Lower And Higher Cognitive Processes

Lower And Higher Cognitive Processes In cognitive psychology, lower and higher cognitive processes are cognitive processes that governs the way different abilities, for example, perception; attention; thinking; problem solving, are being used. However, each of the processes has their unique characteristics when applying the abilities. Lower cognitive process occurs in an automated manner with lower level of consciousness while higher cognitive process exercises mental activities voluntary with controlled awareness. Nevertheless, this essay aspires to investigate the differences of each process through the introspection and examples in order to help us understand how different each process can be. The Use of Lower and Higher Cognitive Processes in Looking At Experiences Our brain lays two very important processes that govern different abilities, the higher and lower cognitive processes, in fact both processes have different characteristics that can be explicitly observed, while higher cognitive process have a more general, non-automatic, mediated memory, controlled awareness and constructive thinking characteristic, whereas, lower cognitive process a more specific, involuntary automated and unconscious characteristic, thus, lower cognitive processes are instructed and run by higher cognitive processes, (Kalyuga, 2009; Fernyhough, 1996). Nevertheless Stuart-Hamilton (1995) analysed that both lower and higher cognitive processes are linked processes as lower cognitive process is a simple and basic process which governs basics task, for example, pattern recognition, thus, with the incorporated information from the lower cognitive process, the higher cognitive process is in charge of the collection of the information. At the same time, there are differe nt levels of processes to process the received stimuli from the variety of analysing of sensory aspects to semantic and theoretical processing (Eysenck, 1990). In my past twenty-one years, I have experienced quite a number of events which are unforgettable while some were memorable and some were regrets and if there is a chance to turn the clock back to my young age, I will definitely change how I think and how I manage things. While advice was given from peers and matured people around me, I will end up deciding what I want the most and ignore what they have said when I was younger. Nevertheless, there were times where I will look into these experiences and ask myself questions like why do I want to do that and how did I manage to do it. When I was in primary school, I hate to do assignments so almost everyday after school, I will hide my assignments somewhere, places where it cannot be seen, for example, under my bed, behind the cardboard or mixing them with other books. When my mum comes back from work, I will usually say that there were no assignments for the day and I will be allowed to play at the playground or with my toys. The follo wing day, I will tell my teacher that I have forgotten to bring my assignments in order to get away and if the teacher asked again about the assignments, my answer will often be, I loss it and I cant find it anywhere, but the fact is, it is hidden somewhere. However, every half a year, my parents will receive a phone call from my teacher saying that I have not been hand up my assignments for the past few months and my mum will start searching my room. At my surprise, she is able to find most of the books and worksheets and I will be forced to finish all of them in one or two nights. This experience became a continuous cycle for few years of my primary school days. Looking back at my lower cognitive process during my experience, what I want to do is just purely playing and because of that reason, I can even hid and lie to my teachers and parents about it so that I am free from any assignments. I presume that my brain has a certain perception about assignments which causes me to run away from it and what I want is just to play and enjoy myself. According to Margaret (2005), the utilization of perception is through receiving a stimuli by a persons senses while prior knowledge is retrieved to facilitate interpretation. Thus, perception involved physical items where beliefs and concepts are involved about the items and the outlines are being maintained by memory (Hamlyn 1994). Nonetheless, the features of both the stimuli and the prior knowledge are combined by perception (Margaret, 2005). Symbolic activity is also a classification of percetion as a symbol represents something other than itself, in my case, assignments symbolises boredom (Sekular Blake, 1994). Perception is an active process as the perceiver needs to execute certain actions to perceive with the behaviour being steered by the process which motivates a higher level of activity, for example, when I receive my assignments, I will either choose to do it or hid it somewhere and not do it (Sekular Blake, 1994). This gave me an idea of why I will dislike studying so much and even though my parents know about what happened numerous times, I will still continue to do hide my assignments and run away from it. I start to look into the higher cognitive process about how it think during my experience for example, why will I choose to hid my assignments and what made me to have this thought in my mind, why do I hate studying and doing assignments so much and enjoy playing much more, why did I not think that my teacher will call my parents to inform them about the situation. According to Ruggiero (1998), thinking is engaging our minds whilst being in charge of its activity and it is a process that helps us to find an answer to a question, to come to a conclusion and to learn, however, consciousness is not often required to appear during the process of thinking. Making decisions and forming beliefs are part of the thinking where it helps us to eliminate our uncertainties while decision making helps us to reach our goals and our beliefs will determine the actions that are beneficial for us to reach the goal as belief allow us to believe very robustly about something which we determine that it is the truth (Baron, 2008). So for my experience, my belief has caused me to believe that assignments are boring and hiding it was the action that beneficial in order to escape from it. Resistance to change and stereotyping are two things that are in the thinking processes which are very subtle. According to Ruggiero (1998), resistance to change tends to ignore new concepts or procedures in seeing and doing things even before testing them fairly, thus, one of the reasons is laziness. Indeed, advice and even punishments were given to me but because of laziness in me, I ignored and continued my old ways. Whereas for stereotyping, generalization of concepts, locations and people, it creates a good environment for presorted, predetermined, prejudged ideas as each has a compartment for storage with no judgment being placed on (Ruggiero, 1998). Maybe my brain has already stereotyped assignments as boring when I was in school which made it hard to change my way of thinking. Due to my laziness, I end up scoring very badly for my Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and I got into Normal Technical. When I was holding on to my result slip, I was very upset, angry with myself and I really regretted for not studying hard. My family will regularly have lunch with my parents friends on Sundays and I will naturally focus my attention on what they talking about and also listening and playing with the other children. However, they will often talk about their childrens study and their results, so when I hear anything about study I will fully focus on what they were saying while ignoring others. And when it was about the PSLE and what school their child got in, I felt very embarrass, I felt that I let my parents down and I caused them to feel embarrass when they talk about me so I will walk away and do something else. During this period, I loss my confidence is doing things and I had a low self-esteem which caused me to think that I am not as smart as anyone a round me. But as the time goes by and I grew older, I start to learn to cope with my own thoughts and not judging myself on who I am according to how smart I am academically and understanding that I am good with other things. I was even determined to do my O levels and send overseas for two years to complete United Kingdoms General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and I scored fairly well. I was surprise on how I can divide my attention to focused to what the adults were talking while I play with other kids and when I hear about PSLE results, I am able to focus on what the adults have to say and unconsciously ignoring any other messages around the environment. I believe that it is caused by the sensitivity level about the topic which causes the division of my attention and what I choose to focus on. According to Johnson and Proctor (2004), the function of attention helps us to be aware and conscious towards presented messages or objects and also choosing the actions according to the messages or objects. According to Margaret (2005), divided attention is one of the processes of attention which helped us react appropriately to each thing while paying attention concurrently to a few things at the same time, for example, watching television and understanding what is going on while having dinner and knowing what food it is while putting into the mouth. Hence, divided attent ion uses the split-span technique which breaks two full messages into two short messages that the memory span can register the information without rehearsing into the individual ears (Johnson Proctor, 2004). While selective attention is another process which overlooks the other messages while focusing on just one message and selective attention apply dichotic listening, a technique which the individual side of the ear receive two different type of messages (Johnson Proctor, 2004). Through reading these, it made me understand how I can focus on a few conversations at the same time and suddenly when the topic is on studies, I will focus on that conversation while ignoring the others. I look at the higher cognitive process in my experience, I tried to solve the problem from being unable to study and having low confidence to picking up myself and trying hard to study to scored during the GCSE. According Bransford and Stein (1993), the problem solving process has been described as a cycle that contains different phases but it is not required to be arranged in sequence, the problem solver must; 1) discover and be aware of the problem; 2) mentally classify the problem; 3) come out with a solution idea; 4) information rearranging of the problem; 5) solve the problem through designation of information though the psychological and the physical; 6) keep close observation of the process; 7) check for accuracy of the solution that is brought up. There are two different classification of problems; well-defined and ill-defined (Davidson and Sternberg, 2003). Well-defined problems are problems that provide a distinct direction towards finding the solution for is one that is ba sed on the given information, for example, calculating the price for each person from a receipt with a friend while the amount is stated (Davidson and Sternberg, 2003). However, ill-defined problems are problems that does not provides a distinct direction towards finding the solution and in order to make ill-defined problems observable, significant work of gather of information is need, hence, it is possible to generate a number of correct solutions from the generation of solutions by the ill-defined whereas well-defined problems can only generate one solution (Davidson and Sternberg, 2003). In my experience, learning how to overcome my emotional thoughts and not judging myself, are ill-defined problems that I had to find a solution to them in order for me to start a fresh. Success problem solving requires one to be well-versed in the field of study of the particular subject or issue as well as being a competent thinker, however having only prior knowledge does not ensure that the s olution will be found as the answers are usually unfamiliar and foreign to the problem solver, whereas thinking is required, in partnership with the prior knowledge, to help one to apply the known knowledge to the context of the problem (Ruggiero, 1998). Indeed, I gain success in starting fresh as a new person after I have grown older as I am able to think deeper and better and combine what I have learnt to solve the problem of me judging myself according to my academic level. In conclusion, the lower and higher cognitive process are two different cognitive processes which are linked processes that governs different things which helps us in daily activity like, thinking, perception, attention and problem solving. Through my introspection, I realised that my attention and perception which are part of the lower cognitive process, are both were exercised automatically and unconsciously occurring. However, when I looked into the higher cognitive process, I am required to exercise concrete thinking in order to come out with solutions to solve my problems and the think for ways to run away from my assignments as solutions and ideas will necessitate mental activity.

As Separate Peace Essay

It has connections between Genesis and the fall of man throughout the book underlining the main story. Genesis and the fall of man are used in the novel solely to understand human nature and the good and evil living inside everyone. Throughout the book the protagonist Gene, puts himself in a competition with his best friend and biggest enemy Finny. Finny is the perfect athlete and caries along innocence and pure thoughts of life itself and others around him. Gene and Finny both show representations of Cain and Abel as well as the creation of man with Adam and Eve. Much like Cain’s jealousy towards his brother Abel, Gene is very jealous and envious of Finny. Abel was the pure and honest brother who carried out all of Gods orders and pleased him very much, while Cain was the complete opposite. He was seen as rather corrupted and sinful. Gene, in this way, is portraying Cain because in the novel Gene realizes the strong hold that sin has on him and the strong hold on it has on his soul, and he says â€Å" It was just some ignorance inside me, some crazy thing inside me, something blind, that’s all it was† (183). Unfortunately, Gene becomes overpowered by his jealousy towards Finny just as Cain did towards Abel. Gene’s jealousy takes control of his mind and body when he finally realizes he will never be as perfect as Finny. He will never be as good athletically or he will never be as good morally and mentally either. Gene says â€Å"there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he† (59). Which shows he knows that he will never win with Finny there. The pain of Gene knowing this makes him make a very unreasonable and ridiculous action that he regrets the rest of his life. Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step forward and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening thud† (52). The story in Genesis of Cain and Abel is exceedingly similar to that. â€Å"Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field. ’ And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him† (Genesis 4:8). These two incidents directly parallel each other and unveil much about human nature. When Gene finally admits to the realization that he will never beat Finny or get close to his level he subconsciously lets his jealousy kill the better man inside of him so what is left is an empty soul. The fall of Adam and Eve is also coinciding with Gene’s tremendous fall in the novel. In Genesis, the story of Adam and Eve is set in the Garden of Eden. In the garden there was no sin, suffering or pain. Everyone was happy and had everything they wanted. The one thing God told Adam and Eve was to stay away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and to not eat the fruit from that tree, yet that was too much to ask. â€Å"When the woman saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he also ate it† (Genesis 3:6). This sin had grave consequences such as â€Å"the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig-leaves together and made coverings for themselves† (Genesis 3:7). Gene’s sin had similar results from when he shook the tree and Finny fell, his life changed largely. The impact of his actions struck him extremely hard and at once he became ashamed and embarrassed of what he did, just as Adam and Eve were of their nakedness so they hid. Gene’s shame relates to the story of Adam and Eve but not just that, it relates to a large population of people today and this is the point Knowles was making and why he related his book to Genesis. As humans, people are automatically going to hide their transgressions behind something else and that’s just human nature. To be able to fully understand this novel you need to know about creation and the fall of man. In every human there is good and there is evil, it will come out at different times and one might overpower the other, but there is till both. Cain and Abel’s story, along with Adam and Eve’s story equally show how the evil overpowered Gene.

How to Identify Trees With Leaves

Would you like to learn how to identify trees in your local community? The best place to get started is by looking at the trees foliage.   Trees With Leaves This is a big category, so lets break it down into two main groups: Trees with needles or scale-like leaves.  Cedar and juniper trees have scale-like leaves that look more like flattened out fans than either leaves or needles.  Cedar  trees have green scales and small cones.  Junipers, on the other hand, have bluish, berry-like cones. Trees with leaves.  To make things simpler, we are once again going to break this category into two groups. Trees With Simple Leaves These trees have one leaf attached to each stem. Leaves with a consistent leaf edge are called unlobed leaves while trees with leaves that form shapes along their margins are called lobed leaves.  If your tree has unlobed leaves, you must next determine whether or not it has teeth - or serrations around its margin. Unlobed and smooth (no teeth).  Magnolia  have large, glossy green leaves with rust-colored hairs on the under-surface.  Live oaks  have long slender deciduous leaves and small acorns.  Dogwoods  have wavy edges and 6-7 veins that pattern either side of the leafs midrib. If your tree has leaves that are oblong or elliptical and appear crowded on short branches, it might be a  Blackgum.  And if its leaves are thick and pointed, it might be a  Persimmon.Unlobed and serrated.  Willow  trees have long skinny leaves.  Basswood  trees have wide leaves with coarse teeth and a notched area around the stem.  Elm  trees are asymmetrical at the stem and double serrations around the edge. If your trees leaves are soft and shiny with teeth that curve in from the surface, it is probably a  Beech.  If its leaves are heart-shaped with double serrations, it is likely a  Birch. And if it has elliptical leaves with jagged edges, it is probably a  Cherry.  Ã‚  Lob ed. If your tree had leaves with different lobe patterns on the same tree, it is probably a  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Sassafrass  or a  Mulberry.  If the lobes seem to radiate from a central point like fingers on a hand, it is called palmate and it is a maple, sweetgum, sycamore, or poplar.  Maple  trees have three to four lobes and are arranged opposite of one another on the branch.  Sycamore  trees have big leaves that are larger than four inches with shallow lobes and alternating (not directly across from one another,) on the branch. Trees with star-shaped leaves with pointed lobes are likely  Sweetgums.  And leaves that look like they have been cut off or flattened at the top with two lobes on other side of the mid-rib are probably  Poplars. If the lobes appear to radiate from several points along the midrib, the leaves are considered pinnate and it is either an oak or a holly tree.  White Oak  trees have lobes that are rounded along the edges and no spines.  Red Oakà ‚  leaves are rounded at the base but jagged or spiny along the edges. And  Holly  trees have small red berries and leaves with sharp, pointed lobes. Trees With Compound Leaves Palmately compound leaves. Trees in this category have multiple leaves that appear to grow from the same point on the stalk.  Buckeye  trees have long leaves with jagged saw-toothed edges while Horsechestnut  trees have shiny nuts and seven leaflets that turn yellow in the fall.Pinnately compound leaves. Trees with that have pinnate compound leaves have leaflets that grow from multiple points along the stem. Leaves that appear doubly compound (leaflets within leaflets,) are likely  Locust  trees.  Hickory  trees have nine blades that are uneven in size and alternate along the stem.  Ash  trees have leaflets that are opposite from one another along the stem and are the same shape and size. Walnut  trees have 9-21 pointed leaflets that alternate along the stem.  And  Pecan trees have 11-17 curved, sickle-shaped leaflets that alternate along the stem.

Julius Caesar And Roman Leadership - 1877 Words

Ancient Rome is known for some of the most powerful leaders, rulers, and kings to ever walk the earth. With many powerful leaders came many different political styles, ideas, and philosophies ranging from the democracy we have in America today to power driven tyrants consumed by their greed for new land and more cities to rule. In this paper I will compare and contrast four Roman leaders and their leadership styles. Caesar in my opinion was the worst being a dictator, and ultimately bringing Rome to its demise, Whereas Numa brought great prosperity to Rome for many years. I will compare these four leader’s military leadership, civil leadership and their ethics. Julius Caesar was born in a time of great political strife and conflict in†¦show more content†¦Pompey escaped to Egypt before being assassinated. Caesar retuned to Rome inappropriately boastful of his victory in the civil war between him and Pompey. Caesar was named dictator for life and ruled Rome until his assassination. Julius Caesar among many other rulers was not fit to command such a powerful, large city, for a took a headstrong approach, trying to take over other cities, which eventually lead to the dimise of Rome. The power of Rome corrupts most of its leaders, making it imperative to have a virtuous honorable man in power. Romulus and Remus were twins, their father Numitor once shared a kingdom with his brother, Amulius. Amulius stole the kingdom from Numitor and forced his only daughter to become a vestal virgin leaving no chance for an heir to challenge the throne. Soon after he found out Numitor’s daughter was with child, he ordered that the infant children be set off on the river. The infant twins traveled down the river until stopping on level ground, protected by a series of miracles. They were found protected, fed and raised by a mother wolf. Until found by Faustus, they were named Romulus and Remus. 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