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Cognitive Science
- 1. Studies how we think and understand
- 2. Studies abilities that allow us to think and understand
- 3. Interdisciplinary approach
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What are the tenets of Cognitive Science?
- 1. Mental Representations exist and can be studies scientifically
- 2. The mind can be modeled as a computer
- 3. Interdisciplinary approach
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Cognition
How we think and understand, and the abilities that allow us to think and understand.
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Classical Conditioning
Creates an association between a natural reaction to a stimulus and an arbitrary reaction to a stimulus.
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Behaviorism
States that human behavior is a series of learned associations. Developed by Watson and Skinner.
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Information Processing
States that the mind is like a computer. In a computer there are rules and operations that guide tasks, therefore, the mind can be modeled with computational programming.
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Nativism
States that all knowledge is there from birth. Ex. reflexes
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Empiricism
States that knowledge is gained through experience
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Multiple Intelligences
- Developed by Gardner
- States that there are different intelligences, such as logical, musical, spatial, kinesthetic, etc.
- Drawbacks: Some prized intelligences, Talent or Intelligence?
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Sternberg's Theory
- "Goal-Oriented Adaptive Behavior"
- States that Intelligence is:
- Things humans are good at
- Ability to create routines
- Ability to deal with new situations
- Categorizing
- Inferring
- Planning
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Concept
A mental representation of an object or event and relevant knowledge
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Category
Class of similar things
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Value of Categories and Concepts
- 1. Let's us relate new information to old information
- 2. Allows us to predict and infer
- 3. Let's us communicate and learn for indirect experiences
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Classical Catergorization
- States that classification is hierarchical, in trees
- All members share features necessary and sufficient (minimum and required to be included)
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Prototype Categorization
- Hierarchical
- Members share features, but not every member must have every trait.
- Family resemblance.
- More traits>more typical, most typical>Prototype
- Superordinate>Basic Level>Subordinate
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Knowledge-Based Categorization
- States that categories are like scientific method.
- Develop a hypothesis, gather data, revise hypothesis
- Good for explaining ad hoc categories
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Script
- Organized knowledge about routine events
- Used to organize events
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Mental Image
- Non-Symbolic (Modal):
- -Mental images are like visual perception of real images
- Symbolic (Amodal):
- -Perceptual information is encoded into modality-independent form
- -Easier to write coding
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Proposition Theory
Theory that mental images are processed by changing them into propositions
Ex. x=pineapple, y=platypus, y>x
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Demand Characteristics
When a person in a research project attempts to guess the nature of the study and acts accordingly, either to prove or disprove the hypothesis.
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Sensory Memeory
- Iconic:
- Coding: Visual
- Capacity: Entire visual field
- Duration: 250-300ms
- Echoic:
- Coding: Auditory
- Capacity: 5 items
- Duration: 2-3sec
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Short Term Memory
- Coding: Multiple formats
- Capacity: 7 items +/- 2
- Duration: Depends on rehearsal
Chuncking allows you to store more items and increase STM capacity
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Interference
- -Proactive Interference: Earlier information interferes with later information
- -Retroactive interference: Later information interferes with earlier information
- -Primacy effect: Where we remember the first information and not the last
- -Recency effect: Where we remember the last information and not the first information
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Long Term Memory
- Coding: Multiple Formats
- Capacity: Unlimited
- Duration: Indefinite
- -Procedural: Knowing how to do things, like riding a bike
- -Declarative: -Semantic:Knowing facts, Episodic: Personal experiences
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Retrieval
- Accessing information stored in memory, relies on cues and associations
- -Encoding: Translated into mental representations
- -Elaboration: Linking information to things already in LTM
- -Encoding Specificity: How something gets encoded depends on information available at the time of encoding. Retrieval easier if the same information is available.
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Consolidation and State-Dependent Learning
- -Consolidation: Memories become more stable and resistant to interference. Strengthening of associations happens at cellular level.
- State-Dependent Learning: Better performance if mood/chemical state is the same during recall as during encoding
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Semantic Network Model
- -Spreading Activation: Exciting one node spreads activation along network to other nodes.
- -Priming: When something is made more active in your memory. (Bread primes butter). Can be measured.
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Modal Model
- 3 states of information processing:
- 1. Sensory Inputs
- 2. Sensory Register (Attention)
- 3. Short Term Memory (Rehearsal)
- 4. Long Term Memory
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Amnesia
- -Retrograde: When you can't remember anything from before the injury
- -Anterograde: When you can't remember anything after the injury, you can't make memories
Neither affects learned skills
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Attention
- -Exogenous: Unconscious orientation toward a stimulus, reflexive
- -Endogenous: Conscious or voluntary orientation toward a stimulus
- -Orienting: Directing attention to a location
- -Searching: Evaluation environment to determine location
- -Detecting: Locating stimulus
- -Vigilance: Remaning oriented
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Divided Attention
Change Blindness
Visual Neglect
- Divided Attention: simultaneous performance of multiple attention-demanding tasks
- Change Blindness: People miss change when it's slow/when distracted
- Visual Neglect: Hemineglect, Damage to Parietal lobe, Problem of consciousness, failure to notice a part of space.
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Phonetics and Phonology
How sounds of a language are produced and which sounds the language has
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Morphology
Where the breaks in words are and which meanings go with which words.
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Semantics
What words mean
Semantic satiation: When words are repeated, they cease to have meaning
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Syntax
How words are put together to form sentences
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Pragmatics
When you say something, what inferences can be drawn from the saying of it
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Prescriptive vs. Descriptive rules
Prescriptive: Things you should do
Descriptive: What is actually done
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Relativity and Determinism
Relativity: FACT Language divides up the world differently, encoding different things
Determinism: HYPOTHESIS 1. Determines thought and perception, 2. Exerts some influence
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Aphasia
Inability to produce or understand language
- Broca's Aphasia: Dysfluent aphasia
- Wernicke's Aphasia: Fluent aphasia
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Recursion
- Running procedure involves re-running process that's part of process
- Ex. S>NP VP
- NP>N
- VP>NP VP
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Communicative Intention
Intention to change another person's mental state via communicative signal
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Gesture
- Meaningful motion of hands/body/arms
- Emblems: glossable, from convention, not universal
- Co-speech: universal, occur with speech, iconic
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Iconicity
Perceived similarity between two things
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Commonalities between signed languages and gestures
N/A
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Equipotentiality
Whole brain is involved in mental activity
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Functional Specialization
- Localization
- Difference parts of the brain are involved with different abilities.
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Brain Structures
- Brain Stem: Life Support
- Limbic System: Hypothalamus and Pituitary-Homeostais
- Amygdala-Survival Emotions
- Hippocampus-Memory
- Cerebellum: Coordinates motion
- Thalmus: Relays sensory information
- Basal Ganglia: Motor control
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Cortex
Frontal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Occipital Lobe, Parietal Lobe
- Superior (Dorsal), Anterior, Inferior (Ventral), Posterior
- Medial, Lateral
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Neuron
- Action Potential: Firing, Electrical impulses that pass along axon to terminal buttons
- Causes release of neurotransmitters from terminal buttons
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