAL RESOURCES

Web links

Neuroscience for kids (and students!): faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html

Interactive 3D model of the brain:

Brain and structures can be rotated in three-dimensional space. Each structure has information on the
brain disorders, brain damage, case studies, and links to modern neuroscience research:
www.g2conline.org/2022

The whole brain atlas (anatomy):

Takes you on tour through thousands of brain slices of healthy and diseased brains:
www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html

Probe the brain:

A website that lets you probe the brain to discover what area controls which part of the body. You could
use it to ask students to explore the notion of localization of function versus distributed processing:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/brain/#

Localization of function:

This can be undertaken as a writing task, for example, explaining one study of localization of function. It
provides some good examples (Phineas Gage, HM, et cetera.) and critical notes for discussion:
ibguides.com/psychology/notes/explain-one-study-related-to-localization-of-function-in-the-brain

Videos

What Is So Special About the Human Brain? (time 13:31):

Professor Herculano-Houzel walks the viewer through the relationship between human brain size and
neuronal density and how those characteristics are related to humans’ ability to think:
www.ted.com/talks/suzana_herculano_houzel_what_is_so_special_about_the_human_brain

2-Minute Neuroscience:

Short description and explanation, illustrated with drawings of the following:

The neuron: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qS83wD29PY

Synaptic transmission: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhowH0kb7n0

The action potential: www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2hHt_PXe5o

A Brief Guide to Brain Structure and Function: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIo6ck75EZc (time

2:29); www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UukcdU258A (time 6:44)

Dissecting Brains (time 7:06):

Here you can see how this is done: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMqWRlxo1oQ

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Recording Electrical Activity in Brain Slices (time: a series of 8 videos @ ≈ 1:00 min each):

A set of eight short videos showing the procedures involved in recording electrical activity seen in a
brain slice of the hippocampus, including changes in responding based on “learning”:
www.g2conline.org/#Neuroimaging?aid=928&cid=266

Population Coding (time 5:00):

Short animated video about population coding which is explained with reference to mindreading:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hiGHc_6Nps

PET Scans (time 4:00):

An overview on PET (Positron Emissions Tomography) scans including a discussion of why PET would
be used in lieu of other scans, as well as footage of an actual scan:
www.g2conline.org/#Neuroimaging?aid=2278&cid=782

fMRI Scan (time 4:15):

Short segments explaining fMRI and a short experiment exploring object and face recognition while
fMRIs are being collected: www.g2conline.org/#Neuroimaging?aid=2276&cid=780

Comparison of Imaging Techniques (time 1:44):

A video comparing different imaging techniques based on the type of research question being asked:
www.g2conline.org/#Neuroimaging?aid=2089&cid=699

Apps and/or software

3D Neuron Anatomy ($0.99):

An interactive 3D model of a neuron that can be manipulated including parts, functions, activities,
types, et cetera.: itunes.apple.com/us/app/3d-neuron-anatomy/id510522114?mt=8

3D Interactive Brain (Free):

An interactive brain that can be rotated for different views. Ability to add labels and see specific parts of
the brain (including Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas) is included: itunes.apple.com/us/app/3d-
brain/id331399332?mt=8; or the online/website version available at www.g2conline.org

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Study Unit 3:
Perception
Prescribed reading

CP, Chapter 3 (Perception).

Recommended reading

Eysenck, M.W. & Keane, M. (2015). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook (7th ed.). Psychology
Press, Chapters 2–4.

Matlin, M.W. & Farmer, T.A. (2017). Cognition (9th ed.). John Wiley & Son, Chapter 2.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

When you have worked through this chapter, you should be able to:

● discuss the nature of perception

● explain why it is difficult to design a computer that would be able to perceive with the detail that
humans are able to
● distinguish between bottom-up and top-down theories of perception with specific reference to
perceiving objects, hearing words in a sentence, and experiencing pain
● discuss Helmholtz’s theory of unconscious inference
● describe the Gestalt principles of organisation, good continuation, Pragnaz and similarity
● explain taking regularities of the environment into account with reference to physical regularities
and semantic regularities
● explain Bayesian inference in terms of how it would explain the inverse projection problem
● discuss what experience-dependent plasticity is (Make reference to the kitten rearing
experiment and the Greeble experiment.)
● describe the interaction between perceiving and taking action
● describe the Ungerleider and Mishkin (1982) experiment
● describe how Milner and Goodale’s (1995) testing of D.F. demonstrated pathways for matching
orientation and for combining vision and action
● describe how visual illusions can provide evidence for the distinction between the perception
and action pathways
● critically discuss the role of culture in perception

KEY CONCEPTS

Perception, inverse projection problem, viewpoint invariance, bottom-up processing, top-down

processing, speech segmentation, direct pathway model, placebo, likelihood principle, unconscious
inference, principle of perceptual organisation, principle of good continuation, law of Pragnanz,
principle of similarity, physical regularities, semantic regularities, scene schema, Bayesian inference,
experience-dependent plasticity, brain lesioning, object discrimination problem, landmark discrimination
problem, the what-where pathway, perception-action pathway, Ebbinghaus illusion.

35
ORIENTATION

In this section, we explore perceptual processes, which are essentially the cognitive activities that allow
us to attach meaning to sensory input. Perception occurs very fast and effortlessly, yet involves a set of
complex processes. However, we shall consider it only briefly and somewhat superficially. A more
detailed analysis is presented in the recommended book Eysenck and Keane (2015), which you can
consult if you want to explore the topic in more depth. Please note that in cognitive psychology, the
term “perception” is not restricted to vision but denotes the intake and interpretation of sensory
information via any of the modalities. However, visual perception has been studied more extensively
than other sensory modalities.

Most people think that the visual system operates just like a camera, passively registering information
obtained from the senses. However, as you will discover when you work through the prescribed chapter
in CP, many psychologists have arrived at a rather different understanding, holding that perception is an
active, computational process in terms of which the brain constructs an interpretation on the basis of
the visual cues it receives. There are several reasons supporting this computational view of perception.
For instance, a flat, two-dimensional image is projected onto the retina, but we see the world in 3-D,
which means that our brains must make use of cues in the retinal image to construct a three-
dimensional interpretation. It must also make use of cues to “compute” the size of the object perceived,
because we do not routinely get confused about the true sizes of a large object such as an elephant
seen from a distance and a small insect seen from close by, even though the large object may
correspond to a smaller retinal image because of its greater distance from us. Most importantly, we
attach meaning to the images and scenes that we perceive and do this almost instantaneously as the
first activity in the study unit shows. Even though these tasks are executed fast, they are complex
because to construct an interpretation; the brain must analyse sensory stimuli, determine relations
between images, compare images to information encoded in memory, and so forth. See CP, Figure 3.9
on page 58, which illustrates the vision process in a human.

Different types of theories that have been proposed to account for visual processing are also
considered in this section. We also look at some perceptual deficits that result from lesions to the visual
processing centres of the brain.

In this section, we also consider different theories of perception categorised in terms of ‘bottom-up’
versus “top-down” theories. Study the definition of these concepts and the explanation of the theories
carefully. However, bear in mind that the discussion of the theories in CP is presented at an introductory
level, and that the operation of the visual system and the details of visual theories are therefore
simplified, for example, it is known that several areas outside the primary visual cortex are specialised
for specific functions such as colour, movement, and form. Researchers now accept that visual input is
relayed in parallel to a number of centres in the brain, each of which is functionally specialised, and that
processing occurs in a parallel distributed fashion. In such a parallel processing system, bottom-up and
top-down processes clearly interact with one another. Whether processing occurs in a top-down or
bottom-up manner (and how theories account for these processes) is really just a matter of degree.

It is appropriate to start our study of cognition by considering perception, because we now have a
reasonably good understanding of how the human perceptual system works. However, as you will
discover when we reach the later chapters dealing with aspects of ”higher” cognition such as reasoning
and problem solving, there are still many gaps in our understanding of both the neuroscience and the
mechanisms associated with these “higher” processes. We have a much weaker understanding of their
underlying mechanisms than we do of the human visual system.

ADDITIONAL EXPLANATION

Prototype theory

According to the feature-matching theories of human perception, recognition of objects (things in the
world like a specific dog), concepts (abstract representations of such objects) and categories
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(groupings of concepts, i.e., members of categories such as furniture, or birds) become associated in
the mind with the specific features that define them.

A variation of this approach is prototype theory. According to this approach, perceptual recognition
occurs not just in terms of features, but in terms of prototypes. Prototypes are typical members of a
category or concept and serve as exemplars or “models”. Prototype theory proposes that our perception
is influenced by typical members of a category, and that the features of such typical members are used
in the feature-matching process. The theory further proposes that we develop knowledge of prototypes
based on the examples that we have typically encountered in our daily lives. Hence, because
knowledge of these typical members is acquired during the experience, what constitutes a prototype
may actually vary from culture to culture. You can read more about the prototype approach in the
explanation of concepts and categories in Rosch’s seminal research on categorisation and prototypes as
described in Rosch and Mervis (1975). You obviously don’t have to study these pages for the purpose
of the examination, but you should know what the main idea of the prototype approach is, and how
prototype theory differs from the template and feature-matching approaches. Note also that the
prototype approach relies on previously acquired knowledge. It is, therefore, more of a top-down than a
bottom-up approach to perception.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

1. Switch on your television set and turn the sound completely down. Now close your eyes and
change the channel on the television. Open your eyes briefly after the change, and then shut
them again immediately afterwards. Repeat the exercise a few times. You will find that you can
identify and interpret the image on the screen immediately, although you did not know what to
expect and have not seen the particular scene in that form before. In fact, Biederman (1985)
estimated that it takes humans on average less than 1/10th of a second to interpret the meaning
of the scene on the screen. While you are looking at the television, bear in mind that the
animation and three-dimensional pictures on the screen is, to some extent, just an elaborate
illusion. In fact, the animation that you see derives from a series of still images that are flashed
at a rate of 24 stills per second, and our brain compensates by blending the information into a
composite “animated” image.

2. An interesting indication of the constructive nature of perceptual processes is provided by the

“blind spot”. Close or cover one eye and gaze straight ahead. Hold up one finger vertically,
about 30 cm from your nose, so that the tip is roughly at the same level as the centre of your
eye. Move the tip horizontally so that it is about 15 degrees away from the centre of your gaze,
in the direction away from your nose. Be sure to keep your gaze straight ahead, and with a little
searching, you will find a place where your fingertip becomes invisible. This blind spot occurs
because the nerves connecting the eye to the brain have to leave the eye at some point, and
there is no room for photoreceptors in this small area of the retina, so that you are blind to that
small area of the visual field. Notice, though, that no obvious “hole” appears in your visual field
because your brain fills in the gap with its best guess as to what should be there.

ADDITIONAL EXPLANATION

Synaesthesia

An interesting phenomenon in perception is called synaesthesia, which occurs when one sensory
modality (e.g., hearing) simultaneously triggers another sensory modality (e.g., vision) so that the
eventual perception is a composite or merging of two senses. Someone with synaesthesia might, for
example, come to associate days with different colours (e.g., believe that Wednesday is blue and that
Friday is bright red), and they might automatically hear a specific musical tune when they see a particular
number, such as 5. Synaesthesia is quite rare, and it is not a disease or disorder. Many famous people
are thought to have had synaesthesia, such as the artist Vasily Kandinsky, the composer Franz List,
and the physicist Richard Feynman.

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GLOSSARY CHECK

Briefly define the following terms in your own words and give your OWN example of each:

Perception, inverse projection problem, viewpoint invariance, bottom-up processing, top-down

processing, speech segmentation, direct pathway model, placebo, likelihood principle, unconscious
inference, principle of perceptual organisation, principle of good continuation, law of Pragnanz,
principle of similarity, physical regularities, semantic regularities, scene schema, Bayesian inference,
experience-dependent plasticity, brain lesioning, object discrimination problem, landmark discrimination
problem, the what-where pathway, perception-action pathway, Ebbinghaus illusion.

SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY 3

NB: Some of the following questions require you to do some additional research on the Internet, and cannot
be answered only on the basis of CP.

Activity 3.1

- - - - - refer(s) to the set of psychological processes by which people recognise, organise, synthesise
and give meaning to the sensations received from environmental stimuli.

1. Comprehension processes
2. Recognition
3. Sensation
4. Perception

Activity 3.2

Briefly describe the main difference between top-down and bottom-up processing of perceptual
information.

Activity 3.3

The law of - - - - - is a Gestalt principle asserting the perceptual tendency to perceive visual arrays in
ways that most simply organise disparate elements into a stable and coherent form.

1. parsimony
2. Prägnanz
3. organisation of elements
4. coherence

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Something to think about – perceptual tendencies in everyday life:

● Our perceptual tendencies may influence the way we dress. People tend to exaggerate a
contrast, which is why, for example, people may choose to wear dark clothes to be in contrast
with most indoor and outdoor backgrounds, which tend to be lighter in colour. People also like to
maximise the effect of contrast because they perceive that wearing dark clothes will minimise a
person’s apparent size.
● A butcher will take advantage of our tendency to perceive contrasts by adding a sprig of green

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parsley to a display of raw red meat. The contrasting green accentuates the redness – and
presumed wholesomeness – of the meat.
● Because people tend to perceive movement in contrast, the surprise of movement in a still
setting will attract the attention. Therefore, to attract the attention of people driving along
highways, advertisers like to use eye-catching signs or billboards on which advertisements
give an appearance of movement. Another example is the flashing of police car lights which
enhances our ability to notice them.
● When you need to strain to hear someone’s words, you will be able to hear better if you know
the topic of discussion than if you just hear a fragment of a conversation and don’t know the
topic. Knowledge of context improves the accuracy of your perception because it allows you to
draw from previously acquired background knowledge, and therefore fosters top-down
processing.
● Many species take advantage of the perceptual tendency to see what is familiar, to see the
stimuli with whom they seem to share a common fate, and to try not to stand out as a figure
against a background by having an appearance that is similar to their context (environment in
which they live). This kind of appearance camouflages them from both predators and prey.

FEEDBACK TO THE SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

Activity 3.1

Alternative 4 is correct because the statement defines perception. Alternative 1 is too general,
alternative 2 refers to only part of the perceptual process, and alternative 3 can be seen as the
message that our brain receives from our senses.

Activity 3.2

In bottom-up processing, the importance of the properties of the stimulus (e.g., shape, colour and
constituent features) is emphasised. These properties are used to interpret the information registered
by the sensory receptors in the retina.

In top-down processing, the emphasis is placed on how a person’s concepts and higher-level memory
processes influence the recognition and interpretation of the perceptual information.

Activity 3.3

The correct answer is alternative 2.

GENERAL RESOURCES

Web links

Videos and lesson plans about perception:

Great site for interactive activities and demonstrations about perception: www.brainfacts.org/for-
educators/teaching-techniques/2016/roundup-senses-and-perception-090816

Visual sensation and perception: from top to bottom:

This site lets you explore visual sensation and perception at different levels of explanation (beginner,
intermediate, advanced) and different levels of interpretation (social, psychological, neurological,
cellular, molecular): thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_02/d_02_p/d_02_p_vis/d_02_p_vis.html
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Gallery of illusions:

This site contains demonstrations of more than 100 optical illusions and other interesting visual
phenomena: michaelbach.de/ot

Psychology demonstrations, tutorials and other neat stuff:

Interactive demonstrations related to sensation and perception: isle.hanover.edu

The history of Gestalt psychology:

The contributions of famous Gestalt psychologists and some of their laws (in English and different
Eastern Europe languages): webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/gestalt.html

Simulated motion perception:

You can participate in an original study on motion perception: www.techfak.uni-

bielefeld.de/ags/wbski/DSD/blink/eStart.html

Perception demonstrations:

Demonstrations and explanations illustrating topics like receptive fields, motion perception, colour
perception, depth perception: elvers.us/perception

What and where visual pathways:

More on the cortical pathways of visual processing: nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/s2/chapter15.html

Senses and perception:

Video and lesson plans about our sensory systems: www.brainfacts.org/for-educators/teaching-

techniques/2016/roundup-senses-and-perception- 090816

Videos

TED Talk by Illusionist Al Seckel:

Cognitive neuroscientist Al Seckels shows the constraints of our visual system by pointing out how we
fall victim of many optical illusions: www.illusionworks.com

Gestalt Psychology Examples:

A variety of videos exploring the Gestalt principle of perception:

Youtu.be/Vx3pxdzWg3Y (Psychology Perception, time 1:45)
Youtu.be/nxKcpfFvuf8 (Gestalt Principles of Perception, time 4:13)

Mind-Blowing Optical Illusion – Is the Rubik’s Cube Real? (time 1:13)

The following is a video regarding a visual illusion of a Rubik’s cube: youtu.be/IfCCUd8mFtg

What Is the Ames Illusion? (time 1:12)

A video showing the Ames room along with an explanation of why we perceive what we do in an Ames
room: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttd0YjXF0no

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Auditory Illusions:

We have probably encountered many visual illusions, but what about these auditory ones?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzo45hWXRWU

Pain Perception and the Human Brain (time 1:55; 1:54)

Brief overview of pain perception and the associated brain structures (first video) and how pain
perception can be modulated (second video): youtu.be/kNnL6Clpe08

Apps and/or software

Animated optical illusions (Free):

Just as the name suggests, an app that allows users to view optical illusions (broadly defined). The
first site is a video showing some of the “illusions”: youtu.be/R3qmDpw0iBk

ReverseSpeech (Basic version is free):

An app “designed to record and analyse audio in order to find hidden messages.” The first URL is for
the website, and the second is to download the app:
www.ireversespeech.com; itunes.apple.com/us/app/reverse-speech/id753357884?ls=1

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 Study Unit 4:
Memory
Prescribed reading

CP, Chapter 5 (Short-term and working memory)

CP, Chapter 6 (Long-term memory: structure)
CP, Chapter 7 (Long-term memory: encoding, retrieval and consolidation)
CP, Chapter 8 (Everyday memory and memory errors)

Recommended reading

Eysenck, M.W. & Keane, M. (2015). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook (7th ed.). Psychology
Press, Chapter 7–8.

Matlin, M.W. & Farmer, T.A. (2017). Cognition (9th ed.). John Wiley & Son, Chapter 4.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

When you have worked through Chapter 5, you should be able to:

● define memory
● discuss the model of memory
● discuss sensory memory in relation to the sparkler’s trail and the projector’s shutter, as well as
Sperling’s experiment
● in terms of short-term memory: identify the duration of short-term memory, how many items and
how much information can be held in short-term memory
● discuss working memory in relation to the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketch pad, the
central executive, the episodic buffer, and other models of working memory
● describe the effect of damage to the prefrontal cortex
● discuss fMRI research in terms of executive attention and object representation
● critically discuss stress and working memory

When you have worked through Chapter 6, you should be able to:

● compare short-term (STL) and long-term memory (LTM) processes

● discuss the serial position curve and related concepts such as the primacy effect, the recency
effect
● discuss and compare coding in STM and LTM, namely visual coding, auditory coding, semantic
coding
● outline neurological studies that locate memory in the neuroanatomy of the brain, for example,
the study on patients H.M., Wearing and K.F.
● the hippocampus role in long-term memory
● outline the distinctions and interactions between episodic buffer and semantic memory
● discuss memory and aging
● discuss procedural memory, priming and classical conditioning

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When you have worked through Chapter 7, you should be able to:

● discuss encoding in LTM in relation to levels of processing theory, paired-associate learning,

self-reference effect, generating information, organising information, retrieval practice and
cues
● discuss matching conditions of encoding and retrieval, the principle of specificity, state-
dependent learning, transfer-appropriate processing
● define and discuss consolidation and related constructs such as synaptic consolidation,
systems consolidation, long-term potentiation
● discuss how memory can be enhanced by consolidation and sleep
● outline retrieval and reconsolidation
● discuss effective studying techniques

When you have worked through Chapter 8, you should be able to:

● discuss the multi-dimensional nature of autobiographical memory

● discuss the memory of the life-span and related concepts such as reminiscence bump, self-
image hypothesis, cognitive hypothesis, cultural life-script hypothesis
● outline the link between memory and emotion (and the function of the amygdala here),
flashbulb memories, emotions and flashbulb memories and the narrative rehearsal hypothesis
● discuss the constructive nature of memory and Barlett’s “war of ghosts” experiment
● define source monitoring and source monitoring errors, and discuss the “becoming famous
overnight” experiment
● discuss how real-world knowledge affects memory and the role of schemas as scripts
● critically discuss false recall and recognition
● describe how memory can be created or modified by suggestion and the misinformation effect
and misleading post-event information (MPI)
- MPI as causing interference
- MPI as causing source monitoring errors
● critically discuss errors in eyewitness testimony
● discuss why humans may have flawed memory systems

KEY CONCEPTS

Central executive, chunking, delayed-response tasks, echoic memory episodic buffer, iconic memory,
memory, modal model of memory, partial report method, perseveration, phonological loop, short-term
memory span (STM), autobiographical memory, declarative memory, explicit memories, implicit
memories, lexical decision task, long-term memory (LTM), primacy effect, procedural memory,
recency effect, consolidation, cross-cortical consolidation, cued recall, depth of processing, encoding,
encoding specificity, retrograde amnesia, amygdala, eyewitness testimony, flashbulb memory,
reminiscence bump, retroactive interference, schema

ORIENTATION

The main aim of the theme is really just to present a very broad introduction to a few different
conceptions of human memory that have been proposed by cognitive psychologists.

It is useful to think of memory as a system associated with three main stages, as illustrated in the
figure below. In the section, we are going to find out how different researchers have described the
operation of the system, and how they have conceptualised the encoding and storage stages of the
memory process depicted in Figure 4.1.

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 Encoding (Input)

!
Storage

Retrieval (output)

Figure 4.1 The basic stages of memory

Many of us tend to think of memory primarily as a large storehouse of our experiences in which the
content knowledge and concepts that we have acquired are encoded. In reading through the
prescribed chapters, you may therefore be surprised to find that very little is said about the actual
information stored in memory. Psychologists certainly do not underestimate the fact that we have
acquired a vast amount of information, which is somehow stored in our brains. However, to understand
something as complex as memory, we must adopt a systematic approach. Goldberg and Van Hooff
(2018) have therefore opted to spread their discussion of memory over different chapters. Chapters 5
and 6, introduce a few theories of memory, experiments and describe basic short-term and long-term
memory processes. However, the discussion of the theories relating to the organisation of knowledge
and concepts in memory, are primarily reserved for the two chapters on encoding, retrieval and
consolidation, and everyday memories and memory errors (Chapters 7 and 8).

In Chapter 5, you will notice that the way in which memory processes are described depends, at least
partly, on the researcher’s conceptualisation of the memory system (i.e., on the theory or model that
guides their research on memory). Most of the models of memory presented fall within the framework
of a fairly standard information processing perspective. However, you are also introduced here to a
more modern perspective, when you learn how some researchers have conceptualised memory as a
parallel-distributed processing system in a research approach called connectionism or neural networks.

According to this connectionist view of memory:

[Human memory] seems to be not at all like a storeroom, a library, or a computer core memory, a place
where items of information are stored and kept until wanted, but rather presents a picture of a complex,
dynamic system that at any given time can be made to deliver information concerning discrete events or
items it has had the experience of in the past (Estes, quoted in Jahnke & Nowaczyk, 1998, p. 135).

You can learn more about the connectionist conception of memory and cognition by reading the three
articles by Paul Churchland, David Rumelhart, and Timothy van Gelder in the recommended book,
Haugeland (2000).

Furthermore, mnemonic techniques can be used to improve memory recall. It is tempting to think that
one needs a truly superior memory to reproduce the memory abilities of some memory experts, but
this is not really the case. In 2005, a science journalist named Joshua Foer visited the U.S.A. Memory
Championship to collect data for an article that he was writing on “savant memory”. Foer claims that he
has a normal memory, and often even forgets where he placed his car key. However, he became so
fascinated by the amazing feats demonstrated by some of the participants at the event that he set
himself a challenge to see if he could emulate their abilities. A year later, he returned and won the
competition, in the process setting a new record for a part of the competition called “speed cards”. He
memorised and correctly recalled the order of 52 cards in 1 minute and 40 seconds. Foer’s year-long
quest to develop his memory is described in a book published in 2011 with the quirky title
Moonwalking with Einstein: The art and science of remembering everything. In the book, he recounts
a number of techniques he used to expand his own memory capabilities. The use of spatial learning
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strategies seems to be of particular importance for such techniques. Research studies using
neuropsychological tests and brain imaging done on memory experts (e.g., people who had been
placed highly at the World Memory Championships) showed that their exceptional memory did not
derive from superior intellect or structural differences in the brain; rather, the participants’ use of a
spatial learning strategy seemed to underlie their memory advantage. Other research studies have
highlighted the role of learning and experience, as opposed to innate abilities, in superior memory. In
this chapter, you learn more about some of these spatial techniques, for example, the “method of loci”,
which is a classic method involving the creation of visual images associated with the object to be
remembered, and then placed in specific locations along a familiar route.

In Chapter 6, long-term memory is discussed; long-term memory can be divided into explicit memory,
and implicit memory, and one can also distinguish between two types of explicit memory: episodic
and semantic. There are a number of different types of implicit memory; three of the main types are
procedural memory, priming and conditioning (see CP, p. 183-187). The memory problems of
amnesic persons (those whose memories are impaired) are also discussed in this chapter.

Amnesic persons are of interest to cognitive psychologists, because by studying such patients,
researchers can “test” existing theories of normal memory, and develop insight into the neural
structures associated with memory. The fact that some patients have severely impaired long-term
memory, but intact short-term memory, provides evidence that there are separate memory stores.
Also, studies of amnesic syndromes have revealed the role of the hippocampus and other neural
structures in memory which appears to make a significant contribution to the formation of new
memories. For example, to alleviate epileptic seizures of a patient, referred to as H.M., neurosurgeons
removed his hippocampus and surrounding structures (including the amygdala) from both
hemispheres. Following this surgery, H.M.’s seizure disorder improved, but he was left with a rather
selective memory deficit. H.M.’s intellect and personality were unchanged; he had moderate
retrograde amnesia because he had some difficulty in recalling memories two to three years before
the operation. However, he suffered a severe loss of ability to form new memories, anterograde
amnesia. H.M. can store new information briefly, but has difficulty recalling it, especially when
distracted. It thus took H.M. eight years to learn the floor plan of his parent’s new home after he
moved in with them, while he was still not able to find his way home from more than two blocks away.

The case of H.M., therefore, suggests that the hippocampus plays a crucial role in the formation of
new memories. Recent research confirms this. In the journal of Science, neuroscientists at New York
University and Harvard published findings that illuminated how the hippocampus helps signal the
creation of new associative connections for sights, sounds and smells in long-term memory.
Autopsies of Alzheimer’s patients have also indicated that the subiculum portion of the hippocampus is
affected early and severely in people with the disease.

In Chapter 7, we continue our study of memory by focusing on the processes of encoding, retrieval,
consolidation and forgetting. An understanding of these processes is clearly essential for any student of
cognitive psychology because questions relating to how we retrieve information from memory and
why we sometimes forget important facts are clearly relevant to your own studies.

All thinking skills are inextricably tied to the ability to remember. In Chapter 8, you will discover that
some of the popular notions people hold about memory are incorrect. Consider, for example, the
perception of risk. Psychologists have shown that hazards that are unusually memorable such as a
national disaster (for example, the September 11 attack in New York) or a sensationalised depiction in
a film or television programme, distort people’s perception of risk. Most people rate dramatic causes of
death such as earthquakes, shark attacks, or aircraft disasters as many times more likely than they
actually are, while less memorable causes of death are routinely underestimated.

Many research studies seem to debunk the pervasive notion perpetuated in thriller movies that
memory contains a true copy of events that can be recovered in an unaltered manner after many
years in a sudden moment of illumination. Instead, generally, the research that has been conducted
by cognitive psychologists seems to suggest that:

45
● memories are frequently inaccurate and sometimes completely wrong
● we tend to fill in missing information in our memory with information that fits our belief system or
was acquired after the event occurred
● there is a weak relationship between memory accuracy and confidence – we are often highly
confident that we are remembering an event exactly as it happened when, in fact, the memory
is partly or wholly wrong

In Chapter 8, you will also learn about the constructive and everyday aspects of memory, and you will
be introduced to interesting research findings of false memory and “eyewitness testimony”. Why do
people often argue about what, or how, something happened? Indeed, people may convincingly argue
that their version of a particular event is the correct one. You just need to watch one of the many
courtroom dramas on TV to see how true this is. You may even recall how different versions of the
same event have sometimes led to conflict in your own relationships. In this study unit, we consider
research showing that memories do not always reflect reality accurately. In fact, memories sometimes
distort the true facts because we may add our own information to or “forget,” certain information relating
to an incident. Moreover, we may even remember things that never really happened! An illustration of
how memories may not be true and accurate reflections of the actual event experienced is clearly
demonstrated by research on eyewitness memory; some of the experiments on such “false memories”
are briefly described in this chapter in CP.

To help you with your studying and to ensure that you do not “distort” the information in CP too much
when you try to recall it in the examination, we have added a few tips in this unit on how to improve
your memory for the study material (see the answer to question 4.15 below).

This section also focuses on autobiographical memory, defined as a memory for specific experiences
from our life, which include both episodic and semantic components. For example, the reminiscence
bump (see CP, Figure 8.2, p. 228) outlines the enhanced memory of adolescence and young adulthood
that is typically found in people over 40. It is also clear that some events in a person’s life are more
likely to be remembered than others, often associated with emotions. Flashbulb memories are also a
type of autobiographical memory. It is a highly detailed, exceptionally vivid “snapshot” of the moment
and circumstances in which a piece of surprising and consequential (or emotionally arousing) news
was heard.

Also, note Larry Jacoby’s Becoming famous overnight experiment (CP, p. 240-241) in which the
delayed test group participants were more likely to wrongly identify some of the names they read at the
beginning of the experiment as being famous.

Roediger and McDermott (1995) presented word lists to college students and then asked them to recall
the words they had heard. Each list contained 12 words, all associated with a target word that was not
presented (henceforth referred to as “the critical lure”). For example, words associated with “chair,”
such as “table,” “sit,” and “legs” were presented, but the critical lure, “chair,” was not. After listening to
each of six such lists, the students were asked to write down all of the words they recalled. The critical
lure (e.g., “chair”) was recalled 40% of the time despite the fact that it had not been presented. In a
recognition test, the students recognised the critical lures as “old” items 84% of the time. In a second
experiment, using 15-word lists, Roediger and McDermott reported a false recall rate of 55% for the
critical lures and a false recognition rate of 81%. This method is known as the Deese-Roediger-
McDermott (DRM) paradigm, and the findings have been replicated numerous times. Schacter asserts
that memory malfunctions can be divided into seven fundamental transgression or “sins” (see CP, p.
257).

We also consider the role of metacognitive skills, which is also known as metamemory, in the context of
memory research (see Dunlosky & Thiede, 2013). This is a high-level cognitive function consisting of
your knowledge of how effective you are as a memoriser, your knowledge of memory strategies, for
which memory tasks they are appropriate, and of memory in general. It involves the monitoring and
regulation of your memory behaviour. Examples of “monitoring” are checking how well you understand
and remember information and evaluating how effectively you have applied memory strategies.

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“Regulation” includes selecting appropriate memory strategies, deciding how much time should be
spent on the memory task, revising plans and strategies if progress on the task is unsatisfactory, and
selecting retrieval strategies.

Metamemory plays an important role in the ability to study effectively, so improving your own
metamemory abilities may help you with your studying and memorising of the material in CP.

SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY 4

NB: Some of the following questions require you to do some additional research on the Internet, and
cannot be answered only on the basis of CP.

Activity 4.1

Memory consists of three operations. These are:

1. sensory, short-term and long-term

2. recall, recognition and retrieval
3. encoding, storage, and retrieval
4. serial-recall, free-recall and cued-recall

Activity 4.2

A task requiring a person to produce a fact, word or any other item from memory is known as a - - - - -
task.

1. recall
2. recognition
3. identification
4. priming

Activity 4.3

Whenever we read, we unconsciously and effortlessly remember our knowledge of how to interpret
words. This is an example of an everyday task that primarily taps - - - - - memory.

1. episodic
2. autobiographical
3. explicit
4. implicit

Activity 4.4

According to Atkinson and Shiffrin, the three stores are - - - - -.

1. distinct physiological structures

2. hypothetical constructs
3. directly measurable
4. all sensory registers

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Activity 4.5

Choose words from the list below to complete the following sentences:

The (a) - - - - - store refers to the memory store having the smallest capacity, the (b) - - - - - store
involves visual sensory memory, the (c) - - - - - store involves tactile sensory memory. Atkinson and
Shriffrin distinguished between the structures of memory, these they termed (d) - - - - -. The
information held in these structures is known as (e) - - - - -. The (f) - - - - - nature of iconic
memory makes our visual sensations more - - - - -. Miller used the term (h) - - - - - to describe the
basic unit in short-term memory.

memory; sensory; chunk; permastore; permanent; iconic; erasable; haptic; all sensory registers;
sensible; metaphor(s); stores; mental model(s)

Activity 4.6

- - - - - memory refers to encoding, storage, and retrieval of events that the person experienced at a
particular time and place.

1. Episodic
2. Semantic
3. Working
4. Short-term

Activity 4.7

According to Tulving, if you need to remember the name of a friend that you saw yesterday at the
library, you would be using - - - - - memory; whereas if you need to interpret the meaning of a sentence,
you would be using - - - - - memory.

1. semantic; episodic
2. episodic; semantic
3. implicit; working
4. working; implicit

Activity 4.8

Choose words from the list below to complete the following sentences:

(a) - - - - - occurs when people lose their memory for events prior to the trauma. On the other hand, (b)
- - - - - occurs when people lose their memory for events occurring after the trauma. In retrograde
amnesia, the memories that return first are usually the most (c) - - - - -. (d) - - - - - is typically impaired in
amnesic patients, whereas (e) - - - - - is usually not affected. They also perform poorly on tasks
requiring (f) - - - - -. However, they may show improved performance on tasks requiring (g) - - - - -.

explicit memory; amnesia; procedural knowledge; distant; implicit memory; retrograde amnesia; recent;
infantile amnesia; anterograde amnesia; declarative knowledge

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Activity 4.9

- - - - - refers to how you transform a physical, sensory input into a kind of representation that can be
placed in memory.

1. Encoding
2. Storage
3. Retrieval
4. Transfer

Activity 4.10

How do we transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory?

1. By attending to information in order to understand it.

2. By making connections between the new and old information.
3. By rehearsing the above.
4. All of the above.

Activity 4.11

Putting your watch, on the other hand, to remind you to do something is an example of a strategy to
improve - - - - -.

1. retroactive memory
2. prospective memory
3. introspective memory
4. retrospective memory

Activity 4.12

If researchers, examining long-term memory, tested only - - - - -, they may have assumed that
subjects had not stored quite so many words; however, the comparison to - - - - - showed that
memory failures are usually due to - - - - - and not to - - - - - failures.

1. cued recall; free recall; retrieval; storage

2. cued recall; free recall; storage; retrieval
3. free recall; cued recall; storage; retrieval
4. free recall; cued recall; retrieval; storage

Activity 4.13

- - - - - memories are memories of a very surprising and emotionally arousing event.

1. Constructive
2. Photographic
3. Flashbulb
4. Iconic

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Activity 4.14

Research shows that mood affects memory because psychologists have found that the depressed
person - - - - - memories of - - - - - experiences.

1. easily retrieves; previous unhappy

2. easily forgets; previous unhappy
3. easily forgets; future unhappy
4. easily retrieves; previous happy

Activity 4.15

Now that you have worked through the topic on memory, complete the following sentences (using
words from the keywords at the end of the activity) without looking in CP. Read the entire paragraph
first, then go back and complete the sentences. These ideas can help you improve your study method.

Hints to improve your study method:

1. To enhance the transfer of information from working memory to long-term memory, you should
deliberately (a) - - - - - to the new information and try to (b) - - - - - it.
2. Another way to improve the transfer of new information from working memory to long-term
memory is by making (c) - - - - - between the new information and (d) - - - - -. This means you
should associate new information with existing information in memory.
3. By (e) - - - - - - information you enhance the integrity of memories during consolidation
4. By (f) - - - - - on your own memory and memory processes, you could improve your memory.
This means that you should assess how well you understand and remember something, as well
as the effectiveness of the processes you employed when studying. You should test yourself by
writing (g) - - - - - on a piece of paper and then checking them against the information in CP. By
checking how well you can, in fact, remember something, you monitor the (h) - - - - of your
information processing.
5. You will remember information longer if you have acquired it via (i) - - - - -, that is by learning the
information in various sessions spaced over time, instead of trying to cram it all into a short
period of time.
6. You will remember information longer if you (j) - - - - -. This suggests that you should study the
information in different places and at different times.
7. (k) - - - - - has a positive effect on memory because (l) - - - - - aids in memory consolidation.
You should therefore get a good night’s sleep before an exam.
8. (m) - - - - - is an effective way to enhance remembering. This is accomplished by integrating
new information in a meaningful way with what you already know. Information is thus organised
and transferred to long-term memory.
9. Through (n) - - - - - you group items into classes, and this will enhance remembering.

FEEDBACK ON THE SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

Activity 4.1

Alternative 3 is correct. Alternatives 1 and 4 do not refer to operations. Alternative 1 refers to the three
“structures” proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin. Alternative 4 refers to various tasks used to study
memory.

Activity 4.2

Alternative 1 is correct. The assumption here is that the information is stored in memory and must
therefore be retrieved. This retrieval of a stored fact, word or item characterises the “recall” process.
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Activity 4.3

Alternative 4 is correct because we do not have explicit knowledge of the processes used in reading;
these occur below a level of awareness and are therefore based on implicit memory.

Activity 4.4

Alternative 2 is correct. The three stores are theoretical constructs used to develop an information
processing model of memory. However, they are cognitive rather than physiological concepts.
Therefore, alternatives 1 and 3 are incorrect, and their capacity and mode of operation are inferred
indirectly rather than directly

Activity 4.5

(a) sensory (b) iconic (c) haptic (d) stores (e) memory (f) erasable (g) sensible (h) chunk

Activity 4.6

Alternative 1 is correct. Episodic memory is the memory for the personal or subjective experiences of
individuals. These memories can often be associated with the time and the place when the event or
experience occurred and thus when the memory was formed.

Activity 4.7

Alternative 2 is correct. The main difference between semantic memory and episodic memory is that
semantic memory relates to general knowledge that people share (e.g., knowing the meanings of the
words in the language that one speaks), whereas episodic memory is the knowledge that is of a more
personal nature relating to specific “episodes” of life. Because we are trying to remember the name of
a personal friend, the example refers to episodic rather than semantic memory.

Activity 4.8

(a) retrograde amnesia (b) anterograde amnesia (c) distant (d) explicit memory (e) implicit memory (f)
declarative knowledge (g) procedural knowledge.

Activity 4.9

Alternative 1 is correct. The encoding phase relates to the initial storage of information in memory.

Activity 4.10

Alternative 4 is correct, because all of these activities help to consolidate information in the long-term
memory system.

Activity 4.11

Alternative 2 is correct because you are trying to help yourself to remember to find your watch in the
future.

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Activity 4.12

Alternative 4 is correct. If you found this task difficult, you should revise the information in Chapter 5
again, because some of the answers are given in table 5.1 in CP!

Activity 4.13

Alternative 3 is correct. Flashbulb memories are memories of very dramatic, surprising events and they
are usually associated with an intensely emotional experience. Many people who witnessed this on
television still have a flashbulb memory of Nelson Mandela’s first walk to freedom when he was
released from prison.

Activity 4.14

Alternative 1 is correct. Depression is often somewhat “self-sustaining” because depressed people tend
to focus on the negative events or experiences that are the cause of their own depression.

Activity 4.15

1. To enhance the transfer of information from working memory to long-term memory, you should
deliberately (a) attend to the new information and try to (b) understand it.
2. Another way to improve the transfer of new information from working memory to long-term
memory is by making (c) connections/associations between the new information and (d) what
you already know and understand. This means that you should associate new information with
existing information in memory.
3. By (e) rehearsing information, you enhance the integrity of memories during consolidation.
4. By (f) reflecting on your own memory and memory processes, you could improve your memory.
This means that you should assess how well you understand and remember something, as well
as the effectiveness of the processes you employed when studying. You should test yourself by
writing (g) keywords on a piece of paper and then checking them against the information in CP.
By checking how well you can, in fact, remember something, you monitor the (h) effectiveness of
your information processing.
5. You will remember information longer if you have acquired it via (i) distributed practice, that is,
by learning the information in various sessions spaced over time, instead of trying to cram it all
into a short period of time.
6. You will remember information longer if you (j) vary the contexts for encoding. This suggests
that you should study the information in different places and at different times.
7. (k) Sleep has a positive effect on memory because (l) REM stage sleep aids in memory
consolidation. You should therefore get a good night’s sleep before an exam.
8. (m) Elaborative rehearsal is an effective way to enhance remembering. This is accomplished by
integrating new information in a meaningful way with what you already know. Information is thus
organised and transferred to long-term memory.
9. Through (n) categorical clustering, you group items into classes or categories, and this will
enhance remembering.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY

Read the list below at a rate of about one word per second, then cover the list and write down all the
words you can remember on a piece of paper. Please do this before reading the last paragraph.
Bed rest awake tired dream wakes blanket night slumber snore pillow rest yawn drowsy.

Now, look at the list that you wrote. Is there any item that did not appear in the original list? For
example, is the item sleep in your list? If it is there, it is, of course, a false memory. Note that the
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example, therefore, illustrates how easy it is to create such a false memory.

GLOSSARY CHECK

Briefly define the following terms in your own words and give your OWN example of each:

Central executive, chunking, delayed-response tasks, echoic memory episodic buffer, iconic memory,
memory, modal model of memory, partial report method, perseveration, phonological loop short-term
memory span (STM), autobiographical memory, declarative memory, explicit memories, implicit
memories, lexical decision task, long-term memory (LTM), primacy effect, procedural memory,
recency effect, consolidation, cross-cortical consolidation, cued recall, depth of processing, encoding,
encoding specificity, retrograde amnesia, amygdala, eyewitness testimony, flashbulb memory,
reminiscence bump, retroactive interference, schema

GENERAL RESOURCES (Chapter 5)

Web links

Educational Psychology Interactive: The information-processing approach:

An interactive chapter dealing with the information-processing approach that contains many good
definitions of terms related to cognitive psychology, including short- and long-term memory:
www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/infoproc.html

Echoes discovered in early visual brain areas play a role in working memory:

Electronic article that reports research on visual memory coding using fMRI brain images:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090218135036.htm

Short-term (working) memory:

An article exploring the process of chunking as presented in a contemporary popular book by

Cambridge neuroscientist Daniel Bor (The Ravenous Brain):
www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/04/the-ravenous-brain-daniel-bor

Reading span task:

A demonstration of the reading span task: cognitivefun.net/test/21

Meanings and causes of forgetting:

Including explanation and examples of pro- and retro-active interference:

www.psychestudy.com/cognitive/memory/meaning-causes-forgetting

Videos

Sperling’s Experiments (time 10:38)

Demonstration of the whole- and partial report method as used by Sperling to examine the capacity of
visual sensory memory: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACddnsfgJ7I

How Your Working Memory Makes Sense of the World (time 9:29):

A funny TED talk by psychologist Peter Doolittle detailing “working memory” that allows us to make
sense of what’s happening right now:
www.ted.com/talks/peter_doolittle_how_your_working_memory_makes_sense_of_the_world
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Working Memory in Chimps:

Chimpanzees easily outperform humans in this visual working memory task. What do these results
mean? Do chimps have photographic memory? www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsXP8qeFF6A

Clive Wearing: the Man with a Memory Less than 30 Seconds:

Short video about a patient and his wife to illustrate the impact of having only 30 seconds of memory:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwigmktix2Y

Persistence of Vision (time 2:48):

An interesting demonstration of how the sensory memory for a colour can influence the colours that we
see: youtu.be/bcstc1ozczQ

Alan Baddeley: Introduction of the Phonological Loop (time 4:56) and Episodic Buffer (time 2:29)

Baddeley explains the phonological loop and its role in his working memory model, including some
discussion of word length effects and cultural differences. The second video is similar except it explores
the episodic buffer: youtu.be/2zF15C3vnIw and www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a_cF46UiEU

Apps and/or software

Iconic Memory App (Free): apkpure.com/iconic-memory/org.linuxuser.android.iconic

Sensory Storage (Software):

Excellent interactive demonstrations of the whole and partial report techniques:

www.willamette.edu/~mstewart/nwacc/modules/sperling.htm

Short-Term Memory (Software):

An interactive memory test that students can use to measure their short-term memory spans:
faculty.washington.edu/chudler/stm0.html

Working Memory (Software):

A variety of fun tests of your working memory: brainconnection.brainhq.com/brain-teasers/farmers-

memory-challenge

GENERAL RESOURCES (Chapter 6)

Weblinks

Declarative (explicit) & procedural (implicit) memory:

Here you will find an overview of both declarative and procedural memory. Additional long-term
memory information is also easily available at the site: www.human-memory.net/types_declarative.html

Long-term memory:

Brief explanations of the different types of memory: www.verywell.com/what-is-long-term-memory-

2795347

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Videos

The Woman Who Could Not Forget (time 8:59):

The life experiences of a woman who appears to remember an extraordinary amount of information,
especially episodic/autobiographical information: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoxsMMV538U

Apps and/or software

Priming Demonstration (Software):

An explanation and demonstration of a masked priming task:

www.u.arizona.edu/~kforster/priming/index.htm

GENERAL RESOURCES (Chapter 7)

Weblinks

Levels of processing:

A website providing an introduction to the ideas related to levels of processing:

www.simplypsychology.org/levelsofprocessing.html

Study strategies: www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9SptdjpJBQ

Memory and learning: top to bottom:

This site lets you explore memory and learning at different levels of explanation (beginner,
intermediate, advanced) and different levels of interpretation (social, psychological, neurological,
cellular, molecular): www.thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_07/d_07_p/d_07_p_tra/d_07_p_tra.html

Dissecting H.M.’s brain:

An article about scientists dissecting H.M.’s brain to learn more about how memory works:
www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/22brain.html

Memory and PTSD:

Recent work linking memory consolidation to the treatment of PTSD:

www.nature-nurture.org/index.php/ptsd/applications-to-traumatic-recall/consolidation- and-extinction/

Videos

Levels of Processing (time 4:38)

A nice overview of several concepts found in the chapter, including Levels of Processing, type of
tasks participants performs and the results based on the type of processing done:
youtu.be/ykD4APOVLB4

Hebbian Theory (time 2:24):

An interesting video with Donald Hebb reflecting on his own (and his son’s) memory and memories:
youtu.be/ZbwFq0M802g

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Long-Term Potentiation (time 2:00; 4:45):

Cartoon explaining the synaptic changes characteristic of LTP:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hm08ksPtMo

Sleep-Dependent Consolidation of Memory Consolidation (time: 9:57):

Video describing research strategies for studying the impact of sleep on memory consolidation using
starlings: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJWxALeKHXc

Sleep and Memory Consolidation (time 7:42)

Another video exploring sleep and memory consolidation. A basic video that students could use as an
introduction or a review: youtu.be/bwhdvGAib6k

Temporal Error Detection Triggers Memory Reconsolidation (time 4:52):

The retrieval of a previously formed memory triggers the lability of that memory for a short time and its
reconsolidation. However, what exactly triggers memory reconsolidation is not known. The study is
similar to the one described in the text: youtu.be/USlu6XYvWH0

Can You Erase Bad Memories?

Very nice cartoon about the constructive and changeable nature of memory:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=89shevn24L8

Apps and/or software

Concentration with Friends (iPad, Free)

A version of the game show Classic Concentration:

itunes.apple.com/us/app/concentration-friends-for/id503951989?mt=8

GENERAL RESOURCES (Chapter 8)

Weblinks

Flashbulb memories:

Some sites addressing and questioning the accuracy and sometimes even the very existence of so-
called flashbulb memories:

theconversation.com/flashbulb-memories-of-dramatic-events-arent-as-accurate-as-
believed-64838

scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2005/07/15/another-perspective-on-flashbu

www.mirror.co.uk/science/reason-you-remember-exactly-you-11085844

The misinformation effect and the creation of memories:

A paper by Elizabeth Loftus and her colleagues: faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/hoff.htm

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False and repressed memory connections:

A description of Elizabeth Loftus’s views on false and repressed memories:

faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm

Cognitive interview techniques:

sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU50.html; www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive- interview.html

The role of emotion in memory: www.memory-key.com/memory/emotion

Videos

Scientists Study First Child with Super Memory (time 1:33):

A 60-Minutes story on people with super memories, including a 10-year-old boy:

www.cbsnews.com/news/scientists-study-first-child-with-super-memory/

Elizabeth Loftus: The Fiction of Memory (time 17:36)

Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus studies when people either remember things that did not happen or
remember them differently from the way they really were. Such memories are sometimes called false
memories. In her TED Talk, Loftus shares stories, statistics and raises some important ethical
questions about memory and its potential impact:
www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loftus_the_fiction_of_memory

When Eyes Deceive - Eyewitness Testimony (time 4:34):

An exploration of memory’s role in eyewitness testimony: youtu.be/rSzPn9rsPcY

Eyewitness Testimony: The Cotton Case

This video is describing how it was possible that a certain Mister Cotton was wrongly identified as a
rapist by his “victim”. See also: www.innocenceproject.org/cases/ronald-cotton

Enhancing Memory: The Role of Emotion (time 7:50)

In this episode of Scientific American, the roles of emotion and the amygdala in memory are explored:
youtu.be/dZxGi8eMaw0

Flashbulb Memory (time 1:41):

A neurologically based examination of flashbulb memories and how the proximity to the event (i.e.,
the events of 9/11) affects the brains activity: youtu.be/evj6q0eCdd8

Apps and/or software

The False Memory Experiment (Software):

A short experiment that students can complete for some insights into false memory:
psych.hanover.edu/javatest/cle/cognition/cognition/falsememory_instructions.html

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 Study Unit 5:
Problem-Solving
Prescribed reading

CK, Chapter 12 (Problem-solving)

Recommended reading

Eysenck, M.W. & Keane, M. (2015). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook (7th ed.). Psychology
Press, Chapter 12.

Matlin, M.W. & Farmer, T.A. (2017). Cognition (9th ed.). John Wiley & Son, Chapter 10.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

When you have worked through Chapter 12, you should be able to:

● define a problem in psychological terms

● outline the basic principles behind the Gestalt approach to problem-solving
● discuss the aspect of insight and its relationship to solving a problem
● describe Newell and Simon’s (1972) approach to problem-solving
● discuss the militated checkerboard experiment
● discuss the basic idea behind analogical problem solving
● describe Duncher’s relational problem
● discuss the three steps in the process of analogical problem-solving
● define analogical encoding
● critically discuss the way in which experts and non-experts go about solving problems
● discuss creativity and how it can be measured
● outline factors involved in generating ideas
● discuss the relation between creativity and mental illness

KEY CONCEPTS

Alternate uses test, analogical encoding, analogical paradox, analogical problem solving, analogical
transfer, analogy, candle problem, creative cognition, divergent thinking, expert, fixation, stereotypes,
functional fixedness, goal state, group brainstorming, in vivo problem-solving research, initial state,
insightful, intermediate states, latent inhibition (LI), means-ends analysis, mental set, mutilated
checkerboard problem, operators, pre-inventive forms problem, problem space, radiation problem,
restructuring, savant syndrome, source problem, structural features, subgoals, surface features, target
problem, think-aloud protocol, Tower of Hanoi problem, two-string problem, water jug problem

ORIENTATION

Problem-solving is one of the hallmarks of intelligent thinking and a very popular research theme in
cognitive psychology. Researchers are drawn to this field in the hope that by studying the processes
and strategies underlying thinking and problem-solving, they may discover ways to promote effective
thinking skills in educational and industrial settings. An analysis of what problems are, and what kinds
of knowledge, skills and representations are involved in solving them, helps us understand the nature
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of the mind and of higher mental processes. Insights into problem-solving derived from Gestalt
psychology, contemporary information-processing models in cognitive psychology, the theory of
computation, logical and conceptual analyses, and experimental research about aspects of problem-
solving.

There are of course a variety of different types of problems. Some stem from puzzling observations
about the world such as the phenomenon that the scenery outside seems to move in the opposite
direction when a train stops. How do we explain this phenomenon? Others require special expertise
such as mapping a complex gene sequence, or calculating the orbit of an astronomical object. For
methodological reasons, cognitive psychologists have often focused on simple pen-and-paper puzzles
which do not require any advanced expertise (i.e., domain-specific knowledge), and can be used to
study general problem-solving strategies in laboratory conditions. An example of such a puzzle is the
cryptarithmetic problem below:

DONALD
+GERALD
ROBERT
Given that D = 5, determine the values of the other letters

Two cognitive psychologists, Newell and Simon, created a computer program called GPS (General
Problem Solver) that can solve the cryptarithmetic problem given above using means-ends analysis
(which you will learn about in the prescribed chapter of CP).

One of the key research areas in problem-solving is to understand whether thinking and problem-
solving skills can transfer across similar domains, because what appear to be different cases may turn
out to be instances of the same general problem. For example, the illusion of the scenery moving
mentioned above is related to the phenomenon of experiencing colour afterimages, which in turn is
related to the waterfall illusion discovered in 1834 by a British scientist. After shifting his gaze from a
long contemplation of a waterfall, this scientist was amazed to discover the surrounding riverbank
slowly rising! Researchers today believe that a single explanation accounts for these three seemingly
diverse puzzles. For every neuron in your brain to perceive forward motion, there are opponent
neurons programmed to perceive backward motion. Coming to a stop after a period of constant
forward motion creates an imbalance in the stimulation of these neurons. As a result, your brain
continues for a few moments to see the scenery moving, but in the opposite direction.

In Chapter 12, we will examine some of these insights and consider aspects such as the role of
knowledge, problem structure, problem content, decision rules, strategies and experience in problem
solving.

We also try to find out why popular approaches to solving problems are often inefficient or
unsuccessful, and why some people seem to be better at solving problems than others.

Experts versus novices

Psychologists and educationists are interested in finding out how domain-specific skills are acquired,
and particularly how people become knowledgeable, or experts in a domain. In the latter direction,
researchers focus on knowledge-rich contexts, and try to uncover the cognitive processes and
strategies that account for a shift from being a beginner or “novice” (somebody with little experience)
to becoming someone who is an “expert” in a domain.

Experts are generally assumed to have developed ways of thinking and reasoning effectively (in other
words, they have good problem-solving strategies). One of the key findings in Sternberg’s research is
that in most cases, it is not just general abilities such as memory and intelligence that play a role.

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However, the way in which information is organised, represented and interpreted in an environment
(i.e., the expert’s use of knowledge appears to be a crucial factor) (Sternberg, Wagner, Williams, &
Horvath, 1995). Research on the novice-expert shift is of considerable interest to educators not
because they expect all students (or school children) to become experts in fields such as physics and
computer science, but because the study of expertise gives an indication of the outcomes of successful
learning. It helps us to understand what aspects we must emphasise to facilitate the learning process.
In this study unit, we consider some of the key findings that have been accumulated about the
acquisition of expertise.

Some psychologists regard creativity and problem-solving as synonymous, but even those who draw a
distinction between these concepts would agree that some problems may be solved creatively. And
many would no doubt agree that it is possible to solve certain problems either creatively or in a routine
fashion. These creative problem-solving strategies sometimes lead to solutions that are both useful
(i.e., correct) and unusual (i.e., unique). This suggests that even though a creative solution may be
unusual, there may nevertheless be agreement about its value or correctness. Through the centuries,
scientists such as Archimedes, Einstein and Crick have found creative solutions to scientific problems
that were generally recognised by the scientific community as correct. Today the supreme problem
solvers are machines. Therefore, the most creative aspect of problem-solving may, in fact, not be
discovering solutions to problems, but finding the problems. Cognitive psychologists have recently
begun to consider the importance of problem finding, but scientists have long subscribed to the view
that finding problems is more important and more creative than solving them. Einstein and Infield (1938,
p. 8) admit this quite openly:

The formulation of a problem is often more important than its solution, which may be merely a matter of
mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a
new angle, requires imagination and makes real advances in science.

Those of you who are going to continue to master’s and doctoral level in your university studies will
experience this problem firsthand. One of the biggest difficulties encountered by postgraduate students
is to identify a suitable theme or topic, and to narrow this down to a set of research questions that can
be pursued systematically in the thesis or dissertation.

In the prescribed chapter in CP, we consider only a few rather general views of creativity, but you can
explore this area in more detail by reading Chapter 15 in the recommended book, Eysenck and Keane
(2015).

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY - BLOG ACTIVITY 3

Although they have been researching it for a long time, psychologists still do not understand the
relationship between intelligence and creativity very well. Although some people have both, others have
neither, and a great many people have a bit of both. In any case, creativity is an important aspect of a
person’s intellectual abilities. The following activity will allow you to explore either your own level of
creativity or that of some of your friends.

Within a timed period of two minutes for each example, list on the MyUnisa blog all the possible uses
of:

1. a watch
2. a paper clip

Some psychologists claim that this activity measures “inherent creative capacity”, and it has been used
in a variety of business settings. In the case of thinking of uses of a paper clip, a score of about 4 is
considered average, 8 is very good, and 12 is rare. Only about 1 in a 1 000 people can think of 16
different uses.

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SELF ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY 5

NB: Some of the following questions require you to do some additional research on the Internet, and
cannot be answered only on the basis of CP.

Activity 5.1

In CP, it is assumed that we all have a good idea of what we mean by the notion of problem-solving.
However, the notion is not that easy to pin down. Consider the act of searching for an object that was
mislaid, and eventually finding it. Is this an example of problem-solving? What exactly counts as
problem-solving and what should instead be seen as acts of perception, categorisation or reasoning?
The question is not as trivial as it may seem at first because it is not at all clear that a sharp distinction
can be drawn between these processes. So here is your task: Explain how we know what counts as an
instance of problem solving and what does not.

Activity 5.2

Give an example of a well-defined problem and an ill-defined problem. Explain why you regard the
one as well-defined and the other as ill-defined.

Activity 5.3

Here is a question that will allow you to experience the phenomenon of insight. How does one get 27
pigs into four pens with an odd number of pigs in each pen?

Activity 5.4

What are the essential characteristics of expert problem solvers? Are there any drawbacks to being
an “expert”?

Activity 5.5

The following article appeared in the Los Angeles Times on 6 January 1978.

Pair of crafty inmates melt way out of jail

SALINAS (AP) – Two crafty inmates used a length of shower pipe, a sheet, and a wall socket to melt an
unbreakable plastic window and escape from Monterey County’s new jail, officials said Wednesday.

A sheriff ’s deputy said the pair escaped Tuesday night after using a makeshift cutting torch to reduce part
of the cell window to mushy goo.

Lieutenant Ted Brown said the inmates wrapped a sheet around a piece of flattened shower pipe, wired
the contraption and plugged it into a wall socket.

The gizmo heated up, and the inmates pressed it against the window until its edge had melted away,
Brown said.

Then they snapped a leg off the cell bed, placed it into the newly burned hole, pried out the entire window,
and escaped to freedom, Brown said.

Which concepts introduced in the chapter on problem-solving in CP would you use to describe the two
inmates’ clever escape plan?

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Activity 5.6

What are some of the insights into problem-solving gained through studying computer simulations of
problem-solving? How might computer-based approaches limit the potential for understanding problem-
solving in humans?

Activity 5.7

Consider the statement: “As individuals become more expert in a domain, they switch from means-
ends analysis to working forward.” Is the statement true, or is it false, and why? (Justify your decision.)

Activity 5.8

The sheer enjoyment of the creative process and personal desire to solve a problem are examples of -
- - - -motivators.

1. intrinsic
2. extrinsic
3. global
4. local

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY

Can you solve this puzzle?

Diophantus has sometimes been called “the father of algebra” and lived around 330 A.D. We
happen to know how long he lived because the following riddle was written about him.

Diophantus’s youth lasted one-sixth of his life. He grew a beard after one-twelfth more. After one-
seventh more of his life, Diophantus married; five years later, he had a son. The son lived exactly
half as long as his father, and Diophantus died just four years after his son. How old was
Diophantus at the time of his death?

A final puzzle to test your newly acquired problem-solving skills:

One of the aims of this module is to help you to develop your own reasoning, memory, study and
problem-solving skills. With this view in mind, you should try the following puzzle taken from
Flannery (2000, p. 9). The author of the book, Susan Flannery, is an expert problem solver in her
own right because she developed a new encryption algorithm at the tender age of sixteen. While
you are trying to solve the problem, think about the processes and strategies that you are using. If
you have difficulty in solving the problem, you may have to try an alternative strategy.

The Insurance Man Puzzle: An insurance salesman knocks on the door of a house in a housing
estate. When a lady answers he asks, “How many children do you have?” She replies, “Three.” When
he asks, “What are their ages?” she decides that he is too cheeky and refuses to tell him. After he
apologises for his apparent rudeness he asks for a hint about the children’s ages. She says, “If you
multiply their three ages you get 36.” (Their ages are exact numbers.) He thinks for a while and then
asks for another hint. When she says, “the sum of their ages is the number on the house next door”,
he immediately jumps over the fence to determine this number. This done, he returns to the lady and
asks for one last hint. “All right,” she says, “the eldest plays the piano!” He then knows their ages. Do
you?

In case you are in doubt: Yes, the problem can be solved, and no, there is no trick to it. A simple
deduction should let you arrive at the answer. In line with the sadistic tendencies common among

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puzzle setters and cognitive psychologists who study problem-solving, we’re not going to give you
the solution to the problem. However, if you find that you are not making progress, we have added a
few clues at the end of the topic, which should enable you to solve it.

GLOSSARY CHECK

Briefly define the following terms in your own words and give your OWN example of each:

Alternate uses test, analogical encoding, analogical paradox, analogical problem-solving, analogical
transfer, analogy, candle problem, creative cognition, divergent thinking, expert; fixation, stereotypes,
functional fixedness, goal state, group brainstorming, in vivo problem-solving research, initial state,
insightful, intermediate states, latent inhibition (LI), means-ends analysis, mental set, mutilated
checkerboard problem, operators, pre-inventive forms problem, problem space, radiation problem,
restructuring, savant syndrome, source problem, structural features, subgoals, surface features,
target problem, think-aloud protocol, Tower of Hanoi problem, two-string problem, water jug problem

FEEDBACK ON THE SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

Activity 5.1

In cognitive psychology, problem-solving is generally defined as a goal-directed activity aimed at the

solution of a puzzling question. The solution of the question (i.e., the problem) must not be
immediately obvious, and will usually involve a series of intermediate steps. The difficulty is to
determine which intermediate steps are on the correct pathway to the solution, and to figure out how
to get to those intermediate steps.

Activity 5.2

A well-defined problem has three characteristics. It has a clearly specified solution state (for example,
get the car to start), a clearly specified beginning (for example, nothing happens when the key is
turned to start the car), and a clearly specified set of tools and techniques (for example, a battery
testing kit). Some examples of well-defined problems include finding the value of the unknown in the
equation 1/2 X + 3.5 = 13, or rearranging the letters TULBRES to form an English word.

An ill-defined problem lacks at least one of the three characteristics. Examples are: How can one be
sure that one is in love? How does one write a prize-winning novel? It is actually a simple logical
problem with a single correct answer (any three socks selected will result in at least two of the same
colour), and the example should therefore be considered a well-structured problem.

Activity 5.3

You may have noticed immediately that the problem requires that there be an odd number of pigs in
each pen, and that the sum of pigs (i.e., 27) is an odd number as well. You then probably reasoned
that these constraints would be impossible to satisfy, because if you add four odd (uneven) numbers
together, you always get an even number!

Curiously enough, the problem does have an answer but one which requires the “aha!” or insight
experience. What you do is to create three pens with nine pigs in each, and you then put these pens
inside the fourth pen! The important point to realise is that no conditions were set on the sizes of the
pens, so they need not all be the same size. Once this insight comes, the solution to the problem is
easy.

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Activity 5.4

Green and Gilhooly (1992) point out that experts can be distinguished from novices in terms of the
following five characteristics:

● Experts remember better.

● Experts employ different problem-solving strategies.
● Experts have better and more elaborated problem representations.
● Experts’ superiority is based on knowledge, not on some basic capacity.
● Experts become experts through extensive practice.

One possible drawback of expertise is that experts may suffer from functional fixedness when
confronted with tasks or problems that differ structurally from those they are accustomed to.

Activity 5.5

Creativity and insight played a role. One could also say expertise, because they were definitely expert
jailbreakers!

Activity 5.6

The computer programs that cognitive psychologists develop to simulate problem-solving embody
explicit theories about the processes (and solution strategies) that humans make use of when they
solve a particular problem. In designing such a simulation, one can test different theories about the
logical structure of the problem and the steps needed to solve the problem.

A drawback of simulation programs is that one may read too much into the successful construction of a
computer simulation. Some independent proof is needed that the computer program does indeed
simulate the cognitive processes humans make use of when they solve the problem, and that it is not
just based on a bag of tricks (artificial intelligence researchers call such tricks “kludges”) which the
programmer exploited to get the program running.

Activity 5.7

The statement is false. Expertise does lead to more analytical, algorithmic approaches to problem-
solving in which forward planning rather than the other heuristics is used. However, for most
reasonably complex domains, it is not feasible to work out a procedure from start to finish. Means-ends
analysis in which intermediate goals (i.e., subgoals) are used to progress to the solution-state of a
problem remains one of the best techniques for approaching complex problems, even by experts.

Activity 5.8

They are both intrinsic motivators because they are based on internal, subjective factors rather than
external rewards.

The answer to the riddle about Diophantus’ age:

The riddle can be solved easily using high school mathematics. We let n denote the number of years
that Diophantus lived, and we then express the given information about the unknown quantity
(Diophantus’ age) in the form of an equation involving n. Note that Diophantus’ life was made up of his
youth (1/6n), plus the time until he grew a beard (1/12n), plus the time until he married (1/7n), plus five
years until he had a son, plus half his life when his son lived (1/2n), plus four more years after his son’s

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death. So our equation is:

n = 1/6n + 1/12n + 1/7n + 5 + 1/2n + 4

We now rearrange the terms of the equation so that all the ns are on the same side.
n – 1/6n – 1/12n – 1/7n – 1/2n = 5+4
We can write this equation as n(1–1/6–1/12–1/7–1/2) = 9
which can be simplified to 3/28n = 9
Solving for n gives us the answer that Diophantus lived to the ripe old age of 84.

Clues for the insurance salesman puzzle:

1. Try to figure out how the salesman arrived at the answer.

2. Remember that even when the salesman determined the number of the house next door, he
still did not know the answer, but needed an additional clue.
3. The list of different triples which when multiplied together yield a product of 36 are:
1 6 1 6 36
1 6 2 6 18
1 6 3 6 12
16469
16666
26269
26366
36364
4. Add the numbers in each triple together and look at the resultant sums.
5. If you still don’t get it, here’s the final clue: Two of these sums are the same!

GENERAL RESOURCES

Weblinks

Insight:

Definitions and origins of the term "insight” are described: webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/insight.html

Analogical problem-solving and case-based reasoning:

Description of case-based reasoning, an artificial intelligence technique that solves problems based
on known episodes. Limitations of the technique are included:
www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/HPKB/analogic.htm

How experts differ from novices:

E-chapter describing detailed research in the area of problem-

solving:https://www.nap.edu/read/9853/chapter/5

Analogies:

Inventions inspired by nature:

https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/10-technologies-inspired-
naturesciencenordic.com/top-10-best-copies-nature-part-1

Convergent versus divergent thinking:

https://www.cleverism.com/idea-generation-divergent-vs-convergent-thinking

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Videos

Types of Problems and Problem-Solving Strategies (time 9:00):

A video (and transcript) covering different types of problems as well as problem-solving strategies,
including strategies such as algorithms, heuristics, graphic representations, and the IDEAL Strategy:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/types-of-problems-problem-solving-strategies.html

Functional Fixedness - Funny Examples (time 1:45):

Humorous examples of overcoming functional fixedness: youtu.be/ksgaup4zqz0

How to Use Experts and When Not To (time 18:15):

Experts are not always the best people to use to solve problems; as the text suggests it is sometimes
limiting and even dangerous. Noreena Hertz explores how expertise affects decision-making for us all:
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/noreena-hertz-how-to-use-experts-and-when-not-to

Divergent Thinking (time 3:07):

A short discussion of divergent thinking by Sir Ken Robinson: youtu.be/tnOnaKHZ3_k

Removing a Cork from the Bottle Trick (time 1:44):

Here is a video that led to the Odón’s device: youtu.be/uL1ovAYtKuQ

The Bridge Riddle (time 3:49): www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yDmGnA8Hw0

Die Hard 3: Jug Problem (time 1:33):

Jugs Problem from the movie Die Hard 3 including problem and solution: youtu.be/BVtQNK_ZUJg

Apps and/or software:

Tower of Hanoi ($0.99, Apple; also available free for Android):

An app that allows the user to solve the Tower of Hanoi Problem:

Apple: itunes.apple.com/us/app/tower-of-hanoi-puzzle/id426632681?mt=8

Android: https://www.mindgames.com/game/Tower+of+Hanoi

“Jugs Problem” (Free, Android):

Similar to the “jugs problem” discussed in the text, this app allows for many different variations and
values: https://www.mathsisfun.com/games/jugs-puzzle.html

Several logic games (Free): https://www.plastelina.net/

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Study Unit 6:
Judgement, Reasoning and Decision-Making
Prescribed reading

CK, Chapter 13 (Judgement, reasoning and decision-making)

Recommended reading

Eysenck, M.W. & Keane, M. (2015). Cognitive psychology: A student’s handbook (7th ed.). Psychology
Press, Chapters 13 and 14.

Matlin, M.W. & Farmer, T.A. (2017). Cognition (9th ed.). John Wiley & Son, Chapter 11.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

When you have worked through Chapter 13, you should be able to:

● describe how people make judgements and decisions about the strategies they use
● describe inductive reasoning, and identify and describe the type of errors people make in their
reasoning, judgements and decisions
● explain the conjunction rule and the male and female birth experiments
● describe the myside and confirmation bias
● discuss deductive reasoning
● describe categorical syllogism and differentiate between validity and truth in categorical
syllogisms
● discuss belief bias and the mental model approach to determining the validity of reasoning
● discuss conditional syllogism
● describe Wason’s four-card problem
● critically discuss the evolutionary approach to cognition as applied to the Wason four-card
problem
● describe the basic assumptions of the expected utility approach to decision-making
● discuss expected emotions and describe how they are related to risk aversion
● explain how incidental emotions can affect decisions
● describe what may determine risk aversion and risk taking, and how this is associated with the
framing effect
● describe what neuroeconomics is
● outline what the dual systems approach to thinking entails

KEY CONCEPTS

Availability heuristic, base rate, belief bias, categorical syllogism, choice overload, conclusion (of
syllogism), conditional syllogism, confirmation bias, conjunction rule, decisions, deductive reasoning,
dual systems approach, evolutionary perspective on cognition, expected emotion, expected utility
theory, falsification principle, filter bubble, framing effect, heuristics, illusory correlation, incidental
emotions, inductive reasoning, law of large numbers, mental model, mental model approach, myopic-
misery hypothesis, myside bias, neuroeconomics, opt-in procedure, opt-out procedure, permission
schema, premise, prospect theory, representativeness heuristic, risk aversion, risk aversion strategy,
risk-taking strategy, sadder-but-wiser hypothesis, somatic marker hypothesis, social exchange theory,

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status quo bias, stereotype; syllogism, temporal discounting, ultimatum game, utility, validity, Wason
four-card problem

ORIENTATION

Chapter 13 deals with three aspects of higher cognition, judgement, reasoning and decision-making.
These processes are usually treated in separate chapters in psychology textbooks, but Goldstein and
Van Hooff have decided to opt for the economy and have assimilated them together into a single broad
overview chapter. The chapter is, therefore, quite long, but it is important that you develop a firm grasp
of the material covered in it, because in the process, you will develop your own academic thinking skills
by learning to identify faulty argumentation and by discovering some of the general principles that
appear to play a role in human decision-making.

When you start reading the chapter, you may wonder whether a crisp distinction can be made between
judgement, decision-making and reasoning, or even between decision-making and problem-solving
(the topic of Chapter 12). It is intuitively clear that in attempting to solve a problem, one has to generate
a set of possible strategies or plans and then “decide” which one to adopt. Decision-making is,
therefore, often a stage in the problem-solving process. Moreover, in making such decisions, it is
necessary to consider, “reason about” and “judge” the costs and benefits associated with alternative
choices, so that reasoning and decision-making appear to go together. The simple truth is that there is
no neat, logical line of separation that can be drawn; they are all part of the same general cognitive
process. The distinction between decision-making and reasoning is therefore somewhat arbitrary and
derives largely from slightly different research perspectives on a broader phenomenon of human
reasoning. More specifically:

● In studying judgement and reasoning, researchers have been typically concerned with how
rational and logical people are when they draw conclusions on the basis of facts or information
that are given. This area of research is concerned with “reasoning from evidence”, and reasoning
:and judgment is explored as a logical or rational process in interpreting information, and
drawing conclusions from it. Researchers adopting this perspective typically employ systems of
logic and discrete mathematics to describe and explore human reasoning.
● In contrast, decision-making is mostly concerned with the heuristics and biases that people rely
on when they make choices of personal significance. This area of research focuses on the
process of ‘reasoning about choices”. Decision-making is sometimes called “statistical
reasoning” because when people are forced to make choices, they have to weigh different
probabilities and outcomes. Researchers employing this perspective typically make use of
probability theory (for example, Bayesian statistics) to investigate human decision-making
processes.

Decision-making has typically been studied by trying to identify the “rules of thumb” or heuristics and
strategies that people tend to make use of when they are confronted with difficult choices. In the
chapter, some important heuristics are briefly discussed. We also consider two important types of
reasoning in the chapter, deductive and inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is a logical process
in terms of which inferences are drawn from given information (called premises). It is the type of
reasoning that clever detectives, such as Sherlock Holmes, engage in when they deduce other facts
from the information available to them. Inductive reasoning involves making generalisations, inferring
general conclusions from data, and is the type of reasoning associated with hypothesis formulation in
science.

In the study unit, we consider decision-making and “judgment” (these two processes are treated as
synonyms in CP), and reasoning. The chapter starts by discussing different models that address
(amongst other things) the issue of how rational people are when they make decisions. You will notice
that different answers to this issue are provided by the classical, and subjective probability or
elimination by aspects models. We also learn about various heuristics that appear to play a role in
decision-making. Bear in mind when you read the discussion in CP that the heuristics are not really

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conscious processes. Humans are not necessarily aware that they are employing a heuristic.
Heuristics are rather explanations provided by researchers or theoreticians to account for the
strategies that humans appear to rely on (implicitly and unconsciously) during decision-making.
Please try to consult one of the recommended books, as both Eyseck and Keane (2010) and Matlin
(2017) provide very good explanations that will enhance your understanding of the research done on
decision- making.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY

The following demonstration is adapted from Matlin (2017) and requires you to explore the availability
heuristic.

Read the list of names of several friends. After you have read the list, ask them to estimate whether
there are more men or women on the list. Tell them that they must make a choice and that they are
not allowed to say that the numbers are about equal.

Grace Machel Hurbert Silby, Jr Allan Nevins

John Dickson Judith Krantz Jane Austin
Nadine Gordimer Agatha Christie Henry Crabb Robinson
Thomas McGuane Richard Watson Gilder Joseph Lincoln
Margaret Thatcher Halle Berry Emily Bronte
Frederick Rolfe Oprah Winfrey Arthur Hutchinson
Edward George Lytton Virginia Woolf James Hunt
Britney Spears Robert Lovett Julia Roberts
Michael Drayton Karin Zoid Brian Hooker
Winnie Mandela George Nathan

Notice that there are actually more names of men than women in the list, but we expect that most of
the participants in the study will estimate that there are more females, because the females’ names
are of famous people and therefore more available (in memory) to the participants.

In this study unit, we first consider the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning, which
are briefly defined and then discussed in more depth in the sections prescribed for this study unit.
Notice that deductive reasoning is described in terms of conditional reasoning and syllogistic
reasoning.

Make sure that you understand the difference between these two types of reasoning, that you can
identify the valid and invalid forms of conditional reasoning, and can distinguish between examples of
linear (logical syllogisms) and categorical syllogisms (premise illogical). Those of you with a
background in logic will know that conditional reasoning as explained in CP is only concerned with
propositional logic (just propositions “p” and “q” are involved), whereas syllogistic reasoning is an
extension to predicate logic (quantifiers such as All and Some are now also used). Note that the terms
“valid” and “invalid” as used in the case of conditional reasoning refers to the logical form (ie the
inference type, modus ponens, modus, tollens, et cetera.), and not to the actual “truth” of the
proposition. Thus, if the propositions are true (i.e., make correct statements about the world), then the
valid inference rules or “schemes” (i.e., modus ponens and modus tollens) will necessarily generate a
“true” conclusion.

However, if the propositions are false, then the conclusion will not be true even in the case of the two
valid inference schemes. To illustrate, consider the example: “If something is made of blue cheese, then
Jupiter is a balloon”. Now given “the moon is made of blue cheese”, we deduce “Jupiter is a balloon”.
Clearly, the conclusion is absurd. However, the absurdity does not stem from a problem with the
inference rule itself, but instead lies with the patently absurd (false) propositions. Finally, note also that
“invalid” does not necessarily mean “false”. The two invalid reasoning schemes (denial of the
antecedent and affirmation of the consequent) are called invalid because they do not necessarily yield

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a true conclusion even if the propositions involved are true. However, this does not mean that they
always produce false conclusions either. In fact, affirmation of the consequent is quite a useful type of
inference corresponding to hypothesis testing in science. It is often studied in cognitive science and
artificial intelligence as an example of a pattern of common sense reasoning called “abductive
reasoning”.

The description of Johnson-Laird’s theory of mental models is rather cryptic in CP. For the purpose of
this module, you only have to know what a mental model is (in other words, you must be able to define
it). Consult the recommended book by Eysenck and Keane (2015) if you want to find out more about
this approach. You will not get questions about how to use the approach in the examination.

SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY 6

NB: Some of the following questions require you to do some additional research on the Internet, and cannot
be answered only on the basis of CP.

Activity 6.1

According to the expected utility theory, the goal of human action in decision-making is the following:

1. Utilities for a given action may be predicted for all persons within a given culture.
2. In making decisions, people seek to maximise pleasure and minimise pain.
3. In making decisions, people seek to maximise their maximum gain.
4. In making decisions, people seek to maximise their minimum gain.

Activity 6.2

A gambler has lost a game in which there is a 0,5 chance of winning. In fact, she has now lost six times
and is trying to figure out her odds of winning with her next try. Taking into consideration the six previous
times she lost, her chance of winning now is - - - - -.

1. more than 50%

2. less than 50%
3. exactly 50%
4. more than 75%

Activity 6.3

What aspect of our environment so often makes decision-making difficult for people?

1. They usually try to avoid making decisions.

2. There is often a good degree of uncertainty.
3. They are too irrational.
4. They are too logical.

Activity 6.4

Suppose that people are asked to select between two AIDS vaccines: Vaccine A could be supplied to 1
000 patients seriously at risk of dying from the virus; it will be moderately effective, saving about 30% of
the patients. Vaccine B has a 0,38 probability of causing the death of the patients taking it, but there is
a 0,62 probability that they will survive and recover completely.

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Research suggests that when confronted with these choices, people will be inclined to select (a)
- - - - - because the example illustrates the (b) - - - - -.

1. (a) vaccine A (b) availability heuristic

2. (a) vaccine B (b) representative heuristic
3. (a) vaccine B (b) hindsight bias
4. (a) vaccine A (b) framing effect

Activity 6.5

When you engage in a deductive reasoning task, you - - - - -.

1. infer a generalised conclusion from premises that describe particular instances

2. gather evidence to build up a picture of the truth
3. are drawing a definite conclusion on the basis of one or more premises that are given as facts
4. make a generalisation from a series of observations

Activity 6.6

When you engage in inductive reasoning, you - - - - -.

1. determine what conclusion necessarily follows from one or more true premises
2. determine the truth of a premise given a certain conclusion
3. infer a general truth from a series of observations
4. gather evidence to build up a picture of the truth

Activity 6.7

An iguana is slower than a lizard. A lizard is slower than a python. Therefore, an iguana is slower than
a python.

The above is an example of

1. an illicit conversion
2. a categorical syllogism
3. a modus tollens inference
4. an if-then statement

Activity 6.8

Which form of reasoning is used in solving verbal analogies?

1. pragmatic
2. inductive
3. syllogistic
4. propositional

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Activity 6.9

Some arguments are given below. In each case, decide whether it is an inductive or a deductive
argument, giving reasons in support of your decision—a—,also, state whether the inductive argument is
plausible or not.

1. All human beings are rational. You are a human being. Therefore, you are rational.
2. All pigs can fly. Porky is a pig. Therefore, Porky can fly.
3. Most Algerian AIDS cases have been reported among young men in their twenties. Ahmed has
been diagnosed with AIDS. So, Ahmed is a young man in his twenties.
4. Whenever Sandy is in, Chris is out. Sometimes when Pat is in, Sandy is also in. So sometimes,
when Chris is out, Pat is in.
5. Of all the rats we have tested so far, only one has learnt to run this maze. So, the next rat we
test will not be able to run the maze.
6. At the time the stabbing was committed in Durban, Janet was attending a conference in
Johannesburg. Therefore, Janet did not commit the murder.
7. Of all the people we have questioned, you are the only person who had the opportunity to
commit the murder. Moreover, you stand to gain financially from the death. Therefore, you must
be the murderer.

Activity 6.10

Consider the following problem:

A group of women were discussing their household problems. Mrs. Jones broke the ice by saying: “I’m so
glad we’re talking about these problems. It’s so important to talk about things that are in our minds. We
spend so much time in the kitchen that, of course, household problems are in our minds. So it is important to
talk about them.”

You must decide whether Mrs Jones’ conclusion that it is important to talk about household problems
follows valid reasoning. To make things a little more difficult, you are not allowed to just state “valid” or
“invalid”; you must actually give reasons to justify your decision.

FEEDBACK ON THE SELF-ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

Activity 6.1

Alternative 2 is correct. Subjective expected utility theory assumes that decision-making is based on an
individual’s own perception about the benefits associated with a decision. The theory, therefore,
emphasises subjective rather than objective considerations. An implication of the theory is that since
decision makers focus only on subjective factors, they will attempt to maximise the personal benefits
accruing from a decision when considering the different options.

Activity 6.2

Alternative 3 is correct. The example illustrates the gambler’s fallacy, because gamblers often
incorrectly assume that if one choice has come up five times in a row in a game of chance, the next one
is now due, and one should bet on it.

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Activity 6.3

Alternative 2 is correct because decision-making involves making choices and evaluating

opportunities. Decision makers often have to make their choices in the face of uncertainty so that there is
a certain amount of risk in the decision.

Activity 6.4

Alternative 4 is correct. The example illustrates the framing effect because people will be influenced by
the higher probability associated with death when Vaccine B is given compared to Vaccine A, even
though there is a much higher recovery rate for Vaccine B than for Vaccine A.

Activity 6.5

Alternative 3 is correct. This option defines the notion of a “deduction”, which is an inference based
on facts. Note that option 4 defines the concept of an “inductive inference”.

Activity 6.6

Alternative 3 is correct. An induction is an attempt to move from the specific to the general; thus on
the basis of some observations, a generalisation is made which may or may not be true.

Activity 6.7

Alternative 2 is correct. The example illustrates a categorical syllogism because it makes a

quantitative comparison between three different categories of reptiles.

Activity 6.8

Alternative 2 is correct because analogical reasoning is a form of inductive reasoning. In analogical

reasoning, a similarity or association is “induced” between two different objects, words, events, or
statements.

Activity 6.9

1. Deductive, certain
2. Deductive, certain
3. Inductive, fairly plausible (but depends on the exact meaning of “most”)
4. Deductive, certain (despite the use of the word “sometimes”, the argument is logically certain)
5. Inductive, quite plausible (depending on the number of rats tested)
6. Deductive, certain
7. Inductive, fairly plausible (but, of course, we may not have questioned the murderer).

Activity 6.10

If one accepts the premises assumed by Mrs Shivers, the reasoning is valid. However, it is rather
circular because she is just reaffirming the premise in her conclusion and is therefore not really
making a “meaningfu” deduction.

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GLOSSARY CHECK

Briefly define the following terms in your own words and give your OWN example of each:

Availability heuristic, base rate, belief bias, categorical syllogism, choice overload, conclusion (of
syllogism), conditional syllogism, confirmation bias, conjunction rule, decisions, deductive reasoning,
dual systems approach, evolutionary perspective on cognition, expected emotion, expected utility
theory, falsification principle, filter bubble, framing effect, heuristics, illusory correlation, incidental
emotions, inductive reasoning, law of large numbers, mental model, mental model approach, myopic-
misery hypothesis, myside bias, neuroeconomics, opt-in procedure, opt-out procedure, permission
schema, premise, prospect theory, representativeness heuristic, risk aversion, risk aversion strategy,
risk-taking strategy, sadder-but-wiser hypothesis, somatic marker hypothesis, social exchange theory,
status quo bias, stereotype; syllogism, temporal discounting, ultimatum game, utility, validity, Wason
four-card problem.

GENERAL RESOURCES

Weblinks

Deduction and Induction:

The two concepts described in terms of the scientific method:

www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.htm

Varieties of deductive and inductive arguments:

Discussion of different types of deductive and inductive reasoning:

philosophy.lander.edu/logic/ded_ind.html

The availability heuristic and teacher ratings:

Links to an article on how the availability heuristic affects student evaluations of teachers:
www.sas.upenn.edu/~baron/journal/jdm06020.pdf

The representativeness heuristic and stereotypes:

A definition and demonstrations of the representativeness heuristic:

www.cog.brown.edu/courses/42/lec19.htm

Falsification principle and confirmation bias:

A demonstration and explanation regarding how scientists actively seek to falsify their hypotheses.
These principles are discussed in reference to confirmation bias:
www.devpsy.org/teaching/method/confirmation_bias.html

Economic psychology blog:

Blog that provides regular updates on the work being done in behavioural science and behavioural
economics at UCD Geary Institute and the University of Stirling Behavioural Science Centre:
economicspsychologypolicy.blogspot.nl/2013/10/lecture-summary-judgement-heuristics.html

Wason selection task:

Description and explanation of the Wason four-card selection task:

www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201205/making-sense-wason

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The following site lets you actually do the task: www.philosophyexperiments.com/wason

Videos

Bad Reasoning (time 4:15)

Scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail where they try to find out through deductive reasoning
whether someone is a witch or not. Very funny: www.youtube.com/watch?v=G40OEBuIZdM

Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning by Schmoop (time 3:00):

A light-hearted animated video that defines and compares inductive and deductive reasoning. The last
third of the video may be irrelevant as it focuses on the use of such reasoning in writing;
youtu.be/VXW5mLE5Y2g

Types of Heuristics: Availability, Representativeness & Base-Rate (time 7:05):

A light-hearted animated video exploring a variety of heuristics and how such heuristics can be both
beneficial as well as detrimental in the decision-making process:
education-portal.com/academy/lesson/heuristics.html#lesson

Which are Deadlier: Sharks or Horses? (Availability Heuristics) (time 2:08):

A look at availability heuristics and how our gut feelings are usually incorrect: youtu.be/2_wkv1Gx2vM

Confirmation Bias (time 1:34):

Do we seek the truth, or the truth we want? The video explores confirmation bias and how it can affect
our decisions: youtu.be/6xMaR8au-YU

How to Understand Syllogisms (time 3:05):

This video uses rainbow trout as an example of what a valid and true syllogism is:
youtu.be/dRCS0CSwhsg

The Wason Selection Task (time 1:02):

A quick and interactive video examines the Wason selection task:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7NE7apn-PA

Science of Persuasion (time 11:50): www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw

Irrational Decision-Making (time 19:54):

Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioural economics at Duke University, presents examples of cognitive
illusions that help illustrate why humans make predictably irrational decisions:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhjUJTw2i1M

Apps and/or software

Deal or No Deal (Free, Apple and Android)

This is an app based on the popular game show where contestants make decisions whether to accept
the offer as a “Deal” or to decide ‘No Deal” and continue on for the possibility of making more (or less)
money.

Apple: itunes.apple.com/us/app/deal-or-no-deal/id528829332?mt=8
Android: https://deal-or-no-deal.en.uptodown.com/android
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