No model of human cognition can be complete, unless it incorporates both mental representations and information processing. Discuss

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TMA07/08 – Option 3: Representation and Processing

No model of human cognition can be complete, unless it incorporates both mental representations and information processing. Discuss

Cognitive Psychologists have developed models in cognitive terms, to help explain and understand how the human mind functions and what attributes are important. Their aim is to evaluate cognitive architectures by investigating the mental activities taking place inside the mind. Our knowledge and experiences of the external world are stored as internal representations which require mental interactions or processes to assist with gaining access to the relevant stored material. An important aspect of Cognitive Psychology is the investigation of internal processes which can produce the appropriate actions for problem solving through knowledge of the environment and through past experience. Mental operations are the processes helping to make use of existing knowledge which in turn lead to greater understanding and greater scope.

Let us look at what is meant by representation. Information enters into the cognitive system via the sensory organs and internal processing is then necessary to make sense of it and attempt to fit into existing knowledge and structures. Representations relate to the manner by which a human retains information about the world, and much of what we see and hear is retained. Any new information must also be represented in some way and stand as a copy or symbol for the real thing. In the external world we have signs, symbols, maps and diagrams, all forms of representing something such as objects or locations. In the same way, the internal mental representations within the brain are used to stand for real things and are mental representations of the environment. Our knowledge is actively used to aid understanding and learning, and is acquired, retrieved, revised and updated along the way to help influence decisions and actions. For all this to occur and function, there must be processing and interaction between new and existing information, between short and long-term memory and in our perception of events or things. In simple terms the inputs require processing which may include the applying of rules, before the necessary output can be produced. The processing is considered to be the necessary mental operations, which make use of knowledge in order to produce appropriate actions. The role of a knowledge process is to generate or verify hypotheses.

Many Cognitive Psychologists agree that the makeup of cognitive psychology consists of processes involved in making sense of the environment and deciding upon appropriate action. Processes include memory, attention, learning, language and perception, all of which can be considered inter-related. The value of a cognitive model rests on how well it simulates or mimics human behaviour, and makes use of these important processes.

In considering representation, it is also worthwhile reminding ourselves of schema. Schema is the active organisation of past experiences or reactions.

It is now necessary to consider some examples of human cognition models.

Many theories of language agree that people have a lexicon or dictionary stored in memory. This lexicon helps us to identify and recognise words, but then in mentally forming a word how do we represent or put meaning to it? Vocabulary differences and difficulties can sometimes make this a challenging task. Semantics describes the way in which the meanings of sentences are represented. Sentences are constructed from words but sentence representations are built from combinations of the meanings of words. Within language a number of models have been proposed to aid understanding of how language functions. Linguistic processing within the brain is considered as the language processor of the cognitive system. This processor has access to memory and the different aspects of language including semantics and the lexicon. General knowledge , syntax and semantics interact to allow processing of the linguistic inputs.

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The linear model implies independence between stages from input to output and involves bottom-up processing were the processing of inputs is not influenced by higher types of knowledge. The interactive model by contrast suggests that the different types of knowledge link together and involve top-down processing were higher knowledge influences the processing of inputs. Van Dijk & Kintsch (1983) proposed that people only recall the main gist when reading long text and cannot remember the actual wording. The recalled gist varying between different people as they apply their individual beliefs and attitudes surrounding the read topic. When reading we ...

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