PSYCH 1XX3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Ice Cream Cone, Prototype Theory
Document Summary
Suggests that we have 36 different geons, or simple geometrical forms, stored in memory. These would be forms like a cone, a sphere, and a cylinder. According to this theory, using just these 36 geons, its possible to recognize over 150 million different objects. Examples: an ice cream cone is just a cone and a sphere, a garbage can or a glass are just cylinders. Keep in mind, however, that it is also possible that geons could be processed at a different level of processing separate from the area of brain damage. I would need countless mother templates, and that"s just to recognize one person! A theory that overcomes the storage problems of the template theory is the prototype theory, which says that we store the most typical or ideal example of an object. This system is much more flexible because you don"t need an exact match between the observed object and what is stored in memory.
