Psych I - Learning and cognition

Learning and cognition

IB Psychology I

start

cognitive biases and the dual processing model of decision-making

dual process theory

Types of models

System I: Descriptive model

System II: Normative model

Shows what a person actually does when thinking and making a decision.

Describe how thinking should be. The models are unrealistic because the mind takes shortcuts.

Framing effect: explain a film plot badly

Noseless guy has an unhealthy obsession with a teenage boy.

A group of people spends 9 hours returning jewelry.

Stockholm Syndrome works.

Depressed, widowed father teams up with mentally challenged woman to find his disabled son.

A girl has to pretend she's a man to be taken seriously.

cognitive biases

Avoid risk. Avoid loss.

Framing effect

Confirming my beliefs.

Confirmation bias

Initial info affects me.

Anchoring bias

Imagine that the USA is preparing for an outbreak of an [unusual] disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the program are as follows:

Program A:

200 people will be saved

Program B:

there is 1/3 probability that 600 people will be saved, and 2/3 probability that no people will be saved

+ Solution

Confirmation Bias

People tend to seek out, interpret, and remember information that supports their existing beliefs, while ignoring or dismissing information that challenges them. Instead of evaluating all evidence objectively, individuals give more weight to evidence that confirms what they already think, which can lead to distorted judgments and overconfidence in their views.

+ Example

I am moving to a new house! :) Therefore I need a new mattress so I went to the store...

Store 1: $5,500

I went to different stores so... Which Mattress should I buy?

Store 2 $12,000

Store 3 $73,000

Store 1: $5,500

+ info

Debiasing

It is understandable that people may want to reduce the influence of cognitive biases, if not to get rid of them entirely in some situations. Debiasing is the collective name for the group of methods and techniques designed to do so. One could distinguish between the following three groups of debiasing strategy: 1. Motivational: This includes holding people accountable for their decisions or incentivising them to make rational choices. It relies on the assumption that people are capable of normative (rational) reasoning if they are motivated. 2. Cognitive: Cognitive strategies usually prescribe context-specific rules that are designed to overcome heuristics—for example, “consider the opposite”. Another example would be the use of counter-stereotypical information, such as the Obama effect. 3.Technological: Technological strategies involve using external tools, such as computer-based decision support systems or even printed decision algorithms.

+ info

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

To what extent can people learn by observing the behaviour of others?

Social Learning Theory Albert Bandura (1977)

It emerged as a reaction to behaviourism. He proposed that learning can occur indirectly, simply by observing the behaviour of others. Social learning theory explains learning as a cognitive and social process in which individuals acquire behaviour through observation, mediated by internal cognitive factors.

From Behaviourism to Social Cognitive Theory

Early social learning theory was closely related to conditioning. Unlike strict behaviourism, Bandura emphasized that learning occurs “in the mind”, not just through observable stimuli and responses. The theory introduced cognitive mediating variables that influence whether observed behaviours are learned or imitated. Eventually, Bandura renamed the framework Social Cognitive Theory, highlighting the central role of cognition.

direct Learning

Occurs when an individual performs a behaviour and experiences its consequences. Closely linked to principles of conditioning.

+ Example

Indirect Learning

Occurs by observing another person’s actions and their consequences. The person being observed is called a model. The learner does not need to perform the behaviour for learning to occur.

+ Example

Key charasteristics of Observational Learning

Learning occurs by observing others’ actions and outcomes.

Behaviour can be acquired without immediate imitation.

Learning depends on available models, such as: Parents, teachers, peers, media figures, etc.

Occurs when an individual acquires new behaviours or responses by observing the actions of a model, without directly performing the behaviour or experiencing reinforcement.

Albert Bandura

“Most of the images of reality on which we base our actions are really based on vicarious experience.”

The 4 Mediating Factors

According to Bandura, whether observed behaviour is imitated depends on four mediating factors:

Attention

Motor Reproduction

The learner must pay attention to the model; and identification with the model (age, gender, values, interests) increases attention.

The learner must believe they are capable of performing the behaviour. It’s closely linked to self-efficacy (“I can do it”).

Motivation

Retention

The learner must expect a reward or avoid punishment. It’s influenced by observed consequences.

The observed behaviour must be remembered; and memory processes allow later retrieval.

Vicarious Reinforcement and Punishment

Vicarious reinforcement, occurs when a behaviour is observed being rewarded.

Vicarious Punishment, occurs when a behaviour is observed being punished.

Self-Efficacy

A Key Concept in Social Learning Theory Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in their ability to perform a behaviour successfully. High self-efficacy increases:

• Motivation
• Persistence
• Likelihood of imitation

Bandura argued that self-efficacy explains a wide range of observed human behaviours.

The Bobo Doll Experiment

Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961)

A classic laboratory experiment supporting observational learning. Investigated whether children imitate aggressive behaviour observed in adults. This study supports social learning theory by demonstrating that children can acquire aggressive behaviours through observation alone, even without direct reinforcement.

+ info

the Bobo Doll Experiment the 3 STAGES

STAGE 1

STAGE 2

STAGE 3

+ info

+ info

+ info

Experiment Results

Key Findings

• Children exposed to aggressive models showed:
• Higher levels of aggressive behaviour
• Both imitative and novel aggression
• Boys were more likely to imitate male models.
• Girls were more likely to imitate female models.
• Demonstrates the role of identification with the model.
• The Bobo doll experiment supports social learning theory by demonstrating that children can acquire aggressive behaviours through observation alone, without direct reinforcement.

Reciprocal determinism

Reciprocal determinism suggests that there are bidirectional interactions among three groups of variables—environmental factors, personal factors, behaviour. “Bidirectional” means that the influence is mutual. For example, personal factors affect behaviour, but behaviour also affects personal factors. Personal factors can be thought of as “internal”, environmental factors as “external”, and behaviour as the bridge between the two.

CognitiveDissonance

Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort caused by inconsistency between behaviour and beliefs. When behaviour contradicts beliefs: Individuals may change their beliefs rather than their behaviour. This suggests that behaviour can drive cognition, not only the reverse.

+ Example

Cultural factors in cognitive processes

MEMORIZE THE FOLLOWING WORDS:

Chamba

Onírico

Flipar

Neta

Bronca

Atávico

Inasible

Tablao

Antro

Inmarcesible

Chido

Cantinflear

Does culture influence learning? And memory? And language? And perception? What other cognitive process does it affect? If you had to study the behavior of 2nd semester students, what would be the best way?

Emic approach

Etic approach

imposed etic How do you define "Parties"?

A prominent problem in cross-cultural research is the imposed etic. It occurs when the study attempts to use measures and categories that are not apropriate in the context of a given culture, but may be relevant in the researcher's culture. When studying different cultures, their emic characteristics may start looking alike, being a derived etic. These similarities are then referred as cultural universals.

+ info

Cultural Bias In Research

Cultural adaptation:

ensuring concepts and items (questions) fit local meanings and experiences.

The imposed etic introduces bias because researchers assume universal meaning in tests designed for one context. When tools such as surveys or tests are created in one cultural setting, they cannot simply be translated for use in another. Tropicalization refers to adapting instruments so they remain valid in new cultural contexts. It includes:

Linguistic validation:

confirming that translations maintain semantic and conceptual equivalence.

Psychometric re-evaluation:

re-testing reliability and validity within the new population.

Operational adaptation:

in some fields, modifying equipment or tools to withstand specific environmental conditions (e.g., humidity, temperature).

Berry explains that cultural universals are not assumed, they are discovered by moving from imposed etic → emic → derived etic:

• Start within own culture (Emic A): Researchers understand their own cultural meaning system first.

• Transport framework to another culture (Imposed Etic): The outsider brings a measurement tool or construct into a new cultural setting.

• Study the new culture’s unique emic patterns (Emic B): Meaningful cultural differences are identified through insider knowledge.

• Compare cultures to find similarities (Derived Etic): Some elements remain unique; others appear across cultures → these similarities become cultural universals.

reasons for derived etic methodology

(Berry (1989, p. 729)

“We cannot be “cultural” without some notion like emic; and we cannot be “cross” without some notion like etic”

environmental influences on cognitive processes

Classwork: Design an informative, illustrated comic showing the relevance of the following three factors. Answer the questions.

Book page: 162

Working conditions

Book page: 163

Breakfast consumption

Book pages: 164-165

Poverty

potential for improving cognitive processes

restoring a cognitive funtion to its normal state

• Cognitive functions may get impaired or disrupted due to an injury. However, they may be restored or compensated. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to form new connections in response to experience.
• Paul Bach-y-Rita was known as "the father of sensory substitution" (using one sensory modality to perceive information that would normally be perceived by another sensory modality).
• He invented a chair that allowed blind people to "see" through vibrations (using the sense of touch).

increasing the efficiency of cognitive functions

Race IAT

Sometimes, cognitive functions are not lost but can be improved:

• Debiasing is an attempt to reduce the impact of implicit cognitive biases and restore rationality of judgement, especially in crucial situations. What makes this issue difficult is the implicit nature of the bias.
• Counter-stereotypical information can be effective at reducing negative stereotypes.
• Columb and Plant (2011) discovered the Obama effect.

Info

What is the phantom limb? Is it real or a myth? Why?

Brain-computer interfaces (bci)

Technology helps connect the brain’s electrical activity and an external device through a brain-computer interface (BCl). This means literally controlling the extermnal device with your brain. A field of research related to BCl is neuroprosthetics. A neuroprosthetic device aims to supplement or replace an impaired sensory organ, limb, or cognitive function. Think about such examples as a robotic arm, an artificial eye, or a“memory chip” implanted in your brain to enhance the capacity of your memory.

Willett et al (2021)

Recent promising results demonstrate the potential of BCl to decode speech signals and translate thoughts into spoken words, which may eventually be used to help people who have lost the ability to produce articulate speech.

+ info

The reason Willett et al. (2021) achieved such impressive results in their study is because they used large language models (LLMs) to analyse the preceding sequence of signals and to estimate the probability of which letter or word will appear next. Consider the sentence “you must be the change you wish to see in the world”. When it is time to decode the neural activity underlying the production of the word “see”, it is not just the messy signals that we have at our disposal. We can use the preceding sentence (“you must be the change you wish to...") and estimate the probability that each word of the English language will appear next in this sequence.

Wilder Penfield (1891-1976), a Canadian neurosurgeon, used the method of neural stimulation. As part of his work, he treated patients with severe epilepsy by destroying nerve cells that initiated the seizures. However, before performing the surgery, he stimulated different parts of the brain while the patient was still conscious and observed the effects that the stimulation had on behavior. This allowed him to create a map of the cortex known as the cortical homunculus, which shows the relative representation of different parts of the body in the sensory cortex.

Skinner invented the “operant conditioning chamber” (now more commonly known as the Skinner box). It was an isolated environment for a small animal (like a rat or a pigeon). The chamber delivered reinforcements and punishments (such as a food-dispensing mechanism). It had transparent walls for observation and a “cumulative recorder” that produced a graphical record of the frequency of observed reactions. All experiments followed a well-defined "reinforcement schedule” (with defined interval, frequency, and intensity).

For example, consider a rat that learns its way through a maze. In trial-and-error learning, the rat demonstrates a particular behaviour (e.g., it chooses a specific turn in a maze) and the consequence follows (e.g., the rat finds a treat or gets an electric shock). Depending on the consequence, certain behaviours get reinforced (e.g., if the rat was shocked by electricity, it will not be as likely to choose the same turn in the maze next time). Gradually, repetition after repetition, what used to be random activities are directed into a behavioural pattern. The starting point of learning in operant conditioning is a pool of naturally varied behaviours, but then—through punishments and reinforcement—there is a “natural selection” process through which some behaviours become extinct while others become more prominent.

• Members gave up jobs, possessions, and relationships to prepare.
• When the prophecy failed, they experienced strong psychological tension.
• To reduce dissonance, the leader reframed the event: their “pure thoughts” had saved the world.
• Instead of abandoning the belief, members reinforced it and began spreading their message publicly.

Cognitive dissonance is often used in compliance techniques: it links to the principle of “commitment and consistency” proposed by R. Cialdini. Example: Foot-in-the-door technique → small request followed by a larger one. People comply with the larger request to resolve dissonance created by their earlier compliance.

Personal factors

Internal characteristics, such as genetics, dispositions and preferences, personality traits, expectations, values, beliefs, and cognitive processes -- beliefs affect actions. The opposite is also true: actions affect beliefs:

• Cognitive dissonance: the mental stress caused by the inconsistency between one’s behaviour and one’s beliefs. When this happens, we often prefer to change the beliefs.

Leon Festinger’s Study (1956):

• Observed The Seekers, a cult in Chicago that believed the world would end on 21 December 1954 and a spaceship would rescue them.

The story of Skinner’s “air crib” highlights the complex nature of the interaction between scientific discovery and public perception. This relates to the concepts of change and responsibility. If we can do something, it does not mean we should do it. Apart from the already complex task of making valid scientific discoveries, researchers are responsible for choosing the way in which such discoveries will be communicated to the public.

Karl Lashley (1890-1958) attempted to determine specific location of memory through brain damage in the brain cortex of rats running through a maze. Hypothesis: if a memory maze is located somewhere, removing area by area would help determine the specific region of the cortex responsible for it. Methodology: he trained a rat to run through a maze without errors in search of food. When the rat memorized the maze, Lashley removed an area of the brain cortex and placed the rat again in the maze. Results: the rat kept running through the maze (although with more errors each time), so the search ended up being a failure. Conclusion: memory is distributed rather than localized.

• Principle of mass action: the less cortex, the slower and more ineffcient the learning. The key idea here is that performance deterioration depends on the percentage of cortex destroyed but not on the location of the destroyed cells.

• Equipotentiality: ability of one part of the cortex to take over the functions of another part of the cortex.

Maguire et al. (2000) found that spatial memory in London taxi drivers is localized in the hippocampus (as discussed later in this unit). Most modern discoveries in this area are made using non-invasive methods, such as brain imaging technology.

Behavior and environment

• Behaviorism describes how environment affects behavior.
• Behavior also affects the environment.
• How we treat others shapes how they respond to us, creating the social environment we live in.
• Behavior is not passive—it actively shapes the environment, which in turn influences us. This reflects his principle of reciprocal determinism in social learning theory.

In this experiment, participants heard 20-word lists under two conditions. In the first condition, they recalled the words immediately, showing a clear serial position effect — better recall of words at the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of the list. In the second condition, after a 30-second delay with a distraction task, only the primacy effect remained, while the recency effect disappeared. This shows that the recency effect depends on short-term memory, whereas the primacy effect relies on long-term memory.

Advantages

Limitations

VS

It has weak temporal resolution (approximately 1 second) when using fMRI compared to electromagnetic techniques like EEG (<1 millisecond). All considerations relevant to MRI also apply to fMRI: claustrophobia, cost, long procedure, and the inability to use it with medical implants.

It offers excellent spatial resolution (up to 1-2 mm). Unlike structural imaging techniques, it allows us to observe brain processes.

Poverty has been studied as an impactful factor on cognitive development. Read the pages 164-165 and answer, in your infographic:

1. What is Dickenson and Popli's (2016) study about?
2. What does poverty include?
3. What characteristics of a poor environment affect the most in cognitive development?

• An unconditioned stimulus (US) is an environmental stimulus that is biologically potent, for example, the taste of food. You do not have to teach a dog that “food is good”: it is a biologically predetermined knowledge.
• A conditioned stimulus (CS) is an environmental stimulus that is neutral and that by itself does not produce any biologically predetermined reaction. For example, the sound of a bell ringing does not carry any biologically important information.
• An unconditioned response (UR) is a reflex response to an US. For example, a dog will naturally salivate at the sight or smell of red meat.

Pavlov's idea was that, if you repeatedly present the meat (US) and the bell (CS) several times, you will be able to remove the meat and the dog will salivate at the sound of the bell. Such a learned response was called a conditioned response (CR). Unlike the UR which is a biological reflex, the CR is acquired through experience.

Further technological development:

Bach-y-Rita’s then developed a device that connects a small camera on a patient’s brow to a small plastic structure that the patient holds in their mouth against their tongue. This way the patient can “see” with the tongue. David Eagleman, another neuroscientist, believes in sensory augmentation: to develop super-senses, such as the ability to “feel” electromagnetic fields, stock market data, or the weather in space.

This is when an organism, after being conditioned to respond with a certain behaviour to a certain conditional stimulus, starts responding with this behaviour to other similar stimuli. In Pavlov's research it was shown that, after dogs have been conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, they would also salivate at similar sounds such as a buzzer. In the study of Little Albert, the boy's fear of white rats also generalized to other stimuli, such as rabbits, other white fluffy objects, and even Santa’s beard

Louis Leborgne, now better known as “Tan”, lost the ability to speak when he was 30. He developed gangrene and was admitted for surgery which was to be performed by Paul Broca, a French physician who also specialized in language. By that time “tan” was the only syllable that Leborgne could pronounce until his death. His inability to speak (or write) was the only malfunction. Broca carefully described Tan’s condition, which is now known as Broca’s aphasia (the loss of articulated speech). When Tan died, at the age of 51, an autopsy of his brain was carried out and it revealed a lesion in the frontal area of the left hemisphere, in particular a region in the posterior inferior frontal gyrus. This region is now known as Broca’s area.

Effects of working conditions on cognitive functions

Heat exposure only impacts cognition when body temperature rises above 37°C, and it mainly affects complex functions (like attention and decision-making), not simple ones. This may be due to changes in blood flow in brain regions responsible for voluntary control (Taylor et al, 2016). Nutritional supplements containing tyrosine can help maintain cognitive function in extreme environments (e.g., mining, farming, firefighting, military). Wang et al. (2021) reviewed 66 focused research studies and concluded that indoor environmental quality conditions are “not always associated with reduced cognition”. Noise can make people work faster but also increases mistakes, showing a trade-off between speed and accuracy. Older adults are more negatively affected by noise than younger people. Lighting and temperature interact: at 22°C, higher light levels improve attention, but at 37°C, the opposite occurs.

It focuses on accurately describing real-life thinking patterns. What matters is how well the model fits the observed data from other people. (We will analyze three theoretical approaches.) System I uses heuristics, which are simplified rules of reasoning, AKA cognitive shortcuts.

Our focus on using clear, observable behaviors to measure psychological ideas comes from the influence of behaviorists and their studies on conditioning. However, behaviorists themselves did not believe in studying hidden mental processes. They only focused on what could be directly seen and measured, rather than guessing about internal thoughts or feelings.

VS

Limitations

Advantages

Limitation: the scans involve some exposure to radiation.

Advantage: it's fast and non-invasive. It captures images of both soft and hard tissues, as well as blood vessels. Can be performed on people with implanted medical devices.

Ludolph and Schulz (2018)

Ludolph and Schulz (2018) conducted a systematic review of debiasing on decision-making in a medical context. The review included 87 studies. The reviewed studies showed that 69% of debiasing interventions were partially or completely successful. The authors of 29% of the studies, on the other hand, concluded that their debiasing attempt was ineffective. In terms of different types of debiasing strategies, technological strategies appeared to be more effective (88% effective interventions), followed by cognitive strategies (50% effective interventions). Overall, the study suggests that debiasing techniques in the medical field are indeed effective. However, studies like this one should always remember the potential role of publication bias. It could be that only “successful” studies tend to be published, and if that is the case, then estimates of effectiveness would be inflated.

Stage 2

Stage 1

They answered: a Black/White IAT measured implicit prejudice, and a questionnaire measured explicit attitudes. Results: Participants in the Obama condition showed significantly less implicit anti-Black bias compared to the negative condition. No difference between Obama condition and control. Explicit attitudes (questionnaire) were not affected.

Participants judged whether letter strings were words or non-words. Before each trial, they were primed with a name flashed for 55 ms. Group 1: Negative name → Neutral “XXXXXX.” Group 2: Negative name → Positive exemplar “Obama.” Group 3 (control): Neutral “XXXXXX” both times.

>

Conclusion: Exposure to a positive counter-stereotypic exemplar (Barack Obama) reduced implicit racial bias.Suggests that implicit prejudice can be moderated by positive exemplars, even if explicit attitudes remain unchanged.

Stage 2

Frustration Phase

Child taken to a new room with attractive toys. After a short time, toys were removed. This created frustration, increasing the likelihood of aggression.

Framing Effect

Depending on whether outcomes are described (“framed”) as gains or losses, subjects make different judgements: they are more willing to take risks to avoid losses, but they tend to avoid risks associated with gains.

Tversky and Kahneman (1981)

If you think about it logically, both of the choice sets are identical. Logically, there should be no difference in how participants in the two groups respond to this situation and we should expect a 50:50 split between Program A and Program B, indicating no preference.

Direct Learning

Trail & Error

This happens when a person learns from the consequences of their own actions.

• A student studies hard for a test and gets a high grade, so they continue studying hard in the future.

• A teen joins a sports team, practices regularly, and is praised by the coach. This positive reinforcement strengthens their motivation to keep attending practice.

Qualitative study from the perspective of an insider who is trying to understand a culture from the point of view of its people. It seeks to understand the unique beliefs, values, and practices of a given society and pursues no goal of comparing it to other cultures. Researchers often live in that culture for a prolonged period of time.

Advantages

Limitations

Perfect temporal resolution, detecting changes in brain activity within milliseconds. Used to diagnose conditions like epilepsy and sleep disorders. Low cost, transportable, silent and non-invasive.

VS

Weak spatial resolution; not used to pinpoint the origin of an electrical signal but good for measuring overall brain activity. Less effective for detecting activity in subcortical areas. The signal weakens the farther it is from the scalp's surface.

Effects of poverty on cognitive functions

Poverty is associated with worse cognitive outcomes, such as lower academic achievement. Challenge in research:

• Poverty is not just about money—it involves multiple interacting factors (parenting quality, crime rates, working hours, substance abuse, education access).
• It is unclear whether the effects of poverty are reversible if children move into financially stable environments, or whether timing (early vs. late poverty, continuous vs. episodic) matters.

Hypotheses:

• Family Stress Model: Emphasizes the role of home environment and parent–child interactions. Suggests that stress and reduced quality of relationships, rather than money itself, drive cognitive delays.
• Parental Investment Model: Focuses on material resources (goods, services, experiences). Includes malnutrition, which can have physiological effects on the brain.

Key Study: Dickerson & Popli (2016)

• Sample: 19,000 UK children born 2000–2001, tracked until age 7.
• Method: Longitudinal testing at 9 months, 3, 5, and 7 years, with interviews on family and parenting.
• Findings:
• Timing matters—poverty experienced early in life has the most detrimental effect on cognitive development.
• Being born into poverty is especially harmful.
• Statistical analysis showed parental investment (resources, nutrition, experiences) is more significant than family stress in explaining cognitive delays.

• Assumes that all resources and time are available to make a decision.
• Defines what is right and wrong, correct and incorrect, effective and ineffective, etc.

Examples:

• Aristotle's Formal Logic
• Premise 1: All humans are mortal.
• Premise 2: All Greeks are humans.
• Conclusion: All Greeks are mortal.
• Probability Theory
• In economics, investment decisions could be made based on intuition, but normativity suggests analyzing the success and failure frequencies of other investments under similar circumstances.

• Utility Theory
• It involves uncertainty and trade-offs.
• The expected utility for each option is calculated, and then the option that maximizes utility is chosen.

Behaviorist experiments, such as those using the Skinner box, were highly controlled and aimed to match the precision of physical sciences. However, a major bias of behaviorism is that it ignored cognitive factors, viewing behavior only as automatic responses to external stimuli and reinforcements. This created a limited understanding of human behavior by excluding mental processes and internal influences.

Classical and operant conditioning offer different views on how behavior is learned. In classical conditioning, learning follows a stimulus–reaction pattern—an automatic response becomes linked to a new stimulus. In operant conditioning, learning follows a behavior–reinforcement pattern—the behavior occurs first and is then strengthened or weakened by its consequences. Skinner argued that operant conditioning better explains intentional, goal-directed behavior in humans.

Example

Bad Bunny: Is he that good?

A fan who believes that Bad Bunny is a great artist may focus only on positive reviews, awards, sold-out concerts, and streaming numbers as proof of his talent. When critics argue that his lyrics are repetitive or that his music lacks complexity, the fan may dismiss these critiques as “haters” or claim that they “don’t understand the genre.” By selectively accepting positive information and rejecting negative feedback, the fan reinforces their belief that Bad Bunny is unquestionably a good artist, even without considering all perspectives objectively.

Paul Bach-y-Rita (1969)

He created a dental chair with 400 vibrating plates arranged in a grid, connected to a camera; images translated into vibration patterns on the participant’s back.Participants: Six blind participants (most blind from birth), trained for 20–40 hours. Results:

• Participants recognized common objects (telephone, toy horse, cup).
• They could discriminate overlapping objects.
• Identified people, posture, movement, and letters.
• Recognition time improved from 5–8 minutes → 5–20 seconds after 10 hours of training.

Participants felt stimuli came from in front of the camera, not from their back—effectively “seeing” with the brain. “You don’t see with the eyes. You see with the brain.” (Bach-y-Rita, 1969).

Working conditions refer to lighting, temperature, level of noise and ventilation. Read the page 162 and answer, in your infographic:

1. What is Wang et al. (2021) study about?
2. How does he demonstrate how working conditions affect cognitive functions?
3. Which cognitive functions were affected?

Cultural studies from the perspective of an outsider. They are trying to understand a culture from the point of view of an external framework. They apply general theories and concepts to this new culture and analyse its similarities and differences with other cultures. Researchers working from this perspective often employ standardized measures that allow them to quantify cultural similarities and differences.

Sharot et al. (2007) investigated whether flashbulb memories—vivid, long-lasting recollections of emotional events—have a biological basis. Method: Twenty-four people who were in New York City during the 9/11 attacks participated in an fMRI study three years later. While in the scanner, in the experimental condition, they recalled memories related to 9/11 (“September” cue) and neutral memories (control condition) from the previous summer (“Summer” cue). Results: Participants who had been closer to the World Trade Center showed stronger activation in the left amygdala when recalling 9/11 compared to neutral events. The level of activation correlated with proximity to the attack site. Conclusion: The findings suggest that flashbulb memories rely on the interaction between emotional (amygdala) and memory networks, showing a biological basis for emotionally charged, vivid memories.

Effects of breakfast consumption on cognitive performance

Martins et al. (2020): Reviewed 30 studies and found general consensus that breakfast benefits cognitive function, though the exact mechanism is unclear. Blood glucose role: Low glycaemic index (GI) foods seem to improve cognitive performance more than high GI foods, but findings are not unanimous. Challenges in research:

• Sample differences: Age, education, poverty, and sociocultural background affect results, limiting generalizability.
• Complexity of cognition: Breakfast may influence different cognitive functions in different ways, making it hard to generalize.
• Complexity of breakfast itself: Effects depend on the type and combination of foods, not just “breakfast vs. no breakfast.”

Findings: Regular breakfast consumption is linked to better attention, memory, thinking, and school performance. Gap in research: Most studies focus on short-term effects; there is a lack of longitudinal studies on long-term cognitive development.

• Reductionism: explaining complex behavior in simpler (biological) terms.
• Extreme view: all cognition is just brain activity (“memory” = neural pattern).
• Moderate view: seeks to understand how much biology can explain cognition.
• Reductionism is not “bad”—it allows experimental control and clear cause–effect conclusions.
• Holistic approaches consider multiple variables but are harder to test experimentally.

“Imagine that the USA is preparing for an outbreak of an [unusual] disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the program are as follows:”

The expected-utility theory is a normative framework for rational decision-making under risk. You multiply the payoff (utility) of an outcome by its probability, then choose the option with the highest expected value. Example:

• Option A: $10 with certainty → Expected utility = $10.
• Option B: $200 with 6% chance → Expected utility = $12.
• Rational choice (per theory): Option B, since $12 > $10.

However, Tversky and Kahneman (1981) proved another thing.

Logically, there should be no difference in how participants in the two groups respond to this situation. Results: Group 1 preferred Program A. Group 2 preferred Program B, showing the impact of how the outcomes were described or "framed".

Some lists contained phonologically similar letters (e.g., B, D, C, G, P) and others dissimilar ones (e.g., F, H, P, R, X). Results showed that rhyming lists were harder to recall, even though the letters were seen, not heard.This suggests that short-term memory encodes information phonologically, a process not explained by the multi-store memory model.

The doctor. John was feeling unwell today, so he decided to visit a family doctor. He checked in with the receptionist and then looked through several medical journals that were on the table next to his chair. Eventually, the nurse came in and asked him to take off his clothes. The doctor was very kind to him. He eventually prescribed some pills for John. Then John left the doctor's office and went home. The dentist. Bill had a severe toothache. The wait seemed endless until he finally arrived at the dentist's office. Bill looked around and saw several dental posters on the wall. Eventually, the dentist examined him and took X-rays of his teeth. He wondered what the dentist was doing. The dentist told Bill he had many cavities. As soon as he made another appointment, he left the office.

Indirect Learning

Watch & learn

This happens when a person learns by watching others and seeing the consequences they receive.

• A child watches their sibling get scolded for lying, so they learn not to lie.

• A teen watches someone from other friend group become more popular for being confident and outgoing. Through vicarious reinforcement, they try to act more confident themselves.

Stage 1

Frustration Phase

Child observed an adult model (male or female).

• Aggressive condition:
• Model behaved aggressively toward the Bobo doll (verbal and physical aggression).
• Non-aggressive condition:
• Model played quietly and did not show aggression.
• Control group:
• No model observed.

The concept of causality in operant conditioning explores what causes behavior and what “intentional” means. According to the idea of operant variability, which suggests that organisms just engage in a variety of explorative behaviours for no apparent reason (strangely enough for behaviourism, this idea is reminiscent of free will). Through this natural exploration, if a behavior happens to produce a rewarding outcome, it becomes more likely to be repeated. Thus, in operant conditioning, learning occurs through trial and error, without needing a teacher or external direction.

Stage 3

Observation of Behaviour

Child placed in a room with:

• Bobo doll
• Similar toys to Stage 1

Observed for 20 minutes through a one-way mirror.

• Researchers recorded:
• Imitative aggression
• Novel aggression
• Non-aggressive behaviour

Baddeley, Thompson, and Buchanan (1975) studied the word length effect by asking participants to recall lists of short and long words. Short words (e.g., house, candle, table) were remembered more accurately than long words (e.g., television, candlestick, apartment). This showed that short-term memory capacity is greater for short words, suggesting that longer words take up more processing time or memory space—something not accounted for by the multi-store memory model.

Breakfast consumption is frequently forgotten by a lot of students. Read the page 163 and answer, in your infographic:

1. What is Martins et al. (2020) study about?
2. How does he demonstrate how breakfast consumption affect cognitive functions?
3. Which cognitive functions were affected?
4. Were results completely valid?

• Avoids ethnocentrism: Researchers do not assume that tools built in Western contexts naturally apply to other cultures.
• Protects cultural meaning: Using emic phases first ensures indigenous concepts are respected rather than overwritten.
• Builds cross-cultural theory: Derived etic allows psychologists to isolate cognitive processes that are truly universal (basic memory structures) vs processes shaped by cultural experience (semantic clustering ability).
• Explains variation without stereotypes: Differences are interpreted as cultural adaptations, not deficiencies.

Advantages

Limitations

Good spatial resolution. They are useful for detecting tumors and metastasis, as well as other diffuse brain diseases, making it clear which areas are affected by the spreading disease. PET scans are often useful in diagnosing the causes of dementia. PET scans can be very small, so small that one was created to be used by a rat as a hat

VS

They are less commonly used due to the availability of non-invasive alternatives (like fMRI) that do not require the administration of radioactive chemicals.

Broca's discovery suggested that other functions might also be mapped to specific areas of the brain. Wernicke's area was discovered by Carl Wernicke in 1874. It is located in the temporal lobe of the dominant hemisphere (which is the left hemisphere in most individuals). Wernicke's area is responsible for the comprehension of written and spoken language. People with Wernicke's aphasia have a language comprehension impairment, while their speech production remains intact. As a result, when they speak, they sound very fluent and natural, but what they say is largely nonsensical.

Personal factors and the environment

• Personal variables affect the environment.
• Even when people share the same external setting (e.g., classmates in the same school and classes), they are not affected in identical ways.
• Individuals choose to focus on different aspects of the environment and assign varying levels of importance to them.
• So, personal variables determine which parts of the common environment each person is truly surrounded by and influenced by.

Advantages

Limitations

VS

People with metal in their bodies (such as cardiac pacemakers or shrapnel) cannot undergo this procedure because the magnetic field and could cause internal injuries. It can trigger claustrophobia. Longer scanning times are required: in some cases, people have to remain still for periods as long as 40 minutes.

It does not involve radiation exposure, and as a result, there is less risk of radiation-induced cancer. MRI has better resolution. This makes it particularly useful for detecting abnormalities in soft tissues – such as the brain.

Memory in the Kpelle society

Second experiment: Participants heard two stories: 1. Story 1 used the same semantic categories as were used in the previous experiments, only this time the categories were wrapped into a relevant real-life situation. 2. Story 2 followed a different kind of organization: a sequential structure where the order of objects was important. The approach used narrative recall (a story), which was hypothesized that it was more relevant to how Kpelle people organize material in their daily life. Results: Participants who heard the first story had a strong tendency to recall items by category, whereas participants who heard the second story recalled the items sequentially with little to no clustering. Conclusion: Kpelle people use clustering to organize information, but only when it makes sense to them.

Cole and Scribner (1974)

Studied the Kpelle people in Liberia. First experiment: Participants would have to memorize one of the following: 1. The clusterable list included objects that came from different categories: clothing, tools, goods and utensils. 2. The unclusterable list included a list of objects that were difficult categories (e.g., bottle, nickel, chicken feather, box). The experimental approach that they started with was free recall (participants are free to remember the objects in any manner they choose). Results: American children used clustering in their recall, while Kpelle kids almost didn't.

Willett et al. (2021)

The patient’s “typing” speed reached 90 characters per minute with a 99% accuracy rate (if using autocorrect), which is comparable to the smartphone typing speeds of healthy subjects of the same age (115 characters per minute). Researchers were able to decode complete handwritten sentences in real time.

One participant, who could not speak and had been completely paralysed and unable to move from the neck down, was instructed to imagine that his hand was not paralysed, that he had a pen in his hand, and that he was writing on a piece of paper. Electrodes were installed in his prefrontal cortex (precentral gyrus). Signals from the electrodes were decoded using a range of data analysis techniques, including machine learning, which is a subset of artificial intelligence (Al). Researchers achieved a high accuracy of “translating” these signals into handwritten letters.

Even years after an accident, the neural signals with the writing intention still get generated in the motor cortex.

Is 6 better than 24?

A person with alcoholism experiences cognitive dissonance after their doctor tells them they must stop drinking completely for health reasons. On one hand, the person believes, “I need alcohol to relax and cope,” but on the other hand, they are aware that continuing to drink is damaging their health. This contradiction creates psychological discomfort. To reduce this dissonance without completely stopping their behaviour, the person decides to compromise by drinking only six beers instead of twenty-four, allowing them to feel that they are making a healthier choice while still continuing to drink.

In this example, we can see how the person changes their way of thinking rather than the behaviour itself. It is also clear that the person convinces themselves that they are genuinely taking care of their health, even though the doctor advised them to stop drinking alcohol completely.

Behaviours are a result of their consequences, either satisfying or discomforting. B.F. Skinner was the one who developed these ideas to completion, getting rid of the speculative constructs that describe the “black box”.

He challenged operant conditioning and proved the importance of the "black box" research. He proved that even rats learn in ways that cannot be fully explained by conditioning. He trained rats to run through a simple maze in which they had to run across a round table and into the entrance of a curved corridor that took several turns and finally led them to a food reward. This took them 12 trials to learn. Then he changed the maze into a radial pattern where the pathway that the rats had been conditioned to choose was now blocked. Instead, they had 12 alternative paths. According to operant conditioning, rats would choose the paths closest to the original one, and instead they chose path #6 -- why? It suggests that rats were able to form some kind of internal mental representation of the first maze, so they somehow “knew” the direction in which the reward is likely to be found. This is teleological behaviorism.

Anchoring bias

Strack and Mussweiler (1997)

Strack and Mussweiler (1997) was the study that first showed the empirical discovery of anchoring bias. Researchers randomly split participants into two groups and asked them the following questions:

• Group 1: Did Mahatma Gandhi die before or after age 9?
• Group 2: Did Mahatma Gandhi die before or after age 140?

Both of these questions are, of course, quite unreasonable even for someone who doesn’t know exactly who Gandhi was, and participants in both groups responded correctly (after age 9, before age 140). Another question on the same questionnaire asked participants at what age they thought Mahatma Gandhi died, and this is where differences were revealed. Students in Group 1 guessed age 50 on average, whereas the average guess in Group 2 was age 67. This shows how, although the first question was clearly unreasonable and not relevant to the subsequent task, the question served as an anchor and influenced students’ judgements.

Participants and Design

Aim: investigate whether children would imitate aggressive behaviour observed in adults.

Methodology

• Participants: 72 children (aged 3–6)
• Randomly assigned to one of three groups:
• Aggressive role model group (24 children)
• Non-aggressive role model group (24 children)
• Control group (24 children)
• Independent Variable: Type of model (genders & aggressiveness)
• Dependent Variable: Level of aggressive behaviour

This experiment consisted of 3 stages:

1. Exposure to the Model
2. Frustration Phase
3. Observation of Behaviour