Thought & Language Flashcards
Thought - Thinking - Representations (in terms of thinking)
Thought is an extension of perception and memory.
Thinking is manipulating mental representations (images or words) for a purpose using words, mental images and mental models.
^ we mentally manipulate the representations to achieve some purpose
^ we recall representations using memory
Mental Models
+ examples of mental models
Involve a representation that describes, explains or predicts how things work.
E.g. Model of the synapse/ how cars work/ model of working memory
Categories & Concepts
Objects are classified on the basis of their properties
CATEGORIES: Grouping based on common properties
CONCEPT: a mental representation of a category
(E.g. Cat = a small, furry, four legged, independent animal)
Process of Categorisation
&
How we categorise objects (2)
Categorisation involves recognising an object as a member of a category.
Categorise by:
- Comparison with defining features. (Qualities that are essential for membership of the categories)
- Similarity/Dissimilarity to prototypes. (An abstraction across many instances of a category)
Example of how multiple concepts can represent information:
(laptop)
(DF, CF, E)
Defining features:
• Electronic device
• Has particular architecture or operating system
• Uses digital processes to perform computations
Characteristic features:
• has a keyboard
• has a screen
• can be used for word processing & web browsing
• can store information on hard drive/USB
Exemplars:
• Apple iMac
• IBM Pentium
Hierarchies of concepts
+ effective thinking in hierarchies
+ example of hierarchy of concept
Many concepts are hierarchically ordered, with subconcepts at varying levels of abstraction. Efficient thinking requires the right level of abstraction.
Example (downwards flow):
Superordinate level: mammal
Basic level:
• dog
• cat
• possum
Subordinate level:
• blue heeler, kelpie, golden retriever
• Siamese, tabby, Burmese
• Ringtail, brush tail
Levels of categorisation (3)
SUPERORDINATE: more abstract then basic. Members share few specific features. Level of metaphor.
E.g. Animal
BASIC: broadest, most inclusive, ‘natural’ level, quickest response.
E.g. bird
SUBORDINATE: more specific than basic
E.g. Magpie
Culture and Categorisation
2 points + example for each
• Culture showed our basic categorisation.
E.g. An aboriginal community includes women, fire and dangerous things in one category - natural to their culture, not to others.
• Culture can also effect the extent to which people rely on similarity or defining features in categorisation.
E.g. East Asians tend to rely on similarity, Australia/NZ tend to rely on rules.
Reasoning
And two types of reasoning (inductive and deductive)
The process by which people generate and evaluate arguments and beliefs.
INDUCTIVE: reasoning from specific observations to general proposition. (Relies heavily on probabilities)
DEDUCTIVE: drawing a conclusion from a set of assumptions or premises. (The conclusion is true if the premise is true and reasoning logical)
Reasoning by Analogy
What it is and how it works
Analogical reasoning is the process by which people understand a novel situation in terms of a familiar one.
The novel and familiar situations must contain a number of elements that can be mapped onto each other.
E.g. Using the Vietnam war as an analogy for the Iraq conflict
Problem Solving
+ example in 3 steps
Refers to th worlds by which we transform one situation into another to meet a goal
E.g.
Initial state (a problem)
> operators (actions performed to solve the problem)
> goal state (problem solved)
Types of Problems (2)
Problems vary by definition….
Well defined problem: ones where the initial state, goal state and operators are clearly identified.
Ill defined problem: problems occur when both the information needed to solve the problem and the criteria for determining when the goal state has been met are vague. (E.g. A leader tasked with ‘improving morale’)
Strategies to Problem Solving
- why they’re needed
- 3 types of strategies (ALG, MS, HT)
Strategies are designed to avoid lengthy processes of trying every potential operator to solve a problem.
ALGORITHM: systematic procedures that will produce a solution to a (simple) problem
MENTAL SIMULATION: the mental rehearsal of the steps needed to solve a problem. (Important in exam/test performance)
HYPOTHESIS TESTING: making an educated guess about a problem and testing it
Barriers to problem solving
Functional Fixedness, mental set, confirmation bias
FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS: the tendency to fix on a function for an object and ignore other possible uses
MENTAL SET: the tendency to keep using the same problem solving techniques that have been successful in the past
CONFIRMATION BIAS: the tendency to search for confirmation on what we already believe
Decision making
- what is it
- 2 types (utilities - WV and E)
The process by which an individual weighs the pros and cons of different alternatives in order to make a choice
WEIGHTED UTILITY VALUE: a combined judgement of the importance of an attribute and the extent to which a given option satisfied it.
EXPECTED UTILITY: a combined judgement of the weighted utility and the expected probability of obtaining that outcome
Implicit (2 points) and Explicit cognition - meanings
Implicit involved the unconscious:
• behaviourists suggest that people can learn, generalise and discriminate stimuli without conscious thought
• psychodynamic theory suggests that unconscious motives and emotions impact on problem solving and decision making
Explicit cognition involves conscious manipulation of mental representations
Heuristics - explicit cognition
What are heuristics?
3 types of heuristics (representative, availability and bounded reality)
Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts for selecting amongst alternatives, without carefully considering each one (sometimes irrational)
REPRESENTATIVE HEURISTICS: we match an object to its category
AVAILABILITY HEURISTICS: we decide the events that we can easily recall are common and typical
BOUNDED REALITY: people are rational within the bounds imposed by their environment, goals and abilities (leads to satisficing)
Connectionism:
- parallel distributed processing
- parallel constraint satisfaction
PARALLEL DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING assumes that:
- thought processing occurs in parallel
- meaning of a mental representation is distributed throughout the brains (neural networks)
- current perception activates neural networks (and multiple, individual nodes)
PARALLEL CONSTRAINT SATISFACTION:
The tendency to settle on a cognitive solution that satisfies as many constraints as possible (best fit of data)
connectionist mode of inference - figure 8.13
Neuropsychology of thinking
2 parts of the brain + what they do (DPC and VPC)
The frontal lobes are critical for the processing of thought
DORSOLATERAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX: plays a central role in working memory and explicit manipulation of representations (conscious thought)
VENTROMEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX: plays a role in the use of emotional reactions to guide decision making and behaviour
Language (definition)
A system of symbols, sounds, meanings and rules of combination that allows for communication among humans.
Whorfian hypothesis of linguistic relativity (and example)
Argued that language shapes thought.
E.g. The Hanuoo people of the Philippines have 92 names for rice which allows them to think about rice in more complex ways than Australians
Elements of language:
- phonemes
- morphemes
- phrases
- sentences
Phonemes: smallest units of sound that constitute speech (eg. Th, s, â)
Morphemes: smallest units of meaning (eg. Anti, house, the, ing)
Phrases: groups of words that act as a unit and convey a meaning (eg. In the den, the rain in Spain, ate the lolly)
Sentences: organised sequences of words that express a thought or intention (eg. The house is old, did you get the milk?)
Discourse
And how people represent discourse at different levels
The way people ordinarily speak, hear, read and write in interconnected sentences.
People represent discourse at multiple levels:
- exact wording
- gist or general meaning
- suspended reality (different time or place)
- communication (story telling, idea sharing)
- conversation
Types of non verbal communication
Gestures Physical distance Facial expression Vocal inotation Body language Facial expression Non verbal vocalisations (clearing throat) Touch
Language development: nature vs nurture
NURTURE: Skinner (behaviourist) argued that children imitate the utterances of their parents.
Skinner suggests that children receive differential reinforcement for speech sounds.
Parents use positive reinforcement and shaping to teach language.
NATURE: Chomksy argued that language acquisition appears to be universal across culture (couldn’t be accounted for by learning).
Children can use complex grammatical rules long before they develop other mental processes (mathematics).
Language acquisition device (LAD)
An innate set of neural structures for acquiring language
Critical period for language acquisition
What is it? What it affects? Age
Critical periods assume that an organism must develop a function within a limited time frame or it will not develop at all.
Children easily learn second languages, adults have great difficulty.
Isolated children have language impairments (eg. Genie)
After age 12, near native fluency is difficult to achieve
Language development in children
Please see book or notes
Long table
Language in non humans
Chimpanzee example
Two chimpanzees, Sherman and Austin, learned to communicate with each other by using symbols taught to them by trainers.
Eg. Sherman requests m&m’s using his symbol board while Austin watches. Then Austin hands m&m’s to Sherman.
