Cog Psych: Exam #4 Flashcards
symbolic definition of language
the use of symbols to represent ideas
Generative definition of language
the ability to produce many different messages by combining different symbols in different ways
Structured definition of language
there are rules for how language is organized and produced (grammar)
competence definition
set of rules that all users of language have available
ex: what could be real words (all fake but some follow the rules - can be subconscious)
performance definition
how rules are implemented within language behavior - these are individual differences
Hierarchy of language
phoneme - morpheme - word - phrase - sentence
Phonemes definition
sounds of language
Morpheme definition
smallest unit of meaning
bound morphemes
units that cannot stand along but are appended to stems (s, ed, ing)
free morphemes
units that stand alone
inflectional morphology
typically modify words to fit structure of sentence (does not change meaning)
ex: quacks vs. quacked
Derivational morphology
changes the meaning when it is modified
ex: gentleman (person) —> gentlemanly (a way of acting)
Evidence for language structure
speech error: unintended deviations from the speech-plan
* you can only make errors within a level*
Types of speech errors
exchange error: an error in which two linguistic units are substituted for each other during sentence production
- word exchange: writing a mother to my letter
- morpheme exchange: he relaxes –> he relax
- phoneme exchange: spill beer –> speer bill
Text comprehension requirements
1) perception: sensory input for words
2) attention + WM: updating, inhibition, shifting
3) episodic memory: retaining knowledge of prior material you read
4) semantic memory: retrieving meaning of words as you read and using schemas
5) visual imagery
Local coherence
integration of ideas within the immediate context
Study with local coherence (words with multiple meanings)
words that have multiple meanings:
1) equibiased meaning: 50-50 used
2) non-equibiased meaning: one meaning is used more than other
- track eye movements
Equibiased; if the meaning occurred after, you took longer
Nonequibiased: if the meaning occurred after, you took longer (have to go back and reread as you picked the wrong one)
Equibiased and nonequibiased: if the meaning occurred before, everything was the same
How quickly does context occur?
given a sentence with an ambiguous word (could have two meanings ex here is “bug”) - probed with a related word (will cue you into correct meaning) either immediately after or 3 syllables after
- results: if immediately primed, you are quicker to say “spy” AND “ant” are words - both meaning are activated
- if delayed primed, you are faster for “ant” - context has operated in the time span and you only have one meaning come “online” and the other is forgotten
expectations
you are quicker to say something is a word if you were expecting it
Global coherence definition
track and integrate major ideas of the story
Study on central ideas
given a story
1) without a cue: asked to recall as many details as possible
2) cue: told the central idea of the story
results: you are better if you know the central idea before reading the story - you organize facts based on a central idea/goal
Interruptions in a story
you remember interruptions (to the achievement of the central goal) the best in a recall test (better than script actions or irrelevant details)
causal chains
things that relate to each other - you can not achieve the goal if any of the connections are missing
ex: goal: walking into the house – take out keys - unlock door - open door
Causal chains and memory
events that have more casual connections in a story the better they are recalled on a later test - you think more steps mean it is more important so you focus on this
process memory
a memory that maintains active traces of past information to process incoming information in the present moment
- temporal stages: neural processing is slightly different based on what proceeds it
temporal receptive window
the window of time in which prior information can affect the processing of new information
- phonemes have a short TRW and narratives have a long TRW
Kintsch’s model of text comprehension
text: represented by a series of proposition
reader: knowledge and goals of the readers established connections and infers facts not directly stated
proposition definition
a meaningful idea that typically consists of several words
STM and reading
1) A limited set of propositions are maintained in STM → sentences get split into propositions are organized by important
2) Items in the new section (next set of important propositions) are related to old items in the STM `
Reinstatement search
a search through LTM (where the unpicked propositions go) to place words in STM where they can be used to integrate a text
- happens when you can not match the new propositions in STM with the old propositions in STM
Propositions and memory
Conditions: target → “the forest was on fire”
Context repetition: carol continued to be distressed as she drove down the road (more related to overall context of story)
Target repetition: repetition related to the sentence verification you will be asked
Subject repetition: carol continued to be distressed as she drove through the forest
Complete repetition: Complete Repetition: “Carol continued to be distressed as they drove down a dirt road through the smoke filled forest”
No repetition: carol continued to be distressed and lit a cigarette
Results: you are fastest when you get a complete repetition → the more propositions you have to relate to other pieces of information, the better you remember it
Inferences
take time and effort
- you take longer to verify a sentence if you have to make an inference about the content rather than if it is directly stated
Major themes of Kintsch’s model
- New information is most easily integrated if it related to items in STM
- If not, a reinstatement search through LTM is conducted
- If this fails, ideas can be integrated through inference but this is costly
- If all else fails, a new network is started → leads to separate ideas that are not well integrated (thus have poor recall)
situation model
integration of prior knowledge and text information to construct an understanding of the situation being described in a text
compensatory models
a decision making strategy that allows positive attributes to compensate for negative ones
1) additive compensatory models
2) additive-difference compensatory model
Additive compensatory models
Rate each alternative on several attributes and then sum them → can have different weights and then add them all up at the end with the highest score winning
Additive-difference compensatory model:
a strategy that compares two alternative by adding the different in their values for each attribute - compares alternatives line by line
Noncompensatory models
a decision making strategy that rejects alternatives that have negative attributes without considering the positive attributes
1) elimination by aspects
2) conjunctive model
Elimination-by-aspects
a decision making strategy that evaluates one attribute at a time and rejects alternatives whose attribute values fail to satisfy a minimum criterion
ex: no calculations; just compare to minimum threshold - order is important
Conjunctive model
a strategy that evaluates on alternative at a time and rejects it if ANY of the attributes fail to satisfy a minimum criterion
- The first alternative that meet all the criteria is the one you pick → don’t do an exhaustive search of all possibilities
Satisficing search
a strategy that follow the conjunctive model and therefore selects the first alternative that satisfies the minimum criterion for each attribute
- May not be the best but it meets all the criteria so it is good enough
Which method of decision making do we use?
Study: given attributes on apartments and could flip as many as they wanted over in whatever order they wanted → goal: pick the best apartment
results:
1) The more alternatives you have to consider, the less information you look at (you turn over less cards)
2) used conjunctive or elimination by aspects to reduce the load when had a lot of alternative
3) with just a few alternative, they may pick a more cognitively demanding option (additive or additive difference)
Is extra cognitive load worth it in decision making?
Study: Participants: financial professional evaluate a firm’s financial stability
trained on one of three strategies: Additive, Additive difference, Elimination by aspects
- all theories had people pick the best option BUT additive/additive difference took much more time it does not give you a cognitive boost to consider all options
recognition heuristic
if one of two or more objects is recognized and the other is not, we infer the recognized object has the higher value
Uncertainty in decision making
Uncertainty: lock of knowledge about which events or attributes will actually occur
We must estimate probabilities of the events → use heuristic to do so + sometimes these are accurate but often not → we are bad at estimating probabilities
Availability heuristic
use information about which you have seen / heard about most recently or often to make your decision
Usually know of both options but one comes to mind more readily
Can decisions differ by mood state?
Yes - your current mood can affect your estimates of the probability of an event
When you are in a good mood: you rate the positive event as more likely than the negative event (and same for the negative event and negative mood)
Representative heuristic
the extent of which event is typical of a larger class of events
ex: Coin flips and birth gender sequence is random → should be 50%-50% BUT We expect HHHHHT to be less likely than THTHTHTH even though they are exactly the same
prior probability
the probability that an event will occur before obtaining additional evidence regarding its occurrence
study with prior probability
Study: given characteristics about a person and then asked the likelihood that he is a lawyer or a engineer out of a specific sample → we know the probability based on the sample sizes
Results: when you are given no information, you rely on the prior probability. When given information, you rely on that and ignore the prior probability
Expected value
the average value as determined by combining the value of events with the probability of their occurrence
does value of decision matter?
yes you ave to look at prior probability AND the value of the decision to you
ex: COVID 19
- Probability: that threat is real
- Value: the value to not get sick or protect those you love
Do people follow expected value rules?
No - we are not rational decision makers
even if trained: 33% made a better choice 66% did not change or made a worse choice - most people do not use expected value even when it is explained
subjective value
has to be determined by the decision maker → what is this worth to you
does how something is obtained influence value?
Study: Study: given a coffee mug
½ told it was because of a good exam score
½ told it was random
Can either keep the mug or trade it back for money
Results: students who thought they earned it traded it for more money (thought it was worth more) → worth different things to different people based on how they acquired it
Subject probabilities
instead of using real probabilities, use our guess of what the probabilities are (usually wrong, based on heuristics)
Risk dimensions: do individuals weight winning and losing equally?
WIN: Would you rather win $900 or have a 90% chance of winning $1000
- Prefer the sure bet (take $900)
LOSE: Would you rather lose $900 or have a 90% chance of losing $1000
- People prefer to gamble
Loss aversion
reaction to loss if more severe than reactions to corresponding gains
Decision frames
some people emphasize certain risk dimensions over other
positive vs negative framing
Positive framing: 30/50 were successful
Negative framing: 20/50 were unsuccessful
People in the positive framing condition bought into the project more (invested more into it) → even though everything was the same (same probability of success) except for the phrasing
Varying start information: how does this affect decision making?
If you say this glass is “half empty,” people say it started out as full
If you say this glass is “half full,” people say it started out as empty
Risk adverse
we prefer to avoid risk
Heads you win $1 tails you lose $1
Heads you win $100, tails you lose $100
Same selected value
We all prefer the $1 option → we are risk averse
why would someone pick a risk condition?
When people select risk, it’s usually because they did not perceive it as as risk correctly → we almost never consciously pick a risky condition
Ways to help others make healthy decisions
Inform: think about how you are framing the decision
Order of information: also important → order of which choices are given affect final outcome
Frequencies are easier than probabilities
Incentivize
Guide
Opt in vs. opt out decision → what is the default?
three types of problems
1) arrangment
2) inducing structure
3) transformation
example of an arrangement problem
anagrams
Skills needed for arrangement problems
1) Fluency in generating possibilities: need to generate many solution and discard the ones that don’t fit
2) Retrieval of soliton patterns: have to retrieve possible words from memory
3) Rules of language: frequency of letter combinations in allowable combinations
Insight
the sudden discovery of a solution following many unsuccessful attempts
Arrangement and insight
Study: solve different kinds of problems (anagrams, logic based problem)
Every ten seconds you hear a “tap” and then you have to record how close you feel you are to the solution from 0 to 10
Results: you usually go from 2 to 10 suddenly in the last ten second → you don’t feel like you are close at all and then all the sudden you have it in 10 seconds
Barriers to arrangement problems
1) imposed constraints: ways we are used to seeing things (ex: matchstick problem)
2) Functional fixedness: ex: the box problem → given a problem where the material are either in the box or beside an empty box (you need the empty box to solve the problem)
Results: when the boxes were empty, you solves it 100% of the time → when the boxes were field, only 40% solved it (they saw the box as just something that held the materials, not part of the tools you have)
inducing structure definition
a problem that requires finding the pattern amount a fixed set of relations
inducing structure examples
1) Series extrapolations: finding a pattern among a sequence of items to continue the sequence (Ex: 1-2-8-3-4-6-5-6-?)
2)Analogy: a four term problem that required finding the answer that completes a relationship (Ex: merchant: sell, customer: __)
Skills needed for inducing structure
Identify the relations among the different components
Fit relations together into a pattern
Progressive matrices
figure out a pattern and input the correct missing space
Are skills within induced structure problems generalizable?
if you are good at one, you are good at another → generalizable set of skills within this category
- also trainable
Transformation problem definitions
a problem that required changing the initial state through a sequence of operations until it matches the goal state
differs from others because the goal state is provided
ex: men and elves
Skills needed for transformation problems
Means-ends analysis: identify the different between the current state and the goal state and selection actions that will reduce those differences
Newell and simon’s theory
Step 1: construct a computer program that can solve a given problem via a series of steps
Step 2: collect detailed behavioral data from human participants and see if they match
Step 3: see if the same skill set can be used to solve similar problems
What does Newell and Simon’s theory require?
Requires self insight: do you actually know what step you are following
Results in a lot of details from participation and now always clear how to best summarizer
Often requires a large sample size
Assumptions of Newell and Simon’s theory
Limitations of the person affect efficiency of problem solving
1) Capacity of STM: how many mental steps can be accomplished
2) Time to get things into LTM: may be difficult to remember all the steps to a problem - you repeat incorrect steps you have already tried
Problem space
the set of choices available at each step → all possible choices
Search space
the set of choices that are evaluated at each step as determined by the problem solver → the possible choices you decide to consider at a time
How do we choose what to focus on in our search space?
1) Previous experience with the same task or nearly identical one
2) Previous experience with analogous task
3) Plans stores in LTM the generalize over a range of tasks
4) Information accumulation while solving a problem: like sudoku, what you add constraints the future possibilities guiding you
general strategies for problem solving
1) means-ends analysis
2) forming subgoals
3) using analogy
4) representational transfer
Forming subgoals study
Study:
Control group: just solve the problem however you can
Subgoal: given a hint about where to start (ex: try to get all the humans on one side)
Results:
- People given a subgoal took less steps to complete the task → breaking things into smaller, manageable tasks helps
- Caveat: sometimes you don’t know what the subgoal is → could be remedied with training
Using analogy to solve a problem
not the same as solving analogy → solving a problem by recalling the soliton to a similar problem
What does using analogy require
Noticing the similarity between the two problems
Recalling the original solution from LTM
Study with using analogy
If given similar problem and then the problem, success rate increases
- More similar the problem, the better the success rate
- Caveat: only if given hint that the problems are similar or not you do better
People do not spontaneously retrieve the previous information and apply it to the new solution → it is in memory but not used
using analogy and similar vs. dissimilar storeis
Given two similar stories OR two dissimilar stories relative to each other (NOT the problem you are trying to solve)
- Performance is best (even without a hint) when you get two dissimilar stories
- Dissimilar condition: the problems use the same method but in two different scenarios → the more contexts you see the general method working in the better you can later apply it to another scenario
Schemas and problem solving
Relates back to schemas: if you have a good schema (creating a general idea of how problems like these can be solved), you are better at solving the problem before the hint
Underlying principles and decision making
Ex: can give the underlying principle: read the story and the last sentence is “they attributed their success to divide and conquer” (or whatever method they used)
Better when given the underlying principle AND you had a good schema
Representational transfer
Use of the same format in solving two problems
Different from analogical transfer: you are not transferring the solution but the way information is presented
Types of representation
Network: islands and bridges vs. shaking hands
Hierarchical: sorting words vs. rat in a maze
Part whole: venn diagram vs. prove a math problem with angles
Study with representational transfer
Findings:
1) No difference between the control and no hint condition → you do not spontaneously transfer representation from one situation to the other
2) Network example better than hierarchy and part whole → network is the only one we can transfer and is helpful
