Cognitive Psych

• Process: what the mind does - operate on ideas, concepts
• Product: consequences of the process (demonstrations of comprehension) - operate on considerations of mental representations

the general ideas that enable the categorization of unique stimuli as related to one another

• like a mental picture
• direct, analogical, preserves visuo-spatial relations

the more rotation needed to compare them - the longer it takes --> its as if you are actually rotating them! (mental representation = imagistic)

• images can be scanned like physical percepts
• (the greater the distance the longer the scan time)
• imagistic mental representations preserve spatial relationships!

• faciliates memory - represent concepts verbally (symbolic) and visually (analog - match)
• its easier to memorize concrete concepts (b/c they are symbolic and analog) whereas abstract concepts like integrity are only verbally represented

imagery improves memory because it produces associations between stimuli (more connections between information)

• maybe they aren't what you are using to process the world - its just what you think you are using
• b/c blind participants show "imagery effects"

• maybe you don't retrieve a picture but some concept
• it only feels like a picture b/c we don't have any other way of understanding it
• propositional representations are retrieved and image/verbal codes are created

• simulations that you run
• mental representations that you can manipulate

• route - navigate through environment - series of landmarks - for novices
• survey - birds eye views - like memorizing maps - for experts

• 1 contemporary theory: mental representation is encoded in a way to reflect the actual thing in the real world (the experiences of it)
• - the nail orientation, throwing the ball

another contemporary theory of representations - mental representations are embodied - contain motions/images/activities associated with doing those things in the real world

language is encoded as action/movements (if sentence is about giving, hand moves faster in direction as if they are giving)

• concept: knowledge one has about specific things in the world
• category: a collection of instances that are treated the same (where concepts get put)

• Natural - occur in nature
• Artifact - created by humans
• Ad hoc - created on the spot to suit a specific need

• we categorize something if it fits a defining set of features (like pattern recognition) - an all or none basis
• not everything fits this - its hard to come up with defining features - family resemblance relations not definitions - based on fuzzy similarities not set definitions

• prototype: category member with most representative features (an average)
• serves as an important mental representation of the concept
• BUT prototypes are fuzzy - they can change depending on where you are/what things are associated there

• with prototype categorization
• gradient of category membership - differences in how well specific instances represent a concept

• you have a set of examples in your head - compare what you see to specific examples in memory
• no abstract representation/definition
• but this is fuzzy, different boundaries, and storage problems!

• concepts embedded in and consistent with people's background knowledge and folk theories
• world knowledge shapes our understanding of concepts!
• problem solve to decide if something is in a category or not
• categorization involves knowledge of relative importance of features, relations among features, and purpose of category

the way we represent information! - connects concepts

• superordinant - top - all thigns share it
• basic - the most typical things
• subordinant - the specific things

• teh basic level
• if asked to name an animal - say cat, not siamese cat

• only have to represent property once in a network
• but there are problems with teh hierarchical association system - faster to say that a dog is an animal than a dog is a mammal even though the concepts are closer

• another model hypothesis other than the hierarchical thing
• not organized in a higher to lower order - things that are similar are next to each other - interrelated concepts

activation spreads along the pathway of a node activating associated nodes - relationships are conveyed through node links

• another way to organize related concepts/events
• frames - abotu physical structure of the environment
• scripts - represent routine activities

mental representation of another mental representation - for child's play - imagining, ability to pretend

ability to infer that others, like ourselves, have mental states

states that visual imagery is mentally represented and functions the same as perception

• mathematical procedure for automatically extracting/representing teh meanings of propositions expressed in a text
• allows for comparison of two texts in terms of similarity in propositional content and to answer questions about a text

first, characteristic and defining features are assessed in answer to to simple categorization questions, second, defining features are retrieved

• shared, symbolic system for communication
• mental code for memory, thought, categorization
• a defining characteristic of humans (what makes us different?)

• how languages are structured, how they change over time
• language as an object

• study the psychology of language
• how language is processed and represented in the mind
• language as an activity

• idea that language is purely a function of shaping (hear what other people say - figure out what is appropriate)
• language learned through experience!

• language is recursive/generative - we make up novel sentences!
• reinforcement (behaviorism is an insufficient mechanism for acquiring language) --> children don't get negative feedback (don't get told what they said was wrong, only the right way to say it), children often have systematic errors in language

children are born with an innate language capacity (prewired for language)

• Chomsky's idea - the prewired ability in humans for language
• - mental organization that faciiltates language learning learning in that environment

aphasia; general neurological disorder where langauge is disrupted

problem in speech production - stuttering/stammering, repeating is hard, spontaneously speak

problem in speech comprehension - can't comprehend speech but can produce it (what they say doens't make sense though - no meaning)

• most simple/basic level of linguistic analysis
• the sounds of language/rules that exist for combining them
• phoneme: smallest unit of speech

• speech environment is noisy - we can ignore background noise
• variability between speakers (same sound produced in different ways like accents)
• speech is continous and not segmented (people can segment it htemselves but a computer can't see the segments)
• there is no one to one correspondence between acoustic input and the speech sounds we perceive (we can ignore this variability)
• sounds are not transmitted one by one (often transmitted simultaneously or in relation to others) (coarticulation)
• speech production/comprehension is so amazing/complex

people listened to sentences - able to fill in teh missing letter based on prior knowledge (priming)

• interpretation of sounds is influenced by what you see and the sounds you are hearing (listening and visualizing)
• articulatory information influences perception

• study of linguistic meaning
• words = pointers to concepts (language you hear acts as instructors for what information is to be retrieved from memory)
• denotation: the definition
• connotation: additional nuances

words that have multiple meanings - lexical ambiguity

• keep both meanings active until you get some expectations
• different concepts increase/decrease in activation over teh course of the sentence

• when context supports dominant meaning (the one most likely), only this meaning is activatedd
• when context supports the less common meaning/is ambiguous, both meanings are initially activated

the arrangement of words and phrases into sentences according to grammar (particular orders/structures)

• deep structure: abstract underlying representation of the idea of the sentence (meaning)
• surface structure: actual realization of the sentence (actual words in it)
• can have different deep structures with the same surface structure and vice versa

• grouping a sentence into phrases to determine meaning
• occurs immediately as each word is encountered (its fast, efficient, but you can settle on the wrong syntax in this way)
• you interpret it as you read it (done "on-line")

sentences that as you read them, the syntax suggests a particular meaning but you soon realize that you selected the wrong syntax

• how people use language in context (in the real world)
• for discourse and conversation

• notion that speech is typically produced for a reason - to perform some act
• indirect vs. direct (direct seems more rude)

• rules of communication - participants agree to say things that are appropriate to the conversation
• assume that speakers are always cooperative
• if you violate any rule - you send addditional information to your listerner

• intonations, signatures, accents, sarcasm
• tell you more about meaning!

• Strong Version (linguistic determinism): the language you speak determiens the way you think
• Weak Version (linguistic relativity): the language you speak can influnce how you think but doesn't need to

• we have a mental dictionary, a lexicon, information about words
• words are arranged by semantic content (response time to say if it is a word should be faster if it is semantically related to the first word than if unrelated)

• we are good at recognizing visual patterns!
• detection of K is better when presented with a word than when presented alone

• fixation time increases - look at it longer (also increases with interest)
• saccades decrease
• see a lot of "looks back" to go back to other parts of the sentence to figure out what is going on

• immediacy - right as you look at something you try to interpret it
• eye --> mind: the eye remains fixated on a word as long as the word is being actively processed during reading (the longer fixation = the longer processing it)

• teh functional words (short/unimportant, not meaningful)
• do not skip content words (the verbs/nouns that have meaning)

• surface form: exact words/ideas (rarely make a surface form b/c its a lot of work) - declines immediately
• propositional: the gist of core ideas (remember particular concepts/ideas - the meaning) - declines more slowly
• situational: inferences derived from the text (best for comprehension - you understand the underylying meaning! - sticks around for awhile!

minimal unit of speech used repeatedly in a language to code a specific meaning (built up of phonemes)

dictionary of long term memory that humans rely on in speaking/listening in reading/writing

refers to the genetically determined knowledge of human language that allows children in all cultures to rapidly acquire the language to which they are exposed (language acquisition device, LAD)

• observation = see what you do
• introspection = ask what they are thinking about

problems - can't tell just by watching them or hearing what they say! don't know exactly what they are thinking

the point at which teh relationships between elements in a porblem facilitate the development of a solution - aha moment

any goal-directed activity - actions/thoughts that you utilize to satisfy some accomplishment

• problem space
• goal state
• initial state
• intermediate steps
• operators
• production systems

these are the particular elements to any problem!

all the possible steps and possibilities for a problem

part of the systematic formal way for problem solving

part of formula for problem solving

its the end - what you want to accomplish

part of formula for problem solving

its where you start - where you are when the problem is given to you

part of problem solving formula

teh subgoals you must make to reach the goal state

the tools/methods you use to reduce current and goal state

• rules for solving problems
• can be implicit/explicit - state what you can/can't do
• particular things you must adhere to

• use rules of thumb (basic way)
• are practical shortcuts
• common sense - fast, easy
• don't always lead to the correct solution

• opposite of heuristics
• thorough analysis - systematic (think about every possibility)
• slow, laborious, but a guaranteed solution
• how computers operate

looks for similarities between current problems and ones from teh past --> good for science/math problems

monitoring of ones cognitive processes and states of knowledge

• preparation - studying, learning, formulating solutions
• incubation - put problem aside and do other things
• illumination - when crucial insight seizes consciousness
• verification - outlines of the solution must be filled in and checked

blocking of solution paths to a problem that is caused by past experiences relatedd to the problem

tenddency to see objects as having only one single typical use

• start at teh goal state in order to see the path/subgoals
• easier to envision a set of subgoals if you start at teh goal state and work toward the initial state
• only when goal state is well ddefined

• compare ones state to the goal state and finding an operator to reduce the ddifference between the two states
• repeatedly compares states and seeks an operator

• exhaustive, systematic search through teh problem space - search all subgoals/operators
• easy to apply
• teh number of states can increase - complex combinatorial interactions!

to solve a problem - reddduce the ddidfference between your state and the goal state

moves you twoardd a subgoal that puts you farther from teh goal state - you're not thinking about the big picture goal!

• failure to understand/represent the problem
• failre to see connections
• distraction from irrelevant info
• functional fixedness (expectations for how to use an object)
• set effects - expectations about how to solve a particular problem
• failure to transfer - (a transfer is making an analogy to a previous problem)

can hinder insight!

thinking that proceeds toward a single answer

thinking that moves in many possible directions towards solving a problem

ddrawing conclusions based on principles/evidence

evaluating/selecting among alternatives

• normative - how people should dod it (reasoning/decision making)
• descriptive - how people actualy do it

• formal procedure that ensures accuracy if rules of logic are followed
• evaluating whetehr a conclusion necessarily follows deductively from two premises that are assumed to be true

• when a syllogisms conclusion is true or agrees with a persons beliefs, then the syllogism will be judged as valid
• when people accept any and all conclusions that happen to fit with their system of beliefs

• ponens - confirmation bias
• tollens - disconfirmation bias

to test a rule, it is necesary to find situations that disconfirm teh rule!

• reasoning influencedd by whether a problem is framed in terms of gains/losses
• if it emphasizes gains - people are risk averse
• if it emphasizes losses - people are risk takers

refers people to converting ALL A are B into All B are A

decisions that are made under conditions of certainy - we know that particular courses of action will result in particular outcomes

cases in which easch state of nature is likely to occur with a known probability

refer to cases in which teh probabilities of states of nature are unknown - you must estimate teh probability that a particular situation will occur

events that are represetntative or typical of a class are assigned a high probability of occurrence

if relevant examples can be readily retrieved from memory, then the class of events must occur with a high probability

construction of a mental model of a situation and then "running the model" to predict the course of events