Cognitive psych test 3

Knowledge about the world stored in the brain

Manipulation of mental representations

• has characteristics of actual object 
• Ex. looking at cello, maps, photos

• Abstract, not physical features
• Ex. words, numbers, ideas

The mental representation of a class of individual

All possible examples of a particular concept

Categorization helps us predict and understand the world

Prototype approach: there is one best example (prototype) to represent a category

Exemplar approach: all members of the category contribute equally, and there is no one best example (no prototype)

Prototypical objects are more effected by priming 

Presentation of 1 stimulus facilitates the response of another stimulus

The more frequently one definition is heard for an ambiguous word, the more dominance it has over other meanings for the same word

Ex. thinking of jam as something you put on toast over a paper jam in a computer

The meanings of one word are relatively balanced and one is not more dominant/frequent over the other

Same pronounciation/spelling, different meaning

Same pronunciation, different spelling and meanings

The structure of a sentence

How meaning in a sentence is created by breaking it down into sentences

Ex. seeing a comma in a sentence creates a parsing so you know how to read it

When an ambiguity in a sentence leads you to the incorrect assumption 

Ex. After the musician played the piano...

becomes: After the musician played, the piano was wheeled off the stage

People use rules of thumb based on syntax to parse sentences as they unfold

Dependent on how sentence is put together

There are things other than syntax that influence parsing:

• Word meaning
• Story context- knowing the story makes it easier to parse the sentence
• Scene context- study, more eye movements with ambiguous instructions 
• Memory load- the more memory something requires, the harder it is to keep things organized

Using knowledge and reasoning to make conclusions about what is happening

Connecting a person or object in two sentences

About tools or methods

About cause of a statement 

Ex. If 2 things are together, they must have relation

As you read/listen to something, you are recreating it in your mind 

• Ex. People have faster reaction times to questions when they see an image that fits into their mental concept of a story
• "Hammer nail into wall" --> faster reaction when picture shows horizontal nail

Breaking into smaller steps to achieve large goal 

First step of problem solving

Representing a problem in a novel way

Previous way of thinking that has been previously helpful

Can also be harmful

Having a fixed idea about the function of objects

• The way participants are presented the objects affects how they interpret the problem 
• Ex. showing the tacks outside the box results in people figuring out the solution faster than if the tracks are in the box

Apparent sudden understanding 

When Maier brushed string to make it swing, participants would say that the solution came to them suddenly

In every sentence, there is information that you previously know (given) and information that you are learning (new), to help you move forward

Mental knowledge and belief shared among conversational partners

Synchronization between two partners

Ex. gestures, body position, speaking rate, tone, etc.

Occurs when common ground is established

Ex. partners will begin to use the same sentence structure, tone, etc. as the other

• Hearing a specific syntactic structure increases the likelihood of producing a sentence with the same structure
• Contributes to syntactic coordination 

Ex. study- 78% of the time participant copied syntactic structure of the confederate

Selecting among options

Overcoming obstacles to achieve a goal

• People select the choice that proceeds the largest gain
• Assumes that everyone is rational

People make decisions by considering the possible alternative and choosing the most desirable one

Violations- Red/white bean study, organ donor rate, gambling

• People uses biases in decision making and may make irrational decisions
• Based on decisions people actually make, not ideal ones

• Shortcuts, "rules of thumb" for decision making
• Often unconscious

Anchoring-getting mentally stuck to the first thing you see/hear

Framing-the way something is presented affects peoples perception of choices

People are most likely to make decision based on the first thing that comes to mind (most available)

People believe what first comes to mind is more probable, but not always

Tendency to place a person, object or event into a category if they are similar to category prototype 

Conjunction rule- the probability of two events (A&B) cannot be higher than the probability of a single constituent (ex: feminist librarians).

Ignoring base rate- people will ignore actual base rates when they think something is more likely (Ex: lawyer/engineer problem) 

Law of large numbers- the larger the sample, the more likely it is to represent the population

Hierarchal model, attempt to create a computer model of human memory

• Storing shared features at the highest, most generic level possible 
• Part of semantic network model

Ex. Storing "can fly" at level of "bird," not at "canary"

• Predicted that the reaction time would depend on distance between two nodes 
• Ex: Higher reaction time when the category was more broad than when more specific

• Spreading activation, when category is activated it primes nearby nodes 
• Ex: saying bird primes you to think of bird types

Lexical decision task:

Higher reaction time when there were no words associated with stimuli than when there were words associated

Does not explain faster reaction times when identifying more prototypical members 

• Sentence verification does not always follow hierarchical model 
• Ex. higher reaction time for "pig is a mammal" than "pig is an animal"

Using computer models to represent cognitive processes

Circles are neurons and lines are axons. The darker the line the more connection it has

• The ability to differentiate between a living thing and artifacts
• Depends on memory system that distinguishes sensory attributes and a system that distinguishes functions

Criticism: mahy patients with brain damage deficits do not fit this dichotomy so there must be more than 2 categories

There are more than two factors when thinking of concepts

Animals tend to be associated with sensory categories, while non-animals are associated with actions

brain damage patients have issues with crowding --> some categories has more similar features than others

Ex. boat and car not as similar as horse and cow

• There are specific neural circuits in the brain for specific categories that are innately determined
• Ex. FFA dedicated to recognizing faces, PPA dedicated to recognizing places

Experiment: Participants listened to stories for 2 hours, and when their neural activity was mapped in response to certain words they had similar maps across all subjects

Our knowledge of concepts is based upon reactivation of sensory and motor processes that occur when interact with the object

Semantic somatotopy- correspondence between words and actions in the brain 

Criticism: damage affecting the motor action does not affect conceptual knowledge

A system of communication using sounds and symbols

Discreetness, grammar, productivity, displacement

Looking for information that proves your hypothesis, and ignoring information that refutes it

Making a broad conclusion from a specific observation 

Ex. Librarians are quiet, therefore anyone who is quiet must be a librarian

• Able to prove it is true
• Determining is conclusion is true based off statements

Valid; structure must be valid for conclusion to be valid 

True: both premises must be true for conclusion to be true

Smallest meaningful unit of language

Individual speech sound

Tendency to believe syllogism is true because the conclusion sounds believable

Representing specific situations in your mind to help you solve logic puzzles

Dependent on premise

To test a rule, you must look for things that can prove the rule wrong

Each card has word on one side, number on the other. Which card will make the rule valid?

Can only know your prediction is right when you flip the card over and see the other side