Cognitive Psychology Final Exam

conceptual knowledge

Knowledge that enables people to recognize objects and events and to make inferences about their properties.

Concepts

A mental representation of a class or individual. Also, the meaning of objects, events, and abstract ideas. An example would be the way a person mentally represents “cat” or “house.”

category

Groups of objects that belong together because they belong to the same class of objects, such as “houses,” “furniture,” or “schools.”

categorization

The process by which objects are placed in categories.

definitional approach to categorization

The idea that we can decide whether something is a member of a category by determining whether the object meets the definition of the category.

family resemblance

In considering the process of categorization, the idea that things in a particular category resemble each other in a number of ways. This approach can be contrasted with the definitional approach, which states that an object belongs to a category only when it meets a definite set of criteria.

prototype approach to categorization

The idea that we decide whether something is a member of a category by determining whether it is similar to a standard representation of the category, called a prototype.

prototype

A standard used in categorization that is formed by averaging the category members a person has encountered in the past.

sentence verification technique

A technique in which the participant is asked to indicate whether a particular sentence is true or false. For example, sentences like “An apple is a fruit” have been used in studies on categorization.

typicality effect

The ability to judge the truth or falsity of sentences involving high-prototypical members of a category more rapidly than sentences involving low-prototypical members of a category.

exemplar approach to categorization

The approach to categorization in which members of a category are judged against exemplars—examples of members of the category that the person has encountered in the past.

Exemplars

In categorization, members of a category that a person has experienced in the past.

hierarchical organization

Organization of categories in which larger, more general categories are divided into smaller, more specific categories. These smaller categories can, in turn, be divided into even more specific categories to create a number of levels.

superordinate level

The most general category level distinguished by Rosch—for example, “furniture.”

global level

The highest level in Rosch’s categorization scheme (e.g., “furniture” or “vehicles”).

basic level

In Rosch’s categorization scheme, the level below the global (superordinate) level (e.g., “table” or “chair” for the superordinate category “furniture”). According to Rosch, this level is psychologically special because it is the level above which much information is lost and below which little is gained.

subordinate level

The most specific category level distinguished by Rosch—for example, “kitchen table.”

specific level

In Rosch’s categorization scheme, the level below the basic level (e.g., “kitchen table” for the basic category “table”).

semantic network approach

An approach to understanding how concepts are organized in the mind that proposes that concepts are arranged in networks.

hierarchical model

As applied to knowledge representation, a model that consists of levels arranged so that more specific concepts, such as canary or salmon, are at the bottom and more general concepts, such as bird, fish, or animal, are at higher levels.

cognitive economy

A feature of some semantic network models in which properties of a category that are shared by many members of a category are stored at a higher-level node in the network. For example, the property “can fly” would be stored at the node for “bird” rather than at the node for “canary.”

Spreading activation

Activity that spreads out along any link in a semantic network that is connected to an activated node.

lexical decision task

A procedure in which a person is asked to decide as quickly as possible whether a particular stimulus is a word or a nonword.

Connectionism (parallel distributed processing (PDP))

A network model of mental operation that proposes that concepts are represented in networks that are modeled after neural networks. This approach to describing the mental representation of concepts is also called the parallel distributed processing (PDP) approach.

connectionist network

The type of network proposed by the connectionist approach to the representation of concepts. These networks are based on neural networks but are not necessarily identical to them. One of the key properties of these networks is that a specific category is represented by activity that is distributed over many units in the network. This contrasts with semantic networks, in which specific categories are represented at individual nodes.

Units

“Neuronlike processing units” in a connectionist network.

input units

Units in a connectionist network that are activated by stimulation from the environment.

hidden units

Units in a connectionist network that are located between input units and output units.

output units

Units in a connectionist network that contain the final output of the network.

connection weight

In connectionist models, this determines the degree to which signals sent from one unit either increase or decrease the activity of the next unit.

error signal

During learning in a connectionist network, the difference between the output signal generated by a particular stimulus and the output that actually represents that stimulus.

back propagation

A process by which learning can occur in a connectionist network, in which an error signal is transmitted backward through the network. This backward-transmitted error signal provides the information needed to adjust the weights in the network to achieve the correct output signal for a stimulus.

graceful degradation

Disruption of performance due to damage to a system that occurs only gradually as parts of the system are damaged. This occurs in some cases of brain damage and also when parts of a connectionist network are damaged.

category-specific memory impairment

A result of brain damage in which the patient has trouble recognizing objects in a specific category.

sensory-functional (S-F) hypothesis

Explanation of how semantic information is represented in the brain that states that the ability to differentiate living things and artifacts depends on one system that distinguishes sensory attributes and another system that distinguishes function.

multiple-factor approach

Seeking to describe how concepts are represented in the brain by searching for multiple factors that determine how concepts are divided up within a category.

crowding

Animals tend to share many properties, such as eyes, legs, and the ability to move. This is relevant to the multiple-factor approach to the representation of concepts in the brain.

semantic category approach

An approach to describing how semantic information is represented in the brain that proposes that there are specific neural circuits for some specific categories.

embodied approach

Proposal that our knowledge of concepts is based on reactivation of sensory and motor processes that occur when we interact with an object.

semantic somatotopy

Correspondence between words related to specific parts of the body and the location of brain activity associated with that part of the body.

semantic dementia

Condition in which there is a general loss of knowledge for all concepts.

anterior temporal lobe (ATL)

Area in the temporal lobe. Damage to this area has been connected with semantic deficits in dementia patients and with the savant syndrome.

hub and spoke model

A model of semantic knowledge that proposes that areas of the brain that are associated with different functions are connected to the anterior temporal lobe, which integrates information from these areas.

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

A procedure in which magnetic pulses are applied to the skull in order to temporarily disrupt the functioning of part of the brain.

Mental imagery

Experiencing a sensory impression in the absence of sensory input.

imageless thought debate

The debate about whether thought is possible in the absence of images.

conceptual peg hypothesis

A hypothesis, associated with Paivio’s dual coding theory, that states that concrete nouns create images that other words can hang on to, which enhances memory for these words.

mental chronometry

Determining the amount of time needed to carry out a cognitive task.

mental scanning

A process of mental imagery in which a person scans a mental image in his or her mind.

imagery debate

The debate about whether imagery is based on spatial mechanisms, such as those involved in perception, or on propositional mechanisms that are related to language.

spatial representations

A representation in which different parts of an image can be described as corresponding to specific locations in space.

epiphenomenon

A phenomenon that accompanies a mechanism but is not actually part of the mechanism. An example of this is lights that flash on a mainframe computer as it operates.

propositional representations

A representation in which relationships are represented by symbols, as when the words of a language represent objects and the relationships between objects.

depictive representations

Corresponds to spatial representation. So-called because a spatial representation can be depicted by a picture.

mental walk task

A task used in imagery experiments in which participants are asked to form a mental image of an object and to imagine that they are walking toward this mental image.

imagery neurons

Neurons in the human brain studied by Kreiman, which fire in the same way when a person sees a picture of an object and when a person creates a visual image of the object.

topographic map

Each point on a visual stimulus causes activity at a specific location on a brain structure, such as the visual cortex, and points next to each other on the stimulus cause activity at points next to each other on the structure.

unilateral neglect

A problem caused by brain damage, usually to the right parietal lobe, in which the patient ignores objects in the left half of his or her visual field.

method of loci

A method for remembering things in which the things to be remembered are placed at different locations in a mental image of a spatial layout.

pegword technique

A method for remembering things in which the things to be remembered are associated with concrete words.

Spatial imagery refers

The ability to image spatial relations.

Object imagery refers

The ability to image visual details, features, or objects.

paper folding test (PFT)

A test in which a piece of paper is folded and then pierced by a pencil to create a hole. The task is to determine, from a number of alternatives, where the holes will be on the unfolded piece of paper.

vividness of visual imagery questionnaire (VVIQ)

A test in which people are asked to rate the vividness of mental images they create. This test is designed to measure object imagery ability.

degraded pictures task

A task in which a line drawing is degraded by omitting parts of the drawing and obscuring it with a visual noise pattern. The person’s task is to identify the object.

mental rotation task

A task in which a person judges whether two pictures of three-dimensional geometric objects are pictures of the same object rotated in space or are pictures of two mirror-image objects rotated in space.