Study Material for Psychology: Cognitive Psychology, Perception, Attention, and Memory

Psychology

QUESTION 1 - COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
a)
Wundt’s assumption was that human mind comprise of two key components namely,
sensations and feelings. His focus was to make the introspection process precise and structured.
Hence, according to Wundt’s introspection was a highly practiced form of self- examination. He
provided training to the psychology students to make observations that were influenced by
personal bias or previous experiences. These results were then used to develop theory of
conscious thought.
Cognition refers to the process which involves the ways in which people think and learn.
There are various problems with using introspection as a method of studying cognition. For
example, it is not suitable to study mental events that are unconscious using the method of
introspection. It is also not suitable for studying complex subjects which include personality,
mental disorders and learning. Also, introspection cannot be used with children as well as with
animals. Introspection is dependent on conscious experience which makes is unsuitable for
reporting on those experiences which are unconscious. Hence, its applicability is limited for
studying cognition.
Information processing refers to behaviors of brain. Reaction time is the time which is
taken between the stages of perceiving something and responding to it. This can be used for
testing models of information processing model. For example, by determining the reaction time,
the effectiveness of the model to identify the time times by an individual for processing
information can be determined. Errors can also assist in identifying the effectiveness of the
models.
QUESTION 2- PERCEPTION
b)
Perception pathway is also known as the neural pathway. It extends from the occipital
lobe to temporal lobe. This pathway is associated with recognizing and perceiving things. The
brain comprises of two processing streams. One stream performs the work of perceiving objects.
The other stream is involved in locating the object and taking action towards it. These two
streams are also known as the what and where pathways or perception – action pathways.
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