PSY200 Exam 3

Conceptual knowledge & Language

conceptual knowledge

knowledge that enables us to recognize objects and events and to make inferences about their properties

concept

mental representation of a class or individual; categories of objects, events, and abstract ideas

categorization

the process by which things are placed into groups called categories

definitional approach

approach to categorization in which you determine category membership based on whether object meets the definition of a category

family resemblance

the idea that things in a particular category resemble each other in a number of ways

prototype approach

categorization approach in which membership is determined by comparing the object to a standard representation that represents the category

prototype

a standard used in categorization that is formed by averaging the category members a person has encountered in the past; contains characteristic features

high typicality

a category member that closely resembles the category prototype

low typicality

a category member does not closely resemble the category prototype

sentence verification technique

task in which participants are asked to indicate whether a particular sentence is true or false

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

categorization approach in which members of a category are judged against actual category members (represented by multiple examples)

exemplar

members of a category that a person has had experience with in the past

hierarchical organization 

organization of categories in which larger, more general categories are divided into smaller, more specific categories

superordinate level

the most general category level

basic level

the level below superordinate; is special because much information is lost when moving up, but little information is gained when moving down

subordinate level

level below the basic level which is the most specific

semantic network approach

approach to understanding how concepts are organized in the mind that proposes that concepts are arranged in networks; concepts are linked

cognitive economy

feature of semantic network 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

spreading activation

an activity spreads out along any link in a semantic network that is connected to an activated node; these concepts are primed for activation

connectionism

a network model of mental operation that proposes that concepts are represented in networks that are modeled after neural networks (parallel distributed processing)

graceful degradation

a disruption of performance due to damage to a system that occurs only gradually as parts of the system are damaged (network operation is not totally disrupted)

sensory-functional 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

approach that says there are more factors than just sensory and functional that determine how concepts are divided within a category

semantic category approach

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 sonotopy

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

hub and spoke model

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

language

a system of communication using sounds or symbols that enables us to express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences

hierarchical nature

nature of language that is the idea that language consists of a series of small components that can be combined to form larger units

rule-based nature

nature of language that is the idea that there are rules in a language that specify the permissible ways for arranging words and phrases

psycholinguistics

field concerned with the psychological study of language

lexicon

a person’s knowledge of what words mean, how they sound, and how they are used in relation to other words

semantics

the meanings of words and sentences

word frequency effect

the phenomenon of faster reading time for high-frequency words than low-frequency words

lexical decision task

task is to decide as quickly as possible whether strings of letters are words or non words

speech segmentation

the perception of individual words even though there are often no pauses between words

lexical ambiguity

when a word can have more than one meaning

meaning dominance

some meanings of words occur more frequently than others

biased dominance

when a word has more than one meaning, and one meaning is more likely  

balanced dominance

when a word has more than one meaning and all meanings are equally likely

syntax

rules for combing words into sentences

parsing

the mental grouping of words in a sentence into phrases; determines its meaning

garden path sentences

sentences in which the meaning that seems to be implied at the beginning of the sentence turns out to be incorrect, based on information that is presented later in the sentence

temporal ambiguity

a situation in which the meaning of a sentence, based on its initial words, is ambiguous because a number of meanings are possible, depending on how the sentence unfolds

garden path model of parsing

listener uses heuristics to group words into phrases which emphasized syntactic principles

late closure

when in parsing, a person encounters a new word, the parser assumes that this word is part of the current phrase

constraint based approach to parsing

proposes that semantics, syntax, and other factors operate simultaneously to determine parsing

visual word paradigm

in experiments on language processing, determining how subjects are processing information in a scene as they respond to specific instructions related to the scene

coherance

the representation of a text or story in a reader’s mind so that information in one part of the text or story is related to information in another part

inference

in language, the process by which readers create information that is not explicitly stated in the text

anaphoric inference

inference that connects an object or person in one sentence to an object or person in another sentence

instrument inference

inference about tools or methods that occur while reading text or listening to speech

casual inference

inference that results in the conclusion that events described in one clause or sentence were caused by events that occurred in a previous clause or sentence

situation model

mental representation of what a text is about

given new contract

in a conversation, a speaker should construct sentences so that they contain both given information and new information

common ground

knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions shared between two speakers

entrainment

synchronization between partners in a conversation

syntactic priming

hearing a statement with a particular syntactic construction increases the chances that a statement that follows will be produced with the same construction

theory of mind

the ability to understand what others think, feel, or believe