Representations of knowledge

Question 1

What is semantic dementia?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What is Mnemonic technique?

Answer 2

A method for improving memory - uses associations, patterns, or vivid imagery to help retain and recall information more easily

Question 3

What is Propositional Representation?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What is Imaginal Representation?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What is Rule-Based Representation?

Answer 5

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)

Question 6

What is Theory-based representation?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What is the amodal symbol system?

Answer 7

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)

Question 8

What is the perceptual symbol system?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What is the Dual-Coding Theory (perceptual)?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What is Embodied cognition?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What is the function of mirror neurons?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What is the multimodal hypothesis?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What is the amodal hypothesis?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What is Conceptual knowledge?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What is semantic networks?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What are schemas?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What are scripts?

Answer 17

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)

Question 18

What is default values?

Answer 18

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)

Question 19

What is prototype theories? (abstraction theories)

Answer 19

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

Question 20

What is exemplar theories? (Instance theories)

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What is rule-based structures of categories?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What is theory-based structures of categories?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What is declarative knowledge?

Answer 23

Knowledge about facts and information, like knowing that Paris is the capital of France

Question 24

What is procedural knowledge?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

What is Anderson’s ACT-R model?

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Describe the brain areas involved in representations of knowledge

Answer 26

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

Question 27

What are representations?

Answer 27

Mental images or symbols that stand for something else, like an object, idea, or concept

Question 28

What did Wanner find?

Answer 28

People are better at remembering information when it’s presented in a meaningful context rather than as isolated facts

Question 29

What did Shepard find?

Answer 29

Our memory for what we see seems often much better than our memory for what we hear

Question 30

What did Brady et al. find?

Answer 30

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

Question 31

What did Nickerson and Adams find?

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

What did Mandler and Ritchey find?

Answer 32

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

Question 33

What did Bransford and Johnson find?

Answer 33

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

Question 34

What did Goldstein & Chance find?

Answer 34

Compared memory for faces versus memory for snowflakes
Participants were able to recognize 74% of the faces and only 30% of the snowflakes

Question 35

What did Bower, Karlin, and Dueck find?

Answer 35

Memory for the drawings depended critically on participants’ ability to give them a meaningful interpretation.

Question 36

What are the benefits and downsides of categories?

Answer 36

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

Question 37

What did Labov find?

Answer 37

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

Question 38

What did Barselou find?

Answer 38

When people understand a sentence, they often actually come up with a perceptual representation of that sentence

Question 39

What did Stanfield and Zwaan find?

Answer 39

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

Question 40

What did Brewer and Treyens find?

Answer 40

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)

Question 41

What did Kintsch find?

Answer 41

Found that people remember the meaning of sentences better than the exact wording

Question 42

What are slots in schemas?

Answer 42

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”

Question 43

What is the difference between type distractor and token distractor?

Answer 43

Type distraction - Changes the meaningful parts of a stimulus.

Token distractions - Changes irrelevant parts of a stimulus (like style)

Question 44

How can representations of knowledge relate to other topics?