Module 07: Concepts and Organization Flashcards
define categorization
a class of similar things that share one of two:
an essential core
similarity in perceptual, biological, or functional properties
define concept
mental representation of some object, event, or pattern that has stored in it much of the knowledge thought relevant to that object, event or pattern
allows us to categorize
classical view on concepts
concepts share fundamental characteristics or features
concepts are not representations of specific examples but rather abstractions containing info about properties and characteristics that all examples must have
assumes that membership in a category is clear cut (has all features or lacks features)
what are some problems with the classical view on concepts
study found people judged members of a category as varying in goodness
more likely to list typical instances than atypical instances
highly typical instances led to better priming
study found that people were inconsistent on labelling items into categories
boundaries between categories are fuzzy
what is the prototype view
individual instances average into a composite abstraction which includes all the characteristics of a category
prototypes are an idealized representation of some class of objects or events
include features that are typical, no specific individual feature for it to count
more characteristic features => more likely to be a member
family resemblance structure of concepts
structure in which each member has a number of features, sharing different features with different members
refers to prototype view
order and describe the levels of categorization
superordinate (most general): members that are dissimilar in many aspects. ex musical instruments
basic level (2nd most general): ex. piano and guitars
subordinate (most specific): ex. upright piano, folk guitar
exemplar view of concepts
concepts include representations of at least some actual individual instances
assumes that people categorize new instances by comparing them to representations of previously stored instances
explains peoples’ inability to state necessary and defining features and why people have difficulty categorizing atypical instances
typical instances more likely to be stored than atypical ones
builder and digger study, supported that physical similarity to previous exemplars stored in memory influenced the categorization despite the rule
schemata view of concepts
concepts are frameworks of knowledge that have roles, slots, variables, etc
schemata can embed themselves in one another hierarchically
not clear boundaries among individual schemata
knowledge based view on concepts
concepts have much more to do with people’s knowledge and world views than previously recognized
idea that a person classifying objects and events doesn’t just compare features or physical aspects of the objects and events to features of stored representations, people use knowledge on how a concept is organized to justify classification
category is coherent when we know the purpose
people’s theories/mental representations of the world intertwined with their concepts and provide basis for categorization
nominal concepts
have precise definitions
what did cabeza find in a study about prototypes
Results very different from Bruner
Showed faces and told student to classify
Task that involved learning concepts that were defined by similarity to previous examples
When categories defined like this, people classify by forming and using mental representations of prototypes
The way people form and learn concepts depends in the instances and the categories they must work with
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what regions of the brain activated in categorization task
frontal and parietal regions in right hemisphere
Regions in left hemisphere, like left parietal lobe and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex more involved as learning progresses
Categorization tasks involve complex interplay between cortical and subcortical regions of the brain
what are the five factors that encourage people to store info about specific exemplars
Task requirements to learn info that distinguishes among individual instances
The original learning situation
Some stimuli lend themselves to hypothesis testing better than others do
Instances may belong to a number of categories at the same time
Learn about instances without knowing how we will be called on to use the info later
