COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
• Why do many people remember a
particular experience yet they forget the
names of people whom they have known
for many years?
• Why do you often well remember people
you met in your childhood but not people
you met a week ago?
• Why do marketing executives in large
companies spend so much company
money on advertisements?
Psychology
- is the scientific study of behavior and mental
processes.
Cognition
- forms of knowing and awareness, such as
perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning,
judging, imagining, and problem solving.
Uses of Cognition
• Learning New Things
• Forming Memories
• Making Decisions
Types of Cognitive Processes
• Attention: Attention is a cognitive process
that allows people to focus on a specific
stimulus in the environment.
• Language: Language and language
development are cognitive processes that
involve the ability to understand and
express thoughts through spoken and
written words. This allows us to
communicate with others and plays an
important role in thought.
• Learning: Learning requires cognitive
processes involved in taking in new things,
synthesizing information, and integrating it
with prior knowledge.
• Memory: Memory is an important cognitive
process that allows people to encode,
store, and retrieve information. It is a critical
component in the learning process and
allows people to retain knowledge about
the world and their personal histories.
• Perception: Perception is a cognitive
process that allows people to take in
information through their senses, then
utilize this information to respond and
interact with the world.
• Thought: Thought is an essential part of
every cognitive process. It allows people to
engage in decision-making, problem-
solving, and higher reasoning.
What Can Affect Cognition?
• Age
- Research indicates that as we age, our
cognitive function tends to decline. Age-
related cognitive changes include processing
things more slowly, finding it harder to recall
past events, and a failure to remember
information that was once known (such as
how to solve a particular math equation or
historical information).
• Attention Issues
o Selective attention is a limited
resource, so there are a number of
things that can make it difficult to focus
on everything in your environment.
o Attentional blink happens when you
are so focused on one thing that you
completely miss something else
happening right in front of you.
• Cognitive Biases
- Cognitive biases are systematic errors in
thinking related to how people process and
interpret information about the world.
Confirmation bias is one common example
that involves only paying attention to
information that aligns with your existing
beliefs while ignoring evidence that doesn't
support your views.
• Genetics
- Some studies have connected cognitive
function with certain genes. For example, a
2020 study published in Brain
Communications found that a person's level of
brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF),
which is 30% determined by heritability, can
impact the rate of brain neurodegeneration,7
a condition that ultimately impacts cognitive
function.
• Memory Limitations
- Short-term memory is surprisingly brief,
typically lasting just 20 to 30 seconds,8
whereas long-term memory can be stable and
enduring, with memories lasting years and
even decades. Memory can also be fragile
and fallible. Sometimes we forget and other
times we are subject to misinformation effects
that may even lead to the formation of false
memories.
Cognitive Psychology
- The branch of psychology that explores the
operation of mental processes related to
perceiving, attending, thinking, language, and
memory, mainly through inferences from behavior.
Topics in Cognitive Psychology
• Attention
• Choice-based behavior
• Decision-making
• Forgetting
• Information processing
• Language acquisition
• Memory
• Problem-solving
• Speech perception
• Visual perception
Careers in Cognitive Psychology
History of Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive psychology gained popularity
between the 1950s and 1970s.
• In psychology, behaviorism was the
prevalent viewpoint.
• "Cognitive Revolution" in psychology -
memory, attention, and language
acquisition began to emerge.
Ulric Neisser (1928-2012)
German-American Psychologist
Father of Cognitive Psychology
Reasons to Consult a Cognitive Psychologist
Current Research in Cognitive Psychology
• Practical applications: providing help
coping with memory disorders, making
better decisions, recovering from brain
injury, treating learning disorders, and
structuring educational curricula to
enhance learning.
• Current research: approach the treatment
of mental illness, traumatic brain injury, and
degenerative brain diseases.
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
• A form of cognitive behavior therapy based
on the concept that an individual’s self-
defeating beliefs influence and cause
negative feelings and undesirable
behaviors. Specifically, a person’s
problems are seen as the result of turning
healthy desires for success, approval, and
pleasure into demands.
• Many cognitive psychologists specialize in
research with universities or government
agencies.
o degenerative brain disorders and
brain injuries.
• Others take a clinical focus and work
directly with people who are experiencing
challenges related to mental processes.
They work in hospitals, mental health
clinics, and private practices.
o helping people replace negative
thought patterns with more positive,
realistic ones.
• Alzheimer's disease, dementia, or memory
loss
• Brain trauma treatment
• Cognitive therapy for a mental health
condition
• Interventions for learning disabilities
• Perceptual or sensory issues
• Therapy for a speech or language disorder

The Cognitive Approach in Practice

• Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
o Albert Ellis
o 1950s
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
o Aaron T. Beck
o 1960s

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

• A form of psychotherapy that integrates
theories of cognition and learning with
treatment techniques derived from
cognitive therapy and behavior therapy.
• CBT assumes that cognitive, emotional,
and behavioral variables are functionally
interrelated. Treatment is aimed at
identifying and modifying the client’s
maladaptive thought processes and
problematic behaviors through cognitive
restructuring and behavioral techniques to
achieve change.
 Vision and Visual Perception
Perception
➢ PERCEPTION IS THE SET OF
PROCESSES BY WHICH WE RECOGNIZE,
ORGANIZE, AND MAKE SENSE OF THE
SENSATIONS WE RECEIVE FROM
ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULI.
From Sensation to Representation
➢ WE DO NOT PERCEIVE THE WORLD
EXACTLY AS OUR EYES SEE IT. INSTEAD,
OUR BRAIN ACTIVELY TRIES TO MAKE
SENSE OF THE MANY STIMULI THAT
ENTER OUR EYES AND FALL ON OUR
RETINA.
➢ PERCEPTION DOES NOT CONSIST OF
JUST SEEING WHAT IS BEING PROJECTED
ONTO YOUR RETINA; THE PROCESS IS
MUCH MORE COMPLEX. YOUR BRAIN
PROCESSES THE VISUAL STIMULI, GIVING
THE STIMULI MEANING AND
INTERPRETING THEM.
Some Basic Concepts of Perception
JAMES GIBSON (1966, 1979)
➢ PROVIDED A USEFUL FRAMEWORK FOR
STUDYING PERCEPTION. HE
INTRODUCED THE CONCEPTS OF DISTAL
(EXTERNAL) OBJECT, INFORMATIONAL
MEDIUM, PROXIMAL STIMULATION, AND
PERCEPTUAL OBJECT. Perception
Stimulus Sensation
MENTAL PERCEPT
➢ A MENTAL REPRESENTATION OF A
STIMULUS THAT IS PERCEIVED
➢ SOMETIMES WE PERCEIVE WHAT IS
NOT THERE. OTHER TIMES, WE DO NOT
PERCEIVE WHAT IS THERE. AND AT
STILL OTHER TIMES, WE PERCEIVE
WHAT CANNOT BE THERE.
How does our visual work?
Approaches to Perception
Monocular and Binocular Cues for Depth
Perception
Monocular Cues Binocular Cues
Texture gradients Binocular convergence
Relative size Binocular disparity
Interposition
Linear perspective
Aerial perspective
Location in the
picture plane
Motion parallax
Approaches to Perception
• Bottom-Up Theories
- explanation of perception
- what you see is based on the sensory
(subjective) information.
- doesn’t require no previous knowledge or
learning.
Ex: nagnotif phone mo, most likely you’ll
check it.
- umuulan kaya kukunin mo umbrella mo
- mainit so gagamitin mo sunglasses mo
or payong
• Top-Down Theories
- general knowledge H_me=home
- perception driven by cognition
- nagmamatter ano kasama niya
Deficits in Perception
- it refers to the difficulties in how a person
perceives and process sensory information
• Agnosias
➢ LOSS OR IMPAIRMENT OF THE
ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE OR
APPRECIATE THE NATURE OF
SENSORY STIMULI DUE TO BRAIN
DAMAGE OR DISORDER.
RECOGNITION IMPAIRMENT IS
PROFOUND AND SPECIFIC TO A
PARTICULAR SENSORY MODALITY.
 AUDITORY AGNOSIA, TACTILE
AGNOSIA, AND VISUAL AGNOSIA
ARE THE MOST COMMON TYPES,
AND EACH HAS A VARIETY OF
SUBTYPES.
ETIOLOGY OF AGNOSIA
- caused by damage or degeneration of areas of
the brain, which is the parietal, temporal, or
occipital lobe.
MAIN FORMS OF AGNOSIA
• APPERCEPTIVE
- This form involves a problem of perception. The
person’s senses work, but their brain can’t process
the information.
• ASSOCIATIVE
This type is a problem of recognition. The senses
can pick up information and the brain can process
it, but it can’t recognize or make sense of the
information coming in.
• Prosopagnosia
➢ A FORM OF VISUAL AGNOSIA IN WHICH
THE ABILITY TO PERCEIVE AND
RECOGNIZE FACES IS IMPAIRED,
WHEREAS THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE
OTHER OBJECTS MAY BE RELATIVELY
UNAFFECTED
• Ataxias
➢ LOSS OR IMPAIRMENT OF THE ABILITY
TO PERFORM PURPOSEFUL, SKILLED
MOVEMENTS DESPITE INTACT MOTOR
FUNCTION AND COMPREHENSION.
ETIOLOGY OF ATAXIA
is caused by damage to the cerebellum or its
connections with other parts of the brain, which
are responsible for controlling movement and
balance.
CATEGORIES OF ATAXIA
• ACQUIRED
- These are conditions you develop or
causes that affect you at some point in
your life. Some of these causes are
temporary or reversible.
• INHERITED
These are genetic conditions, meaning
you inherit them from one or both
parents.
• SPORADIC
- These conditions happen because of
spontaneous DNA mutations, which
happen randomly a fetus develops in the
uterus.
Color Vision
• The Trichromatic (Young-Helmholtz)
Theory
- Thomas Young propose that we had
different types of receptors in our eye that
corresponded to different wavelenght of light.
and another guy who we learned
about previously, Herman Vol Helmboltz.
• The Opponent-Process Theory
- Was first proposed by Ewald Hering , who
was a German Physiologist .
- Our color vision is actually working in pairs
and they oppose one another in our brain.
• The Retinex Theory
- Edwin Land studied in light and colors in
1980 and suggested the idea of a Retinex
theory which explains that how we are able
to see colors consistently in spite of
differences in light levels.
- Where the brain corrects for illumination
and perceives colors consistently, despite
different light sources causing variations in
illumination.
o Brightness contrast.
— Apparent brightness of an object
depends on surronding objects
o Color Constancy
— Ability of an object to appear to be
the same color, regardless of lighting.
• Color Vision Deficiency
- Color vision deficiency is the inability to
distinguish certain shades of
color. The term "color blindness" is also used
to describe this visual condition, but very few
people are completely color blind.
- Most people with color vision deficiency can
see colors. The most common form of color
deficiency is red-green.
- Another form of color deficiency is blue-
yellow. This is a rarer and more severe form
of color vision loss than just red-green
 deficiency because people with blue-yellow
deficiency frequently have red-green
blindness, too.
People who are totally color deficient, a
condition called achromatopsia, can only see
things as black and white or in shades of
gray.
People with Protanopia have a reduced sensitivity
to red light and see greens, yellows, and oranges as
more muted or washed out.
People with Deuteranopia have a reduced
sensitivity to green light and see reds, oranges, and
yellows as more muted or washed out.
Ishihara Test
Light is electromagnetic radiation that can be
described in terms of wavelength
Vision - begins when light passes through the
protective covering of the eye.
EYE - It helps to see everything to give us to
information about the world.
INTERBAL PARTS OF EYE:
• CORNEA - It's like a window that controls
and focuses the entry of light into eye.
• PUPIL - the back circle at the eye. An
opening through which light can enter the
eye.
• IRIS - it controls the amount of light that
enters the eye opening and closing the
pupil.
• SCLERA - The white part of the eye that
protects the eyeball.
• CHOROID - It's filled with blood vessels
that brings oxygen and nutrients to eye.
• LENS - It's focuses the light rays that
passes through it ( and onto the retina ) in
order to create clear images of objects that
are positioned at various distances.
• VITREOUS HUMOR - It prevents the wall of
eyeball from collapsing
• CILIARY BODY - Is the extension of the
iris.
• OPTIC NERVE - It is the nerve carries
information from the eye to the brain.
• RETINA - It processes a picture from the
focused light , and the brain is left to decide
what the picture is.
- where electromagnetic light energy is
transduced—that is, converted—into neural
electrochemical impulses (Blake, 2000).
• FOVEA - which is a small, thin region of the
retina, the size of the head of a pin.
RETINA : THE LAYERS OF NEURONAL
TISSUE
1st layer:
• Ganglion Cells - tissue—closest to the
front, outward-facing surface of the eye.
- whose axons constitute the optic nerve.
2nd layer:
• Amacrine cells and horizontal cells -
make single lateral (i.e., horizontal
connections among adjacent areas of the
retina in the middle layer of cells.
 • Bipolar cells - make dual connections
forward and outward to the ganglion
cells, as well as backward and inward to
the third layer of retinal cells.
3RD LAYER:
• PHOTORECEPTORS - which convert
light energy into electrochemical energy
that is transmitted by neurons to the
brain.
2 kinds of Photoreceptors:
• Rods - are long and thin photoreceptors.
They are more highly concentrated in the
periphery of the retina than in the foveal
region.
• Cones - are short and thick
photoreceptors and allow for the
perception of color. They are more highly
concentrated in the foveal region than in
the periphery of the retina (Durgin, 2000).

Photopigments - Chemical substances that

react to light and transform physical
electromagnetic energy into an electrochemical
neural impulse that can be understood by the
brain.