Knowledge

Question 1

Definitional approach to categorisation

Answer 1

Determine category membership based on whether the object meets the definition of the category
Not good for natural objects e.g. chairs can look different but still be a chair

Question 2

Family resemblance

Answer 2

Things in a category resemble one another in a number of ways (see definitional approach)

Question 3

Prototype approach to categorisation

Answer 3

Membership in a category is determined by comparing the object to a prototype that represents the category.
Average representation of the category.

Question 4

Prototype

Answer 4

A standard representation of a category, an ‘average’. E.g. sparrow is a typical bird

Question 5

High prototypicality

Answer 5

High prototypical objects have high family resemblance
Are the first objects to be recalled (typicality effect)
More susceptible to priming

Question 6

Sentence verification technique

Answer 6

Highly prototypical objects are identified more quickly (typicality effect).
Eg. respond quicker to ‘Apple is a fruit’ than ‘Pomegranate is a fruit’

Question 7

Exemplary approach to categorisation

Answer 7

Actual members of the category that a person has encountered in the past.
Easily takes into account ‘atypical’ members of a category
Sparrow recalled faster because similar to more bird exemplars.

Question 8

Prototypes or exemplars?

Answer 8

We use both
Learn a category using prototypes then more to exemplars.
Exemplars best for small groups.
Prototypes best for large groups.

Question 9

Hierarchical categories

Answer 9

Different levels of categories (large, general categories divided into smaller, more specific categories)

Question 10

Basic level of categories

Answer 10

Optimal level

Question 11

Superordinate level of categories

Answer 11

Global/general

Lose a lot of information

Question 12

Subordinate level of categories

Answer 12

Specific.

Gain little information

Question 13

Evidence that basic level is special

Answer 13

People almost exclusively use basic-level names in free naming tasks.
Quicker to identify basic-level category member as a member of a category.
Children learn basic-level concepts sooner than other levels.
Basic-level is much more common in adult discourse than names for superordinate categories.
Different cultures tend to use the same basic-level categories, at least for living things.

Question 14

Semantic network approach

Answer 14

Concepts are arranged in networks that represent the way concepts are arranged in the mind
Hierarchical model - specific concepts at the bottom and more general concepts at higher levels

Question 15

Cognitive economy

Answer 15

Shared properties stored at higher level node, exceptions at lower level nodes.
Storing shared properties just once at a higher level node

Question 16

Spreading activation

Answer 16

Activity spreads out from one node to other con vector nodes

Primed concepts are easier to retrieve from memory because of the spreading

Question 17

Lexical decision task

Answer 17

Participants read stimuli and are asked to say as quickly as possible whether the items are words or not

Question 18

Semantic network model problems

Answer 18

Can’t explain the typicality effect

Question 19

Connectionist model

Answer 19

Networks consist of units (inspired by neurons).
Processing occurs in parallel (at the same time) - parallel distributed processing
Connection weights

Question 20

Input, hidden, output units

Answer 20

Input units are activated by stimuli from the environment.

Input units send signals to hidden units, which send signals to output units.

Question 21

Connection weights

Answer 21

Determines how signals sent from one unit either increase or decrease the activity of the next unit.

Question 22

Parallel distributed processing

Answer 22

Concurrent activation across many units at the same time

Question 23

Support for connectionist model

Answer 23

Networks are not totally disrupted by damage.

Explains generalisation of learning.

Question 24

Categories in the brain

Answer 24

Different areas of the brain may be specialised to process particular category information

Question 25

Category-specific memory impairment

Answer 25

Individual loses the ability to identify one type of object but retains the ability to identify other types of objects
E.g. can identify non-animals but not living animals.

Question 26

Sensory-functional hypothesis

Answer 26

States that our ability to differentiate living things and artifacts depends on a semantic memory system that distinguishes sensory attributes and a system that distinguishes function
E.g. recognise living things by sensory features, non-living things by function.

Question 27

Semantic category approach

Answer 27

Proposes that there are specific neural circuits in the brain for some specific categories.

Question 28

Multiple factor approach

Answer 28

Looks at how concepts are divided up within a category rather than identifying specific brain areas of networks for different concepts

Question 29

Crowding

Answer 29

When different concepts within a category share many properties
E.g. animals all share eyes, legs, and the ability to move
Boat/car/plane only share ‘vehicle’

Question 30

Embodied approach

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Mirror neurons

Answer 31

Neurons that fire when we do a task or when we observe another doing that same task

Question 32

Semantic somatotopy

Answer 32

Correspondence between words related to specific body parts and the location of brain activation
E.g. leg words and leg movements elicit activity near the brain’s centre.