PSYC 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Concept Class, Mental Representation, Snoring

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PSYC 200 Chapter 8
Cognition
Cognition: Mentally processing information (images, concepts, etc.); thinking
Cognitive Psychology: Study of human information processing (thinking)
Thinking = Internal Representation: Mental expression of a problem or situation
Basic Units of Thought
Image: Mental representation that has picture-like qualities; an icon
o Ex) Picture apple in your mind
Concept: Generalized idea representing a class of related objects or events
Language: Words or symbols, and rules for combining them, that are used for thinking
and communication
Nature of Mental Images
Mental Rotation:
o A mental process that alters the position/orientation of an image in mental
space.
o We etall pik up a ojet ad turn it around
o Blocks: Dependent variables if correct & how long to respond?
o Brain: If form a mental image, then brain being activated in REVERSE order
Brain activated to same degree as if actually visualizing mental image
Basketball player visualization of playing same brain activation as actually
playing
Concept Formation
Concept Formation: Process of classifying information into meaningful categories;
based on experience with positive and negative instances (examples that belong, or do
not belong, to the concept class).
Conceptual Rule: Formal rule for deciding if an object or event is an example of a
particular concept.
o Ex) If a bean bag fits the concept of a chair (you can sit on it, but no 4 legs)
Exemplars: Stored representations of individual experiences. (if diff, prototype diff)
Prototype: An ideal model used as a prime example of a particular concept
o Ex) list ed, pillo, sorig, tired, ight - ppl piked sleep 2nd time
o Ppl more confident in saying that the prototype was on list than actual words
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Types of Concepts
Conjunctive Concept: Class of objects that have 2+ features in common.
(Ex. to qualify as an example of the concept an object must be both red AND triangular)
Relational Concept: Concept defined by the relationship between features of an object
or between an object and its surrounding. (Ex. table objects have to sit on it)
Disjunctive Concept: Concept defined by the presence of at least one of several possible
features. (Ex. to qualify an object must be either blue OR circular.)
Cup Image: Chose 5 as the prototype as the best cup
o 3 concepts cups, bowls & vases but similar physically
Pliers image: b & c are harder to identity have not encountered
enough examples of them no prototype
o Context can substitute for a lack of appropriate prototypes
in concept identification
2 Kinds of Meaning
Denotative Meaning: The exact, dictionary definition of a word/concept;
its ojetie eaig.
Connotative Meaning: The subjective, personal, or emotional meaning of a
word/concept
o Ex) In connotative meaning varies; (+) or (-) association will affect it
Language
Grammar: A set of rules for combining language units into meaningful speech or writing.
Syntax: Rules for ordering words when forming sentences.
Transformation Rules: Rules by which a simple declarative sentence may be changed to
other voices/forms (past tense, passive voice, and so forth).
Productivity: The capacity of language to generate new ideas and possibilities
o Ex) young kids repeat sentences as gets older they form own sentences
o Children often experience a moment of word explosion (despite environment
Chomsky thinking its innate/biological)
Problem Solving (lowest)
We can use a variety of different methods/approaches to solve problems.
Trial and Error: Try several approaches until (if you are lucky) one works.
o Least advanced children often use this
o Random Search Strategy: All possibilities are tried, more or less randomly.
Mechanical Solutions (middle)
Algorithm: Set of rules/steps that always leads to correct solution
Systematic Ex. Solve for x (isolate x on 1 side of equation)
o Can still lack understanding
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