Lecture notes: Applied Cognitive Psychology

Lecture notes: Applied Cognitive Psychology (2022)
Made by Fleur Serlie

Lecture 1: Introduction
ACP Model: Core
Outcome = cognition x environment

Cognition
 Memory
 Attention
 Motivation
 Enjoyment
 Flexibility
 Inhibition

Environment
 Organisation
 Product
 Website
 Tools

Goals
 Vitality
 Safety
 Happiness

Indicators = dependent variables (assess whether goal is achieved)
Factors = independent variables (change cognition/environment)

Lecture 2: Fundamentals of Cognition
Human information processing:
1. Perceptual encoding (information coming in -> sent to thalamus -> relayed to cortical
centres)
2. Central processing (assigning meaning to information)
3. Responding (motor cortex directs/executes movement)

Perception
Low-level perception:
 Eyes
 Tongue
 Ears
 Skin

Low level phenomena:
 Hering grid (lateral inhibition in retina)
 Motion-after-effect (adaptation to motion)
 Colour-after-effect (adaptation to colours)



1

,Bottom-up = an explanation for perceptions that start with an incoming stimulus and working
upwards until a representation of the object is formed in our minds. If we perceive sensory
info as it happens, the eyes transmit info to the brain, which puts all of the info together
e.g. saliency (brightness, contrast)

Top-down = Interpretation of incoming information. These perceptions are heavily
influenced by our expectations and prior knowledge and are not always accurate. The brain
applies what it knows to fill in the blanks and anticipate what is next.
e.g. optical illusions

Info quality ↓ = ↑ top-down influence

Attention
Broadbent’s Attentional Filter = early selection on attended channel, modality and physical
properties

Overt = physical change (e.g. head turn, saccade)
Covert = paying attention without moving the eyes

Endogenous (from the inside)
- Intentional
- Targeted
- Controlled
- Conscious
- Limited
- Top-down = concept-driven

Exogenous (from the outside)
- Not intentional
- Untargeted
- Attracted by external stimuli
- Automatic
- Bottom-up = stimulus-driven

Visual search
Methods to guide visual search:
 Pop-out
 Conjunction

Attentional control
Controlled (learning to drive) vs Automatic (driving after a year)

Working memory
Working memory (= a ‘camera’)
 Small capacity -> Miller’s law 7 +/- 2 info pieces at a time
 Short duration (max. 20 seconds)
 Primacy effect = first few words remembered
 Recency effect = last few words remembered
 Mental workspace for complex tasks and control of behaviour

2

, Central executive = visuospatial sketchpad + phonological loop
Visuospatial sketchpad = maintain and manipulate visual info (spatial insight, mental
rotation)

Phonological loop = capacity of the phonological loop is fixed duration of speech sounds (2.5
seconds). It holds auditory information in a speech-based form and is linked to speech
perception.

Central executive (inhibit, shift and update information)
 Diversity: process specific resources
 Unity: shared resources

Updating = continuous monitoring and quick addition/deletion of contents in the working
memory

Inhibition
= taking the position of responses that are dominant in a given situation
 Simon effect (incongruent response-stimulus location)
 Stroop effect (incongruent word-colour)
 Stop signal (halting response)

Shifting = cognitive flexibility to switch between different tasks or mental states

Switching cost = longer reaction time, lower accuracy

Shifting + depletion of shared resources

Long term memory
(= ‘a box with printed pictures from the camera’)
 Semantic (facts) + Episodic (events)
 Explicit (conscious: recall) + Implicit (unconscious: familiarity)

Stages
1. Encoding
 (adding to) existing schemas, remembering list of words
 Yerkes-Dodson Law: performance increases with physiological/mental arousal
(stress), but only up to a point




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