Approaches to Cognitive Processes

Describe the Major Approaches to Understanding

Cognitive Processes

DADA Ayodele Daniel

120904036
Department of Psychology
University of Lagos

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Approaches to Cognitive Processes

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Abstract
The following report is a synopsis of the major approaches to cognitive psychology. It charts
the course of its development from the contributions of early philosophers up until the
emergence of psychology as a recognised discipline. The contributions of the various schools
of psychology are also acknowledged. The modern day approaches to cognitive psychology
are examined in the light of simultaneous developments in technology which have expanded
the discipline.
Key words: Cognition, Cognitive psychology, Mind, Psychology

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Introduction: Antecedents of Cognitive Psychology

The Philosophical Antecedents
The sprawling intellectual interests of the classical philosophers have left a handsome bequest
to all fields of academic endeavour. This is particularly true where psychology is concerned.
Cognitive psychology may very well owe its existence to the efforts of early philosophers to
identify the location of the human mind within the body, and to clearly define the substance of
which it is made. Hippocrates (460-377 BC) submitted that the brain played crucial roles in
thinking, motivation and emotion, a view which was not popular in his day due to the
importance which extant thinkers accorded the heart. Aristotle (384-322 BC), for all his
contribution to the birth of empirical methods, seemed to be convinced that his mind resided
in his thorax instead of his cranium. Those were undoubtedly early days for knowledge about
cognition as progress plodded on at a ponderous pace.
With the Renaissance came an acceleration in intellectual growth. Later philosophical
arguments with implications for cognitive psychology, centred on the mind-body problem and
a view known as dualism which was ably championed by Rene Descartes (1596-1650). He
proposed that the mind and the body were substantially different in essence. For him, the mind
and the body mutually influenced each other, a position known as Interactionism. Descartes
also belonged to the philosophical camp of Rationalism whose members extolled the virtues of
logic and reason as a route to knowledge as against empirical methods. Opposing views from
the Materialist persuasion held that only one kind of substance existed and as a result, the body
did not differ from the mind in substance. Closely allied to Materialism were the Empiricists
who could not conceive of knowledge being gained without observation of and
experimentation with tangible phenomena. Notable among them was John Locke (1632-1704)
whose refrain of Tabula rasa implied that all knowledge is learnt from experience and nothing

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is innate. These diverging views of Rationalism and Empiricism were eventually synthesised
by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) thus setting the stage for the birth of psychology as a discipline.

The Psychological Antecedents

It is no accident that the acclaimed father of the discipline of psychology began his experiments
in the cognitive domain. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) tried to sift the contents of the murky
waters of consciousness using the method of introspection in an attempt to answer some old
questions about the human mind. Although a few assumptions of his method were flawed from
inception, Wundts contribution elevated psychology to the stature of a science owing to his
preference for experimental methods. Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) and his work on
memory, would further attempt to understand the human mental repository using experiments.
Popularly known for nonsense syllables and the forgetting curve, Ebbinghaus would inspire
later research on memory, which is a crucial part of cognitive psychology. The Behaviourists
like Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949), John Broadus Watson
(1878-1958) and Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990), established much of what we know
about simple and associative learning today despite their dim view of the concept of
consciousness. Albert Bandura also contributed some ground-breaking insights into social
learning and modelling with the classic Bobo doll experiment. Pioneers in psychobiology of
the stature of Karl Spencer Lashley (1890-1958) challenged radical behaviourism by citing the
dynamism of the human brain in cognitive processes as against the passivity of this organ
proposed by behaviourism. Perception seemed to be the purview of Gestaltists such as Max
Wertheimer (1880-1943) and Wolfgang Kohler (1887-1967) who came up with the laws of
perceptual organisation while reminding us that the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

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These contributions from the early schools of psychology set the stage for the cognitive
revolution which served as a springboard for the exponential growth of cognitive psychology.

Cognitive Psychology and the Four Major Approaches

The subject matter of cognitive psychology as well as the approaches, have undergone
significant evolution with time. Simply put, cognitive psychology is the study of how people
learn, structure, store, and use knowledge. It investigates the mental processes by which the
sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered and used (Neisser, 1967,
pp. 4-5). Sternberg defined it as the study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think
about information (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2012). It is concerned with processes such as
attention, perception, learning, memory, reasoning, problem solving and thinking.

The

approaches to cognitive psychology are usually differentiated by their emphasis on either the
brain or behaviour as the focus for research. Cognitive psychology is also a multidisciplinary
field which cuts across the likes of psychobiology, linguistics, anthropology, computer sciences
and artificial intelligence. The contributions of these fields have strengthened the foundation
of cognitive psychology.
Today, four modern approaches to cognitive psychology exist. Each will be considered in turn.

Experimental cognitive psychology

This is one of the earliest approaches to cognitive psychology. It entails the use of experiments
which study the behaviour of participants engaged in a cognitive task. A key assumption of
this approach is that an independent variable such as a stimulus can be manipulated. This

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manipulation would activate or set in motion certain cognitive processes which would
eventually culminate in certain measurable behaviours. The initial assumption by researchers
using this approach was that humans could only handle one process at a time. This is known
as serial processing. Reality suggests that many well learned processes run simultaneously due
to parallel processing, or cascade processing which is a form of parallel processing in which
one process starts and others begin shortly afterward while the previous ones are still running.
For example, experienced drivers can hold conversations while driving. The implication of
parallel processing for experimental cognitive psychology is that other cognitive processes may
be active while experiments are being conducted which focus on a single behaviour. Some
processes may not result in any behaviour but that does not mean they are not in operation and
they may even enhance or affect the performance of the target behaviour. This is known as the
task impurity problem.
Experiments in cognitive psychology like most other experiments are high in internal validity
such that in spite of task impurity, we are still able to establish cause-effect relationships. As
a consequence, these experiments lack adequate ecological validity because of the artificiality
of the laboratory and because the extraneous variables controlled or eliminated under
experimental conditions actually operate unfettered in the real world.

For example, an

experiment requiring the memorisation of nonsense syllables may lack relevance in daily life
since the things worth memorising (e.g. a grocery list or items for a class quiz) are usually
meaningful and meaningfulness enhances recall.
Most experiments in this approach are tests of speed or time spent completing a task, and
accuracy or number of hits or misses. These measures only provide indirect evidence for the
underlying cognitive processes which inspired the research. It then becomes apparent that a
fuller understanding of human cognition will not be best achieved by adopting only the
experimental approach. This led researchers to consider some alternatives.

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Cognitive neuroscience
Due to the insufficiency of behaviour alone in accounting for many aspects of cognition, other
methods which involve looking directly at the brain became necessary. The history of
cognitive neuroscience dates back to the 19th century and the pioneering efforts of people like
Paul Broca (1824-1880) and Korbinian Brodmann (1868-1918). Broca was the first to identify
the region in the frontal lobe which is responsible for speech production. Today, that region
of the brain is known as Brocas area in his honour although he is regarded as a greater
contributor to the approach of cognitive neuropsychology. Brodmann however, undertook a
comprehensive mapping of the regions of the brain into functionally distinct regions which
make up what is now known as the Brodmann areas numbering 1 to 47. Most of these early
studies were carried out on human cadavers post mortem which was one of the methods initially
employed in cognitive neuroscience. Therein lies one of several areas of overlap between
cognitive neuroscience and cognitive neuropsychology.
Today cognitive neuroscience is almost entirely composed of in vivo studies which are
predominantly neuroimaging and electrical recordings of brain activity in both healthy and
diseased subjects. Cognitive neuroscience is a fairly young approach because the technology
required to view both static and functional images of the human brain arrived on the scene quite
recently.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which is the method of choice here was

developed in the 1970s and 1980s. The use of electromagnetic radiation to monitor the activity
of the brain has permitted researchers to match a particular brain region to a specific cognitive
task. Since the methods used are widely non-invasive, a broad spectrum of research subjects
can be examined.
Single unit recordings and the measurement of event related potentials (ERPs) using
electroencephalography (EEG), have also enabled closer observations and comparisons

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between what happens in the brain during states of relative inactivity as against periods of task
performance. Usually, an imaging or recording method recommends itself for use based on
either its spatial resolution (clear identification of active brain areas) or temporal resolution
(accurate indication of the time course of brain activity). In simple terms, spatial resolution is
concerned with the where while temporal resolution focuses on the when of brain activity.
Single unit recordings and ERPs have adequate to excellent temporal resolution but very low
spatial resolution since they provide information about single neurons. However, functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has both excellent spatial and temporal resolution.
One reason why imaging techniques will continue to be popular among cognitive scientists is
the opportunity it affords researchers to manipulate independent variables and observe the
contiguous activity of brain regions in real time. With repeated exposure of a subject to a
particular stimulus, researchers are able to observe the corresponding brain activity.
Eventually, researchers may only need to observe the patterns of brain activity and be able to
predict the stimulus presented to the subject to an accuracy ranging from 72% to 92% (Kay,
Naselaris, Prenger & Gallant, 2008). However, seasoned scientists have warned that the
association between some cognitive functions and brain activity is not causal but merely
correlational. The given cognitive task may still be performed with activation in other areas of
the brain if the subject chooses to adopt a different strategy in task execution. No definite brain
region has the monopoly of responsibility for any behaviour. Karl Lashleys principle of
equipotentiality asserts that all regions of the brain are equally capable of serving other
functions especially in situations of brain damage. The contribution of studies conducted on
brain damaged subjects to the field of cognitive psychology is the main thrust of the next
approach.

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Cognitive neuropsychology
It is abundantly obvious that it is unethical to experiment on the brain of a healthy human
subject. Due to the vagaries of circumstance however, some people contract diseases or sustain
head injuries which later result in brain damage. These people eventually contribute to
cognitive psychology by providing insights into brain function when their behavioural deficits
are compared with the damaged regions of their brains. This is the subtractivity assumption of
neuropsychology which affirms that damage to the brain impairs existing functional areas
without adding anything new to compensate for the damage. Cognitive neuropsychology seeks
to discover and demystify the complex human brain by studying ones that have some
malfunction.
Sometimes, neuropsychologists may need to control the damage in the brain of an organism.
This is accomplished through comparative methods in which the researcher creates lesions in
the brains of organisms whose nervous systems are analogous to that of humans. When
research focuses only on human subjects, cognitive neuropsychologists make the assumption
of uniformity of functional architecture. What this assumption means is that peoples brains
function similarly so that the same brain region serves the same function in different
individuals.

Findings from a case study of a brain damaged individual would not be

generalisable otherwise.
Another assumption of this approach is that the cognitive system is composed of modules. A
module is a processing system within the cognitive system which operates independently and
exhibits domain specificity. For example, the visual system in humans begins when transduced
visual stimuli enter the brain through the optic nerve, decussate in the optic chiasm, advance to
the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus and eventually project on the visual cortex in the
occipital lobe. These brain regions in the visual system interface with the modules for different

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types of visual stimuli. An example is the fusiform gyrus located between the temporal and
parietal lobe of the cortex, which is responsible for recognition of faces. This gyrus is not part
of the visual system but it is crucial for face recognition. Facial recognition is thus a module
within the cognitive system which responds to only one kind of visual stimuli; this is known
as domain specificity.
The reality of modularity in cognitive neuropsychology is that brain damage or disease does
not affect modules with precision.

Damage may cut across several modules further

complicating any attempts to understand what roles the malfunctioning brain regions serve.
Although certain regions of the cortex are usually associated with some deficits in function, it
has been observed that people who suffer these deficits eventually develop compensatory
strategies to live with their problems. This hides the impairment in cognitive performance
normally associated with their brain damage.

One reason for this is that cognitive

neuropsychology assumes that cognitive processes occur in a serial manner. As a model of

cognition, serial processing falls short of representing the facts. The interconnectedness of
brain neurons makes it necessary to formulate better models of cognitive processes. This is the
concern of the next approach.

Computational cognitive science

The 20th century can best be described as the age of computers because of the rate at which
this technology overwhelmed the globe. From everyday applications like calculators and word
processors to operations in the military and space exploration, computers have invaded our
lives irrevocably. The cognitive sciences have been greatly impacted by this phenomenon
because the function of computers is actually analogous to the working of the human mind
(Neisser 1967). According to Matlin, the computational view of the mind is the dominant

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metaphor in contemporary cognitive psychology (Matlin, 1989). The computational models

used in this approach are advancements of the mathematical models once used within
experimental cognitive psychology. Computational models of human cognition are entirely
different from artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is results oriented and will employ
whatever efficient means exist to deliver highly intelligent machine performance even if human
cognitive processes do not use such means. Computational models are however interested in
creating programs which process information as similarly to humans as is possible. The only
thing they both have in common is that in either case, information is represented symbolically
so as to permit logical operations. This assumption is very much a part of several theories of
cognitive development. Computational models have the advantage of being able to predict
behaviour in many different situations when the input variables are entered and the simulation
is run. Among the profusion of such models, two major types exist namely: the production
systems and the connectionist networks.
Production systems are composed of numerous condition-actions known as IFTHEN rules.
These rules are logical conditions specifying or triggering a particular action if a previous
condition is satisfied. For example, IF the baby cries THEN feed it. The system also includes
working memory and long-term memory. The working memory processes environmental
stimuli searching for IF conditions which match existing rules residing in the long-term
memory. When such a match exists, the action could be triggered. Occasionally, some rules
may have conditions capable of causing a conflict. A resolution strategy emerges when the
system considers all possible actions in response to the triggering condition and then selects
one as the best option.
Connectionist networks are also known as parallel distributed processing (PDP) models. They
are composed of nodes which are logically linked to each other. A node is a computational
analogue of a neuron. As signals pass through the model, some nodes excite other nodes while

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some serve an inhibitory role. Nodes take a value equivalent to all input links connected to it,
some of which may be excitatory or inhibitory. Once a certain threshold value is reached, a
node delivers an output to the next node linked to it while that node receives the output as an
input. A key strength of this approach is that signals can be propagated backward through the
network so that the system or model can learn how to achieve desired responses without being
instructed to do so explicitly. This is similar to the human ability to learn from experience and
neural networks are a popular aspect of artificially intelligent systems. Another advantage is
that information is stored in a distributed manner within the whole system.
Computational models have helped cognitive psychology by emphasising the parallel
processing inherent in the human cognitive system. The obvious disadvantage is that the
physiological and affective variables which constrain the human brain are not part of the model.
Rather, extraneous variables such as the power of the computer running the simulation would
weigh in more significantly. Nevertheless, cognitive psychology is greatly enriched by this
approach.

Conclusion: A Case for Synergy

The principles of converging operations and aggregation have been a staple of most scientific
fields. A multi-method strategy to carrying out research has always paid dividends. This is no
different in cognitive psychology. It is mundane to ask which approach is most useful. We
would rather want to find out what we gain by using one approach since the strengths of one
are the weaknesses of another and vice versa. The rationale for true eclecticism is even more
attractive today when innovation is much more the norm than the exception. As approaches to
cognitive psychology proliferate, the human mind will cease to be the enigma it once was.

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