Top-Down, Bottom-Up in Cognition

There are top-down and there are bottom-up approaches to cognition. Which has been more fruitful in the history of psychology? Discuss with reference to Bartlett and/or the Gestaltists.

This essay is going to talk about the top-down and bottom-up approaches to cognition. It will further explore which approach has been more fruitful in the history of Psychology with reference to Bartlett and the Gestaltists. This essay will look at the top-down approaches to cognition and then the bottom-up approaches to cognition including the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Furthermore this essay will critically analyse Bartlett and the Gestalts theory with reference to the nonsense syllables and the eye-witness theory.
Top-down approaches to cognition is when the main focus is on the bigger picture. This type of process is also called the ‘large chunk’. This process is when the main focus is put on the final goal working backwards to the smaller even the smallest detail of the final goal. ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’, Wertheimer (1920), this is one of the Gestalts phrase in explanation of the top-down approaches meaning that the bigger picture is greater than the amount of particles or details that join together to bring it into existence. If a person likes to work with the highest level of a situation or challenge going down to the finest detail, then that person is described as a top-down processor. Top-down processors depend on previous knowledge or experience of the situation or of the entity. Furthermore, prior knowledge or experience is important when it comes to perception, Gregory (2006). In Psychology top-down knowledge is used to approach processing of information and memory involved. Top-down approach is directed by knowledge or experience, it is driven by cognition. Top-down approach in cognition is the way information is processed. Senses pick up or they receive information from the world around us and then combined with information already stored in the brain because of experience. Bottom-up approaches to cognition is simply the opposite of top-down processing. This is when the processor start processing from the finest detail to the biggest detail of an entity. The information that guided your attention to that item can be labeled as bottom-up—meaning that it did not depend on the observer’s knowledge of the stimulus. The stimulus itself provides the guidance or the drive. In a bottom-up approach in cognition, it is more like putting information together to get a bigger picture.
Ebbinghaus (1890) was one of the Gestaltist’s effective Psychologist who researched memory. Ebbinghaus approached this subject with a scientific angle as he was a psychoanalyst. Ebbinghaus adapted Fechners methods and improved on it. William James a well known Psychologist called the studies of Ebbighaus (1890) ‘heroic’ and most excellent investigation in the history of psychology. Edward Titchener commented that that they greatly researched and presented since the Aristotle. Binet-Simon intelligence scale was then introduced to the study of memory by one of the Gestaltist by the name Alfred Binet. This scale was introduced in order to measure intelligence. Ebbinghaus then composed a theory called nonsense syllables being the first to invent higher mental scientific methods. This is a consonant-vowel and the consonant cannot repeat itself in this syllable and this syllable cannot have prior meaning to it. Ebbinghaus read the nonsense syllables loud and then tried to recall them. This was a maximum of 23000 nonsense syllables. Ebbinghaus was simply trying to see if human beings bring their past experiences to make meaning to the nonsense syllables. Nonsense syllables have no meaning and have been used by Ebbinghaus to investigate memory and learning. A leading figure in the work of memory research and a British psychologist, Bartlett (1969) rejected Ebbinghaus theory of nonsense syllables. He rejected the fact that memory process cannot be separated from cognitive influence and that human beings have a memory that is complex and it involves experience. Cultural background, ethnicity, attitude and schemata play a very important role when it comes to understanding human mind. Ulric Neisser (1967, 1976) concluded that maybe both processing could be involved in summing up perceptional input. John Anderson (1993), the ACT theory.
In conclusion, the notion of conflict bottom-up, top-down association in terms of continguity is still an ongoing hot debate.

References
Ulric Neisser 1967,1976
Anderson (1993)
Bartlett (1969)

References: Ulric Neisser 1967,1976 Anderson (1993) Bartlett (1969)