Brain and Thinking Flashcards
~Role of Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)~
Patients with PFC damage show difficulty switching from one pattern of behavior to another
-stuck to one rule
-difficulties in various problem solving tasks
Preservation
Correct answer
Certain procedure will lead to solution
Initial state
Goal state
Operators
Path constraintsWell defined Problems
No well defined choices or steps for reaching goals
Path to solution is unclear
NO “CORRECT” ANSWER
May be able to make a ill-defined problem defined with sub-goals
ILL-defined problems
Sudden realization of a problems solution. Occurring during productive thinking when the problem is SUDDENLY RESTRUCTED AND THE SOLUTION BECOMES CLEAN
Insight
~Mental set: Obstacle to problem solving~
Functional Fixedness
Mental set about normal use for objects
restricting use of an object to its familiar functions
Functional fixed ness
Mental set about normal use for objects: (3 problems)
Candle problem
Nine-dot problem
Water-jug problem
True/False
only certain paths through problem space lead to goal
True
Conditions at the beginning of the problem
Initial state
The solution of the problem
Goal state
All in states between initial and goal states
Intermediate State
actions that take the problem from on state to another, there are rules that specify which actions are allowed in which are not
Operators
- Generate new operation and test
- Check his goal state is achieved
- if not, repeat step #1
** systematic trial and error: don’t revisit unsuccessful locations in problem space
Trail and error
Slow, inefficient; doesn’t necessarily lead to the answer if the problem requires insight
Problem with trial and error
- divide problem into multiple sub problems
- So that each sub problem: detect difference between initial state and go to state and find operation that minimize difference
* * can include working backwards from goal
Means-ends search
Difficult to breakdown some problems into some problems, EX. the nine-dot problem
Problems with Means-Ends search
By RELATING CURRENT PROBLEM TO A PREVIOUSLY ENCOUNTERED PROBLEM, the problem solver CAN use the same strategy to solve it
Analogically Problem Solving
Transfer from “source” problem to “target” problem
EX.
Russian marriage problem (Source problem)
Multilayer-checkerboard problem (target problem)
Analogically transfer
Why “Noticing Relationship” is hard?
People often focus on SURFACE FEATURES instead of STRUCTURAL FEATURE
Specific Elements that make up the problem
surface features
underlying principle that governs the solution
Structural features
A doing-nothing period often assumed to precede insight
Incubation
Subconscious processing or forgetting (maybe taking breaks simply allows you to forget) or decay and mental set and frustration
Explanations
Set of symbols that can be combined according to a set of rules to produce an infinite variety of messages
Language
System of communication using sounds or symbols
Express feelings, thoughts, ideas and experiences
Language
N. Chomsky(1959) language instinct
- human language coded in genes
- underlying basis of all language is similar
- language acquisition device (LAD) has built-in assumptions, rules, constraints (EX. S-V-O or S-O-V)
Is our capacity for language innate or learned?
The sounds of language
Phonemes
Shortest segment of speech that, if changed, changes the meaning of the word
—-Not the same as “Letter” because a letter has different sounds (we, wet)
Phoneme
Elementary units of meaning
—smallest do you know a language that has meaning or grammatical function
EX. Trucks: two morphemes
truck(vehicle) + s (more than one)
Morpheme
