Approaches of

Cognitive Psychology
● Information Processing
● Connectionism
 Information Processing
● Uses computer as a model for human cognition
● Lachman, Lachman and Butterfield (1979) identified some of the
major ssumptions of information processing approach.
– Humans are symbol manipulators who encode, store, retrieve and
manipulate symbolic data stored in memory in a serial manner
– Human information processing system consists of representation that
corresspond to information from the environment and processes
– Human thought is best characterized as a system of interrelated
capacities and processes that all affect each other
 Connectionism
● A Brain metaphor for cognition
● Major assumptions
– Cognition can be explained using structural aspects of the brain. As per the
approach cognitive processing are described in terms of the connections, between
simple units, which corresspond to the basic unit of the brain, the neuron
– Functions of the brain occurs parallely and not serially (parellely distributed
processing)
– Networks involved in cognitive processing are distributed throughout the brain.
Knowledge is represented in brain in terms of complex neural networks, which
also serves as basis for complex human processing
 Neural network
● Activation of neurons at differrent parts of the brain
simultaneously indicate that there is a sort of circuitry exists
which are defined by certain rules. This circuitry of neurons is
called neural network
● The basic building block of these network is a connection
between two individual nodes (neurons)
● Within a neural network, neurons may have an excitatory
connection, inhibitory connection or no connection with other.
● These connections are built up, soldified and modified as we
experience world day by day.