MODULE 1

THE COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

During the 1960s, a new perspective known as cognitive psychology began to take hold. This
area of psychology focuses on mental processes such as memory, thinking, problem-solving,
language, and decision-making. Influenced by psychologists such as Jean Piaget and Albert
Bandura, this perspective has grown tremendously in recent decades.
Cognitive psychologists often utilize an information-processing model, comparing the human
mind to a computer, to conceptualize how information is acquired, processed, stored, and
utilized.
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of the mind as an information processor.
Cognitive psychologists try to build up cognitive models of the information processing that
goes on inside people’s minds, including perception, attention, language, memory, thinking,
and consciousness.
Basic Assumptions
 Cognitive psychology is a pure science, based mainly on laboratory experiments.
 Behavior can be largely explained in terms of how the mind operates, i.e., the
information processing approach.
 The mind works in a way similar to a computer: inputting, storing and retrieving data.
 Mediational processes occur between stimulus and response.
Strengths
 One strength of the cognitive approach is it has always employed highly
controlled and rigorous methods of study in order to enable researchers to
infer cognitive processes at work.
 This has involved the use of lab experiments to produce reliable, objective
data.
 The cognitive approach is probably the most dominant approach in
psychology today and has been applied to a wide range of practical and
theoretical contexts.
 Combines easily with approaches: e.g. Behaviorism + cognitive psychology =
social learning theory; biology + cognitive psychology = evolutionary
psychology.
Limitations
 Cognitive psychology has a narrow focus on mental processes.
 For example, the use of the computer analogy means that information
processing researchers focus mostly on the logical aspects of cognitive
processing and less on the emotional, creative and social aspects that also
affect thinking
 Cognitive psychology has often relied on comparisons with how computers
work as a possible way the mind might work. Is this really how the brain
works?
 The brain is infinitely more powerful and flexible than the most advanced
computer.
 Machine Reductionism
History
 Cognitive psychology in its modern form incorporates a remarkable set of new
technologies in psychological science. Although published inquiries of human
cognition can be traced back to Aristotle’s ‘’De Memoria’’ (Hothersall, 1984), the
intellectual origins of cognitive psychology began with cognitive approaches to
psychological problems at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s in the works of
Wundt, Cattell, and William James (Boring, 1950).
 Cognitive psychology declined in the first half of the 20th century with the rise of
“behaviorism" –- the study of laws relating observable behavior to objective,
observable stimulus conditions without any recourse to internal mental processes
(Watson, 1913; Boring, 1950; Skinner, 1950). It was this last requirement,
fundamental to cognitive psychology, that was one of behaviorism's undoings. For
example, lack of understanding of the internal mental processes led to no distinction
between memory and performance and failed to account for complex learning
(Tinklepaugh, 1928; Chomsky, 1959). These issue led to the decline of behaviorism
as the dominant branch of scientific psychology and to the “Cognitive Revolution”.
 The Cognitive Revolution began in the mid-1950s when researchers in several fields
began to develop theories of mind based on complex representations and
computational procedures (Miller, 1956; Broadbent, 1958; Chomsky, 1959; Newell,
Shaw, & Simon, 1958). Cognitive psychology became predominant in the 1960s
(Tulving, 1962; Sperling, 1960). Its resurgence is perhaps best marked by the
publication of Ulric Neisser’s book, ‘’Cognitive Psychology’’, in 1967. Since 1970,
more than sixty universities in North America and Europe have established cognitive
psychology programs.
Study of physiology of cognition
Two physiological techniques dominated early physiological research on the mind.
 Neuropsychology, the study of the behavior of people with brain damage, had been
providing insights into the functioning of different parts of the brain since the 1800s.
 Electrophysiology, measuring electrical responses of the nervous system, made it
possible to listen to the activity of single neurons. Most electrophysiology research
was done on animals.
 Brain imaging: But perhaps the most significant physiological advance wasn’t to
come until a decade after Neisser’s book, when the technique of brain imaging was
introduced.
 A procedure called positron emission tomography (PET), which was introduced in
1976, made it possible to see which areas of the human brain are activated during
cognitive activity
 A disadvantage of this technique was that it was expensive and involved injecting
radioactive tracers into a person’s bloodstream.
Information processing approach
 Information processing theory is an approach to cognitive development studies that
aims to explain how information is encoded into memory. It is based on the idea that
humans do not merely respond to stimuli from the environment. Instead, humans
 process the information they receive. While experts believe that the brain’s
mechanisms and functions are relatively simple, the magnitude and scope of neural
networks and their behaviors are quite powerful as a whole (Wang, Liu, &
Wang, 2003).
 These include how the brain processes information. Information processing theory not
only explains how information is captured, but how it is stored and retrieved as well
(Çeliköz, Erişen, & Şahin, 2019). The process begins with receiving input, also called
stimulus, from the environment using various senses. The input is then described and
stored in the memory, which is retrieved when needed. The mind or the brain is
likened to a computer that is capable of analyzing information from the environment.
 Consequently, information processing affects a person’s behavior (Hann, Hui, Lee, &
Png, 2007). In the expectancy theory of motivation, an individual processes
information about behavior-outcome relationships. Then, they can form expectations
based on the information and make decisions.
Elements of Information Processing Theory
While major models of information processing theory vary, they are mostly composed of
three main elements (Çeliköz, Erişen, & Şahin, 2019):
 Information stores – The different places in the mind where information is stored,
such as sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory, semantic memory,
episodic memory, and more.
 Cognitive processes – The various processes that transfer memory among different
memory stores. Some of the processes include perception, coding, recording,
chunking, and retrieval.
 Executive cognition – The awareness of the individual of the way information is
processed within him or her. It also pertains to knowing their strengths and
weaknesses. This is very similar to metacognition.
Ecological approach

 The branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to
their physical surroundings. The central tenet of this approach is that cognition does
not occur in isolation from larger cultural contexts; all cognitive activities are shaped
by the culture and by the context in which they occur.

 Jean Lave, a current theorist in this tradition, has conducted some fascinating work
that illustrates the ecological approach.
 We can see the influences of both the functionalist and the Gestalt schools on the
ecological approach. The functionalists focused on the purposes served by cognitive
processes, certainly an ecological question.
 Gestalt psychology’s emphasis on the context surrounding any experience is likewise
compatible with the ecological approach. The ecological approach would deny the
usefulness (and perhaps even the possibility) of studying cognitive phenomena in
artificial circumstances divorced from larger contexts. Thus this tradition relies less
on laboratory experiments or computer simulations and more on naturalistic
observation and field studies to explore cognition.

MODULE-2

Attention is a selective mental process in which the person by adopting certain bodily posture
is set to bring stimuli into focus of consciousness.

 Attention has the property of fluctuation and shifting

i. Fluctuation - Give attention to different aspects of same stimulus. For Example:

Unknown Person

ii. Shifting of attention - When attention shift from one stimulus to another

 Division in attention – Division of attention would mean a simultaneous focussing

upon two separate activities.
Characteristic of attention

Attention is a selective mental process:

For example: Teacher teaching in a class

 Attention involve bodily adjustment

 Attention involve the state of readiness or responsiveness

 Attention has limited span or range – 7-9 Colour dot

Types of attention

 Involuntary Attention: This type of attention does not involve any role of will; instead
it is aroused either by instincts and hence called enforced attention or is produced by
our sentiments and therefore called as spontaneous Involuntary attention. For
example, though the student is listening to a lecture with all interest, some loud sound
outside the classroom may draw his attention towards it.

 Voluntary Attention: Voluntary attention exercises the will and demands our
conscious effort for arriving at a solution or achieving certain goals. Examples of
Voluntary attention could be paying attention while solving maths problem or
attention focused on while answering examination questions.

 Divided attention could be defined as our brain's ability to attend to two different
stimuli at the same time and respond to the multiple demands of your surroundings.
Divided attention is a type of simultaneous attention that allows us to process
different information sources and successfully carry out multiple tasks at a time. This
cognitive skills is very important, as it allows us to be more efficient in our day-to-day
lives.

 Sustained attention is the ability to focus on an activity or stimulus over a long period
of time. It is what makes it possible to concentrate on an activity for as long as it takes
to finish, even if there are other distracting stimuli present. Sustained attention is
usually divided into vigilance (detecting the appearance of a stimulus) and
concentration (focusing on the stimulus or activity).

 Selective Attention: In this case, the listener chooses to pay attention to only a
specific stimulus which is present in the environment while ignoring the other stimuli.
This kind of attention does not depend on the stimulus but depends essentially on the
attentive capabilities of an observer.

 Alternating Attention: Though this attention can be closely related to divided

attention, but is different as in case of divided attention we split our attention between
two tasks, while in case of alternating attention, the entire attention is shifted from one
task to another.
  Visual Attention: Visual attention makes use of the sensory organ eyes for paying
attention to certain details. Visual attention pays attention to the details or inputs
which are received by the eyes only and blurs out all the other stimuli which is present
in the environment. Visual attention is put to use in case of advertising and reading.

 Auditory Attention: This form of attention pays attention only to the sense of hearing
only. Paying attention to an important announcement can be an example of auditory
attention. Auditory and visual attention both function in conjunction with each other.

Theories of attention

Neisser model

 In his influential book Cognitive Psychology (1967), Ulric Neisser argued against the
whole idea of a filter for attention. It was too passive, suggesting the cognitive system
received information without seeking it out.

 If we view the thought process as goal-oriented, attention is a construction aimed at

accomplishing a purpose. Selective attention results from what we seek, not from
what we fail to filter out. Neisser called his proposal analysis by synthesis.

 Neisser explained the analysis by synthesis model with an analogy. If we see a man
picking apples in an orchard, we assume his activity is determined by what he is
seeking (ripe apples) not by what he is filtering out or choosing not to select (unripe
apples, twigs, bugs).

 We make this assumption because we recognize that apple picking is goaldirected

activity. If attention is also seen as a goal-directed activity, then the problem of
selective attention is the problem of explaining what is included, not what is left out.

 We make this assumption because we recognize that apple picking is goal directed
activity. If attention is also seen as a goal-directed activity, then the problem of
selective attention is the problem of explaining what is included, not what is left out.

 Neisser (1967) outlined a two-process theory that made attention (and hence
consciousness) a matter of degree.

 According to Neisser’s theory, both properties of the stimuli as well as semantic

factors, play a role in attention.

 Neisser argues for a constructive view of cognition in which perception is shaped by

existing knowledge and hence attention is influenced by experience.

Broadbent bottleneck theory

  This limited capacity for paying attention has been conceptualized as a bottleneck,
which restricts the flow of information. The narrower the bottleneck, the lower the
rate of flow.

 Broadbent (1958) proposed that physical characteristics of messages are used to select
one message for further processing and that all others are lost. Information from all of
the stimuli presented at any given time enters an unlimited capacity sensory buffer.
One of the inputs is then selected on the basis of its physical characteristics for further
processing by being allowed to pass through a filter.

 Because we have only a limited capacity to process information, this filter is designed
to prevent the information-processing system from becoming overloaded.

 The inputs not initially selected by the filter remain briefly in the sensory buffer store,
and if they are not processed they decay rapidly. Broadbent assumed that the filter
rejected the unattended message at an early stage of processing.

 According to Broadbent the meaning of any of the messages is not taken into account
at all by the filter. All semantic processing is carried out after the filter has selected
the message to pay attention to. So whichever message(s) restricted by the bottleneck
(i.e. not selective) is not understood.

Evaluation of Broadbent's Model

1. Broadbent's dichotic listening experiments have been criticized because The

early studies all used people who were unfamiliar with shadowing and so
found it very difficult and demanding.

2. Broadbent's theory predicts that hearing your name when you are not paying
attention should be impossible because unattended messages are filtered out
before you process the meaning - thus the model cannot account for the
'Cocktail Party Phenomenon'.

Treisman's Attenuation Model

 Treisman (1964) agrees with Broadbent's theory of an early bottleneck filter.

However, the difference is that Treisman's filter attenuates rather than eliminates the
unattended material.

 Attenuation is like turning down the volume so that if you have 4 sources of sound in
one room (TV, radio, people talking, baby crying) you can turn down or attenuate 3 in
order to attend to the fourth. This means that people can still process the meaning of
the attended message(s).

 In her experiments, Treisman demonstrated that participants were still able to identify
the contents of an unattended message, indicating that they were able to process the
meaning of both the attended and unattended messages.
  Clearly, then, the unattended message was being processed for meaning and
Broadbent's Filter Model, where the filter extracted on the basis of physical
characteristics only, could not explain these findings. The evidence suggests that
Broadbent's Filter Model is not adequate, it does not allow for meaning being taken
into account.

Evaluation of Treisman's Model

1. Treisman's Model overcomes some of the problems associated with Broadbent's Filter
Model, e.g. the Attenuation Model can account for the 'Cocktail Party Syndrome'.

2. Treisman's model does not explain how exactly semantic analysis works.

3. The nature of the attenuation process has never been precisely specified.

4. A problem with all dichotic listening experiments is that you can never be sure that the
participants have not actually switched attention to the so called unattended channel.

MODULE-3

Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. It also includes what
is known as proprioception, a set of senses involving the ability to detect changes in body
positions and movements. It also involves the cognitive processes required to process
information, such as recognizing the face of a friend or detecting a familiar scent.

Types of Perception

Some of the main types of perception include:

 Vision
 Touch
 Sound
 Taste
 Smell

There are also other senses that allow us to perceive things such as balance, time, body
position, acceleration, and the perception of internal states.

Perceptual learning & development

 perceptual learning, process by which the ability of sensory systems to respond to

stimuli is improved through experience. Perceptual learning occurs through sensory
interaction with the environment as well as through practice in performing specific
sensory tasks. The changes that take place in sensory and perceptual systems as a
result of perceptual learning occur at the levels of behaviour and physiology.
Examples of perceptual learning include developing an ability to distinguish between
different odours or musical pitches and an ability to discriminate between different
shades of colours.
  Perceptual development refers to how children start taking in, interpreting, and
understanding sensory input.1 Perception allows children to adapt and interact with
their environment through the use of their senses. Children are born with the ability to
see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. While these senses are not fully developed by birth,
they quickly improve in the first few months of life. For example, a newborn’s vision
is limited to eight to 12 inches.2

 In a few short months, their vision has greatly improved as children can see objects
from the other side of the room, and make out patterns and colors.3 Children can hear
sounds even before birth, and as infants they begin to distinguish among these sounds.
The ability to do this directly influences children’s language development.

 Perceptual development is closely linked to physical development because children’s

growing motor abilities allow them to explore their environments in new ways.
Children can use their mobility to reach for objects, or play with objects in different
ways.

 As they get older, they will be able to use sensory input to change an action or
behavior. For example, children may be able to perceive how to move their body
around obstacles, or know how to hold in their hands objects that they perceive to be
fragile. Children learn about their world by engaging their senses with their
surroundings. This is why appropriately stimulating environments and meaningful
engagement and interactions are encouraged for young children.
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology is a school of thought that looks at the human mind and behavior as a
whole. When trying to make sense of the world around us, Gestalt psychology suggests that
we do not simply focus on every small component. Instead, our minds tend to perceive
objects as part of a greater whole and as elements of more complex systems.
This school of psychology played a major role in the modern development of the study of
human sensation and perception. Gestalt is a German word that roughly means
"configuration," or the way things are put together to form a whole object. A core belief in
Gestalt psychology is holism, or that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Laws of perception
Gestalt psychology helped introduce the idea that human perception is not just about seeing
what is actually present in the world around us; it is heavily influenced by our motivations
and expectations.
Wertheimer created principles to explain how Gestalt perception functions. Some of the most
important principles of Gestalt theory are:
 Prägnanz: This foundational principle states that you will naturally perceive things in
their simplest form or organization.
 Similarity: This principle suggests that we naturally group similar items together
based on elements like color, size, or orientation.
 Proximity: The principle of proximity states that objects near each other tend to be
viewed as a group.
  Continuity: According to this principle, we will perceive elements arranged on a line
or curve as related to each other, while elements that are not on the line or curve are
seen as separate.
 Closure: This suggests that elements that form a closed object will be perceived as a
group. We will even fill in missing information to create closure and make sense of an
object.
 Common region: This principle states that we tend to group objects together if they're
located in the same bounded area. (For example, objects inside a box tend to be
considered a group.)
MODULE-4
Meaning and Nature:
Learning is a key process in human behaviour. All living is learning. If we compare the
simple, crude ways in which a child feels and behaves, with the complex modes of adult
behaviour, his skills, habits, thought, sentiments and the like- we will know what difference
learning has made to the individual.
Learning is defined as “any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result
of practice and experience”. This definition has three important elements.
a. Learning is a change in behaviour—better or worse.
b. It is a change that takes place through practice or experience, but changes due to growth or
maturation are not learning.
c. This change in behaviour must be relatively permanent, and it must last a fairly long time.
theories of learning
Classical Conditioning
The concept of classical conditioning has had a major influence on the field of psychology,
yet the man who discovered it was not a psychologist at all. A Russian physiologist named
Ivan Pavlov first discovered the principles of classical conditioning during his experiments on
the digestive systems of dogs. Pavlov noticed that the dogs in his experiments had begun to
salivate whenever they saw the white coats of his lab assistants prior to being fed.
According to the principles of classical conditioning, learning takes place when an
association is formed between a previously neutral stimulus and a naturally occurring
stimulus. In Pavlov’s experiments, for example, he paired the natural stimulus of food with
the sound of a bell. The dogs would naturally salivate in response to food, but after multiple
associations, the dogs would salivate to the sound of the bell alone.
Key principles
 Acquisition- Acquisition is the initial stage of learning when a response is first
established and gradually strengthened.5 During the acquisition phase of classical
conditioning, a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
  Extinction- Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned response decrease or
disappear. In classical conditioning, this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no
longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
 Spontaneous Recovery- Sometimes a learned response can suddenly reemerge even
after a period of extinction. Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of the
conditioned response after a rest period or period of lessened response.
 Stimulus Generalization- Stimulus generalization is the tendency for the conditioned
stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned.8 For
example, if a dog has been conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, the animal
may also exhibit the same response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned
stimulus.
 Stimulus Discrimination- Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a
conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an
unconditioned stimulus.
Operant conditioning
Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence
(whether negative or positive) for that behavior. Operant conditioning was first described by
the behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner. It is sometimes also referred to as Skinnerian
conditioning and instrumental conditioning. Skinner believed that classical conditioning
simply could not account for all types of learning and was instead more interested in learning
how the consequences of actions influence behaviors.
Like classical conditioning, operant conditioning relies on forming associations. In operant
conditioning, however, associations are made between a behavior and the consequences of
that behavior. When a behavior leads to a desirable consequence, it becomes more likely that
the behavior will be repeated again in the future. If the actions lead to a negative outcome,
however, then the behavior then becomes less likely to occur.

Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning

Reinforcement is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows. There are
two kinds of reinforcers. In both of these cases of reinforcement, the behavior increases.

 Positive reinforcers are favorable events or outcomes that are presented after the
behavior. In positive reinforcement situations, a response or behavior is strengthened
by the addition of praise or a direct reward.

 Negative reinforcers involve the removal of an unfavorable events or outcomes after

the display of a behavior. In these situations, a response is strengthened by the
removal of something considered unpleasant.

Punishment in Operant Conditioning

Punishment is the presentation of an adverse event or outcome that causes a decrease in the
behavior it follows. There are two kinds of punishment. In both of these cases, the behavior
decreases.
  Positive punishment, sometimes referred to as punishment by application, presents an
unfavorable event or outcome in order to weaken the response it follows. Spanking
for misbehavior is an example of punishment by application.

 Negative punishment, also known as punishment by removal, occurs when a

favorable event or outcome is removed after a behavior occurs.

Reinforcement schedules

Skinner identified several different schedules of reinforcement that impact the operant
conditioning process:

 Continuous reinforcement involves delivering a reinforcement every time a response

occurs. Learning tends to occur relatively quickly, yet the response rate is quite low.
Extinction also occurs very quickly once reinforcement is halted.

 Fixed-ratio schedules are a type of partial reinforcement. Responses are reinforced

only after a specific number of responses have occurred. This typically leads to a
fairly steady response rate.

 Fixed-interval schedules are another form of partial reinforcement. Reinforcement

occurs only after a certain interval of time has elapsed. Response rates remain fairly
steady and start to increase as the reinforcement time draws near, but slow
immediately after the reinforcement has been delivered.

 Variable-ratio schedules are also a type of partial reinforcement that involve

reinforcing behavior after a varied number of responses. This leads to both a high
response rate and slow extinction rates.

 Variable-interval schedules are the final form of partial reinforcement Skinner

described. This schedule involves delivering reinforcement after a variable amount of
time has elapsed.

Observational learning

 Albert Bandura believed that associations and direct reinforcements simply could not
account for all learning. "Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention
hazardous if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform
them what to do," he famously wrote in his 1977 book Social Learning Theory.

 Instead, he proposed that much of learning takes place through observation. Children
observe the actions of those around them, particularly caregivers and siblings, and
then imitate these behaviors. In his well-known Bobo doll experiment, Bandura
revealed just how easily children could be led to imitate even negative actions.
Children who watched a video of an adult beating up a large inflatable doll were then
much more likely to copy those same actions when given a chance.

 Perhaps most importantly, Bandura noted that learning something does not
necessarily result in a change in behavior. Children frequently learning new things
 through observation, but might not engage in such behaviors themselves until there is
actually a need or motivation to utilize the information.

In cognitive learning, there is a change in what the learner knows rather than what s/he does.
This form of learning shows up in insight learning and latent learning.

Insight Learning

Kohler demonstrated a model of learning which could not be readily explained by

conditioning. He performed a series of experiments with chimpanzees that involved solving
complex problems. Kohler placed chimpanzees in an enclosed play area where food was kept
out of their reach. Tools such as poles and boxes were placed in the enclosure. The
chimpanzees rapidly learned how to use a box to stand on or a pole to move the food in their
direction. In this experiment, learning did not occur as a result of trial and error and
reinforcement, but came about in sudden flashes of insight.

The chimpanzee exhibited what Kohler called insight learning – the process by which the
solution to a problem suddenly becomes clear. In a normal experiment on insight learning, a
problem is presented, followed by a period of time when no apparent progress is made and
finally a solution suddenly emerges. In insight learning, sudden solution is the rule. Once the
solution has appeared, it can be repeated immediately the next time the problem is
confronted.

Latent Learning

Another type of cognitive learning is known as latent learning. In latent learning, a new
behaviour is learned but not demonstrated until reinforcement is provided for displaying it.
Tolman made an early contribution to the concept of latent learning. To have an idea of latent
learning, we may briefly understand his experiment. Tolman put two groups of rats in a maze
and gave them an opportunity to explore. In one group, rats found food at the end of the maze
and soon learned to make their way rapidly through the maze. On the other hand, rats in the
second group were not rewarded and showed no apparent signs of learning. But later, when
these rats were reinforced, they ran through the maze as efficiently as the rewarded group.

Tolman contended that the unrewarded rats had learned the layout of the maze early in their
explorations. They just never displayed their latent learning until the reinforcement was
provided. Instead, the rats developed a cognitive map of the maze, i.e. a mental representation
of the spatial locations and directions, which they needed to reach their goal.

Memory

Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain, and later retrieve
information. There are three major processes involved in memory: encoding, storage, and
retrieval. Human memory involves the ability to both preserve and recover information we
have learned or experienced.

Types of Memory
Sensory Memory

Sensory memory allows individuals to retain impressions of sensory information after the
original stimulus has ceased. One of the most common examples of sensory memory is fast-
moving lights in darkness: if you’ve ever lit a sparkler on the Fourth of July or watched
traffic rush by at night, the light appears to leave a trail. This is because of “iconic memory,”
the visual sensory store. Two other types of sensory memory have been extensively studied:
echoic memory (the auditory sensory store) and haptic memory (the tactile sensory store).
Sensory memory is not involved in higher cognitive functions like short- and long-term
memory; it is not consciously controlled. The role of sensory memory is to provide a detailed
representation of our entire sensory experience for which relevant pieces of information are
extracted by short-term memory and processed by working memory.

Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory is also known as working memory. It holds only a few items (research
shows a range of 7 +/- 2 items) and only lasts for about 20 seconds. However, items can be
moved from short-term memory to long-term memory via processes like rehearsal. An
example of rehearsal is when someone gives you a phone number verbally and you say it to
yourself repeatedly until you can write it down. If someone interrupts your rehearsal by
asking a question, you can easily forget the number, since it is only being held in your short-
term memory.

Working Memory

Though the term “working memory” is often used synonymously with “short-term memory,”
working memory is related to but actually distinct from short-term memory. It holds
temporary data in the mind where it can be manipulated. Baddeley and Hitch’s 1974 model of
working memory is the most commonly accepted theory of working memory today.
According to Baddeley, working memory has a phonological loop to preserve verbal data, a
visuospatial scratchpad to control visual data, and a central executive to disperse attention
between them.

Long-Term Memory

Long-term memories are all the memories we hold for periods of time longer than a few
seconds; long-term memory encompasses everything from what we learned in first grade to
our old addresses to what we wore to work yesterday. Long-term memory has an incredibly
vast storage capacity, and some memories can last from the time they are created until we die.

There are many types of long-term memory. Explicit or declarative memory requires
conscious recall; it consists of information that is consciously stored or retrieved. Explicit
memory can be further subdivided into semantic memory (facts taken out of context, such as
“Paris is the capital of France”) and episodic memory (personal experiences, such as “When I
was in Paris, I saw the Mona Lisa“).

In contrast to explicit/declarative memory, there is also a system for procedural/implicit

memory. These memories are not based on consciously storing and retrieving information,
but on implicit learning. Often this type of memory is employed in learning new motor skills.
An example of implicit learning is learning to ride a bike: you do not need to consciously
remember how to ride a bike, you simply do. This is because of implicit memory.

Forgetting

Forgetting refers to the loss of information that was previously stored in memory. Sometimes
we just have challenging retrieving information, and we can pull it up with the proper cues.
You can reduce the chance of forgetting something by periodically reviewing or rehearsing
the information.

Theories of forgetting

Trace Decay Theory of Forgetting

 This explanation of forgetting in short term memory assumes that memories leave a
trace in the brain. A trace is some form of physical and/or chemical change in the
nervous system.

 Trace decay theory states that forgetting occurs as a result of the automatic decay or
fading of the memory trace. Trace decay theory focuses on time and the limited
duration of short term memory.

 This theory suggests short term memory can only hold information for between 15
and 30 seconds unless it is rehearsed. After this time the information / trace decays
and fades away.

Retrieval failure theory

 Retrieval failure is where the information is stored in secondary memory, but cannot
be retrieve. Such information is available but not accessible. It cannot be retrieve
because the retrieval cues are not present.

 When we create a new memory we also store information about the situation and it is
known as retrieval cues. When we come into the similar situation again, these
retrieval cues can activate the memory of the situation. Retrieval cues can be:

 External / Context - in the environment, e.g. smell, place, object etc.

 Internal / State- inside of us, e.g. physical, emotional, mood, drunk etc.

Interference theory

 It was assumed that memory can be disrupted or interfered with by what we have
previously learned or by what we will learn in the future. This idea suggests that
information in long term memory may become confused or combined with other
information during encoding thus distorting or disrupting memories.

 Interference theory states that forgetting occurs because memories interfere with and
disrupt one another, in other words forgetting occurs because of interference from
 other memories (Baddeley, 1999). There are two ways in which interference can
cause forgetting:

 Proactive interference (pro=forward) occurs when you cannot learn a new task
because of an old task that had been learnt. When what we already know interferes
with what we are currently learning – where old memories disrupt new memories.

 Retroactive interference (retro=backward) occurs when you forget a previously learnt

task due to the learning of a new task. In other words, later learning interferes with
earlier learning - where new memories disrupt old memories.

Motivated forgetting

Motivated forgetting theory, suggests that people forget things because they do not want to
remember them for a particular reason. Painful and Sad memories are made unconscious and
very difficult to recall, but still remain in storage.

There are two classes of Motivated Forgetting:

 Psychological Repression, an unconscious act- The concept of psychological

repression was first developed in 1915. The concept was based on Sigmund Freud’s
psychoanalytic model, which explain that people subconsciously push
unpleasant thoughts and feelings into unconscious.

 Thought Suppression, a conscious act- The thoughtful or conscious attempt to

suppress memories is referred to as thought suppression. This phenomenon involves
conscious strategies and deliberate context shifts, so it is goal directed.

Mnemonics

There are a number of strategies for improving memory called mnemonics (pronounced ni-
mo-nicks) to help you improve your memory.

 keyword method: In keyword method, an English word (the assumption here is that
you know English language) that sounds similar to the word of a foreign language is
identified.

 The Method of Loci : In order to use the method of loci, items you want to remember
are placed as objects arranged in a physical space in the form of visual images. This
method is particularly helpful in remembering items in a serial order.

 Chunking : While describing the features of short-term memory, we noted how

chunking can increase the capacity of short-term memory. In chunking, several
smaller units are combined to form large chunks.

 First Letter Technique : In order to employ the first letter technique, you need to pick
up the first letter of each word you want to remember and arrange them to form
another word or a sentence.
  Engage in Deep Level Processing : If you want to memorise any information well,
engage in deep level processing. Deep processing would involve asking as many
questions related to the information as possible, considering its meaning and
examining its relationships to the facts you already know.

 Minimise interference- You know that maximum interference is caused when very
similar materials are learned in a sequence. Avoid this. Arrange your study in such a
way that you do not learn similar subjects one after the other.

MODULE-6

LANGUAGE STRUCTURE AND AQUISITION

Language is the ability to produce and comprehend both spoken and written (and in the case
of sign language, signed) words. Understanding how language works means reaching across
many branches of psychology—everything from basic neurological functioning to high-level
cognitive processing. Language shapes our social interactions and brings order to our lives.
Complex language is one of the defining factors that makes us human. Two of the concepts
that make language unique are grammar and lexicon.

The major components of the structure of language are phonemes, morphemes, syntax,
sematics, pragmatics, grammar. These pieces all work together to create meaningful
communication among individuals.

Phonemes- A phoneme is the basic unit of phonology. It is the smallest unit of sound that
may cause a change of meaning within a language, but that doesn’t have meaning by itself.
For example, in the words “bake” and “brake,” only one phoneme has been altered, but a
change in meaning has been triggered.

Morphemes- Morphemes, the basic unit of morphology, are the smallest meaningful unit of
language. Thus, a morpheme is a series of phonemes that has a special meaning. If a
morpheme is altered in any way, the entire meaning of the word can be changed. Some
morphemes are individual words (such as “eat” or “water”).

Syntax- Syntax is a set of rules for constructing full sentences out of words and phrases.
Every language has a different set of syntactic rules, but all languages have some form of
syntax.

Semantics- Semantics are rules for determining the meaning of words and sentences

Pragmatics- The pragmatics of language has to do with the practical aspects of

communicating with others, or the social “niceties” of language. Simply put, pragmatics
involves knowing things like how to take turns in a conversation, the use of gestures to
emphasize a point or indicate a need for more information, and the different ways in which
one speaks to different people.

Grammar- Grammar is the system of rules governing the structure and use of a language.

Language is a cognition that truly makes us human. Whereas other species do communicate
with an innate ability to produce a limited number of meaningful vocalizations (e.g.
bonobos), or even with partially learned systems (e.g. bird songs), there is no other species
known to date that can express infinite ideas (sentences) with a limited set of symbols
(speech sounds and words). This ability is remarkable in itself. What makes it even more
remarkable is that researchers are finding evidence for mastery of this complex skill in
increasingly younger children.

Infants as young as 12 months are reported to have sensitivity to the grammar needed to
understand causative sentences (who did what to whom; e.g. the bunny pushed the frog
(Rowland & Noble, 2010). After more than 60 years of research into child language
development, the mechanism that enables children to segment syllables and words out of the
strings of sounds they hear, and to acquire grammar to understand and produce language is
still quite an enigma.

Speech perception refers to the processes by which humans are able to interpret and
understand the sounds used in language. The study of speech perception is closely linked to
the fields of phonetics and phonology in linguistics and cognitive psychology and perception
in psychology.

Noam Chomsky and Language Acquisition

 Noam Chomsky is probably the best known and the most influential linguist of the
second half of the Twentieth Century. He has made a number of strong claims about
language: in particular, he suggests that language is an innate faculty - that is to say
that we are born with a set of rules about language in our minds, which he refers to as
the 'Universal Grammar'.

 The universal grammar is the basis upon which all human languages build. If a
Martian linguist were to visit Earth, he would deduce that there was only one
language, with a number of local variants. He would be able to study the language and
determine the rules based on the patterns he hears and the patterns of other languages.

 Children do not simply copy the language that they hear around them. They deduce
rules from it, which they can then use to produce sentences that they have never heard
before. They do not learn a repertoire of phrases and sayings, as the behaviorists
believe, but a grammar that generates an infinite number of new sentences.

 Children are born, then, with the Universal Grammar wired into their brains. This
grammar offers a certain limited number of possibilities - for example, the word order
of a typical sentence.

Language acquisition theory

When the child begins to listen to his parents, he will unconsciously recognize which kind of
a language he is dealing with - and he will set his grammar to the correct one - this is known
as 'setting the parameters'. It’s as if the child were offered at birth, a certain number of
hypotheses, which he or she then matches with what is happening around him.

The child knows intuitively that there are some words that behave like verbs, and others like
nouns, and that there is a limited set of possibilities for ordering them within a phrase. This is
not information that the child is taught directly by adults, but information that is given for the
child to decipher. This set of language learning tools, provided at birth, is referred to by
Chomsky as the Language Acquisition Device.

THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE

Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis The hypothesis that language shapes and influences thoughts
was accepted by many theorists, with a few notable exceptions, such as Piaget. One of the
best-known versions of this view is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (named for the two theorists
who developed it, Edward Sapir and his student, Benjamin Lee Whorf. This hypothesis
assumes that the thought processes and concepts within any culture are determined by the
words of the culture (Sapir, 1921; Whorf, 1956). It has come to be known as the linguistic
relativity hypothesis, meaning that thought processes and concepts are controlled by
(relative to) language. That is, the words people use determine much of the way in which they
think about the world around them.

Piaget: Assimilation and Accommodation

 Jean Piaget’s theory of language development suggests that children use both
assimilation and accommodation to learn language. Assimilation is the process of
changing one’s environment to place information into an already-existing schema (or
idea). Accommodation is the process of changing one’s schema to adapt to the new
environment. Piaget believed children need to first develop mentally before language
acquisition can occur. According to him, children first create mental structures within
the mind (schemas) and from these schemas, language development happens.

 Piaget also noticed that preschool children seemed to spend a great deal of time
talking to themselves—even when playing with another child. Each child would be
talking about something totally unrelated to the speech of the other, in a process
Piaget called collective monologue. Piaget believed that this kind of nonsocial speech
was very egocentric (from thechild’s point of view only, with no regard for the
listener), and that as the child became moresocially involved and less egocentric,
these nonsocial speech patterns would reduce.

Vygotsky: Zone of Proximal Development

 Lev Vygotsky’s theory of language development focused on social learning and the
zone of proximal development (ZPD). The ZPD is a level of development obtained
when children engage in social interactions with others; it is the distance between a
child’s potential to learn and the actual learning that takes place. Vygotsky’s theory
also demonstrated that Piaget underestimated the importance of social interactions in
the development of language.

 He theorized that language actually helped develop concepts and that language could
also help the child learn to control behavior—including social behavior (Vygotsky,
1962, 1978, 1987). For Vygotsky, the word helped form the concept: Once a child had
learned the word “mama,” the various elements of “mama-ness”—warm, soft, food,
safety, and so on—could come together around that word. Vygotsky also believed that
the “egocentric” speech of the preschool child was actually a way for the child to
form thoughts and control actions. This “private speech” was a way for children to
plan their behavior and organize actions so that their goals could be obtained.
 Vygotsky stressed the importance of social and cultural interactions with other people,
typically more highly skilled children and adults. Vygotsky believed that children
develop cognitively when someone else helps them by asking leading questions and
providing examples of concepts in a process called scaffolding. In scaffolding, the
more highly skilled person gives the learner more help at the beginning of the learning
process and then begins to withdraw help as the learner’s skills improve (Rogoff,
1994).