Lesson 8 - Concepts Flashcards
Inference
refers to the logical interpretations and conclusions that were never part of the original stimulus material.
Semantic memory
refers to our organized knowledge about the world.
Episodic Memory
contains information about events that happen to us
category
is a set of objects that belong together
concept
refers to your mental representations of a category
situated cognition approach
we make use of information in the immediate environment or situation
prototype
is the item that is the best, most typical example of a category
prototype approach
you decide whether a particular item belongs to a category by comparing this item with a prototype. If the item is similar to the prototype, you include that item within this category.
prototypicality
the degree to which they are representative of their category
graded structure
begins with the most representative or prototypical members, and it continues on through the category’s nonprototypical members
typicality effect
occurs when people judge typical items ( prototypes) faster than items that are not typical ( nonprototypes)
semantic priming effect
means that people respond faster to an items if it was preceded by an item with similar meaning
Family resemblance
means that no single attribute is shared by all examples of a concept; however, each example has at least one attribute in common with some other example of the concept.
superordinate-level categories
which means that they are higher-level or more general categories. “ Furniture”, “animal”, “tool” are all examples of superordinate-level categories
Basic -level categories
are moderately specific. “ Chair”, “dog” “screwdriver” are examples of basic level categories
subordinate-level categories
refer to lower level or more specific categories. “ Desk chair”, “collie”, and “ Phillips screwdriver” are all examples of subordinate categories.
examplar approach
argues that we first learn information about some specific examples of a concept; we then classify each new stimulus by deciding how closely it resembles all of those specific examples.
examplar
each example stored in memory
Comparing prototype and examplar approaches
The prototype approach proposes that your stored representation is a typical member of the category. In contrast, the examplar approach proposes that your stored representation is a collection of numerous specific members of the category.
network models
of semantc memory propose a network-style organization of concepts in memory, with numerous interconnections.
node
How netowrks models typically represent each concept, node or one unit located within the network
ACT-R
is an acronym for “ Adaptive Control of Throught-RAtional”; this approach attempts to account for human performance on a wide variety of tasks.
declarative knowledge,
knowledge about facts and things
propositional network
a pattern of interconnected propositions
proposition
the smallest unit of knowledge that people can judge to be either true or false.
parallel distributed processing ( PDP) approach
proposes that cognitive processes can be represented by a model in which activation flows through networks that link together a large number of simple, neuro-like units.
Connectionism and neural networks
Another name for the parallel distributed processing approach. THe researchers who designed this approach tried to construct their model by taking into account the physiological and structural properties of populations of human neurons.
Four general characterisitcs of the PDP approach
1) As suggested by the name parallel distributed processing, cognitive processes are based on parallel operations, rather than serial operations. Therefore, many patterns of activation may be proceeding simultaneously. One process does not need to be completely finished before another process begins its operations.
2) A network contains basic neuron-like units or nodes, which are connected together so that a specific node has many links to other nodes ( connectionism)
3) The process of spreading information from one node to other nodes is called spreading activation. As the name “ parallel distributed processing” also suggest , a concept is represented bu the pattern of activity distributed throughout a set of nodes.
4) Consistent with the concept of situated cognition, the current context often activates only certain components of a concept’s meaning. If you stroll past the meat department at your grocery store, you won’t necessarily connect those plastic-wrapped items with the animal that clucks, pecks for food, and lays eggs.
spontaneous generalization
using individual cases to draw inferences about general information
default assignment
based on information from other similar people or objects
connection weights
determine how much activation one unit can pass on to another unit. As you learn more information, the value of these weights will change
graceful degradation
The brain’s ability to provide partial memory
Schema
our knowledge of information about familiar situations, behaviour, and other “ packages” of things we know.
heuristic
schemas are one kind of heuristic or a general rule that is typically accurate.
script
is a simple,well-structure sequence of events that usually occur in a specified order
life script
a list of events tht a person believes would be most important throughout his or her lifetime
Boundary extension
refers to our tendency to remember having viewed a greater portion of a scene than was actually shown
Abstraction
a memory process that stores the meaning of a message, rather than the exact words.
verbatim memory
word for word recall
false alarm
occurs when people “ remember” an item that was not originally presented
constructive model of memory
people integrate information from individual sentences in order to construct larger ideas.
Pragmatic view of memory
proposes that people pay attention to the aspect of a message that is most relevant to their current goal
memory integration
our background knowledge encourages us to take in new information in a schema-consistent fashion. As a result, people may remember this schema-consistent information, even though it was not part of the original stimulus material
Gender stereotypes
the beliefs and opinions that we associate with females and males
explicit memory task
directly instructs participants to remember information
implicit memory task
asks people to perform a cognitive task that does not directly ask for recall or recognition
event-related potential ( ERP) technique
records tiny fluctuations in the brain’s electrical activity, in response to a stimulus
Implicit Association Test ( IAT)
based on the principle that people can mentally pair two related words together much more easily than they can pair two unrelated words.
