Cognitive science

Mapping the Brain, written by Sharon Begley, focuses on how the brain has specific tasks for each of the divided sections. In the article, Begley (1992) uses an analogy to explain how different regions of the brain have distinct roles and are in control of different tasks. Specifically, the brain is compared to a map. Begley (1992) declares, “[The maps] will show . . . where in the brain cognition, feelings, language and everything else that makes us human comes from” (p. 66). This means that…

beauty contest, for investigating an individual’s ability of strategic reasoning and mentalizing. While they only use it to examine heterogeneity in strategic behavior of ordinary people, the beauty contest may also serve as a tool to understand the cognitive abilities of people with mental disorders. Specifically, Pantelis and Kennedy (2017) studied how people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) performs on the beauty contest. They were interested in the question: Is ASD systematically related…

knowledge and perception of one’s reality. Diverse cognitive processes studied in the field of cognitive psychology includes language, memory, thinking/reasoning, attention etc. In order to understand the various cognitive processes, a set of approaches were developed in order to comprehend the environment one lives in, so that one can adapt successfully. Each approach used will be critically explored below along with its strengths and weaknesses.  Cognitive Neuro-Psychology The approach has to…

One of the principals that define the cognitive level of analysis is humans are information processors, and mental processes guide our behavior. Elizabeth Loftus was concerned with how information following an event can affect an eyewitness’s account of an event. She was mainly researching the impact of how questions are worded and why leading questions can “reshape” or change the way we remember a certain event. Her theory was that she could alter a person’s memory of an event by simply…

There are many research studies that have been conducted for examining the effect of Virtual Reality Environments. A number of them are also related to cognitive psychology. Some of the studies related to the analysis of the virtual reality effect on cognitive psychology are mentioned briefly. Sutherland I.E.in 1965, the very first idea of Virtual Reality was presented by Ivan Sutherland “make that (virtual) world in the window look real, sound real, feel real and respond realistically to the…

Through brain imaging practices, scientists have been able to identify that the same areas of the brain that are activated when recalling past experiences, are also activated when trying to calculate the future. The main region of the brain that scientists note for experiencing this similar activity is the hippocampus. Despite their being sources of distributed representation, episodic memory relies heavily on the hippocampus. This fact is illustrated when Mckinnon finally began to reach out to…

In the article by (multiple authors) wanted to test whether memory and imagination where independent functions. Similarly it is believed that imagining the future depends on the ability to retrieve episodic details from past experiences in order to build a novel experience. Both memory and imaging functions are known to be carried out in the hippocampus so the researchers wanted to know whether the hippocampus could distinguish between remembering the past and imaging the future. To address…

This article went into depth about executive function, also known as cognitive control, which refers to top-down processes that develop at a very high rate during pre-school years but can still be practiced in later years for increased neural function. The executive function can still be improved by practice in later years, such as adolescence, due to the plasticity of the brain. The plasticity of the brain is truly intriguing, and this article made me realize that our brain has multiple periods…

the very heart of Piaget’s cognitive theory. Piaget believed that humans have dynamic cognitive structures (formed through individual experiences) that help us adapt to a dynamic environment. This learning system promoted by Piaget-- combining biological maturation and empirical experience-- is a direct result of his study of natural selection and philosophy. In John L. Phillips Jr.’s book “The Origins of Intellect,” he poses the idea of the roots of Piaget’s cognitive theory: “a high animal’s…

My Reflection Paper While completing the first module for neurology there were many aspects of the brain that I was completely unaware of and found interesting. As a speech-language pathologist, it is important for one to know the function of the brain so one can have the skills to help improve the ability for an individual to communicate with others. Damage to certain parts of the brain function can lead to some drastic consequences relating to speech and language functions. I had always found…