Cognitive neuroscience

1. This experiment compared the spatial selective attention between “neurologically normal young adults” and split-brain subjects by measuring response times when presented unilateral and bilateral visual arrays. 2. The purpose for this experiment was to gather information about spatial selective attention, and to investigate whether “an independent focus of attention is deployed by each surgically separated hemisphere in a visual search task, such that bilateral stimulus arrays can be scanned…

Cognitive Overload Have you ever gone to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator only to realize you couldn’t remember what you were looking for? How about staying up all night cramming and then forgetting everything as soon as the test is over? If so, you have just experienced cognitive overload, a result of our short-term memory exceeding the amount of information it can hold. In his article about cognitive load called “What Scientific Concept…

The article, “The Digit Span Backwards Task: Verbal and Visual Cognitive Strategies in Working Memory Assessment”, by Hilbert, Sven, Tristan T. Nakagawa, Patricia Puci, Alexandra Zech, and Markus Buhner, aims at investigating the differences in performance between visualizers and verbalizers cognitive strategies by using digit span backwards. The digit span backwards has been used for many decades to assess the working memory capacity. The concept of working memory initiates the way we are able…

brain is the input source of the later output mind. Now, this explanation is very general and only describes how one would get from point A to point C. Point B or the events that take place to get from the input to the output are related to the cognitive system mentioned earlier. Point B in machine functionalism is a straight line. This means whatever Point A is, it MUST then result in point C. This is what makes this type of functionalism so machine-like, the theory upholds the view that our…

Temptation is something one has to deal with in life, but having a weak mind will lead to giving in. Physical weakness is an example, even though one can have good intentions the human flesh can cause the body to indulge. In addition, controlling what one thinks can be difficult, especially when the thoughts are intimate. Sometimes the timing of these intimate thoughts and the frequency can lead to caving in. The short story “Trapped in Paris” is a great example, the main character is at war…

From various studies conducted by a number of psychologists, have shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal techniques and the superior posterior parietal cortex have a relation to the cognitive control. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex tends to be activated when there is a series of activities being carried out when some activities are kept on hold in the working memory, when the tasks to be carried out are demanding or when there is…

Festinger developed a cognitive dissonance theory that exclaimed people feel uncomfortable with inconsistency in their actions and morals and will work to either alter their actions or their opinions to reconcile this dissatisfaction. Avoiding scenarios that exacerbate these feelings is a tactic used to reduce dissonance. Many factors influence how much power this dissonance has over someone. I will be addressing cognitive dissonance and critical thinking issues related to racism and police…

reader to think about and how they should change the way they think. “ Just as remarkably, the social structures and sense of self that are characteristic of Easterners and Westerners seem to fit hand in glove with their respective belief systems and cognitive processes.” (p.g. Xvii Introduction). The use of analepsis for the words Westerner and Easterner are pushing the audience to think of what process Nisbett is talking about and what he wants them to get from reading the book is, which is to…

Cognitive Psychology The fifth chapter of the "Cognition," 8th edition, a book by Margaret W. Matlin, mainly talks about the long-term memory that has been gathered over an extended period of time throughout the entire life of human beings. More so, the chapter also helps to understand that emotions also have a significant effect on memory in many ways. It also shows how the memory is retrieved, the processes involved, and also displays how memory accuracy is dependent on the researcher’s extent…

From an early age I have been intrigued by the human mind and how it works. This interest has been enhanced through my study of psychology. Although I have only studied this subject for a relatively short period of time, I have enjoyed the variety the A-level course provides and I feel I have had a sample of different fields of this subject. I have particularly enjoyed studying comparative psychology because I am interested in how the human mind can be explained in evolutionary terms and how we…