Lecture 10

Question 1

What does ‘representation of the mind’ mean?

Answer 1

• Representations are about something, so the brain represents the limb, even if it is not there anymore
• Representations have a referent and a sense

Question 2

What are the two types of representations?

Answer 2

Analogue representations
Propositional or allegorical representations
(it symbolizes something like a digital clock)

Question 3

What is the conceptual-propositional hypothesis?

Answer 3

• Analogue storage is beyond our capacity
• Storage is likely to be in a propositional format
  (Evidence is looking at an image that can look like multiple things)

Question 4

What are 3 pieces of evidence for analogue effects in mental imagery?

Answer 4

• Transformations
• Size effect
• Image scanning

Question 5

What happens in mental rotation experiments?

Answer 5

• Participants are shown an object
• It is then rotated or flipped
• Participants need to judge if the shape is the same or flipped as fast as possible
  Results:
• Reaction time increases (for same shape) as the angle of rotation increases

Question 6

Why are imagery processes similar to perception processes?

Answer 6

• A study had participants complete 2 tasks, audio detection and visual detection test
• These tasks occurred along-side an audio or visual distraction
  Results:
• Doing visual task with visual distraction had lots of errors (same with audio)
  Having a visual task with audio had fewer errors

Question 7

What links are there between memory and foresight?

Answer 7

• Mental time travel: We can relive past events (episodic memory) and pre-live future events (episodic foresight) in our imagination
• We can reflect and draw conclusions
• Mental time travel into past and future may be two sides if the same cognitive mechanisms as they share close links in the mind and brain