cognitive chapter 9

category

group of objects that have something in common

exemplar

particular instance of a category

generalize

the ability to apply info gathered about one exemplar and apply it to another exemplar

concept

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

concept definitional approach

a list of necessary and sufficient features for membership in a category, based on rules

defining features

necessary and jointly sufficient to specify the requirements for a category

characterizing features

commonly occurring characteristics of many though not necessarily all members of a category

problem of definitional approach

not all of the members of everyday categories have the same features

typicality

gradations to category membership

sentence verification

typicality effect

faster at confirming more typical instances in a category

two parts of typicality effects

priming and reasoning

prototype

abstract, holistic representation of a typical member of a category

prototype model advantage

can explain most typicality effects

prototype model problem

ad hoc categories, all depends on what you have stored in memory

exemplar model

accounts for the fact that you can recognize specific details and not just the prototype

advantages of similarity model

don’t throw away useful info by averaging, more easily accounts for atypical instances, better w/variable categories

problems with similar models

depends on context, sometimes categorize via rules

ppl seem to use

a combo of prototype, exemplar, and definitions

preceding models were all

behavioral in approach

basic level categories

members share most of their features

superordinate level

one level more abstract, less specific, aka global

subordinate level

one level less abstract, more specific

basic levels are argued

to be psychological privileged

we use basic category in

language, faster to verify an object name at a basic than super/subordinate level

basic level depends on

expertise

if you are an expert,

a subordinate level for everyone else may be a basic level for you

properties of memory organization

quantity and speed, near miss, use relevant info, resistant to faulty input

property 1

quantity and speed, hold limitless info in memory, access info in memory very quickly

property 2

near miss, tip of the tongue

property 3

use relevant info to come up w/an answer, even for things we have never thought about before

memory system provides

relevant facts

property 4

resistant to faulty input, getting info that is mostly right conflicts w/info already in memory so assume the new info is mistaken

semantic network approach