Representations of knowledge Flashcards
What is semantic dementia?
When a person gradually loses the ability to understand words and meanings, making it hard to recognize objects, faces, or even remember what words mean.
It affects how the brain processes language but doesn’t always affect speaking or memory right away
What is Mnemonic technique?
A method for improving memory - uses associations, patterns, or vivid imagery to help retain and recall information more easily
What is Propositional Representation?
A way of storing information in the brain as simple statements or ideas, like “the cat is on the mat.” It helps us understand and remember facts
What is Imaginal Representation?
When we store and recall information as images or visual memories, like remembering what a friend’s face looks like or imagining a scene in your mind
What is Rule-Based Representation?
When we store information using rules or principles, like “If it rains, take an umbrella.” It helps us understand how things work by following specific guidelines (problem-solving and decision-making)
What is Theory-based representation?
When we organize knowledge based on theories or concepts, like understanding how the world works through scientific principles or social beliefs, rather than just rules or facts
What is the amodal symbol system?
A way of representing information that doesn’t rely on any specific sensory form. Instead, it uses abstract symbols or concepts that can be understood independently of how they’re perceived (e.g., the concept of a “dog”, the word “justice” or reasoning: “If A, then B”)
(The theory has been challenged by embodied cognition and multimodalists)
What is the perceptual symbol system?
Representing knowledge in the brain using sensory experiences, like images, sounds, or smells.
It suggests that we think about concepts through the mental images and sensations we’ve had in the past
What is the Dual-Coding Theory (perceptual)?
Suggests that we process and store information in two ways: through images (visual) and through words (verbal).
Using both types of representation together helps us remember and understand better
What is Embodied cognition?
The idea that our thinking and understanding are influenced by our body and physical experiences.
It suggests that our thoughts are connected to how we move, sense, and interact with the world around us
What is the function of mirror neurons?
Help us understand and imitate the actions of others. They fire both when we perform an action and when we see someone else do it
What is the multimodal hypothesis?
Suggests that our brain processes information using different senses together (like sight, sound, and touch) to create a richer and more complete understanding of the world
What is the amodal hypothesis?
Suggests that the brain stores knowledge in abstract forms, independent of specific sensory experiences, meaning we don’t rely on senses like sight or touch to understand concepts
What is Conceptual knowledge?
The understanding of ideas, categories, and relationships between things, such as knowing what a dog is, what it looks like, and how it’s different from a cat.
Represented in two ways: Semantic networks and schemas
–> can lead to sterotyping
What is semantic networks?
Semantic networks are systems of connected concepts or ideas, where each concept is linked to others by relationships, like a web of meanings. For example, “dog” might be connected to “animal,” “pet,” and “barks.
Quillian (1966)
Critique:
Real-world concepts are dynamic and assuming that the links between the concepts are equally important
What are schemas?
Mental frameworks connecting related concepts based on prior knowledge and experiences, like knowing what to expect at a restaurant. Organized hierarchically and help guide behaviour
Rosch (1975)
Critique: can lead to stereotyping or confirmation bias
What are scripts?
A type of schema that represents a sequence of events or actions expected in a particular situation, like the steps you follow when going to a movie (buy tickets, find seats, watch the film)
Bower et al. (1979)
What is default values?
Automatic settings that are used unless you change them
People will infer that an object has the default values for its category, unless they explicitly notice otherwise (penguins as birds)
What is prototype theories? (abstraction theories)
Suggests that we understand concepts by comparing them to a “best example” or prototype.
For example, when you think of a bird, you might picture a robin, which is the prototype, even though other birds like penguins also fit the concept of a bird
What is exemplar theories? (Instance theories)
Suggests that we understand concepts by remembering specific examples or instances we’ve encountered.
For example, when thinking of a bird, you might recall various birds you’ve seen, like a robin, eagle, or pigeon, and use those examples to recognize new birds
What is rule-based structures of categories?
When we classify things based on specific rules or features. For example, a “bird” might be defined by rules like “has feathers” and “can fly.” If something meets these rules, it’s considered a bird, regardless of specific examples we’ve seen
What is theory-based structures of categories?
When we classify things based on a set of underlying principles or theories.
For example, the category “bird” might be understood not just by physical features, but by the theory that birds are animals that lay eggs and have evolved for flight.
It’s about understanding the broader concept behind the category
What is declarative knowledge?
Knowledge about facts and information, like knowing that Paris is the capital of France
What is procedural knowledge?
Knowing how to do something, like riding a bike or tying your shoes. It’s the kind of knowledge that involves skills and actions, often learned through practice
What is Anderson’s ACT-R model?
A theory that explains how our brain processes information, combining memory and skills through rules. It divides knowledge into facts (declarative) and actions (procedural) to help us perform tasks
Describe the brain areas involved in representations of knowledge
Prefrontal regions of the brain are associated with meaningful processing of verbal and visual information - retrieving knowledge and working memory
Posterior regions, such as the temporal cortex, are associated with representing categorical information - semantic memory network
Hippocampus: Encoding declarative knowledge (facts and events) into long-term memory
Parietal: semantic processing and spatial information
What are representations?
Mental images or symbols that stand for something else, like an object, idea, or concept
What did Wanner find?
People are better at remembering information when it’s presented in a meaningful context rather than as isolated facts
What did Shepard find?
Our memory for what we see seems often much better than our memory for what we hear
What did Brady et al. find?
Found that people have a surprisingly large capacity for visual memory
They showed people lots of pictures, like pictures of different objects or scenes, really quickly. Afterward, they asked them to pick out the same pictures from a group of new ones.
Even though the pictures were shown very fast, most people were really good at remembering and recognizing what they saw
What did Nickerson and Adams find?
People often fail to remember simple, everyday details about objects they see all the time, like the exact design of a penny
The role of attention was confirmed in a study by Marmie and Healy (2004) (If you are warned or primed beforehand to pay attention to certain details.
What did Mandler and Ritchey find?
Participants were more sensitive to significant changes in a picture than to changes in minor details
The meaning of the picture is more memorable than the style
What did Bransford and Johnson find?
Divided the participants in two groups and made them read a passage. They told one of the groups that it was about washing clothes and this group was able to recall twice as much as the uninformed group
What did Goldstein & Chance find?
Compared memory for faces versus memory for snowflakes
Participants were able to recognize 74% of the faces and only 30% of the snowflakes
What did Bower, Karlin, and Dueck find?
Memory for the drawings depended critically on participants’ ability to give them a meaningful interpretation.
What are the benefits and downsides of categories?
Benefits: Categories help us organize information, simplify thinking, and make quick decisions.
Downsides: They can lead to stereotypes, oversimplification, and errors when something doesn’t fit neatly
What did Labov find?
That category membership can vary depending on context. For example, whether something is called a “cup” or “bowl” depends on its shape and what it’s used for (e.g., drinking vs. holding soup).
This shows that categories are flexible and influenced by how we interact with objects
What did Barselou find?
When people understand a sentence, they often actually come up with a perceptual representation of that sentence
What did Stanfield and Zwaan find?
Participants read a sentence about a nail being pounded into either the wall or the floor.
Then they saw a picture of a nail either horizontally or vertically and they were faster to recognize the nail that was in the same direction as the sentence they just read - faster at modal representations
What did Brewer and Treyens find?
Provided a demonstration of how inferences from schemas can influence memory.
The participants were told to recall objects from the waiting room (an office).
They included generalized guesses from their expectations of what objects an office could contain. (Their own generalized schema)
What did Kintsch find?
Found that people remember the meaning of sentences better than the exact wording
What are slots in schemas?
Attributes within category members. Slots are filled with one or more values of that attribute. E.g. the category member “house” has the slot “materials”, which contains the values: “wood”, “brick, “stone”
What is the difference between type distractor and token distractor?
Type distraction - Changes the meaningful parts of a stimulus.
Token distractions - Changes irrelevant parts of a stimulus (like style)
How can representations of knowledge relate to other topics?
