Ch 9 Conceptual knowledge

Question 1

Concepts

Answer 1

A mental representation of a class or individual. Also, the meaning of objects, events, and abstract ideas. An example of a concept would be the way a person mentally represents “cat” or “house”

Question 2

Category

Answer 2

Groups of objects that belong together because they belong to the same class of objects, such as “houses”, “furniture”, or “school”

Question 3

Categorization

Answer 3

The process by which objects are placed in categories.

Question 4

Definitional approach to categorization.

Answer 4

The idea that we can decide wether something is a member of category by determining wether the object meets the definition of the category. Family resemblances

Question 5

Family resemblance

Answer 5

In considering the process of categorization, the idea that things in a particular category resemble each other in a number of ways. This approach can be contrasted with the definition approach, which states that an object belongs to a category only when it meets a definite set of criteria.

Question 6

Prototype approach to categorization.

Answer 6

The idea that we decide wether something is a member of a category by determining wether it is similar to a standard representation of a category, called a prototype.

Question 7

Prototype

Answer 7

A standard used in categorization that is formed by averaging the category members a person has encountered in the past.

Question 8

Typicality

Answer 8

Highly typical means that a category member closely resembles the category prototype.

Question 9

Sentence verification technique

Answer 9

A technique in which the participants is asked to indicate wether a particular sentence is true or false. For example, sentence like “an apple is a fruit” have been used in studies on categorization.

Question 10

Typicality effect

Answer 10

The ability to judge or falsity of sentence involving high-prototypical members of a category more rapidly than sentence involving low-prototypical members of a category.

Question 11

Exemplar approach to categorization

Answer 11

The approach to categorization in which members of a category are judged against exemplars-examples of members of a category that person have encountered in the past.

Question 12

Exemplars

Answer 12

In categorization, members of a category that a person has experienced in the past.

Question 13

Superordinal level

Answer 13

The most general category level distinguished by Rosch-for example, “furniture”

Question 14

Global level

Answer 14

The highest level in Rosch’s categorization scheme. “Furniture” “vehicle”

Question 15

The basic level

Answer 15

The level below the global (superordinate) level (e.g., “table” or “chair” for the superordinate category “furniture”. According to Rosch, the basic level is psychological special because it is the level above which much information is lost and below which little is gained.

Question 16

The subordinate level

Answer 16

The most specific category level distinguishes by Rosch-for example, “kitchen table”

Question 17

Specific level

Answer 17

In Rosch categorization scheme, the level below the basic level ( e.g, “kitchen table” for the basic category “table”

Question 18

Semantic network approach

Answer 18

An approach to understand how concepts are organized in the mind that proposes that concepts are arranged in networks

Question 19

Hierarchical modal

Answer 19

Applied to knowledge representation, a modal that consists of levels arranged so that more specific concepts, such as canary or salmon, are at the bottom and more general concepts, such as birds, fish, or animal, are at higher levels.

Question 20

Cognitive economy

Answer 20

A feature of some semantic network modales in which properties of a category are stored at higher-level node in the network. For example, the property “can fly” would be stored at the node for “bird” rather than at the node for “cannery”

Question 21

Spreading activation

Answer 21

Activity that spreads out along any link in a semantic network that is connected to an activated node.

Question 22

Lexical decision task

Answer 22

A procedure in which a person is asked to decide as quickly as possible wether a particular stimulus is a word or a nonword.

Question 23

Connectionism

Answer 23

A network model of mental operation that proposes that concepts are represented networks that are modeled after neural networks. Also called the parallel distributing processing (PDP) approach.

Question 24

Connection network

Answer 24

The type of network proposed by the connectionist approach to the representation of concepts. Connectionist networks are based on neural networks but are not necessarily identical to them.

Question 25

Units

Answer 25

Neuronlike processing units, in a connectionist network.

Question 26

Input units

Answer 26

Units in a connectionist network that are activated by stimulation from the environment.

Question 27

Connection weight

Answer 27

In connectionist models, a connection weight determines the degree to which signals sent from one unit either increases or decreases the activity of the next unit.

Question 28

Error signals

Answer 28

During learning in a connectionist network, the difference between the output signal generated by a particular stimulus and the output that actually represents that stimulus.

Question 29

Back propagation

Answer 29

A process by which learning can occur in a connectionist network, in which an error signal is transmitted backward through the network. This backward transmitted error signal provides the information needed to adjust the weights in the network.

Question 30

Graceful degradation.

Answer 30

Disruption of performance due to damage to a system that occurs only gradually as parts of the system are damaged.

Question 31

Category-specific memory impairment

Answer 31

A result of the brain damage in which the patient has trouble recognizing objects in a specific category.

Question 32

Encephalitis

Answer 32

Infection of the brain caused by infection or allergic reaction.

Question 33

Sensory-functional (s-f) hypothesis

Answer 33

Explanation of how semantic information is represented in the brain that states that the ability to differentiate living things and artifacts depends on one system that distinguishes sensory attributes and another system that distinguishes function.

Question 34

Multiple-factor approach

Answer 34

Seeking to describe how concepts are represented in the brain by searching for multiple factors that determine how concepts are divided up within a category.

Question 35

Crowding

Answer 35

Animals tend to share many properties, such as eyes, legs, and the ability to move. This is relevant to multiple factor approach to the representation of concepts in the brain.

Question 36

Semantic category approach

Answer 36

An approach to describing how semantic information is represented in the brain that proposes that there are specific neural circuits for some specific categories.

Question 37

Embodied approach

Answer 37

Proposal that our knowledge of concepts is based on reactivation of sensory and motor processes that occur when we interact with an object . When we see a hammer or read the word HAMMER later, these sensory and motor areas are reactivated, and it is this information that represents the hammer (Barsalou, 2008)

Question 38

Semantic somatotopy

Answer 38

Correspondence between words related to specific parts of the body and the location of brain associated with that part of the body.

Question 39

Semantic dementia

Answer 39

Condition in which there is a general loss of knowledge for all concepts.

Question 40

Anterior temporal lobe

Answer 40

Area in the temporal lobe. Damage to the ATL has been connected with semantic deficits in dementia patients and with the savant syndrome.

Question 41

Hub and spoke model

Answer 41

A model of semantic knowledge that proposes that areas of the brain that are associated with different functions are connected to the anterior temporal lobe, which integrates information from these areas l.

Question 42

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

Answer 42

A procedure in which magnetic pulses are applied to the skull in order to temporarily disrupt the functioning of part of the brain.

Question 43

The sensory-functional Hypothesis

Answer 43

Elizabeth Warrington and Tim Shallice (1984)
The impairment of the brain, where they lost the ability to distinguish certain objects but kept the ability to distinguish others.

Question 44

Multiple factor approach

Answer 44

Paul Hoffman and Matthew Lambon Ralph (2013) used color, Motion, Performed action, to distinguish which were associated with particular groups such as animal or artifacts.
They proposed that patients had difficulty recognizing living things because they shared similar traits or features.

Question 45

Semantic Category Approach

Answer 45

Bradford Mahon and Alfonso Caramazza (2011) the localization of objects in certain parts of the brain such as faces, places, and bodies. However this approach also emphasizes that the brains response is distributed over a number of different areas.

Question 46

Priming

Answer 46

When presentations of one stimulus facilitates the response to another stimulus that usually follows closely in time.