Ratiocination Flashcards
The immediate or clear understanding of the solution after contemplation, also called a eureka moment or the ah-ha phenomenon, when something seems to just ‘click’.
Insight
The tendency to think of things only in a usual capacity, which leads to difficulty in finding novel solutions to problems.
Functional fixedness
All potential approaches to solving a problem (may be infinitely large). Includes the goal, the items that may be used in achieving that goal, the operations that may be used on those items, and the rules and constraints on those operations.
Problem space
A deductive, step-by-step problem solving procedure that is guaranteed to produce a solution. One does not use an algorithm when the application of an algorithm requires to many steps that it requires too much time or energy to reach the solution.
Algorithm
A short-cut to a solution that is not guaranteed to succeed. Sometimes leads to a solution much faster than could the application of an algorithm. Sometimes it proves to be a waste of time.
Heuristic
A problem solving strategy combining aspects of both forward and backward reasoning, One considers the separation ‘back’ from the goal to the current state and identifies ways ‘forward’ from the current state to reduce that separation. Both the current condition and action portions of rules are observed when considering which rule to apply. This is an improvement over heuristics because it focuses on the solving the actual differences between the current state and the goal, rather than ‘guessing’ at possible solutions.
Means-end analysis
One way to make a problem easier to solve is to identify important components of the solution and treat these as separate, smaller problems to be solved.
Subgoals
An explanation omitting superfluous details and reducing complexity; these strategies include the identification of subgoals, associating different heuristics with specific portions of the problem space, and reformulating (translating) the problem into a more easily solved representation,
Simplification
A simple, abstract, computational device for solving an particular problem whose solution can be computed.
Turing machine
One can study the use of software to manipulate and analyze symbols in computers as a way to understand these problems in people. Argues that study of problem solving or reasoning tasks in computers that are outside the range of human cognitive abilities may help us better appreciate what people do. Does not claim computers achieve self-awareness or demonstrate wide-ranging high-level cognitive abilities.
Weak artificial intelligence (AI)
A thought experiment proposed by John Searle as a counterargument to claims made by strong artificial intelligence. Searle describes himself in a room with elaborate instructions in English on what to do when presented a set of symbols in Chinese. Searle imagines that with appropriate English instructions he could be a successful symbol manipulator, receiving questions in Chinese and forming proper answers in Chinese, without having any understanding of the meaning of the symbols. Searle’s point is that a computer could be perceived as coherent, even pass the Turing test, but in reality be merely a manipulator of symbols without understanding the significance of the symbols, and hence not qualify as intelligent in the way a human is.
Chinese Room
Consciousness entails being aware of the environment and aware of one’s own existence.The latter is ability is this term, the understanding the one exists, including the concept that one exists as an individual, separate from other people, with private thoughts. Although all organisms respond to the environment, very few demonstrate that they ‘know that they know.’ Only advances primates, whales, and dolphins have demonstrated that they know themselves.
Self Awareness
Awareness when words and images are used as symbols to convey meaning about the world.
Intentionality
In formulating economic (rational) decision making, von Neumannand Morgenstern argued that a decision maker would and should always make the choice that maximizes the benefit to the decision maker. The decision maker should always select the choice with the highest (insert term) calculated as the perceived probability of the choice times the subjective utility of the choice.
Subjective expected utility
In a stochastic process, the probability of events on the current trial is fixed (independent of past events), as in the probability of getting a head on a fair coin is 1/2. This term ignores the property as explained above and holds that the outcomes of past random events affect the outcome of future random events. This is one factor that can produce an unrealistic val.ue of subjective expected utility, which is calculated as the perceived probability of a choice times the subjective utility of the choice.
Gambler’s fallacy
