How Can the Use of Mental Images, Concepts and Schemas to...

How can the use of mental images, concepts and schemas to organise thinking help us to improve our memory? Cognitive psychology is primarily concerned with the study of subjective internal mental states. However, the subjective nature of cognitive activities such as thinking, memory, learning, perception, and language make it difficult to directly and empirically test these mental processes. Cognitive psychology therefore relies on a fundamental assumption of reductionism, where the dynamic and convoluted cognitive processes mentioned above are reduced to manageable and pre-agreed hypothetical constructs which can be operationalized, and thus empirically measured to highlight relationships between specific variables. Yes, many†¦show more content†¦Spoors et al. (2011, p.50) define concept formation as ‘the process of making a mental representation of a group of objects or events that share similar properties..’ These category concepts are divided into sub-concepts and further sub-concepts. For example, the concept of ‘food’ can be sub-divided into veget ables, fruit, meat, desserts etc.., and further subdivide into meat such as lamb, beef, chicken, pork..etc. We use a set of defining features to categorise – e.g. meat is derived of an animal that once lived, the animal is not from the sea, meat is the body of that animal. But we are flexible in how we apply these defined features for example, guinea pig ‘meat’ would be seen as an edible meat in Peru, but would probably not be considered a foodstuff by individuals raised in western cultures. I like your example of food and meat to explain concept formation. Good. The sorting of incoming stimuli into categories seems to be a fairly automatic cognitive process. Mandler (1967) used word recall of 100 words to test whether explicitly instructing participants to organise words into related categories had any effect on recall. He found no significant difference in the number of words recalled between the group explicitly told to categorise words and the group not instructed to. Bousfield (1953) also found that even when presented with words in a random order, participants tended to naturally group semanticallyShow MoreRelatedY183 Tma011122 Words   |  5 Pagesin which we can organise our thinking. These can be helpful when we are trying to improve our memory or when trying to recall things from the past. The three ways I am about to explain are all similar in the way we organise our thinking, and can be a powerful aid to our memory. Each point is backed up with evidence to support this. One of the ways we organise our thinking is by using mental images. By forming a mental image, we are thinking about something by constructing a mental picture ofRead MoreY183 Tma011258 Words   |  6 PagesAssignment: TMA01 Task 1 How can the way in which we organise our thinking by using mental images, concepts and schemas help us improve our memory? Part A Sketch out a plan for an essay to answer the above question. Introduction: - what is the task? - how do I plan to address it? - split into 3 areas - definition of each - evidence of each Mental images: - definition - what they can be used for – examples Read MoreDevelopmental Psychology Notes7715 Words   |  31 Pagesinsulation that surrounds parts of the neurons) increases, which speeds the transmission of electrical impulses along brain cells but also adds weight to the brain. Rapid brain growth not only allows for increased cognitive abilities, but also helps in the development of more sophisticated fine and gross motor skills. Children who are malnourished show delays in brain development. 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