Midterm 3 Flashcards
Nativist perspective of number representation
our ability to have number representation goes beyond sensory information; not based on our environment; some parts are innate; core knowledge of numbers in infants and adults
Empiricist perspective of number representation
number representations are sensory representations; capacity to form associations; all parts of number representation are learned; knowledge of numbers are constructed from sensory representations
three of the four systems underlying number representation
shared with other animals
experiment found different parts of the brain activate when you are calculating exact numbers or approximate numbers
left inferior frontal –> exact
bilateral parietal –> approximate
four systems underlying number representation
ratio, representations are abstract, can add/subtract representations, positive integers
number sense
the sense that there are numbers and there are different numbers/different quantities of things
the number sense is…
evolutionarily ancient; available to rats, pigeons, and monkeys; available to human infants and adults; continuous throughout the lifespan
experiment judging numerosity
quickly flash two images of varying numbers of dots; participants had to judge which image had more dots
OR
quickly flashing an image of dots; participants had to estimate how many dots there were
BOTH WERE SUCCESSFUL
large number representations in adults
1) the ratio signature –> representations are approximate
2) representations are abstract –> cross-modal comparisons are about as easy as visual comparisons
3) representations enter into arithmetic computations –> addition and subtraction
the ratio signature
the discriminability between two numerosities; depends on the ratio
ratio signature and judging numerosity experiment (signature 1)
two images are flashed quickly with different numbers of dots; participants will be more accurate the greater the disparity between the amount of dots in the images
representations are abstract experiment (signature 2)
participants flashed an image of dots and then presented auditorily with a certain number of tones; told to determine which had more; participants still performed well
representations enter into arithmetic computations experiment (signature 3)
participants shown two images and a separate third image; asked if the addition of the first two images is less or more than the third image; participants performed estimations well
large number representations in infants
habituate the infant to several different images that each contain 8 dots; then, present the infant an image of 16 dots; infant will stare longer at the image of 16 dots because it is a new number of dots
critical ratio for infants vs. for adults
infants = 2.0
adults = 1.15
suggests ratios are learned to a certain extent
two possibilities as to why the ratio may decline with age
1) experience with symbolic numbers –> counting and mathematics education
2) maturation and non-specific experience –> development of visual acuity
study by Xu and Arriaga (2003)
suggests maturation and non-specific experience decreases the ratio because generally do not really teach an infant anything about numbers between 6 and 9 months
signature 2 (abstraction) in infants
habituation of head orientation toward a sound source (Lipton’s task); two speakers on either side; present 8 tones until the infant gets bored; during the test, the infant is presented with 8 tones again or 16 tones; infant will orient their head toward the 16 tones because it is new
signature 3 (arithmetic operations) experiment
infants presented with a screen displaying five objects that drop down from the top of the screen to the bottom; then, an occluder rises to cover the objects; five additional objects emerge from the side and go behind the occluder; the occluder drops to reveal either five objects or ten objects; results found that the infants looked longer when the occluder dropped to reveal five objects because they were surprised; similar results for same experiment but with subtraction
infant number representation
display all three signatures of number representation that adults do; before they learn counting or symbolic arithmetic, infants represent and discriminate large numerical magnitudes; number representations are approximate and show a signature ratio limit; precision of numerical discrimination increases over infancy, similar to other perceptual functions
testing number representation in non-human animals
Skinner rat experiment: trained rats to press a lever to receive food pellets; rat learns how many lever presses it takes to receive the food; deviation slightly from the desired amount of presses on average; deviation grew as the number of presses increased; shows a ratio limit
Tamarin monkeys and number representation
habituate monkeys to a certain number of tones; at the test phase, either present the monkey with the same number of tones or a different number; if the monkey is surprised they’ll go to the side of the cage where the tone came from and make a fuss; ratio limited; similar to what a 9-month-old human infant can do with number representations and tones (similar ratio signatures)
Capuchin monkeys and number representations
put two capuchin monkeys side-by-side and have them both complete the same task then give them both cucumbers; repeat the same procedure but one monkey gets grapes and the other gets cucumber; monkey that got the cucumber becomes upset; shows the monkeys understand unequal pay; understanding ratios on a social level
abstract number representations in non-human animals
place a rat in a box with two levers; trained to know that if the light flashes twice, they should hit the left level but if the light flashes eight times, they should hit the right lever –> receive food; if the light flashes twice, 10% of the time the rat will press the correct lever; if the light flashes four times, 50% of the time the rat will press the correct lever; if the light flashes eight times, 90% of the time the rat will press the correct lever; same procedure but with tones found the same findings; evidence for cross-modal transfer/abstraction
Island of Cayo Santiago experiment with 800 wild monkeys
show the monkeys a box, drop two lemons into the box, then drop a third into the box, then show that there are three total in the box –> monkey is bored; show the monkeys a box, drop two lemons into the box, then drop two more lemons into the box, then show that there are three lemons total in the box –> monkey is surprised; shows that wild monkeys can innately do addition and subtraction
large number representations in non-human animals
represent large, approximate numerosities; the same ratio and cross-modal signatures as those of human infants and adults
the Parahã
semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers in lowland Amazon; no external representations (writings, art, toys, etc.); only have words that mean “one”/”a few”, “two”/”some”, and “many”; experimenter gave participants a piece of paper with 1 tally, 2 tallies, 3 tallies, 4 tallies, and 5 tallies; told to recreate each set of tallies; difficulty recreating the tallies past 3 and impossible past 6; found they are not capable of representing large exact numbers; one of the only cultures known that does not have exact number representation (because their culture does not need it)
24 months
start counting
30 months
understand the meaning of “one,” but think all other number words mean “plural” or “some”
36 months
understand the meaning of “two” but think all other number words mean “more than two”
40 months
understand the meaning of “three,” but think all other number words mean “more than three”
45 months
children figure out that +1 in the count list means one more object in a set
understanding of positive integers
does not come until 45 months of life
origins of natural number
primate heritage, human evolution
primate heritage
representations of objects; approximate number representations; singular/plural; serial order
human evolution
explicit symbol system (words); conceptual change capabilities; analogy, inference to best explanation
Bruce and Young (1986) model
view-centered description, expression-independent description, face recognition unit, person identity node, name generation, cognitive system, expression analysis, facial speech analysis, directed visual processing
view-centered description
viewpoint specific representations used for expression analysis
expression-independent description
characteristics of a face independent of expression used for recognition
face recognition unit
a separate unit for each face
person identity node
recognize people based on other features aside from the face such as names or voices or body posture
name unit
activate to retrieve person’s name
expression analysis
provides information about person’s emotional state
facial speech analysis
analysis of movements by the lips and tongue which helps (or possibly hinder) perception of speech by person
directed visual processing
vague in terms of what it does, but best described as how attention is selective and purposeful in analyzing the appearance of a face
cognitive system
various cognitive systems related to face processing, but not unique to processing faces
constraints on face processing
-first-order relational properties –> faces share basic configuration
-second-order relational properties –> individual faces differ
-visual system assumes faces are lit from above
-negative photos make faces difficult to recognize
-visual system uses 3D shape information
-line drawings with no shading make it difficult to recognize faces
inversion effect
rotates face upside down
Thatcher illusion
rotate faces but invert eyes and mouth
composite face effect
combine top and bottom of two faces to create one
caricatures
easily recognizable, proportions must remain consistent
horizontal sensitivity
faces are like bar-code structures; large scale patterns (where eyes should be); finer-scale stripes (structure of the eye); explains the inversion effect and negative effect; faces have distinctive vertical pattern of light and dark regions
horizontal sensitivity and the inversion effect
the barcode is in the wrong order
negative effect
face light strips are where dark strips should be and vice versa
experiment testing if face processing is innate
hold up a paddle to a baby that has basic face shapes (three boxes for the two eyes and a mouth); camera above viewing the infant; present the paddle directly in front of the infant’s face then move the paddle slowly to the side; analyze how far the infant is wiling to turn their head towards the paddle; results: infants rotates their head the most for the face paddle , rotated their head the least for the linear paddle, rotated their head slightly for the config and scrambled paddles; infants have an innate template of the human face
how specific is the facial processing template for infants?
look longer at upright faces the upside-down ones; look longer at top-heavy configurations of faces then bottom-heavy configurations; infants look longer at top-heavy configurations than an upright face; very specific
experiment with primates if experience shapes face recognition
infant monkeys with no previous exposure to faces; preferential looking technique; results: infant monkeys had a preference for human and monkey faces despite never seeing either before and can distinguish between human and monkey faces; after 1 month of exposure to human or monkey faces (only one or the other) –> selectively discriminated exposed species of faces, difficulty discriminating other non-exposed species of faces
face processing in canines
placed dogs in MRIs and analyzed brain patterns in reaction to viewing faces; ventral-posterior region activated for faces but not objects
face processing summary
face processing is innate; infants only a few hours old will follow faces; non-humans process faces similarly to humans; face processing is neurologically specific
human sociality
community members cooperate; accomplish tasks that cannot be performed alone in a group; members assume different roles and develop specialized skills; exceeds other animals
human groups vs. animal groups
non-human animal groups all only have one characteristic of human groups; humans have a combination of all of the individual characteristics across the different groups of animals
community members share…
language, food production, tools and technology, music, dance, games, belief systems, rituals
structure of social networks
form longstanding, non-reproductive unions (friends); influence one another; transportation and communication through technology has changed social networks; institutions influence and have changed the structures of social networks; population density influences social strcutures
social networks can be predictable
number of social ties, likelihood two friends of a person turn into friends, popular people tend to befriend other popular people, similar people tend to form ties
social groups across cultures
each have language, nationality, and sports
social groups across cultures
each have language, nationality, and sports
social groups across cultures
each have language, nationality, and sports
ingroups vs. outgroups
tend to view outgroups as homogenous (all are the same); tend to view ingroups as heterogenous (diverse)
three mechanisms used to identify members of our social group
familiarity, categories marked in culture, evolutionary-ancient “coalition tracker”
familiarity mechanism experiment
familiarize participants with many photographs of faces; present old and new faces after familiarization; ask participants two questions: Have you seen this face before? and How much do you like this person?; results found participants to have a preference for faces seen previously, even for faces not consciously recognized
familiarity preferences in infants
two choice task where infant is presented with two images and measure based on looking time; African American and white babies were given the two choice task of faces of African Americans or white people; babies tended to look longer at the face that fits their race
experiment looking at how people focus on social distinctions marked by other people in their culture
have participants take a numerical estimation test; randomly assign participants to two groups –> overestimators and underestimators; money given to participants and give them the task to distribute the money to other participants; greater giving to members of their own group
implicit attitudes in children vs. adults
no explicit pro-white attitude in adults; explicit pro-white attitude in children; declines over time with age; children learn not to be explicit with their preferences
categories that innately make sense to us
biological sex –> because it leads to reproduction; age –> because we look so different at different ages and social status
encoding alliances is sensitive to two things
1) patterns –> coordinated action, cooperation, competition
2) cues that predict –> purposeful, incidental
automatic encoding in coalitions
race is not automatically encoded; sex is automatically encoded
purposes of humor
entertainment, influence (other people), good for well-being, coping mechanism, may assist in mate selection
humor is…
broad, multifaceted, what people say or do, involves context, involves laughter, involves mental processes, emotional response, cross-culturally universal
three components to humor
cognitive-perceptual process, emotional response, behavioral response
two processes activated in the cognitive-perceptual process
perception of incongruity and appraisal of incongruity
incongruity
ironically not in harmony
cues necessary for perception of humor
signal the nonserious status; temporarily abandon logic and expectations
emotional response
no agreement what the exact emotion invoked by humor is; mirth is the current “champion”
behavioral response
-laughter
-exists on a spectrum –> smiling, grinning, chuckling, loud guffaws
-body response –> reddening of face, throwing back head, rocking of body, tears
-communicative state –> playful state, induce state in others
motivational states
telic state, paratelic state
telic state
serious and sensible; behave in ways to reach goals
paratelic state
spontaneous and playful; focus on present; seek excitement; engage in activities for fun
cognitive synergy
activation of two contradictory interpretations; created by incongruity; causes stimulus to be perceived as less important, dignified, serious, and valuable
cognitive synergy example
A businessman has just completed registering at a hotel desk and as he turns to leave, he says to the clerk, “Oh, and I thought I should mention that I prefer that the porn channel on the room television be disabled.”
The clerk replies, “We only have regular porn… you sick bastard!”
Two synergies: businessman wants it disconnected, clerk provides reinterpretation of “disabled”
arousal enhancing elements in humor
surprise, sex, taboo, disgust
