PSYCH 240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Epiphenomenon, Americentrism, Right Angle
Lecture 8 Reading Notes
Knowledge Representation: the form for what you know in your mind about things,
ideas, events, and so on, in the outside world
Introspection approach: ask people to describe their own knowledge representations
and process; Rationalist Approach: deduce logically how people represent
knowledge; philosophers distinguished between 2 kinds of knowledge
Declaration Knowledge: refer to facts that can be stated
Procedural Knowledge: refers to knowledge of procedures that can be implemented
The distinction is between knowing that and knowing how
There are 2 main sources of empirical data on knowledge representation- standard
lab experiments and neuropsychological studies
In experimental work, they observe how people handle various cognitive tasks that
require the manipulation of mentally represented knowledge
In neuropsychological studies, researchers will observe how the normal brain
responds to various cognitive tasks involving knowledge representation or they
observe the links between various deficits in knowledge representation and
associated pathologies in the brain
Knowledge can be represented in different ways in your mind
It can be stored as a mental picture, or in words, or abstract propositions
Cognitive psychologists chiefly are interested in our internal, mental representations
of what we know
Many geometric shapes and concrete objects seem easier to represent in pictures
rather than in words
Pictures show concrete attributes that are similar to features and properties of an
object; symbolic representation: relationship between the word and what it
represents is simply arbitrary; because symbols are arbitrary, their use requires the
application of rules- ex. Sentence rules
Symbolic representations capture some kinds of representations but not other kinds
of information; pictures and words also represent relationships in different ways
Pictures show spatial relationships and also abstract relationships
Pictures aptly capture concrete and spatial information in a manner similar to
whatever they represent; they convey all features simultaneously
Words handily capture abstract/categorical information that is symbolic of whatever
the words represent; representations in words usually convey information
sequentially- they do so according to arbitrary rules that have little to do with the
words hey represent; pictures and words both have unique purposes as well
Imagery: the mental representation of things that are not currently seen or sensed by the
sense organs; mental imagery can represent things that you have never experienced and
also things that don’t exist outside the mind of the person creating the image
Imagery may involve mental representations in any of the sensory modalities
Most research on imagery has focused on visual imagery, such as representations of
objects or settings that aren’t presently visible to the eyes
We use visual images to solve problems and to answer questions involving objects;
to solve problems and answer questions, we visualize the objects in question and
mentally represent the images
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Many psychologists are interested in applications of mental imagery to other fields
of psych- including using guided imagery techniques to control pain and to
strengthen immune responses and otherwise promote health
This would also help in overcoming psychological problems ex. Phobias
Research in applied settings and in the lab indicates that some of us are better able
to create mental images than others- measurable with FMRIs
Research also indicates that the use of mental images can help to improve memory-
in the case of people with down syndrome, the use of mental images in conjunction
with hearing a story improved memory for the material as compared with just
hearing the story
Mental imagery also is used in other fields such as occupational therapy
Using this technique, patients with brain damage train themselves to complete
complex tasks
According to an extreme view of imagery, all images of everything we sense may
be stored as exact copies of physical images- the capacity of the brain would be
inadequate to handle such a task but realistically storing every observed physical
image in the brain would be impossible
Learning can indeed take place just by using mental images
Dual-Code Theory: Images and Symbols (paivio)
According to this theory, we use both pictorial and verbal codes for representing
information in our minds; these two codes organize information into knowledge
that can be acted on, stored somehow, and later retrieved
Mental images are analog codes: resemble the objects they are represented
Our mental representations for worlds chiefly are represented in a symbolic code
A symbolic code is a form of knowledge representation that has been chosen
arbitrarily to stand for something that doesn’t perceptually resemble what is being
represented; a symbol may be anything that is arbitrarily designated to stand for
something other than itself
Paivio noted that verbal information seems to be processed differently than
pictorial information;
Studies show the possibility that there are two different systems for recall of
words versus pictures
Studies show a response involving visual perception can interfere with a task
involving manipulations of a visual image and a response involving verbal
expression can interfere with a task involving mental manipulations of a verbal
statement; suggests the use of 2 distinct codes are an imaginal and a verbal code
Imaginal= analogical code and a verbal=symbolic code
Storing Knowledge as Abstract Concepts: Propositional Theory:
Propositional Theory: suggests that we don’t store mental representations in the form of
images or mere words; we may experience our mental representations as images, but
these images are epiphenomena- secondary and derivative phenomena that occur as a
result of other cognitive processes
Our mental representations more closely resemble that abstract form of a
proposition- the meaning underlying a particular relationship among concepts
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Some researchers feel that the model should encompass multiple forms of mental
representation while others hold onto their original position
Predicate calculus, expresses the underlying meaning of a relationship- this
method attempts to strip away the various superficial differences in the ways we
describe the deeper meaning of a proposition:
Relationship between elements (subject element), object element
Propositions may be used to describe any kind of relationship
Any number of propositions may be combined to represent more complex
relationships, images, and a series of words
The key idea is that the propositional form of mental representation is neither in
words nor in images- it is in abstract form representing the underlying meanings
of knowledge
From propositional representations, our minds recreate the verbal or the imaginal
code relatively accurately
Debate whether we represent info by means of propositions or mental images
Limitations of Mental Images:
Findings suggested the use of a propositional code rather than an analogical one
Ambiguous figures are often used in studies of perception since they can be
interpreted in more than one way;
People need to have an actual percept (object of perception) so that you can guess
an alternative interpretation of a figure
Mental representations of figures are not the same as percepts of these figures
One belief is that people plainly do not use images to represent what they see
An alternative and more plausible explanation is that a propositional code may
override the imaginal code in some circumstances
Early studies have suggested that images can be distorted through verbal
information; earlier work suggested that semantic (verbal) information tends to
distort recall of visual images in the direction of the meaning of the images
Recall differs based on the differing labels given for objects
Limitations of Propositional Imagery:
Some evidence indicates that we don’t need a propositional code to manipulate
information, but we can manipulate mental imagery directly
It appears that propositional codes are less likely to influence imaginal ones when
participants create their own mental images, rather then when people are
presented with a picture to be represented
Propositional codes, however, may influence imaginal ones
This influence is especially likely to occur when the picture used to create an
image is ambiguous
Some investigators believe that the mental reinterpretation of ambiguous figures
involves 2 manipulations: the firs is a mental realignment of the reference frame-
would involve a shift in the positional orientations of the figures on the mental
“page” or screen on which the image is displayed
The second manipulation is a mental reconstrual (reinterpretation) of parts of the
figure; ex. Duck’s bill and rabbit’s ears
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Document Summary
Knowledge representation: the form for what you know in your mind about things, ideas, events, and so on, in the outside world. Introspection approach: ask people to describe their own knowledge representations and process; rationalist approach: deduce logically how people represent knowledge; philosophers distinguished between 2 kinds of knowledge. Declaration knowledge: refer to facts that can be stated. Procedural knowledge: refers to knowledge of procedures that can be implemented. The distinction is between knowing that and knowing how. There are 2 main sources of empirical data on knowledge representation- standard lab experiments and neuropsychological studies. In experimental work, they observe how people handle various cognitive tasks that require the manipulation of mentally represented knowledge. In neuropsychological studies, researchers will observe how the normal brain responds to various cognitive tasks involving knowledge representation or they observe the links between various deficits in knowledge representation and associated pathologies in the brain. Knowledge can be represented in different ways in your mind.
