Cognition mental action of acquiring knowledge & understanding through thoughts , senses & experience ; use of the mind cognitive processes use existing knowledge to generate new knowledge * the way you use your mind is the result of info being transmitted between brain cells. les cognitive processes (thoughts & actions ) are regulated by the brain. connection of >100 billion neurons es memory, emotions , language, perception studied seperately but intersecting Conducting Research Phenomenon-based research esguided by hypothesis, certain guess about link between variables Les effect is discovered & General Approaches to study cognition escognitive psychology follow up research to examine the nature of the effect * Popcorn * Las Kernel + popcorn, Why the heat would turn it into pop corn ? study behaviour to understand the mind el neuro science study brain, link to mind what parts of brain~ behaviour ? escomputational modeling ? AI respond to Experiments test hypothesis independent variable manipulated emotion via building & modelling the 5 deep learning mind-brain connection Cognitive Psychology of Emotion ( what you change ) Emotional Enhancement effect emotional stimuli are more easily attended to , remembered than natural stimuli Les focal memory enhancements for negative stimuli face & environment remembered less when a man is holding es tested on dependent variable Types of Cognitive Research Basic Research les goal: to understand how to perceive info, remember, reason & solve problems. for the purpose of discovering how something works , no end product . " why do I jump when I'm scared ? " " what is consciousness" Applied Research ( Human Factors) end-good to develop a solution to a problem et understanding natural changes to the mind, cognitive diseases & disorders, ways to improve cognitive processes - tool & product & goal in mind es control variables Zoom Fatigue (human factors) a gun. + a limit to how much info is processed cognitive neuroscience of emotion , limit reached earlier through 200m amygdala activity predicts memory for emotional but not neutral images 1 ) lack info from body language , social cues , eye contact 2) audio signal is out of sync 3) more distraction
History & How to study Cognition esearly days as an experimental criticism: does not account for mental processes & flexibility > overestimated explanations 2 science Structuralism & Functionalism 1 Functionalism Historical approaches to studying cognition O Structuralism r locus of the es philosophical foundations from Ancient Greece Smerry and Identify the basic elements of thought . how they combine to + no breaking down, form complex thoughts *introspection & self- report mind , sensations, with the mind works -> can't account for complex human behaviour Rationalism & Emprisism personality Wilhelm Wundt analytic approach , breaking down mind into parts identify simplest units of the mind , elements * empirical introspection * psychophysics * Epistemology: philosophical study of human knowledge - Aristotle, plato Psychophysics study basic cognitive phenomenon by linkiny sensory experiences to physical changes ex: measuring treshold for feeling the touch; smallest amount