What does current evidence on the performance of normal and brain-damaged readers have to say about these two issues: Do we get from print to meaning via pronunciation? Does the brain use one, two, or three routes from print to pronunciation?
What does current evidence on the performance of normal and brain-damaged readers have to say about these two issues: Do we get from print to meaning via pronunciation? Does the brain use one, two, or three routes from print to pronunciation? Topics on word recognition process in reading were always interesting to cognitive psychologists. Recognition means the approaches to information stored in memory and here, word recognition involves the retrieval of information about the pronunciation (phonology) and meanings (semantics) of words from their printed forms (orthography). There are mainly two issues in the investigation on word recognition: how people get from print to meaning and print to pronunciation. Many studies were carried out and aimed to study the ways we use to recognize words. Case studies, such as the report of patient PS by Richard and Vincent (1997), on brain damaged patients showed that phonological mediation is not necessary. In the other words, we can get meanings of words from prints directly rather than via pronunciation. Jackson and Coltheart (2001) outlined the Dual-Route Cascade (DRC) model of reading aloud and introduced that there are three routes which are believed to involve in word recognition. This paper aims to summarise and review current available literature in order to discuss how we retrieve semantics and phonology
Is Long Term Memory Functionally Distinct From Short Term Memory?
D.Hook 3/1/00 Is Long Term Memory Functionally Distinct From Short Term Memory? Due to both the ambiguity of the subject and the difficulty of researching it, memory has provided a great deal of controversy in the scientific world. This has been due to issues such as the type of encoding the mind employs in memory tasks, the time limits of storage and other such issues. It was only as recently as the late 1950's however that the question was raised over whether there could exist a separate long term and short term memory system and if so what the various functions of the two are. Peterson and Peterson (1959)1 were the first to come up with this Duplex Hypothesis as the result of an experiment into human memory. In this experiment they gave their participants a three consonant trigram (such as DNP) which was spoken to them to the beat of a metronome. Immediately after this the participant was presented with a three-digit number (in the same way) which they had to count back in threes from, again in time with the metronome. When a set signal was given the participant ceased counting and attempted to recall the original consonant trigram. In this experiment the counting was used as a distracter task which would prevent rehearsal of the original trigram by the participant (numbers were used instead of letters to avoid retroactive interference).
Theory - Human memory has fascinated philosophers and thinkers for hundreds of years.
Following an earlier research by Craik and Tulving ( 1975), an experiment was designed to explore the "levels of processing" framework for human memory. It was hypothesised that the durability of the memory trace would be a positive function of the "depth" of processing, where depth referred to "greater degrees of semantic involvement"(Craik and Tulving, 1975). Twenty eight subjects were induced to process words to different depths: shallow encodings were achieved by asking questions about a word's typescript, while deep encodings were induced by asking whether a word would fit into a given category. Deeper encodings were found to be associated with higher levels of performance on the subsequent memory test than shallow ones. This result was tested using Student's unrelated t-test and found to be significant. The experiment's result appears to support Craik and Tulving's theory that retention depends critically on the qualitative nature of the encoding operations. The broader implications of these results as well as suggestions for further research are finally considered. Introduction Theory Human memory has fascinated philosophers and thinkers for hundreds of years. A variety of metaphors, often of a special nature, have been used to try and capture the way memory works. Memory has been frequently thought of as a mental space in the brain: Aristotle talked of the
Memory loss- Outline and discuss the principle features of organic amnesia.
Memory loss- Outline and discuss the principle features of organic amnesia An amnesiac is someone who suffers from memory loss, and one of the reasons this might occur is as the result of brain damage. Organic amnesia is the loss of memory due to physical damage to the brain and is also known as the amnesiac syndrome. Most patients with amnesia show normal intelligence and a short-term memory span, but have impaired recall and recognition for facts and events experienced before or after the critical brain damage (Mayes 1992). One of the several ways that the brain damage can arise, is from Korsakoff's syndrome, which is the consequence of a deficiency in the vitamin Thiamine, associated with chronic alcoholism. It is the most common cause of acute amnesia. Sufferers of the syndrome are unable to recall many items or events of the past. When they are presented with such items, the patient does not feel identifiable with them. Patients often deny that there is anything wrong with them, and time and place can be disorientating for them. To fill in gaps in their memory they may also confabulate, or make up false bits of memories, that they believe to be true. Other causes of amnesia may result from surgical lesions conducted for the relief of epilepsy, infection of the brain or encephalitis and head injury. Amnesia is linked to causing bilateral damage to a number of structures
In what ways does the practice of applied psychology show that academic psychology is not simply a data-gathering exercise, but has practical benefits for human life?
In what ways does the practice of applied psychology show that academic psychology is not simply a data-gathering exercise, but has practical benefits for human life? Introduction It could be argued that the major justification for the existence of academic psychology is ultimately to produce practical benefits for human life. Of course it would be satisfying to know intellectually why we do the things we do, but more than that, we would like to be able to apply psychological methods to making our own lives and the lives of others happier, safer and free. The dictionary defines 'benefit' as 'enhances wellbeing' (Heritage(r) Dictionary of the English Language, 2000). Below I firstly explore situations where psychology studies could benefit human life where they to be applied, secondly those areas where psychology has been applied but whether well-being has been enhanced overall is uncertain. Lastly I describe where the benefit to human life from psychology in action is clearly demonstrated. Psychological studies with potential for benefit Increasingly psychology research in the area of psychopathology is leading to the conclusion that so-called mental illness is not so much a 'chemical imbalance' as it is colloquially known but rather a result of 'bad life experiences'. This is shown in the case of schizophrenia, a mental aberration often thought of as having
Evaluate critically the evidence in favour of late selection.
SHIKHA GOSAIN Evaluate critically the evidence in favour of late selection The debate concerning the locus of attentional selection has been a moot point ever since Deutsch and Deutsch (1963) contested Broadbent's theory of early perceptual selection with their theory of late response selection (1958). The production of competing data and competing explanations over whether selection occurs early or late has been relatively unsuccessful in facilitating our understanding of attention. However, it has become increasingly apparent that the degree of processing achieved by information in visual displays is dependent on a variety of factors and, therefore, a clear-cut distinction between early selection and late selection may be inappropriate. In particular Miller (1991) identified that the processing of unattended stimuli depended on how much of the attentional capacity was engaged by the attended items. This concept was investigated further by Lavie (1995) who reviewed evidence for the effect of load (number of items) on performance in a variety of selective tasks. Lavie (1995) proposed that whether attention is early or late depends on the demands of the task. Lavie's work directs us to a promising compromise between a strict early or late selection theory. This essay will firstly outline the main principles of the early selection and late selection theories. Evidence for late
The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the approaches existential therapy and cognitive-behavioural therapy have towards understanding and working with fear and sadness.
Etma2 The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the approaches existential therapy and cognitive-behavioural therapy have towards understanding and working with fear and sadness. I will also discuss which approach I prefer and feel more drawn to and why. I will look at the pros and cons of both types of therapy before concluding that the approach I'm more drawn to is existential therapy. Existential therapy Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss were the first people to develop existential therapy in the 1930s. They based their work on a number of existential philosophers but mainly on Martin Heidegger. (Langdridge. pg. 126) Over the past 30 years existential therapy had made further progress and has been developed by writers and therapists such as Rollo May, Irving Yalom, Victor Frankl and Ronnie Laing. (Langdridge, pg.127) The main existential philosophers were Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre. Edmund Husserl believed that a therapist should work phenomenologically; trying to see the work as it is for the client. To adapt a phenomenological attitude a therapist must attempt to see the world as it appears to the client. They must be empathetic towards the client. If the therapist does not think in a phenomenological way, they are not working existentially. To work in a phenomenological way, one must engage in a process call epoche. There are four
People often misremember, or forget completely. What can be deduced about the processes of memory on the basis of everyday memory failures?
People often misremember, or forget completely. What can be deduced about the processes of memory on the basis of everyday memory failures? It would be difficult to think of a cognitive process which could be carried out without a memory system. However, people often complain that they often do forget the things which they would like to remember. Therefore an understanding of the way memory works is especially important when looking at why people misremember and forget. Because of this, much research has been carried out over the years on memory. Research in the 1970's tended to be based on the structural view of memory based on the modal model. This was later replaced with the idea that we have different types of knowledge with memory systems and memory processes. The most influential approach to what governs the complex pattern of remembering and forgetting has come from schema theory. This essay will look at how schema theory explains why people misremember and forget. Schema theory was first proposed by Bartlett in 1932 and was largely ignored until the 1980's. Schema theory suggests that the information we have stored in memory is organized in such a way as to incorporate all the knowledge of a given type of object or event that we have acquired from past experience. Schemas are packages of information stored in memory representing general knowledge about all
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY "Discuss low-level and high-level explanations of illusory contours." It would appear that the process of perceiving images, objects and color is an effortless activity, however the underlying mechanisms
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY "Discuss low-level and high-level explanations of illusory contours." It would appear that the process of perceiving images, objects and color is an effortless activity, however the underlying mechanisms involved are fundamentally very complex and not fully understood even today. Only in the last one hundred years have scientists started to make some progress in understanding vision and perception, and visual illusions in particular provided a window into these processes. Even when we intellectually can determine that we are looking at an illusion, it does not keep us from being effected by its properties. This indicates a split between our perception of something and our conception of it. In many cases our higher order cognitive abilities cannot influence our lower order perceptions (Gregory, 1975). For example in the famous Kanizsa's illusion, the solid triangle in the center appears to have well-defined contours. Observers generally report a strong phenomenal impression that contours continue between the inducing areas of the stimulus and that the region bound by the illusory contours appears either lighter (or darker) than the background. It emerges as an opaque surface that is superimposed on the background figure and although we are aware of illusory properties of the triangle we cannot stop ourselves experiencing the illusion (Sekuler & Blake,
Cognitive heuristic approaches to decision making
Name: Ann-Mari Pynnonen. Level 2, psychology laboratory report on availability heuristic. (grade: A-). We rely on our past experiences when we make judgements about various uncertain events in our everyday life, but how valid these judgements actually are? Relatively 'little is known about the psychological mechanisms by which people assess the probability of an uncertain event or the value of an uncertain quantity' (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974: 1124). Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman have done highly influential work on decision-making in the field of cognitive and social psychology, which have shown the frequency of irrationality in people's beliefs and decisions (Ashcraft, 1994; Kahneman, Slovic, & Tversky, 1982). Tversky and Kahneman proposed that people use a limited number of cognitive heuristic approaches, which are learned 'rules of thumb' when judging probability or frequency of uncertain phenomena. Even though cognitive heuristics are prone to inaccuracies, one must emphasize that heuristics are surprisingly efficient cognitive strategies in guiding our decision making process, even though they can misguide us (Wolf, 2001). Tversky and Kahneman have identified a number of such heuristics, but we shall concentrate on only one of them: frequency judgements, or availability heuristic. Ideally we would always engage ourselves into a systematic and deep elaboration of any