01:830:305 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Turing Machine, Three-Dimensional Space, Intelligence
12 Oct 2018
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01:830:305
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
The scientific study of thought
• In cognitive psychology, we study mental processes with the same method by which any
scientist studies anything:
▪ We observe the phenomena
▪ We invent “mechanistic” models that we hope can explain what we observe
• Mental phenomena may seem more magical or mysterious than other phenomena, but they’re
not
▪ They are the product of real physical mechanism
• Dualism: the idea that mind and body are fundamentally different substances or processes
▪ vs. Monism or Materialism: The universe is made of only one kind of physical material
(“atoms”)
▪ “Everything reduces to physics” Descartes, ca 1650
▪ But: In Descartes’ time, the ventricles (empty spaces) were thought to hold higher
thought processes.
• de la Mettrie (1748): “L’homme Machine”
▪ People are machines with mechanical systems plumbing, ventilation, temperature control,
etc.
• Darwin (ca. 1850) : all biological structures are “devices” that are adapted to serve the survival
of the organism
▪ -> The mind as a machine
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
▪ A machine is a process consisting entirely of physical, material elements that affect each
other causally—that is, via physical processes.
• In cognition, a mechanistic theory is one in which every element is understood in terms of the
combination of simpler, stupider, elements.
▪ In other words, we reduce things we DON’T understand to combinations of things we
DO understand.
▪ A homonculus is an imaginary “man inside the head”.
▪ If your theory of cognition relies on a homonculus—an intelligent component— than it is
cheating!
▪ In cognitive psychology, we seek to Banish the Homonculus!
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
