General Knowledge (Chpt.8) Flashcards
Representation of Knowledge
LTM representation of knowledge one big issue is it always words compare propositions
Whorfian Hypothesis
LTM information is words
Testing Whorf
The dani tribe of new guinea has only two color words for light and dark but Rosch showed they remember and recognize color equally as well as english speakers Remembered color and words to the color. LTM representation is not always words recognition of central colors.
Prototype
(Rosch) central colors so why not central concept members. Typical of concepts in the same way that central colors are typical colors
Network models
Collins and Loftus spreading activation model
Semantic distance
accounts for typically reaction time accounts for semantic priming
Lexical decision task
when you differentiate a real word from non-words is it in your lexicon (meaning mental dictionary)
Anderson’s Adaptive control of thought-Rational
ACT-R
a general cognitive processing model structure and architecture. Explains cognitive models
Declarative memory
Declaring semantic and episodic memory
Inference
refers to the logical interpretations and conclusions that were never part of the original stimulus material
Semantic memory
refers to our organized knowledge about the world
Episodic memory
information about events that happen to us
Category
is a set of objects that belong together
Concept
to refer to your mental representations of a category
Situated Cognition Approach
we make use of information in the immediate environment or situation
Prototype
Is the item that is the best , most typical example of a category a prototype therefore is the ideal representative of this category
Prototype Approach
You decide whether a particular item belongs to a category by comparing this item with a prototype
Proto typically
or the degree to which they are representative of their catgory
Graded Structure
begins with the most representative or prototypical members and it continues on through the category’s non prototypical members
- Prototypes are supplied as examples of a category
- Prototypes are judged more quickly than non prototypes, after semantic priming.
- Prototypes share attributes in a family resemblance category
Semantic priming effect
means that people respond faster to an item if it was preceded by an item with similar meaning
Family resemblence
means that no single attribute is shared by all examples of a concepts; however each example has at least one attribute in common with some other example of the concept
Superordinate level categories
which means that they are higher level or more general categories ex. furniture, animal, and tool
Basic level categories
are moderately specific ex. chair, dog, and screwdriver
Subordinate level categories
refer to lower level or more specific categories ex. desk chair, collie, and phillips screwdriver
Exemplar Approach
argues that we first learn information about some specific examples of a concept then we classify each new stimulus by deciding how closely it resembles all of those specific examples each of those examples stored in memory is called an exemplar
Network models
semantic memory propose a network style organization of concepts in memory with numerous interconnections
Node
node or one unit located within the network when you see or hear the name of a concept the node representing that concept is activated
Spreading activation
the activation expands or spreads from that node to other connected nodes a process spreading activation.
Adaptive Control of Thought Rational (ACT-R)
this approach attempts to account for human performance on a wide variety of tasks
Declarative Knowledge
knowledge about facts and things
Propositional network
which is pattern of interconnected propositions
Propositions
as the smallest unit of knowledge that people can judge to be either true or false
Parallel distributed processing (PDP)
approach proposes that cognitive processes can be represented by a model in which activation flows through networks that link together a large number of simple neuron like units
Spontaneous generalization
by using individual cases to draw inferences about general information
Default assignment
based on info from other similar people or objects
Connection weights
determine how much activation one unit can pass on to another unit
Schema
schema often influence the way we understand a situation or an event and we can think of them as the basic building blocks for representing our thoughts about people
Hueristic
which is a general rule that is typically accurate predictions that we make from reliance upon schemas are usually correct
Schema therapy
the clinician and the client may work together in order to explore the clients core beliefs and create appropriate new more helpful strategies
Script
simple well structured sequence of events in a specified order
Life script
is a list of events that a person believes would be most important throughout his or her lifetime
Boundary extension
refers to our tendency to remember having viewed a greater portion of a scene that was actually shown
Abstraction
is a memory process that stores the meaning of a message rather than the exact words
Verbatim memory
research demonstrates that people usually have poor word for word recall or verbatim memory
False Alarm
occurs when people remember an item that was not originally presented
Constructed model or memory
people integrate information from individual sentences in order to construct larger ideas
Pragmatic view of memory
proposes that people pay attention to the aspect of a message that is most relevant to their current goals
Memory Integration
our background knowledge encourages us to take in new information in a schema consistent fashion
Explicit memory task
directly instructs participants to remember information
Implicit memory task
ask people to perform a cognitive task that does not directly ask for recall or recognititon
Event Related Potential (ERP) technique
records tiny fluctuations in the brains electrical activity in response to a stimulus
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
Is based on the principle that people can mentally pair two related words together much more easily than they can pair two unrelated words.
ex. more association of men and math and women and art
