Introduction to Cognitive Science

Question 1

What does cognitive Science study?

Answer 1

is the interdisciplinary study of the mind.

It study intelligence and behavior with a focus on how nervous system represent, process, and transform information.

Question 2

What are the fields bring more set of tools and perspectives to cognitive science?

Answer 2

philosophy,
biological disciplines such as biology, neuroscience,
cognitive disciplines such as psychology, linguistics,
And computational disciplines such as artificial intelligence, robotics, computer science and physics.

Question 3

What are the main / overall questions that cognitive science uses scientific method to examine?

Answer 3

How does cognition work?
How is cognition implemented in the brain?
How can cognition be implemented in machines?
*cognition=the process of knowing i.e. what arises from awareness, perception and reasoning

Question 4

What are the central ideas / main concepts of cognitive science?

Answer 4

1. Cognition is equivalent to computation or information processing
2. The mind is viewed as an information processor.
3. Information processors must represent and transform information.
4. The mind must incorporate some forms of mental representations of information and processes that act on and manipulate these representations.

Question 5

What is representation?

Answer 5

something which stands for something else

Question 6

What are the 4 categories of representation?

Answer 6

1. Concept stands for a single entity or group of entities e.g single word “apple”
2. Proposition is statement about the concepts or made up of concepts e.g “ Mary has black hair.”
3. Rules specify relationships between propositions e.g. “If it is raining, I will bring my umbrella.” / how to drive cars - complex mental representations
4. Analogy helps us make comparisons between two similar situations e.g. “Life is a roller coaster”

Question 7

What is the physical symbol system (formal logical system)?

Answer 7

Symbols can be assembled into what are called physical symbol systems. In a formal system, symbols are combined into expressions which can be then manipulated using processes. The result of a process can be a new expression.

Question 8

What is computation in the cognitive science view?

Answer 8

The mind performs computations on representations. → process that acts on and manipulate the representations.

Question 9

Give an example of computation of the mind

Answer 9

How the mind performs these computations → different mechanisms can be categorized into type of the mental operations and type of information that is processed. E.g. sensation, perception, attention, memory, language, mathematical reasoning, logical reasoning, decision making, problem solving, …

Question 10

What is the Tri-level hypothesis?

Answer 10

Mental or artificial information processing events can be evaluated on at least three level:
Computation level –>Algorithmic level–>Implementational level.
which problem is the system trying to solve?
–> how does the system solve this problem?
–> what types of physical or material changes underline changes in the processing of the information (hardware level in computer) → how is this algorithm implemented?

Question 11

What is Monism?

Answer 11

Only one kind of state or substance in the universe
Aristotle characterized the difference between mind & body <-> form & matter
Different shapes are different physical states, no nonphysical or spiritual substance

Question 12

What is Dualism?

Answer 12

Mental and physical substances are possible
Plato: mind and body exist in 2 separate worlds
Mind - ideal world of forms, immaterial, nonextended, eternal
Body - material world, extended, perishable

Question 13

What is Functionalism?

Answer 13

Mental states are not just physical states but also the functioning or operation of those physical states
Therefore, mind could be implemented in any physical systems, artificial or natural , capable of supporting the appropriate computations.
The same mental states could be realized in quite different ways in two separate physical systems → multiple realizability

Question 14

What is Voluntarism?

Answer 14

Mind consists of elements assembled into higher cognitive components through the power of will (voluntary effort of the mind)–> attempt to create periodic table of mental elements

Question 15

What is functionalism in the psychological approach?

Answer 15

Focuses on what the mind can do
Mental processes and functions instead of elements
The mind as a stream of consciousness
Substantive thought occurs when mind slows down
Transitive thought: associative form of thinking (flight of thoughts)
3 major themes (Angell, 1907) 1. Mental oprations 2. Fundamental utilities of consciousness → function of consciousness 3. Psychophysical relations
Strongly influenced by Darwin´s theory of natural selection → how the mind arose through evolutionary pressures to serve the organism
Precursor of evolutionary psychology

Question 16

Gestalt psychology

Answer 16

Conscious wholes cannot be reduced into parts.
The whole is greate than the sum of its parts. Mental parts combined into whole in much the same way that physical particles organized when subjected to fields of force (Gestalt = integrated whole)
Greatest contributions to perception and learning
Different principles of perceptual organization: proximity, similarity, closure, pragnanz principle

Question 17

Psychoanalytic psychology (Sigmund Freud)

Answer 17

The mind is made up of “miniature minds”(distinct components) that compete with each other to control behavior.
Three-tired system of consciousness: conscious mind, preconscious mind, and unconscious mind.
Conscious mind contains thoughts and feelings of which we are aware and can directly access
Preconscious mind is those aspects of the mind that we can bring into awareness with afford (require mental effort)
Unconscious mind is those aspect of the mind of which we are completely unaware
3 mental structures with different operating principles
Id: instincts (“I WANT”) - contains unconscious impulses and desires such as sex, hunger → operate on the pleasure principle, attempt to attain gratification for its desires immediately
Superego: morality (“I SHOULD”) - is responsible to our ethical sense → operates on idealistic principle, motivates the individual to do what it considers morally sound or proper
Ego: reality (“I WILL”) - balances the competing demands of the id and superego → operates on the reality principle to act in rational and pragmatic fashion

Question 18

Behaviorism

Answer 18

Focuses on the study of behaviour and the conditions that give rise to them
The mind operation too complex, in capable of being measured in objective and scientific fashion → the mind as a black box
Emperical investigation is redirect to behaviors
Stimulus response model: S- stimulus → Black box of mind → R-response
Most important class of stimuli that influence responses according to behaviorists is rewards and punishments
Classical conditioning - Pavlov´s dog experiment → testing a form of learning that it pertains only to built in reflexes and does not require any conscious thought.
Operant conditioning - learning through reinforcement and punishment - Skinner box experiment with rat