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Cognitive Processes > Exam > Flashcards

Exam Flashcards

1
Q

how is language is hierarchically structured, infinitely creative, symbolic, grammatical and arbitrary

A

o Sound -> Words -> Phrases -> Sentences
- Discrete units can be recombined to make other utterances
-no limit to how many things we can say ( infinitely creative)
o Kids realize that verbal representation can represent what they want “milk” (symbolic)
o Rules about “legal” combinations (grammatical)
-There is nothing inherent that we make us called a dog a dog or spell it that way (arbitrary)

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2
Q
  • How Can language be broken down in to a number of levels
A

o Phonemes (phonology)
-The sounds of the language with no meaning
o Morphemes (lexical or semantic level)
- Smallest meaningful language units
- Content & function morphemes; free & bound morphemes
• Ex: Words have 2 morphemes: we are talking about a word, the s (bound) indicated that it is plural
o Words (lexical or semantic level): how we represent our knowledge about world
o Phrases (syntax)
o Sentences (syntax & semantics)
o Discourse (conceptual & belief)

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3
Q

explain Speech Perception

A
  • Not a simple process of phoneme detection
    o No markers at beginning or end of phonemes (or words)
    o Effect of context & co-articulation (phonemic overlap) don’t sound out the word BAT, the sounds of the letters overlap in regular speech
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4
Q
  • Categorical perception
A

o The tendency to hear sounds as members of a category – there is a boundary
o All sounds of a given category sound identical – don’t hear difference between far out and boarder-line sounds
o Perceive abrupt transitions between sound categories – just as the boundary is crossed completely different perception

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5
Q

describe the Importance of Top-Down Processing (why we’re better than any computer)

A
  • One reason is humans make use of top-down knowledge to aid speech perceptions (siri cant do this)
    ex. knowing the song title may help you hear the lyrics correctly
    -usually context make us break up the work in the right way
    o Big earl = Big girl
    -phoneme detection (is there a “b” sound?)
    -> “BAT, BAF, B” -we are fastest to respond to the “b” sound when hearing BAT because we know about bats/how to spell them (higher level knowledge helps us with lower level processing)
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6
Q

what are Homophones (& homonyms)

A

 May sound the same but be spelled different
 Might be spelled the same way but mean different thing
o Ate/eight, bank/bank, bear/bare, litter/litter/litter

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7
Q
  • Orthographic representation of a word?
A

the spelling of the word

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8
Q
  • what is Sense
A

o Meaning of word (or phrase) -doesn’t change

o E.g. President of the United States (changes every four years; elected official but president still has same meaning)

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9
Q
  • Referent ?
A

o What the word refers to in the world- changes

o E.g. which particular president

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10
Q
  • benefits to the generativity of language
A

ability to create new words
 Allows us to deal with/describe novel situations
• Photobomb
- Think of all the new words we have created in the past 100 years
o Binge watching
-possible to create an infinite number of sentences using a finite number of words and grammatical rules

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11
Q
  • describe Prescriptive rules and descriptive riles?
A
  • Prescriptive rules
    o How things ought to be done
    o Focus for many linguists (and English teachers!!)
  • Descriptive rules
    o How things are ACTUALLY done
    o Focus for cognitive psychologists and psycholinguists
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12
Q
  • What is Competence?

- What is Performance?

A

Competence:
o What you’re able to do or understand…often under ideal conditions
o E.g. formal knowledge of grammar rules, ability to recognize words
Performance:
o How you actually use language…in more “real world” conditions
o E.g. slips of the tongue, spoken language (including grammatical errors)

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13
Q

explain Language Development through infancy

A

learning begins in utero
o Vocal play – 16 weeks
o Babbling with syllable production – 36 weeks
o Recognition of phonemes across infancy
 Can hear and produce all of the sounds that can be produced in human language. As we get older we lose the universal phenome sensitivity.
o In all languages, language acquisition follows the same pattern
 First word - ~52 weeks
 “Rules” of language - ~3 years of age
-learn concrete nouns first and later verbs

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14
Q

 “motherese”

A

sing-song baby talk that we use when talking to infants and animals bc suggested that babies like high pitch sounds

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15
Q

describe the 3 Specific patterns of errors

A

o Under-extensions- thinking only one specific thing is a whole category
 E.g. dog refers to only a specific dog (their dog)
o Overextensions- thinking too much fits into a category
 E.g. dog refers to all 4-legged animal
o *Over-regularization -trying to make rules fit everything
 E.g. “I” before “e” except after “c”
 E.g. add –ed to make all verbs past tense (e.g. goed)

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16
Q
  • Grammar vs syntax ?
A
  • Grammar:
    o Which combination of words are legal
  • Syntax: falls under grammar
    o The rules governing the sequence of words in a phrase or sentence
    o The role each word plays in a sentence
    o Verb, noun, adjective, etc.
  • Syntax does not equal meaning
    o Sentences can be syntactically correct but meaningless
    o “colorless green ideas sleep furiously”: every word is in its proper place but it doesn’t mean anything
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17
Q
  • Phase structure ambiguity
A

o Sometimes more than one phrase structure compatible with a sentence
 He saw the gorilla with his binoculars

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18
Q

Levels of Language?

- Deep structure vs. surface structure

A

o Deep structure = intended meaning
o Surface structure = words & phrases used
 The boy threw the ball
 The ball was thrown by the boy (different surface structure, same deep structure)
 Landing planes can be dangerous (different deep structure, same surface structure)

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19
Q

what is Sentence Parsing?

A
  • Determine each words syntactic role

- >A much more complex process than we realize

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20
Q

o Temporary ambiguity?

A

ambiguous at the moment until you hear the end of the sentence => hang on that word arrested
 The man arrested…by the cop went to court yesterday

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21
Q

o Garden-path sentences ?

A

cause a reader to become ‘lost’ or ‘tangled’ in an incorrect interpretation of the early part of the sentence, meaning that they later have to ‘re-parse’ the sentence, backtracking through the syntax to find a different way of interpreting and coordinating the sentence
-setting up the wrong phrase structure
-often missing function words
ex The horse that ran past the barn fell vs.  The horse raced past the barn fell

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22
Q
  • Assumption of minimal attachment
A

o Keep it simple…
o Build the least complex phrase structure possible
-there is less commas because we are trying to shorten things up but often becomes ambiguous

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23
Q
  • Modular view of sentence parsing/language comprehension vs. Interactionist view of sentence parsing
A
  • Evidence favors the interactionist view for sentence parsing, modular for word identification
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24
Q

Other Cues to Decode Language

- Prosody??

A

o The rise and fall of speech intonation/pitch and the pattern of pauses
o Can find cues as to the intent of the utterance – can be sarcastic or kind

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25
Q
  • Pragmatics
A

o Knowledge about how language is normally used

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26
Q

describe the cooperative principle Grice’s conversational Maxims)

A

 Relevance (what you say back will be relevant to the topic we are talking about), quantity (exchange appropriate amounts of information), quality (what we tell each other will be truthful; not lying), manner (when we talk to people we will talk in an appropriate way and clear, ex: less complex when talking to kids)
 To show you are not impressed you will violate some of these

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27
Q
  • Indirect requests
A

o “Do you accept credit cards?”
o “My it is warm in here.”
o Women make and pick up on more ambiguous requests

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28
Q

explain how - Social roles & settings influence pragmatics

A

o Superior vs. peers; gender
 The way you talk to your boss (sentence/humour) is different than how you talk to your best friend. Influences the language we use and how we interpret.
-you do what is appropriate

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29
Q

what is - Linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity

A

o The language we use determines/affects how we perceive and think about the world
ex. Perception of color and emotion -Other languages can differentiate colors differently
ex Hypothetically
-What would the world be like if Trump was not elected?
->Other languages don’t have hypothetically markers, so they should be worse at it
-Linguistic determinism is the idea that language and its structures limit and determine human knowledge or thought, as well as thought processes such as categorization, memory, and perception. The term implies that people who speak different languages as their mother tongues have different thought processes

Linguistic determinism is the strong form of linguistic relativity (popularly known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis), which argues that individuals experience the world based on the structure of the language they habitually use.

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30
Q

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

A

states that the structure of a language determines or greatly influences the modes of thought and behavior characteristic of the culture in which it is spoken.
( linguistic relativity )

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31
Q
  • What use is mental imagery?
A

o To recognize properties of visual objects (find someone in a crowd easier)
o To retrieve spatial information from memory (give good directions)
o To anticipate spatial information (follow directions?)
o To make our mental experiences richer??? -Imagine being home

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32
Q

Methodologies for accessing mental imagery

A
  • Self-reports
    o Starting with Galton
    o But questions about validity
    o Subjective reports, not objective (some may have more vivid imagery than others)
    o Biases in self-report data
    o Modern self-report tests (VVQ and VVIQ)
33
Q

Modern self-report tests for accessing mental imagery?

A

 Verbalizer Visualizer Questionnaire(VVQ): suggests that some people prefer to process things in visual ways and some verbal. ex. agree/disagree- my dreams are so vivid its like im really experiencing it
VVIQ: Asks you to form images and rate how vivid those are on a scale
ex. form image of sun setting, scale or 1-5 how vivid is it?
*if you have good mental imaging abilities, you will be more easily susceptible to suggestions

34
Q

o Chronometric studies ?

A

 Measures the amount of time it takes to perform a task
 Determine factors that slow down/speed up processing
 Make inference about the nature of processing
-participants asked to manipulate the mental image and time is measured of how long it takes

35
Q

Kosslyn: Example of Chronometric Studies ?

A

Kosslyn- Prominent researcher in area of mental imagery
o Answering questions about mental images
o Time taken to move about a mental map
o Zoom in, zoom out
-a proportional account, “recipe” in Long Term Memory that allows us to create and recreate the image

36
Q

Mental Rotation Tasks ?

A
  • Mental transformations
    o Manipulating an image in your mind
  • Picture-plane rotation vs. depth rotation
    o Does the image “come off” the page?
  • If you have to do a very big rotation in any direction, the distances you manipulate corresponds to how fast you can recognize the object
37
Q
  • Reconstruals vs. reference-frame changes
A

o The bigger the change the more it is a recontrual
- Discoveries
o Consistent or inconsistent with understanding
- Images contain more information than do pictures

38
Q

Co-articulation

A

overlap between articulation of neighboring phonemes also causes variation (phonemic overlap)

39
Q

language vs communication

A

Language is a construct of communication. It is a system of grammar, meaning, sounds, that is standardized enough to be used by two people to convey information to one another. Communication is any form by which two people exchange information(symbol systems)

40
Q

*analogical representation?

A

-imagery is like perception and images retain some sensory qualities
-imagery and perception rely on similar brain structures(damage to visual areas often impairs
A mental representation that has some of the physical characteristics of an object; it is analogous to the object (actual objects - such as maps and family trees)
-the representation in our heads has the same structure as the thing being presented

41
Q
  • propositional representation?

- do we store visual info in LTM as a propositional representation or analogical representation?

A

mental relationships between objects are represented by symbols and not by mental images of the scene.

  • a sentence like description of the visual image, not spatial but symbolic
  • visual imagery same as verbal (stored the same way in LTM but you activate it differently)
42
Q

dual coding hypothesis of LTM storage?

A

Al Paivio: concrete words can be encoded into memory twice, once as verbal symbols and once as image-based symbols, thus increasing the likelihood that they will be recalled or remembered (bc theyre stored in multiple ways) ex. apple easier to recall than love bc it is dual coded in both systems (love isnt as visual)

  • *store both verbal and visual memories in 2 distinct memory systems
  • dual coding effect that we have tons of evidence for – if things are stored in two ways, we are far more likely to remember them than if you only store them verbally. Paivio was the first to highlight this dual coding effect. If they give us abstract vs concrete words, concrete words are easily imaginable (ex. apple),
43
Q

list the 3 ways that we might store visual info in LTM

A
  1. analogical representation
  2. propositional representation
  3. dual coding hypothesis (- Importance of imagery as a memory aid)
44
Q

visual acuity

A

Sharpness of vision. a measure of the spatial resolution of the visual processing system

45
Q

Verbal Coding of Visual Information?

A
  • At times we appear to use verbal labels to stand in for the visual images
  • When given verbal labels recall often dependent on the label. (when given the verbal label, or encouraged to remember something, your recollection will be more on the label than what you actually saw)
46
Q

factors influence accuracy of face memory?

A
  1. Initial exposure (early study about high school - these are people that you see multiple times and are able to recognize them over long term. Poorer face recognition when you don’t have good exposure, ex dark ally, or when you are very anxious)
  2. ## Race of face (we are not good at cross-racial face recognition (other races and cultures).
47
Q

explain the large individual differences in self-report measures of mental imagery

A
  • Imagery ability (ex. Vividness)
  • Frequency of use of imagery (often related to how good you think your imagery is. Other people use it a lot of time)
  • Visual vs spatial imagery (some people are good at vivid imagery, but not as good spatial. Some have okay spatial but no good visual. what does the flower look like vs. rotate it in space
48
Q

Eidetic imagery

A

detailed, vivid recollections of complex visual scene (photographic memory). Elizabeth could recall entire poems in a language she didn’t speak or understand, years after seeing them. The living camera was diagnosed with autism, can draw from memory a landscape after seeing it just once

49
Q

what are judgements?

A

drawing conclusions from evidence

50
Q

what are the two broad methods of reasoning: induction vs deduction

A
  • Induction (generalize to large (uncertain) conclusion from specific observations)
  • deduction (given bits of information/observations to filter down to specific conclusion) & logic (what we ought to do, what is proper, formal system of what the correct steps are)
51
Q

give example for induction and deduction

A

induction: Finland is in Scandinavia(Case), Finland is cold(Result), all counties in Scandinavia are cold (Rule)
* generalize observation to larger conclusion

Deduction: all countries in scandinavia are cold(rule), the countries are in scandinavia(Case), These countries are cold(result)
* have larger conclusion that you apply to specific case

52
Q

logic ?

A

(what we ought to do, what is proper,

-formal system of what the correct steps are)

53
Q
  • Normative accounts vs. descriptive accounts
A

o What we ought to do vs. what we actually do!

54
Q
  • Heuristics
A

o Short cuts
o Strategies that are often, but not always, effective
o Trade-off between accuracy and efficiency
-quick and dirty short cuts that that usually give correct answer

55
Q

availability heuristics?

A
  • strategy used to judge the frequency of a certain type of object, or the likelihood of a certain type of event
  • how frequent an event= how available it is in memory
  • > but may be more available for other reasons:
  • search strategies: word beginning with ‘r’ vs. ‘r’ in 3rd position (Can easily come up with a bunch of R word because our memory is more in tune to that, so we think there are more words beginning with R)
  • noteworthy: list of names with famous men (Thought there were more male names because they were noteworthy and attention grabber names so they were more available in memory and you think there was more of them)
  • media coverage: how prevalent is violent crime (Media covers only attention grabbers and dramatize crime but crime has actually been decreasing over time)
  • Women thought they were most likely to die from breast cancer
56
Q
  • The representativeness heuristic **differentiate from availability
A

o Assumption that each member of category is representative of the category (Assumption of homogeneity)

  • Members will resemble their category prototypes
  • past experiences guide decision making process
  • we compare information to our mental prototypes (maybe include stereotypes- if you have muscles, you go to the gym)
57
Q

The representativeness heuristic- Gamblers fallacy

A

belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn’t occurred recently (coin toss) ex. HHHHH?, Going to bet heavily on tails because it’s got to start looking random again
(Reasoning from the population to an instance )

58
Q

The representativeness heuristic- “man who” argument

A

 Ex: someone has a bad experience with a car and you take that information and any car that fits that category you dismiss
(Reasoning from an instance to a population )

59
Q
  • Anchoring ?
A

-ultimate laziness
-Use of a reference point to make a judgment (Even when the reference point is meaningless)
ex. often used by charities and fundraisers to make you spend more money
- The number given systematically influenced people’s judgments
• Lower number gave lower estimate; higher number gives higher number estimates
• Start with the number given and just adjust up or down a bit
*Initial anchor often influences judgments even when it is highlighted as inaccurate

60
Q

Base Rates ?

A

information about the broad likelihood of a particular type of event (how likely is the event? Probability of X occurring )
Ex: 30 yoga instructors vs. 70 lawyers, pull someone out, what are they? You say lawyer

61
Q
  • Do people use Base Rates in making judgments?
A

If no other information is available(only stats given) we do
- Otherwise tend to find base rate neglect(ignore stats):
-Ignore the statistic if given stereotypical information: bubbly, in shape, wears yoga pants
 Any extra information given enables us to start to neglect the base rate

62
Q

Dual-Process Models: Two ways of thinking (what are they?)

A
  • Type 1
    o Fast, easy/ quick and dirty
    o E.g. using heuristics
  • Type 2- more intense process
    o Slower, more effortful
    o E.g. more reasoned judgments, use of statistical knowledge, required more of our attention and processing resources
63
Q

why is Statistical Knowledge important

A
  • Can help us overcome faulty judgment making… if we apply our knowledge
    o May be that we don’t know when to apply our knowledge (ex. buying 8 lottery tickets instead of 1)
64
Q

deduction?

A

a process through which we start with claims, or general assertions and ask what follows from these premises/hypothesis
-do the conclusions follow logically from the premises?

65
Q

confirmation bias

A

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions/hypothesis and to ignore contradictory evidence
o Tend to ignore and/or forget disconfirming evidence

66
Q
  • Wason 2-4-6 task
A

participants showed confirmation bias. tended to make rules more restrictive than they actually were
o Difficulty finding the rule
o Fail to seek disconfirming evidence
o Belief perseverance
 2-4-6-_
 Going to guess 8
 Most people will guess the rule right after getting 8: increasing by 2 (That is not the rule)
 2-4-6-8-10?
 Yes, that is a potential
 They tend to only search out confirming evidence. They fail to seek out disconfirming evidence. You have to ask for something that could potentially violate your rule and then you guess. Which is why we have stats. The stronger your confirmation bias the longer it will take you to figure out this task.

67
Q

Syllogisms

A 
an argument made up of two propositions, called premises, and a conclusion based on those premise
	Can be concrete or abstract
•	All A are B
•	All B are C
•	Therefore, all A are C
OR
•	All men are mortal 
•	Dan is a man 
•	Therefore, Dan is mortal 
*Concrete problems often easier to solve, but can involve belief bias (If you believe the premise or the conclusion it messes with your reasoning, you endorse what you believe even if it is not logical -“Hitler is a great guy”, you are not comfortable with that and say conclusion is wrong)
68
Q

Conditional Statements ?

A

first bit provides a condition under which the second bit is guaranteed to be true. (If X then Y)

69
Q

belief bias

A

a tendency to endorse a conclusion if the conclusion happens to be something one believes is true anyhow.
Hitler is an mean man. believe it to be true

70
Q

conversion errors

A

error in which people convert statements from one form into another (assume “all A are B”, implies “all B are A”

71
Q

4 card problem (Wason task or selection task)

A

propose a rule, choose which cards to turn over to decide if rule is true (if card has vowel on one side, even number on the other) Cards: D, 4, A, 7
o Very few people chose the correct answer
o Most people know they have to turn over the A card to make sure there is an even number on the back
o The problem is many want to turn over the 4.
o The most efficient way is to seek the disconfirming evidence and turn over the number 7.
o Shows the confirmation bias

72
Q
  • Role of concreteness for wason task?
A

o Concrete conditionals that make sense often (but not always) easier
 Envelopes and stamps
• If you sealed your mail it costed more to send
• If you put it in concrete contexts, they understand
 Age and drinking alcohol
• When you put it in a form that people understand the number of people who get it correct jumps substantially
*Concrete versions can be more difficult if they trigger a belief bias

73
Q
  • Utility Theory (decision making)
A

a view proposing that humans make decisions in a fashion that maximizes “utility” (wrong)
-maximizing utility is what we should do but not what we actually do

74
Q

o Framing

A

aspects of how a decision is phrased that influence people’s choices none the less. Chou and Murnighan (2013) blood donor campaign: death-preventing (loss) or lifesaving (gain).- People tend to go with options that are positively framed (saving lives)
-When you negative frame (emphasise potential losses) or when you positive frame (emphasize potential gains)
Ex: doctor may frame medical options

75
Q

o Loss aversion

A

a tendency to be far more sensitive to losses than to gains, often accompanied by a willingness to take chances in hopes of avoiding losses.

76
Q

o Sunk-cost effect- studied in behaviour Economics

A

a tendency toward taking extravagant steps to ensure that a previous expense was not “in vain”

  • sitting through something to get your money’s worth: more concerned with the feeling of a cost.
  • Humans can’t remove their emotions from decision making processes
77
Q

“endowment effect”

A

assigning more value to the things we own than we do not own

78
Q

“transaction utility

A

the mental feeling you get from getting a bargain. Showing the compared prices to show that you are getting a deal: winners

79
Q

“mental accounting”

A

diving money into different accounts in your mind. money is interchangeable. you win money so you spend it frivolously

Cognitive Processes (3 decks)

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