Lecture 2: Concepts Flashcards
Inference
The production of novel information from available information
Information
Phenomena from which other phenomena can be inferred
Representation
Information used for mental processes eg. Perception/cognition
External representations
Representations in the environment eg.images on your phone
Internal representations
Representations in the mind/brain eg. Mental imagery
The computational theory of mind
The mind is an information processing system that computes (transforms) representations from one state to another
Types of representations (Internal/external) (5-7)
- Imagistic representations
- Linguistic representations
- Symbolic representations
- Motor representations
- Perceptual representations which become
- Cognitive representations which become
- Motor representations
What type of representations are diagnoses?
Concepts
Concepts
Representation of a category
Category
Group of things that have something in common
What two cognitive processes are concepts primarily used for?
- Categorization
- Production of inferential knowledge
Why cognitive considered representations?
They are information used for cognitive processes
Categorization
A judgement about whether a specific thing is a member of a category eg. Is a beanbag a chair?
Internal concept
A mental representation of a category (in the mind/brain)
External concept
A linguistic description or graphical depiction of a category (in written/spoken language, pictures,drawings etc)
DSM-5
A collection of external concepts of mental disorders
What are some properties of human concepts? (6)
- Feature sets
- More typical category members
- Organized into hierarchies defined by patterns of inclusion
- Feature sets being represented in the mind/brain in a number of formats
- Vary from person to person
- Vary in same person over time
Feature sets
Set’s of the concept’s features eg. Ordinary concept of bird has a feature set including things like “flies”, “has wings”, “makes nests”, “lives in trees” etc.
Superordinate concepts
Those that include lower-order concepts eg. In concept “mammal” it includes concept “dog”
Subordinate concepts
Those that are included in higher-order concepts eg. Subordinate concept “dog” is included in concept “mammal” —> “bipolar disorder” is included in concept “mental disorder”
Essentialist representations
A concept’s feature set in represented as providing necessary and sufficient conditions for a given thing to be a member of a category eg. Gender
Exemplar representations
A concepts feature set is based on the features of one specific entity eg. Concept of “uncle” was based on one uncle
Prototype representations
A concept’s feature set is represented as a set of typical features, no one of which is necessary
How do prototype representations help explain why some members of a category seem to be more typical than others?
- Because some members have more features from the concepts feature set!
- Fewer liabilities than essentialist and exemplar representations