LECTURE 12 - Knowledge/Intelligence Flashcards
how do we obtain knowledge?
obtained through perception, expanded and refined through reasoning, and stored in memory
what is embodied cognition?
the idea that similar brain areas and mechanisms underlie perceiving, acting on and thinking about an object or event
what is categorization and why is it important in knowledge?
- categorization: process of grouping items or ideas together and distinguishing them from other items or ideas
- categories can be understood as concepts, mental representations in the brain that correspond to objects or ideas in the world
- concepts can be concrete or abstract
- it is an essential building block of knowledge because presents an approach to understanding how knowledge is represented in the brain
what are the three purposes of categorization?
- facilitates communication, allows us to convey ideas by summarizing properties of an object
- allows us to generalize from specific prior experience to understand a new object (inference; building block of inductive reasoning)
- enables us to make decisions and form predictions based on inference
how do we form and distinguish categories?
- for some objects and events, we can develop and agree on comprehensive definitions
- this is often difficult when it comes to more complex or abstract concepts
what is feature-based categorization?
categories are defined according to a set of characteristic features (a bird has wings, lays eggs, has a beak)
what is similarity-based categorization?
- we can place novel examples into categories based on how similar they are to the feature-defined categories
- one way to define how similar an item is to others in a category is through the prototype approach
what is the prototype theory?
- a category consisting of various members has some members that are more prototypical than others
- meaning of a concept corresponds to the prototypical representative of a category
- there is no single set of features that are necessary to categorize a concept
what is exemplar-based categorization?
- a family resemblance theory that depends on similarity among items within a category
- in contrast to the prototype method, it does not rely on an average instance or ideal prototype, but instead proposes that we store all the specific examples
- when a new instance is observed, our mind matches it against all the stored exemplars
- this model works very well for outliers (unusual representatives)
what is the difference between categorization and knowledge representation?
- categorization describes how we structure knowledge
- knowledge representation is about how categories are organized (= represented in the brain)
how do we represent knowledge?
- relationships of categories to each other are hierarchical
- general categories (animal) subsume more specific categories (, fish)
- the category that people use most commonly is called the basic-level category – it is more typical and natural than other categories
how is knowledge hierarchical?
- hierarchical networks contain nodes (pieces of information), and links (associations) between nodes
- spreading activation – activation or processing at a node will travel
across links - exposure to one word (a “prime” word) activates the corresponding node in a network, and activation spreads along the web
- speed of spreading activation corresponds to the distance in the
network (how close two nodes are).
what is connectionism/parallel distributed processing/neural nets?
- knowledge is represented across connections between multiple nodes
- facts in connectionist models are not stored in single nodes but are more widely distributed across nodes
- this approach mimics principles of how information is stored in the brain
what does the neural representation of concepts look like?
- there is domain specificity in the brain…
- separate cortical areas for face recognition and object recognition and for animate objects
- separated based on sensory-functional aspects…
- object knowledge is also stored separately based on an object’s sensory nature (what it looks like) and its function
what are the domain-specific hypothesis and sensory-functional account?
- domain-specific hypothesis: certain categories gained privileged processing in the brain throughout evolution, leading to specialized neural circuitry (faces, objects)
- sensory-functional account: object concepts are based on perception (sensory qualities) and action and these representations are partially
separate in the brain - perceptual representations are stored in sensory cortical areas and functional representations are stored in motor cortical areas
what is intelligence?
- ability to reason, solve problems, and gain new knowledge and to apply this knowledge to real-world situations and problems\
- we try to understand individual differences in cognitive ability including differences in motivation, values, personality
- controversy surrounds whether intelligence is fixed or malleable
what is the psychometric approach to intelligence?
- seeks to understand the most valid way to measure intelligence
- measuring intelligence can be problematic since different cultures prioritize different traits and skills
what is the Binet-Simon intelligence scale?
- Alfred Binet and Teophile Simon were hired by the French Ministry of Education to develop a test that would help identify children who were struggling in school and sort them into appropriate classes
- tested cognitive abilities (attention, memory, problem-solving)
- designed to be age-appropriate, with increasing difficulty as the child’s age increased
- test helped define mental age (rather than chronological age): if a 6-year old performed as well as most 7-year olds, their mental age would be 7
what is the Stanford–Binet intelligence scale?
- Lewis Terman at Stanford adapted the Binet-Simon scales into the Stanford-Binet scales
- test gave us the term intelligence quotient
(IQ), which is calculated by dividing a person’s mental age by their chronological age and multiplying by 100 - therefore, a 7-year old with a mental age of 7 has an IQ of 100
- a 5-year old with the mental age of 8 has an IQ of 8/5*100 = 160
- method is meaningful only for children and teenagers
- test became popular after a correlation between test scores and school performance was discovered
what are the wechsler scales?
- the most widely-used test today
- aimed to measure “the global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his / her environment”
- meant to account for linguistic and cultural differences
what are the different kinds of wechsler scales?
- Verbal Comprehension Index assesses vocabulary and general knowledge and ask test-takers to recognize similarities
- Perceptual Reasoning Index assesses spatial perception and visual problem solving
- Processing Speed Index assesses visual-motor coordination
- Working Memory Index tests digit span, mental manipulation of math problems, and combined tests of attention and working memory
how did the concept of IQ change after the Wechsler Scales?
- rather than calculating an individual’s mental age, IQ is derived by placing an individual’s score on a frequency distribution relative to other same-age test-takers
- normal distribution centered around a mean of 100, typically with a standard deviation of 15
what is Spearman’s two-factory theory of intelligence?
- general intelligence (g) – general mental abilities that affect performance in many cognitive tasks; source of interindividual variation (between people)
- specific intelligences (s) – abilities specific to particular tasks (verbal, mathematical abilities); source of intraindividual variation (between tasks)
what are crystallized and fluid intelligence?
- crystallized intelligence (Gc) pertains to people’s knowledge and experience, as reflected in tests of vocabulary and facts about the world
- fluid intelligence (Gf) involves analytical processes that are independent of content and knowledge, used to understand patterns, analogies, and drawing inferences
- specific tests have been designed for fluid intelligence
what is the triarchic theory of intelligence?
differentiates between analytical, practical, and creative intelligences
what is the Multiple Intelligences theory?
Gardner views intelligence as a collection of abilities used to solve problems or produce useful creations
1. musical
2. bodily/kinesthetic
3. spatial
4. verbal
5. logical/mathematical
6. intrapersonal
7. interpersonal
what is the information-processing approach to intelligence?
- focuses on understanding neurocognitive processes involved in intelligent behaviour and how they are correlated with other cognitive skills
- heavily focuses on reaction time and sensory acuity, IQ scores have been correlated with speed of processing
- inspection time – the shortest exposure at which people can render accurate judgments - correlates with measures of both fluid and crystallized intelligence
what could explain the link between processing speed and IQ?
- could be driven by efficiency and capacity of working memory
- working memory is central to holding and manipulating information
- makes intuitive sense that the factors that enhance working also enhance IQ
- performance on many different types of working memory tasks (active-span task) correlates with IQ
what are some limitations of measures of intelligence?
- other factors beside intelligence and “raw processing power” affect real-life outcome
- emotional intelligence – people’s ability to recognize and manage emotions
- creativity – ability to arrive at completely novel solutions and creations
- mindset – people’s beliefs about whether their abilities are hardwired (fixed mindset) or malleable (growth mindset) can be a greater predictor of performance than IQ tests
what is the nature vs. nurture debate?
Are abilities and skills the result of nature or nurture?
* nature: skills develop regardless of experience, suggesting that specialized learning systems are present at birth (defined by genetics)
* nurture: infants have very little innate bias and basically learn everything about the world in the course of development (defined by the environment)
* researchers now believe that nature and nurture interact, field of epigenetics studies how environmental factors influence gene expression without alternating the DNA itself
what is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
- Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was interested in how humans gradually acquire knowledge and develop intellectually
- proposed 4 discrete periods of cognitive
development:
1. sensorimotor period (birth to 2 years)
2. preoperational period (2 to 7 years)
3. concrete operational period (7 to 12 years)
4. formal operational period (12 years +)
how can we study infant abilities?
- infant shows a preference for one stimulus over another by looking at it longer
- preferential looking method – infants prefer to look at patterns rather than at blank displays (track eye movements while they do this)
- habituation – infants get bored looking at the same thing and will decrease the time they look at a repeated stimulus
- dishabituation – when an infant looks longer at a novel stimulus than a previously repeated stimulus
what happen during Piaget’s sensorimotor period?
BIRTH TO 2 YEARS
* children develop knowledge about the physicality of objects, including parts of their own body
* develop an understanding of object permanence, objects persist and are stable even when they are out of sight
* develop a basic understanding of number concepts and arithmetic
* learn to categorize objects, which helps form their knowledge of concepts
what happens during Piaget’s preoperational period?
2 - 7 YEARS
* start to think in terms of symbols, allowing them to represent ideas (through language)
* learn to engage in symbolic/pretend play
* don’t understand conservation, idea that physical properties remain conserved even when their appearance is changed
* children might be able to do better if there is clearer agency with regards to how the change occurs in a conservation task
* develop ability to change perspective from egocentric to allocentric (7 years)
what happens during Piaget’s concrete operational and formal operational period?
7 - 12 YEARS
* acquire mental operators, thinking and reasoning abilities that allow for conservation of properties as objects change
12 + YEARS
* scientific thinking skills begin to emerge
* acquire inductive and deductive reasoning skills and are able to come up with and test simple hypotheses
