Conceptual Knowledge Flashcards
Define ‘conceptual knowledge’
Knowledge that enables people to recognize objects and events and to make inferences about their properties
Conceptual knowledge exists in the form of…
concepts
Concepts
A mental representation of a class or individual, also the meaning of objects, events, and ideas.
What is a way in which we organize concepts?
Categories
Categories
Groups of objects that belong together
Definitional approach to categorization
We decide whether something is a member of a category by determining whether the object meets the definition of the category
Family resemblance
Things in a particular category resemble one another in a number of ways. This approach allows for variation
Prototype approach
We decide whether something is a member of a category by determining whether it is similar to a typical representation of the category “prototype”
High typicality
A category member closely resembles the category prototype
Low typicality
A category member does not closely resemble a typical member of the category
Prototypical objects have high family resemblance because…
their characteristics have a large amount of overlap
Typicality effect
Ability to judge highly prototypical objects more rapidly
Differentiate between the exemplar approach and prototype approach
The prototype approach uses a typical member to compare to and the exemplar approach uses many examples
Rosch distinguished three levels of categories…
1) the superordinate level
2) the basic level
3) the subordinate level
The superordinate level
Most general category level aka global level
Ex; furniture
The basic level
Psychologically special because it is the level above which most information is lost and below which little is gained
Ex; table
The subordinate level
Most specific category level aka specific level
Ex; kitchen table
We often assign objects _____ level names.
basic
Semantic network approach
Understanding how concepts are organized in the mind by proposing that concepts are arranged in networks
Collin and Quillian’s Hierarchical Model
Specific concepts are at the bottom and more general are at the top.
Cognitive economy
A feature of some semantic network models in which properties of a category that are shared by many members of a category are stored at a higher (more general) level node in the network
Example of cognitive economy: The property “can fly” would be stored at the node for bird rather than at the node for “canary”. Why is this?
Including “can fly” at the node for every bird would take up too much storage space. Makes the network more efficient
The hierarchical model verifies the sentence verification technique that…
it should take longer to answer “yes” to the statement “A canary is an animal” than to “A Canary is a bird” because greater distance results in longer reaction time
Spreading activation
Activity that spreads out along any link in a semantic network that is connected to an activated node
Lexical decision task was used to…
study the idea that spreading activation can influence priming
Two main criticisms of Collin and Quillian’s model:
1) Can’t explain the typicality effect
2) Questioned cognitive economy
Connectionism AKA parallel distributed processing approach
A network model of mental operation that proposed that concepts are represented in networks that are modelled after neural networks
Key property of the connectionist network
A specific category is represented by activity that is distributed over many units in the network
Connectionist network is made up of…
1) Input units
2) Hidden units
3) Output units
Input units
activated by stimuli from the environment
Hidden units
input units send signals to hidden units. They are located between input and output units
Output units
contain the final output of the network
Connection weight determines…
the degree to which signals sent from one unit either increase or decrease activity in the next
Connection weight corresponds to…
what happens at a synapse
Activation of units depend on two things:
1) the signal that originates in the input
2) the connection weights throughout the network
Connectionist networks are created by a…
learning process that shapes the networks so information about each concept is contained in the distributed pattern of activity across a number of units
Four proposals about how concepts are represented in the brain
1) Sensory-functional hypothesis
2) Multiple factor approach
3) Semantic category approach
4) Embodied approach
Sensory-functional hypothesis
Our ability to differentiate living things and artifacts depends on a memory system that distinguishes functions
Multiple factor approach
We utilize many features (multiple factors) when grouping objects together based on similarity
Semantic category approach
There are specific neural circuits in the brain for some specific categories
Embodied approach
Our knowledge of concepts is based on reactivation of sensory and motor processes that occur when we interact with an object
Link between perception and motor responses
Semantic dementia
A general loss of knowledge for all concepts
Semantic dementia led researchers to propose what model?
The hub and spoke model
The hub and spoke model
Proposes that areas of the brain that are associated with different function are connected to the anterior temporal lobe (ATL)
Damage to one of the specialized brain areas (the spokes) causes…
specific deficits such as inability to identify artifacts
Damage to the ATL (hub) causes…
general deficits (semantic dementia)
