Chapter 5 Flashcards
Ad hoc categories
categories formed “on the fly” in the service of a goal
Artifact Categories
categories of objects designed or invented by humans to serve particular functions
Basic level of categorization
level of categorization between superordinate and subordinate; represents the preferred level of specificity
Category
a grouping of objects or ideas that have some common underlying feature or set of features
Category Verification Task
task used to assess semantic memory structure in which participants are asked to verify or deny statements about category membership
Classical View
the view that items are classified into particular categories if they have certain features or characteristics
Concept
the mental representation of a category
Entry point for recognition
the default level of categorization that we use for familiar objects
Essential Approach
he view that categorization is based on a person’s general idea or explanation of the essence of a particular concept
Exemplar Approach
view of categorization that suggests that we represent categories in terms of examples, or exemplars; when we think about the concept, we retrieve one of these examples
Expertise view
view that our superior face recognition ability develops after extensive exposure to faces
Exploratory Procedure (EPs)
movements we use for tactile identification
Family resemblance
the degree of overlap between members of a category
Feature Analysis
one version of the p-based approach to object recognition; contends that we recognize objects via an analysis and recombination of their component parts
Feature Verification Task
a task used to assess semantic memory structure in which participants are asked to verify or deny statements about the features of concepts
Folk Biology
the notion that knowledge of biological systems constitutes a cognitive module that has evolved in the service of adaptation to the environment
Fuzzy Boundaries
the notion that separation between some categories (e.g., “games” and “sports”) is indistinct
Geons
the basic 3-D shapes that form the basis for object recognition, according to the RBC approach
Graded Structure
the fact that category members differ in how well they represent the category
Haptics
information gathered from hand position and hand movement
Levels of categorization
the notion that categories can be described at varying levels of specificity and generality
Natural Kinds/Natural Categories
categories of objects that occur naturally in the world
Object Recognition
the processes whereby we match an incoming stimulus with stored representations for the purpose of identification
Olfactory verbal gap
people have difficulty describing and correctly identifying colors
Structural Description-Based (SDB) Approaches
propose that object recognition is based primarily on a process of parsing an object into its component parts
Prosopagnosia
a neurological disorder characterized by an inability to recognize faces
Prototype
the most representative member (or members) of a given category
Prototype Approach
a view of categorization proposing that we categorize by judging similarity between a target concept and a best example from the category
Recognition-by-components (RBC)
Biederman’s view of object recognition; contends that recognition is a matter of separating an image into a structural description and using this description for identification
Special Mechanism View
view that our superior face recognition ability is due to specialized brain mechanism(s)
Spreading Activation Model
a network model of semantic memory that posits links of varying types among related concepts and assumes spread of activation during knowledge retrieval
Template Matching Theory
view of pattern/object recognition whereby we compare incoming patterns to stored whole patterns in memory until we find a match
Templates
the stored replicas of patterns that need to be identified
Thatcher Illusion
inability to notice facial distortion in inverted faces
Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) State
a block in retrieval accompanied by a strong feeling of knowing
Typicality effect
he tendency to generate one of the most common category members in response to a category prompt
View-Based (VB) Approaches
contend that we recognize objects by comparing incoming visual information to stored whole-object images representing the objects
