chapter nine

Question 1

conceptual knowledge

Answer 1

helps with recognition and generating inferences

Question 2

concepts

Answer 2

mental representations of an object, event, or idea

Question 3

category

Answer 3

examples of concepts that are grouped together

Question 4

categorization

Answer 4

process of building a category

Question 5

approaches to categorization

Answer 5

1) definition approach
2) family resemblance
3) prototype approach
4) exemplar approach

Question 6

definitional approach

Answer 6

• categorization based on definition of the category
• each member of a category needs to meet the same criteria
• i.e. “a square is a plane figure having four equal sides…”

Question 7

family resemblance

Answer 7

• categorization of objects based on ways they resemble each other
• each feature of objects within a category do not need to match

Question 8

prototype approach

Answer 8

• categorization based on similarity with a prototype
• typicality effect: faster to verify prototypical members as belonging to a category than non-prototypical members

Question 9

exemplar approach

Answer 9

• categorization based on the greatest similarity between an item in a category and the novel item (see if it matches an item within that category)
• drawback: too many exemplars in a category makes the comparison very time consuming

Question 10

rosch’s hierarchical organization

Answer 10

1) global/superordinate category
2) basic-level category
3) subordinate category

Question 11

superordinate category

Answer 11

• top of the hierarchy
• too broad
• can’t generate a prototype at this level

Question 12

basic-level category

Answer 12

• middle of the hierarchy
• often first words learned
• categories are most differentiated at this level
• items within the basic-level category are similar (i.e. guitar and drums)
• items in different basic-level categories are dissimilar (i.e. guitar vs. apple)

Question 13

subordinate category

Answer 13

• bottom of the hierarchy

Question 14

which level is categorization the fastest?

Answer 14

• at the basic-level category
• there is an exception; i.e. if you are a dog trainer and know all breeds of dogs, you can categorize in the subordinate categories quicker, like different dog breeds

Question 15

collins and quillian’s semantic network model

Answer 15

• hierarchical model
• explains the organization of semantic knowledge but goes one step further
• concepts are represented as “nodes”
• concepts are connected to related concepts through “links”
• retrieval of concepts involves spreading activation

Question 16

activation

Answer 16

• anything that is similar to the original concept is activated with it

Question 17

characteristics of semantic network models

Answer 17

• direction of movement is from the bottom to the top
• semantic facilitation occurs when the semantic path was just used
• accounts for the category-size effect

Question 18

category-size effect

Answer 18

• faster to classify items that are part of a small category than a large category
• items at the bottom of the hierarchy

Question 19

limitations of semantic networks

Answer 19

• can’t explain the typicality effect: typical members of a category are classified
  more quickly than less typical members ( i.e. “a penguin is a bird” vs. “a canary is a bird”)
• classification speed is not always dependent on amount of level changes (i.e. “a chimpanzee is a primate” is only one level change = slow RT vs. “a chimpanzee is an animal” is two level changes = faster RT)

Question 20

connectionist model

Answer 20

• concepts are represented as “units”
• connection weight of each unit determines the activation or inhibition of a signal
• back propagation: you can move forwards and backwards with these nodes

Question 21

representing concepts in the brain

Answer 21

1. sensory-functional hypothesis
2. multiple-factor approach
3. semantic category approach
4. embodied approach

Question 22

sensory-functional hypothesis

Answer 22

we identify living things based on sensory features and nonliving things based on their function

Question 23

multiple-factor approach

Answer 23

we identify living and nonliving things based on sensory features such as features, function, motion, colour

Question 24

semantic category approach

Answer 24

neural circuits are associated with specific categories

Question 25

embodied approach

Answer 25

reactivation of sensory and motor processes when interacting with objects