Cognitive Psychology and Memory/Perception

Cognitive Psychology and Memory/Perception

Introduction

Mental uprightness is essential for the normal functioning of every human being. Several factors influence the normal functioning of the brain that results in one having the right state of mind. The mental life of a person is determined by his cognitive side of the brain that influences his or her memory, problem-solving skills, and perception. This study discusses a phenomenon that proves that mental lives of the people are not passively determined but rather it constructed actively.

Cognitive Psychology and Memory/Perception

Cognitive psychology involves the study of how the mind processes its information together with the brain with other things that involve thinking, memorizing and problem-solving (“Cognitive Psychology”). Psychologist uses this idea of cognitive psychology knowing that attention is limited to some resources and is selective and therefore they help people in improving their sense of focus. The mental life of a person is affected by a number of factors but aging is one of the main ones. It leads to memory loss and the cognitive nature of his brain is brought to a halt (“Perception/Cognition”). Thus if the mind is not actively engaged, the person may not be affected by the environmental factors to retain his or her cognitive functionality.

Normal life activities place a huge impact on the mental life of anybody. There is a connection between the mental life activity and the cognitive capacity of a person which influences mental activity.  Psychological studies indicate that poverty is one of the push factors that tax the cognitive bandwidth as it taxes the mind even more to think about money (Shah, Mullainathan & Shafir, 2018). The juggling of the mind about issues of poverty increases the cognitive load of the mind thus increasing the mental activity. There are more than enough reasons to prove that scarcity in the lives of people has an impact on their cognitive being (Poor & Cognition, 2018).  Money influences the poor people, but it is not regarded as an external influence since it is the internal mental activity that eventually impacts on the mental lives.

Some psychological findings have also proved the fact that our mental lives are actively constructed. In the recent past, it has been shown that even the external influencers that affect the mind can only do so through an intermediary process as opposed to affecting our minds directly (Bandura, 2001). Thus our mental lives are much more influenced by self-processes that involve active mental construction than being influenced passively externally.

One way of expanding the mental lives is through learning. However, unless learning is initiated from within, it cannot be influenced from without. In educational, the teachers cannot just disseminate knowledge to their students but rather the students ought to actively develop understanding through mental activity in their minds (Bada, & Olusegun, 2015).

In the initial investigations on the behavioral such, the main focus was put attention and perception, and the function of emotions was neglected. However, recent studies indicate mental life is influenced by emotions more than perception (Stanley, Ferneyhough & Phelps, 2009). More psychological research shows that the emotions influence perception and attention leading to the conclusion that mental lives are actively constructed, and they do not have to rely on other factors passively. Again, it was found that the external factors in the environment do not override the concept of perception that is created in the mind. In any case,  the information that is observed would not even be noticed  if the information of judgment were to be overwritten  and therefore there would be no any form of recalibration(Mitterer et al. 2009). It is established that the declarative knowledge can have an impact on the perceptual decisions made by a person.

In reality, there is a link between cognition and perception and the fundamental mode of contact with the outside world is perception. It is also the main basis of people’s cognitive process (Tacca, 2013). There are ways in which people work out to shape their mental lives. This is achieved through self-mental regulation (Debus, 2018). One needs to have the mental know-how and engage his or her mind in activities for his mental regulation. A person who has got a high level of mental activity is found to be more attentive (Pollatsek & Rotello, 2001).  This is unlike a person who has many passive influencers around him.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mental lives are dependent on more activity factors as opposed to the environmental factors.  The cognitive side of the human brain is influenced by emotions, and therefore it impacts on perception. Again, the cognitive nature of the brain deteriorates with age and no environmental factors can change its functioning as the activity would.

Reference

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Mitterer, H., Horschig, J. M., Müsseler, J., & Majid, A. (2009). The influence of memory on perception: It’s not what things look like, it’s what you call them. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35(6), 1557.

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Poor, M., & Cognition, S. (2018). Money in the Mental Lives of the Poor | Social Cognition. Guilfordjournals.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018, from https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/soco.2018.36.1.4

Shah, A. K., Zhao, J., Mullainathan, S., & Shafir, E. (2018). Money in the Mental Lives of the Poor. Social Cognition, 36(1), 4-19.

Stanley, D., Ferneyhough, E., & Phelps, E. A. (2009). Neural perspectives on emotion: impact on perception, attention, and memory. Handbook of neuroscience for the behavioral sciences.

Tacca, M. C. (Ed.). (2013). Linking Perception and Cognition. Frontiers E-books.