Chapter 9: Knowledge Flashcards
Conceptual knowledge
the understanding of relationships and principles, to recognize objects and events, make inferences, and form generalizations, as opposed to simply knowing facts or procedures
Concept
a mental representation or category that allows us to organize and understand information, experiences, and objects in the world; “fruit” is apples, bananas etc
Categorization
the mental process of grouping objects or events into categories based on shared characteristics or common features; seeing new animal and categorizing it as “bird” because it has similar features
The Prototype Approach to Categorization
ssuggests that when we categorize objects, we do so by comparing them to the “prototype”—an idealized, average member of the category; “best” or “typical” example (the prototype) of that category; robin as bird
Family resemblance
refers to the idea that objects in a category may not all share exactly the same characteristics but will share overlapping features with other members of the category; “furniture” have similar features like chair, table but sizing and shape might be different
Prototype
the idealized or best example of a category, which people use as a standard to compare other objects or events. It is typically the most representative member of the category; “golden retriever” prototype of dog with traits of four legs, tail, fur
High/Low Prototypically
the degree to which an item or object is considered a good example or representative of a category; “bird” robin vs penguin
Sentence Verification Technique
a method used in cognitive psychology to measure how quickly people can determine if a sentence is true or false, used to study the organization of concepts and categories in the mind; Typical examples (e.g., “A robin is a bird”) are verified faster than non-typical examples (e.g., “A penguin is a bird”)
Typicality effect
suggests that people are faster at recognizing items that are more prototypical; “A robin is a bird” will be verified faster than “A penguin is a bird”
Exemplar Approach
suggests that we categorize objects by comparing them to specific examples or exemplars of the category rather than a single prototype; to recognize a dog, we might compare it to specific dogs we’ve encountered (golden retriever we grew up with)
Hierarchy of Categories (Rosch)
- Superordinate (Global) Level: very broad, e.g., furniture
- Basic Level: e.g., table
- Subordinate (Specific) Level: Very narrow, e.g., kitchen tables
“Animal” (superordinate) → “Dog” (basic) → “Golden Retriever” (subordinate)
Semantic Network Approach
suggests that concepts are organized in memory based on their meaning and are connected by links between related concepts, a graph where concepts are nodes and the relationships between them are edges; concept “dog” might be linked to “animal”, “pet”, and “bark”
Cognitive economy
refers to the principle that we store general information at a higher level in the semantic network, so that it is shared by related concepts, minimizing redundancy and saving cognitive resources; “animal” has a heart which all other animals have
Collins & Quillian’s (1969) Hierarchical Model
proposed a hierarchical model of semantic memory in which concepts are stored in a network and arranged hierarchically, more general information is stored at higher levels, and more specific information is linked to it at lower levels; “canary” would be linked to “bird” (its category) and “animal” (a more general category)
Spreading activation
a model where activating one concept in memory automatically activates related concepts, enhancing their accessibility and likelihood of retrieval; When you think of “dog,” you might also quickly think of “bark,” “puppy,” and “tail” because they are strongly associated in memory
Lexical Decision Task
an experimental method used to study how we process words. In this task, participants are shown a string of letters and must decide whether it forms a real word or not as quickly as possible; “apple” and “plorn” and quickly identifying apple as word
Explanatory Power
refers to a theory’s ability to provide a clear and comprehensive explanation of the phenomena it seeks to explain, how well a model or theory can account for observed behaviours, cognitive processes, and neural mechanisms
Generation of Experimental Hypotheses
formulating testable predictions based on a theory or previous research, these hypotheses guide experimental design and help researchers test specific aspects of cognitive processes or behaviour
Connectionism
an approach to cognitive science that models mental processes as networks of simple, interconnected units (neurons) suggesting mental processes arise from the interactions of simple units in a network much like the human brain
neural networks
- Input units: activated by external signals
- Hidden units: receive input from input units
- Output units: receive input from hidden units
Back propagation
a method of supervised learning, where the network adjusts its connection weights based on the error between the network’s predicted output and the actual target output
Connection weights
the values that determine the strength of the connection between two units (or neurons) in a neural network. These weights are adjusted during the learning process
Error signal
discrepancy between a predicted outcome and the actual outcome, triggering learning and adaptation; crucial mechanism for updating internal models and improving future performance
Graceful degradation
refers to the ability of a neural network or cognitive system to continue functioning even when parts of it are damaged or impaired; rather than losing all functionality, the system gradually becomes less accurate as the damage increases
Category specific memory impairments
the phenomenon in which certain types of information (or categories of knowledge) are more easily impaired than others, often due to brain damage or neurological disorders; patient with semantic dementia may have difficulty recognizing animals, while retaining the ability to recognize tools
Multiple-Factor Approach
suggests that category-specific impairments in memory are not due to a single, underlying factor (like biological or sensory features) but are the result of multiple, interacting factors
Crowding
the phenomenon where some categories of objects, like animals, have many features in common, making them difficult to distinguish from one another that can impair recognition in cases of brain damage
Semantic Dementia
a neurodegenerative condition that leads to the loss of conceptual knowledge, particularly for objects and categories, difficult recognizing objects; person with semantic dementia might fail to recognize what a “hammer” is used for, even though they still understand how to use it in a practical sense
Hub and Spoke Model
suggests that there is a central “hub” (a region of the brain) that stores general, abstract knowledge about concepts, while more specific features of a concept are stored in the “spokes” (other brain regions); concept of a “dog” might have a general representation in the anterior temporal lobe (the hub), with specific sensory and motor representations (e.g., barking, running) stored in different brain areas (the spokes)
