Cognitive psychology compares the human mind to a computer, suggesting that humans are information processors and that individual’s process information in the same way a computer takes in information and follows a program to produce an output. The computer gave cognitive psychologists a metaphor, or analogy, to which they could compare human mental processing. The use of the computer as a tool for thinking how the human mind handles information is known as the computer analogy. A computer codes, stores and uses information and produces an output which is how cognitive psychologists believed we process information. Our eyes receives visual information, codes it into electric neural activity and this is fed back to the brain where it is â€oestored― …show more content…
The information can be stored, retrieved and transformed using â€oemental programmes―, with the results being behavioural responses: • Input processes are concerned with the analysis of the stimuli • Storage processes cover everything that happens to stimuli internally in the brain and can include coding and manipulation of the stimuli • Output processes are responsible for preparing an appropriate response to a stimulus When we are selectively attending to one activity, we tend to ignore other stimulation, although our attention can be distracted by something else, like the telephone ringing or someone using our name. The thing that makes us attend to one thing rather than another is selective attention. We are able to switch our attention to something that did not previously have our attention (this is known as the Cocktail Party Syndrome), and we are able to attend to several things at the same time (divided attention). Selective attention is the ability to select and focus on one thing while filtering out other distractions or the process of reacting to certain stimuli selectively when several occur simultaneously. This could be that you are sat in a busy office paying attention to what you are reading and not