Discuss the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes (22 marks)
Command term "DISCUSS" - give a considered and balanced review, including a range of arguments, factors or hypotheses. Opinions and conclusions presented clearly supported by appropriate evidence.
INTRODUCTION
The use of scanning technologies has brought about many discoveries and developments in the field of psychology. The use of technology at the cognitive level of analysis enables psychologists to utilise these different methods to examine the human brain, and to study the active brain. Technology also allows us so see where specific processes take place (localisation of functions).
MAIN BODY
TYPES OF TECHNOLOGY
MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Uses magnetic field and radio waves
Produces a 3D image
Used to detect structural changes
Can discern between different types of tissues
fMRI - Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Detects changes in blood oxygen concentration
Is a real-time feed of brain activity - patients are often presented with a stimulus
PET - positron emission topography
Radioactive tracer isotopes injected (non-toxic)
Monitors glucose metabolisation
Allows for levels of brain activity to be seen
DECISION-MAKING
Involves the pre-frontal cortex
STUDY: Montague - Pepsi / Coke Challence
AIM: to examine customer preferance
PROCEDURE - Patients were given fMRI scans - Were given blind taste test of Pepsi and Coka Cola - Were given taste tests again, except they were told which was which
FINDINGS - Blind taste test - reward centre of the brain became active, the brain showed that the majority favoured the taste of Pepsi - In the second test, the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus became active, and 3/4 of the participants preferred coke
CONCLUSION - Using fMRI, psychologists discovered that despite Pepsi being the one that tasted better, people made the conscious decision and preferred Coke when they knew which was which - Activation of the pre-frontal cortex in the second test shows that decision-making happens there - When schemas about each brand were retrieved from the LTM, the hippocampus became active - Senses were influenced by schema - It is a "cultural norm" that Coke is better than Pepsi - conformity
EVALUATION - Low ecological validity - being under the machine may have caused some pressure - Ethnocentrism - Western values - Ethics of neuromarketing - breach of privacy - Does not explain the details of thought processing, it only showed that it happens
The fMRI machine illustrated the relationship between reasoning / decision making and different areas of the brain.
MEMORY
Episodic and semantic memories are stored in the hippocampus
Procedural and emotional memories are stored in the amygdala
STUDY: Clive Wearing Brain Scan
AIM: To look at Clive Wearing’s brain and whether his retrograde and anterograde amnesia can be seen using scans
FINDINGS - Scans showed damage to Wearing’s hippocampus and frontal regions
EVALUATION - Would have had to be conducted under sedation, otherwise the confusion would have caused him significant psychological trauma - Low ethical validity
STRENGTHS OF TECHNOLOGY
Sometimes it is the only way that data can be retrieved
High ecological validity
Data is easily measured (quantitative)
Significant help to researchers
Can help identify symptoms and diseases
WEAKNESSES OF TECHNOLOGY
Requires interpretation - qualitative data can be ambiguous
Closed / confined spaces of scanner - problems for claustrophobes and obese people
Fear could affect results (loudness may scare children)
Not suitable if pregnant / if you have metallic implants
Could be seen as invasive (PET scans - injection)
Expensive