Quiz 1: Lectures 1-6 Flashcards
How do cognitive systems interact with the environment?
Transforms things in the environment to internal representations
Turns desires to act into physical changes in the environment
Cognitive systems in animals
Come from the brain, with senses to take in perception and the body to control for actions
Distributed cognition
The idea that cognition doesn’t end with your brain.
The cognitive system spans multiple entities.
Humans and computers often work together in one system.
Even the brain is a distributed cognitive system (parts for speech, visual, etc)
Give an example of a distributed cognitive system
Construction worker and a map= distributed cognitive system
Materials and house= environment
What is cognition?
Manipulation of representations
What are representations?
Things stored as memory of beliefs in your head, that exist in the real world but not physically
Ex. Thinking of your phone number is forming a representation of your actual number that exists.
Ex. Thinking of your friend. It’s not them, it’s your representation of them.
How are representations stored?
Animals: brain, long term memory, short term memory
Software: databases, symbols
Distributed systems: paper, brain, disk, environment manipulation
Sensory memory
Like a scratch pad (for vision) or a bit of recording tape (for hearing) that can be overwritten with new things.
It’s rewritten every few seconds by new perceptions.
Ex. When someone asks you a question while you’re focused on something, and you don’t “hear” them until seconds later, it was stored in your sensory memory
Short term memory
A temporary storage of your sensory environment and a storage of the thoughts that go through your head.
Some things from it end up becoming long term memories
Ex. Making a mental note to buy a new jacket
Long term memory
Probably stored here forever, though we might have trouble with retrieval.
One reason why old people have trouble accessing long term memories is because there’s so many of them that they get an interference
Semantic memory
Things like facts.
Ex. Your memory that Trudeau is PM
Episodic memory
Things that have happened to you
Ex. Remembering where you parked your car
Declarative memory
Statements, fact, etc that you know to be true
Semantic and episodic
Non-declarative memory
Things that are harder to recall
Implicit and procedural
Implicit memory
Things you know but have a hard time explaining or describing
Ex. What an iPhone looks like
Procedural memory
Things you know how to do but might not be able to explain.
Ex. Tying your shoes
Ex. Knowing your locker combination from doing it in your head, but not being able to say it out loud
Which part of the brain transforms short term memories into long term
The hippocampus.
Uncertain if short term memories are stored here, but if the hippocampus gets damaged, you lose the ability to form new long term memories
Where does procedural memory take place
The cerebellum, the basal ganglia, and the motor cortex.
What is the biological evolutionary function of learning?
Changing memory with the purpose of preparing a system for better action in the future.
Habituation learning
Diminution of a behavioural response with repeated stimulation
Ex. The first time you hear a loud noise you might jump, but the times afterward you stop jumping
Sensitization learning
When a behavioural response is amplified by repeated exposure to a stimulus.
Ex. The more someone pokes you, the more annoying it gets.
Ex. Becoming more sensitive to a phone vibrating in your pocket, to the point where you’re aware of other things vibrating around you
Classical conditioning learning
Learning to associate two previously unrelated stimuli. Typically means that you learn to behave similarly to stimulus B as you do to stimulus A
Ex. A dog learns that when you pick up a leash, a walk is soon to follow
Ex. Trusting a person you barely know because they remind you of someone you already know and trust
Operant conditioning learning
Changing your behaviour according to reward and punishment.
Types: Positive reinforcement Negative reinforcement Positive punishment Negative punishment
Positive reinforcement
Introduction of something pleasant to increase the probability of behaviour
Ex. Smiling at someone every time they open the door for you, they’ll keep doing it
Negative reinforcement
Introducing something pleasant to take a stimulus away
Ex. A baby screams until you give them candy. (NR for you, but the baby is learning PR)
Positive punishment
A bad behaviour is reduced because something unpleasant was introduced
Ex. Reach for Jim’s bubble tea and he slaps your hand
Negative punishment
Stop doing something good to get them to stop behaving badly
Ex. Cutting off allowance for bad grades
Practice learning
Doing something over and over and learning how to do it better. Uses reinforcement and punishment to hone the skill
Ex. Play is a form of practice for future events
Motor skills get easier because of automatization (becomes instinct). Ex. Walking
Imprinting learning
A time sensitive learning in an animal that is insensitive to behavioural outcomes
Ex. A goose learning who it’s mother is happens 13-16 hrs after hatching
Observational learning
Happens by observing another individual do something
Ex. Learning a dance by watching Tiktok videos
Ex. Men learning to stand legs apart, women learn to stand feet together
Testimony learning
Learning by something being communicated by another being
Ex. How to start a web browser
Ex. Orcas are mammals
Mentorship learning
We learn from others and can teach others.
Other learning styles form this (like observation)
Ex. Being taught to cook
Genetic learning
When environments change very slowly
