1. "Cognitive Psychology refers to all processes by which the sensory information is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used." Discuss the implications of this statement. How does this definition show how cognitive psychology differs from the behavioral and the psychoanalytical approaches to explaining psychological processes?
2. Much of modern cognitive psychology is based on our understanding of the biological processes of the brain. Explain how knowing more about biology has influenced our understanding of memory, semantic word comprehension, and general information processing?
3. Explain how understanding the organization of memory is connected to the understanding of how human beings make decisions. Select two models of knowledge storage/organization and discuss how each of them might influence decision making if they are in fact the correct explanations about how memory is organized.
4. Discuss the factors that are involved in having a conversation. What factors lead to misunderstandings and how might research in language development and use help us communicate more effectively?
5. Using everything you have learned in this course about how the mind functions and how hymans process and use information, provide me with 4 study techniques that you would recommend to your fellow students in order to improve their performance as students. Make sure you explain how each technique would work, why it would work, and what cognitive theory it is based on.
6. Discuss how expertise, time, and context play a role in problem solving and decision making. Make sure your discussion shows a good understanding of problem solving and decision making.
7. Even though books on cognitive psychology explain the various models as individual chapters, human cognitions do not occur in isolation from other cognitive functions. Take 4 concepts covered in this class (e.g. attention, memory, problem solving, and language) and explain how each is dependent on the other.
8. How would a proponent of schema theory explain false eyewitness memories? Do you think schemas and scripts influence our memory? Why or why not (defend your answer with evidence or support)?
9. Describe in detail three real world applications where cognitive research could be implemented to help solve a current real-world problem.
10. Today, cognitive psychology is the dominant school of psychology. However, there are those who do not feel that it can provide answers any better than the schools of psychology that have already fallen out of favor. Provide three specific critiques of the school of cognitive psychology and then play devil's advocate to yourself by defending cognitive psychology against those critiques.