concepts and categories

Question 1

what is conceptual knowledge

Answer 1

allows recognition and making inferences about properties

Question 2

what is a concept

Answer 2

mental representation

Question 3

what is categorization

Answer 3

the process by which things are placed in groups

Question 4

why are categories useful

Answer 4

they help us understand individual cases that have not been previously encountered

Question 5

approaches to categorization
- definition approach

Answer 5

category membership is based on whether an object meets the definition

• does not work well; not all members of everyday categories have the same defining features

Question 6

approaches to categorization
- prototype approach

Answer 6

an average representation of a “typical” member of a given category

• high prototypicality: member closely resembles a category prototype
• low prototypicality: member does not closely resemble a category prototype
  ex: birds; cardinal - high prototypicality, penguin - low prototypicality

typicality effect:
- highly prototypical objects are judged more rapidly
- prototypical members are also more impacted by priming
ex: hearing green primes prototypical green object, like tree

Question 7

approaches to categorization
- exemplar approach

Answer 7

concept represented by multiple examples
- examples are actual category members
- works best for small categories

Question 8

approaches to categorization
- hierarchial approach

Answer 8

to understand how people understand objects, one must consider : properties of objects, and learning/experience of perceivers

ex: tree diagrams
category - vehicle
can be car or truck, car can be ford or chevy, truck can be van or pickup

Question 9

approaches to categorization
- semantic network approach

Answer 9

concepts are arranged in networks that represent the way concepts are organized
- spreading activation: activation is the arousal level of a node
- activity spreads along all connected links

Question 10

approaches to categorization
- connectionist approach

Answer 10

creating computer models for representing cognitive processes
- knowledge is represented in the distributed activity of many units

input units - activated by stimulation from environment
hidden units - receive input from input units
output units - receive input from hidden units

Question 11

approaches to categorization
- embodied approach

Answer 11

concepts based on reactivation of sensory and motor processes that occur when we interact with the object

mirror neurons: fire when we do a task or observe another person doing the same task