Cognition
process whereby we acquire and use knowledge; key elements: reviewing the past,
contemplating the future, thinking about possibility; thinking
language
a flexible system of communication using sounds, rules, gestures, or symbols to convey
information; is semantic (meaningful)-gives detailed information; displacement-allows
communication over time; productive-create new words to communicate
Brainpower
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phonemes
basic sound units; indicates change in meaning; universal; 45 phonemes in English, up
to 85 in other languages; string together to create morphemes; examples:/s/, /z/, /ch/,
/th/, /k/, etc.
morphemes
smallest meaningful units of speech; simple words, suffixes, prefixes; examples: red,
hot, calm, -ed, pre-
surface structure
the particular words and phrases used to make up a sentence
deep structure
the underlying meaning of a sentence
grammar
language rules; determines how sounds and words can be combined; used to
communicate meaning within a language; has two components: syntax and semantics;
meaning is often determined by word order; Noam Chomsky; allows people to make
transformation from surface to deep structure in sentences
semantics
criteria for assigning meaning to the morphemes in a language; influenced by Noam
Chomsky; content of language; evidence by surface and deep structure
syntax
Noam Chomsky; system of rules that governs how words are combined/arranged to
form meaningful phrases and sentences; determined by word order
image
nonverbal; visual, auditory, olfactory; mental representations; Einstein felt that scale in
visualizing abstract concepts lead to insights; can be manipulated mentally (Shepard
and Metzler) geometric patterns
concept
mental categories; classifying objects, people, or experiences; can be modified to better
manage experience; example-dogs, books, cars<-- objects in world; fast, strong,
interesting<-- things, people, events
information retrieval
the idea that language affects our ability to store and retrieve information as well as our
ability to think about things; evidence by linguistic determinism; pulled info from long-
term memory
prototype
Rosch; mental model; model that contains the most typical features of concept;
example: cat-pale, whiskers, meow, clause, for, ears
Idealized Cognitive Model (ICM)
Rosch; expands on prototypes; concept + schema; example: mother
problem representation
first step in problem-solving; interpreting or defining a problem
trial and error
problem-solving strategy; best if there are limited choices; takes time to try all
approaches; try one approach, fail; and another until you succeed; guarantees a
solution
algorithm
problem-solving strategy; step by step method that guarantees a solution; must be
appropriate for the problem to be use; math is a good example
heuristic
problem-solving strategy; rule of Tom; does not guarantee a solution; simplifies a
problem so a solution may be found; four types: hillclimbing, subgoals, means-end
analysis, and working backward
hillclimbing
a heuristic; each set move to progressively closer to a final goal; simple; example:
balancing a budget, reduce expenses to a smaller deficit
subgoals
a heuristic; break problem into smaller, more manageable pieces; example: Hobbits and
Orcs problem
means-end analysis
a heuristic; probably most use; combines hillclimbing and subgoals; analyze a
difference between the current situation and the desired outcome, then do something to
reduce the difference; does not preprint detours from final goal; example: pitcher's
strategy with best batter-ultimate goal-to win game and keep batters off the base, a walk
the best batter to eliminate more runs
working backward
a heuristic; used when means end analysis strays from goal; begin with goal and work
backwards towards the "givens"; used when goal has more information than the givens
and when the operations involved work two ways; example: $100 to spend, buy one
item and subtract $100 to determine how much is left
set
mental set; tendency to perceive and approach problems in certain ways; determines
what information we retrieved from memory to help us find a solution (includes
heuristics and algorithms); flexibility comes from multiple sites to choose from (switch or
abandon sets); pandered by function fixedness
functional fixedness
a hindrance to problem-solving; "assigning" an object in one function (which is how we
form concepts); seeing a limited number of uses for an object; example: what can use a
pencil for? A brick?
Tactic of elimination
problem-solving strategy; less all possible solutions then discard all solutions that seem
to lead in the wrong direction
visualizing
basic building blocks of thought; diagramming a course of action
divergent thinking
thinking outside the box; generating as many unique answers as possible
convergent thinking
only one answer; answers are narrow in focus; example: math problems
compensatory model
a rational decision making model; choices are rated on various criteria (attractive criteria
offset or compensate for unattractive features); example: buying a car-1. Higher price,
better gas mileage 2. Lower price, lower mpg which do you buy ?
noncompensatory model
decision making model; where criteria is not so rational; example: car buying-hinges on
car color
representativeness
heuristic; decision making model; new situation judged on its resemblance to a
stereotypical model; example: you buy an expensive clothes and they fall apart, he
judged anything inexpensive to be cheap therefore it is representative of the quality
availability
decision-making heuristic; judgment or decision is based on information that is most
easily retrieved; type of: Subway Effect-law of nature that you are situation seldom
occurs and we adjust accordingly (the other line his faster, until you give in it)
confirmation bias
decision-making heuristic; tendency to look for evidence in support of a believe and to
ignore evidence to disprove the believe; seeing patterns of cause and effect when there
is any pattern; example: AIDS, chocolate and acne
linguistic-relativity hypothesis
Benjamin Whorf; thinking patterns based on specific languages; evidence by linguistic
determinism
figurative language
expressive language; smiles and metaphors
telegraphic speech
early speech; stage of one and two-year-olds that omits nonessential words; often used
by primates; example: more milk!
Framing
perspective or phrasing of information used to make a decision; studies on survival and
mortality framing
hindsight bias
tendency to view outcomes as inevitable and predictable after we know the outcome,
and believe that we could have predicted what happened; "I knew it all along"
linguistic determinism
idea of the patterns of thinking are determined by the specific language one speaks;
Benjamin more; example: Hopi language as to nouns for "flies"-one for birds and one for
everything else; Dani limited color terminology-light/dark
What are the 3 different theories of pattern recognition? Describe them. Which theory
has limitations in explaining pattern recognition?
Template matching theory - states that we have performed templates in our memory; for
every new object pattern, we match it with the preformed templates to recognize it
Limitations:
For each slight variation, a different template will be required
For each change in size and orientation, a different template is required
Template for ambiguous figures is not possible
The word might change according to context
Feature analysis theory - a visual stimulus is composed of a small number of
characteristics or components; each type of pattern is stored as a set of features and an
associated label
Limitations:
Doesn't take into account different angles or rotations, complex lines, or 3-D shapes
Recognition by component theory - a specific view of an object can be represented as
an arrangement of geons (3-D shapes).
What is perceptual confusion effect and word superiority effect which pattern recognition
theory do they support?
Perceptual confusion effect - Alternating top down and bottom up processing
Word superiority effect - The idea that letters are easier to identify when they are part of
a word than when they are seen in isolation or in a string of letters that do not form a
word.
It supports the feature analysis theory
Brainpower
Describe Signal detection theory. Give an example of how it can be used.
Signal detection theory - a means to quantify the ability to discern between information-
bearing patterns (signals) and random patterns that distract from the information
(noise).
An example would be hearing a beep (signal) in a room with white noise.
What is the difference between absolute and differential threshold? Give an example of
our own while explaining these differences.
Absolute threshold - the lowest level of stimulus that will be detected at 50% of the time.
Example: seeing a candle flicker 30 feet away.
Difference threshold - the smallest change in a stimulus which a person can detect 50%
of the time.
Example: turning up the volume until you can hear it.
Name and give example of any one type of subliminal message.
Subvisual message - visual cues that are flashed so quickly that people don't perceive
them.
Sub audible messages - low volume audio cues that are inserted into a louder audio
source such as music.
Back masking - an audio message that is recorded backwards with the intention of
playing it forward to disguise the reversed message.
What is the difference between serial and parallel distributed processing?
Serial processing - allows only one object at a time to be processed
Parallel distributed processing - assumes that various objects are processed
simultaneously
What is the difference between top down and bottom up processing?
Bottom-up processing - the physical stimulus is registered on the sensory receptors and
the arrival of this information sets the object-recognition into motion; Taking sensory
information and then assembling and integrating it (is that something I've seen before?)
Top-down processing - a cognitive process that initiates with our thoughts, which flow
down to lower-level functions, such as the senses; Uses models, ideas, and
expectations to interpret sensory information (what am I seeing?)
What is sustained attention? Describe and Give example of any 3 tasks that require
sustained attention.
Sustained attention - a process that enables the maintenance of response persistence
and continuous effort over extended periods of time
Examples:
Reading a newspaper article.
Taking an exam.
Listening to a lecture.
What are the 4 different theories of attention? Describe Broadbent filter model. What are
some of the characteristics of this model? What are some of the problems with this
model?
Selective attention, divided attention, sustained attention, executive attention
Broadbent filter model - physical characteristics of messages are used to select one
message for further processing and that all others are lost (bottleneck); a selective filter
(attention) allows information from only one channel at a time
Problems: switching is based on conscious control but it is not always under our
conscious control, errors in shadowing and cocktail party phenomenon disproves this
model
Which attention theory does the best job in explaining attention processes? What are
the disadvantages of late selection theory?
The attenuation theory
Similar to the early selection model but only the location of the selective filter has
changed, analysis of meaning occurs before selection occurs but only the selected
information becomes conscious
What is the difference between sustained and divided attention?
Sustained - a process that enables the maintenance of response persistence and
continuous effort over extended periods of time
Divided - ability to pay attention on several objects at the same time
What is the difference between focused and distributed attention?
Focused attention - use slower serial processing, features are registered with voluntary
focused attention, helps identify one object feature at a time
Distributed attention - by use of parallel processing, allows to register features
automatically, helps register all the features simultaneously
What is the difference between unilateral spatial neglect and blind sight?
Unilateral spatial neglect - can only see one side of the picture
Blind sight - (damage to the central portion of the occipital cortex) blind in the sense that
they are unable to consciously see objects placed before them, but they are able to
provide partial information about the geometric shape of an object
What is the difference between Stroop and emotional Stroop?
Stroop effect - people take a long time to name the ink color when that color is used in
printing an incongruent word
Emotional stroop - people are instructed to name the ink color of words that could have
strong emotional significance to them
Take longer because they have trouble ignoring their emotional reactions to the words
themselves.
counterfactual thinking
thinking about alternative realities and things that never happened; what ifs