Chapter 9 - Conceptual Knowledge Flashcards
Anterior Temporal Lobe (ATL)?
Area in the temporal lobe.
- Damage to this area has been connected with semantic deficits in dementia patients and with the savant syndrome.
Back Propagation?
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 information needed to adjust the weights in the network to achieve the correct output for a stimulus.
Basic Level?
In Rosch’s categorization scheme, the level below the global level.
According to Rosch, the basic level is psychologically special because it is the level above which much information is lost and below with little is gained.
Categorization?
The process by which objects are placed in categories.
- Essential core: something that distinguishes each item in the category (defining feature).
Category-Specific Memory Impairment?
A result of brain damage in which the patient has trouble recognizing objects in a specific category.
Cognitive Economy?
A feature of some semantic network models in which properties of a category that are shared by many memories of a category are stored at a higher-level node in the network.
Ex.) The property “can fly” would be stored at the node for “bird”, rather than at the node for “canary”.
Concept?
A mental representation of a class or individual.
- Have one or more ‘core’ representations.
- No rigid boundaries.
Conceptual Knowledge?
Knowledge that enables people to recognize objects and events and to make inferences about their properties.
Connection Weight?
In connectionist models, a connection weight determines the degree to which signals sent from one unit either increase or decrease the activity of the next unit.
Connectionism?
A network model of mental operation that propose that concepts are represented in networks that are modeled after neural networks. The approach to describing the mental representation of concepts is also called the parallel distributed processing (PDP) approach.
Connectionist Network?
The type of network proposed by the connectionist approach to the representation of concepts.
- Based on neural networks but are not necessarily identical to them.
- One key property is that a specific category is represented by activity that is distributed over many units in the network
Crowding?
Animals tend to share many properties, such as eyes, legs, and the ability to move. This is relevant to the multiple-factor approach to the representation of concepts in the brain.
Definitional Approach to Categorization?
The idea that we can decide whether something is a member of a category by determining whether the object meets the definition of the category.
Embodied Approach?
Proposal that our knowledge of concepts is based on reactivation of sensory and motor processes that occur when we interact with an object.
Error Signal?
During learning in a connectionist network, the difference between the output signal generated by a particular stimulus and the output that actually represent that stimulus.
Exemplar?
In categorization, members of a category that a person has experienced in the past.
Exemplar Approach to Categorization?
The approach to categorization in which members of are judged against exemplars.
Family Resemblance?
In considering the process of categorization, the idea that things in a particular category resemble each other in a number of ways.
Global Level?
The highest level is Rosch’s categorization scheme.
Ex.) “Furniture” or “Vehicles”.
Graceful Degradation?
Disruption of performance due to damage to a system that occurs only gradually as parts of the system are damaged.
Hidden Units?
Units in a connectionist network that are located between input and output units.
