Cognitive Science key Concepts Midterm

Interdisciplinary

The study of multiple concepts as one.

The Big 6

Philosophy, computer science, psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, anthropology.

Information Processing

An approach that aims to explain how information is encoded into memory.

Representation

To represent information about the world around us.

Bearer

A computational structure or state that realizes a mental representation.

Content

Refers to the 'what' that a mental representation stands for.

Referent

A real-world object or property that a representation stands for.

Grounding

The capacity to interact autonomously with the world of objects, events, actions, properties and states that their symbols are systematically interpretable.

Interpretability

The degree to which a human can predict the outcome of a model or understand the reasons behind its decisions.

Computation

Act on, manipulate, and transform information.

Input

The information that is received by the brain.

Processing

The active manipulation and transformation within the mind.

Output

The result of a computation, or the information that is conscious to a person.

The Mind/Body Problem

The philosophical question of how our mental experience relates to the physical states of our brain.

Dualism

The idea that the mind and body are distinct entities.

The Interaction Problem

The challenge of explaining how a non-physical mind can causally interact with a physical body.

Monism

The idea that the mind and body are one and the same or different manifestations of the same reality.

Multiple Realizability

The phenomenon of one cognitive kind or process being realized by more than one relevantly different physical realizer.

Functionalism

Describes mental states by what they do, not what they are made of.

Behaviorism

Theory that focuses on observable behavior and environmental stimuli.

Conditioning

A learning process where an organism develops an association between two stimuli.

Latent Learning

The process of acquiring information without any immediate reinforcement or obvious behavioral change.

Cognitive Map

A mental representation of a physical environment.

Frontal Lobe

Responsible for executive functions like planning, decision making, and personality.

Parietal Lobe

Processes sensory information.

Temporal Lobe

Responsible for hearing, language comprehension, and memory.

Occipital Lobe

Responsible for visual processing.

Lesion-deficit method

Research approach studying patients with brain damage to identify brain regions associated with specific cognitive functions.

Aphasia

A language disorder where a person has difficulties with understanding or producing spoken or written language.

MRI

Primary neuroimaging technique used to study brain activity during cognitive tasks.

fMRI

A brain imaging technique that measures brain activity during specific tasks.

BOLD signal

'Blood oxygen level dependent' signal measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Functional Specialization

The concept that different areas of the brain are dedicated to specific cognitive functions.

Plasticity

The brain's ability to change and adapt its structure and function in response to new experiences.

Connectome

A comprehensive map of all neural connections within the brain.

Corpus Callosum

A structure that enables communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

Contralateral Organization

Arrangement where one side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body.

Split Brain

A condition where the corpus callosum is severed, isolating the left and right hemispheres.

Formal Systems

An abstract, rule-based structure used to model cognitive processes.

Stimulation

Techniques designed to engage and enhance cognitive functions.

Instantiation

The process of applying a general concept to a specific concrete example.

Levels of Analysis

Includes computational, algorithmic, and implementational levels of understanding cognitive processes.

Semantic Properties

The meaningful characteristics of a mental representation.

Concepts

Mental representations of categories or ideas.

Propositions

The smallest units of meaning that express a complete thought.

Mental Maps

Cognitive representations used to navigate information about locations and attributes.

Mental Imagery

Ability to create and experience sensory perceptions without external stimuli.

Aphantasia

A condition where individuals cannot voluntarily generate mental images.

Mental Rotation

Cognitive ability to mentally imagine an object being rotated in space.

Analog Representation

Mental model where information mirrors the structure of the real world.

Digital Representation

Mental representation structured in a discrete, binary manner.

Approximate Number System

Mental system that allows estimation of quantities without using numbers.

Weber’s Law

The principle that the 'just noticeable difference' between two stimuli is a constant proportion of the original stimulus intensity.

Ex: a person is much more likely to react to a quiet commercial that suddenly doubles in volume than a commercial that only slightly increases in volume

Subitizing System

Cognitive mechanism allowing rapid perception of the number of objects in a small set.

Ex: a standard dice, you can instantly recognize the number of dots displayed without counting them one by one

Successor Function

The fundamental concept that every number has a unique 'next' number.

Halting Problem

The theoretical concept that there can be no definitive algorithm to determine if a cognitive process will reach a conclusion. (unsolvable problem that asks if a program will terminate or run forever when given an input)

Ex: {i | program i eventually halts when run with input 0} {i | there is an input x such that program i eventually halts when run with input x}

Turing Machine

A mathematical model used to understand the human mind within cognitive science.

Automatic Machine

A theoretical model of the mind operating on information without conscious awareness.

Ex: washing machines, vending machines

Determinacy Condition

Condition that determines whether a system is determinate or indeterminate.

Church-Turing Thesis

states that any problem that can be solved by a step by step procedure (algorithm) can also be solved by a turing machine (any calculation a human can perform with a defined method can be done by a computer)

Turing Test

A thought experiment that measures a machine's ability to think like a human.

Frame Problem

Challenge in AI that occurs when an action changes its environment

Ex: If a robot id given the task of picking up a brick, but the brick is knocked over, how can the robot fix the problem?

Searle’s Room

A thought experiment demonstrating that simply processing symbols does not equate to genuine understanding. (Just because you translate something doesn’t mean you understand it)

Complexity Problem

Challenge of explaining how simple neural mechanisms underlie complex cognitive abilities.

Ex: trying to understand how a seemingly simple action like “making a decision” arises from the intricate interactions of millions of neurons in the brain