COGS 1001 EXAM 1 REVIEW

Flashcard deck reviewing statement logic, truth tables, logic gates, behaviorism, classical and operant conditioning, Rescorla-Wagner modeling, and cognitive challenges to behaviorism from COGS 1001 Week 2 Recitation.

Valid Argument

An argument structured such that if all of its premises are true, its conclusion must necessarily be true as well.

Sound Argument

An argument that is both valid and has premises that are actually true in reality.

Statement Logic

A formal language where basic symbols represent statements, providing a mechanical method to determine which statements must be true given other statements.

Negation

A logical connective formed as $\neg P$, representing "It is not the case that $P$".

Conjunction

A logical connective formed as $(P \text{ AND } Q)$ or $(P \neq Q)$, which is true only when both component statements $P$ and $Q$ are true.

Disjunction

A logical connective formed as $(P \text{ OR } Q)$ or $(P \neq Q)$, which is true if at least one of the component statements is true.

Conditional

A logical connective formed as $(P \rightarrow Q)$, representing "If $P$, then $Q$", which is false only when $P$ is true and $Q$ is false.

Biconditional

A logical connective formed as $(P \neq Q)$, representing "$P$ if and only if $Q$", which is true when both component statements share the same truth value.

Truth Table

A table showing how the truth-value of a compound statement depends on the truth-values of its component parts.

Affirming the Consequent

An invalid argument form that reasons: If $P$, then $Q$; $Q$ is true; therefore, $P$ is true.

Inductive Reasoning

A type of reasoning concerned with inferences that will be true with a certain degree of probability.

Deductive Reasoning

A type of reasoning concerned with inferences guaranteed to be true, given that the premises are true.

Logical Equivalence

A relationship between two statements that have identical truth conditions across all possible truth-value assignments.

De Morgan's Law

A logical principle stating that the negation of a conjunction is logically equivalent to the disjunction of the negations: $\neg(F \text{ AND } G) \neq \neg F \text{ OR } \neg G$.

Logic Gates

Physical or electronic circuit elements that take electrical signal inputs (represented as $1$ or $0$) and produce an output based on propositional logic functions.

Exclusive OR (XOR)

A logic operation that outputs true ($1$) only when its two inputs are different from each other.

Introspectionism

A psychological approach associated with Wilhelm Wundt that investigates the mind by asking individuals to observe and self-report their mental processes following structured instructions.

Behaviorism

A psychological approach that views the mind as an unobservable black box and focuses strictly on studying observable behaviors and reactions to stimuli.

Classical Conditioning

A learning mechanism in which a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus until the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus triggering a conditioned response.

Operant Conditioning

A learning mechanism in which target behaviors are modified, encouraged, or discouraged through the administration of rewards or punishments following the behavior.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers an unconditioned response without any prior training.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, after repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response on its own.

Rescorla-Wagner Model

A mathematical model of classical conditioning that updates the associative strength of a conditioned stimulus across learning trials based on prediction errors.

Blocking

A classical conditioning phenomenon where an established association between a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus prevents a secondary, paired stimulus from acquiring associative strength.

Extinction

The gradual reduction and disappearance of a conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

Positive Reinforcement

Encouraging a target behavior by adding a pleasant stimulus following that behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

Encouraging a target behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus following that behavior.

Positive Punishment

Discouraging a target behavior by adding an unpleasant stimulus following that behavior.

Negative Punishment

Discouraging a target behavior by removing a pleasant stimulus following that behavior.

Latent Learning

Learning that occurs without explicit reinforcement or punishment, such as animals developing a cognitive map while freely exploring an environment.

Universal Grammar

Noam Chomsky's theory proposing an innate language acquisition device that enables rapid language mastery despite limited or imperfect linguistic input.

Equipotentiality Assumption

The assumption in classical and operant conditioning that any stimulus can be equally easily paired with any response, which is challenged by findings that aversive or same-modality associations are learned much faster.

Ambiguous Stimuli

Sensory inputs that permit multiple categorically distinct interpretations, demonstrating that perception relies on mental conceptual schemas and assimilation rather than pure stimulus-response conditioning.

Encapsulation

The perceptual module does its computation in a sealed-off way, and outside information (your beliefs, expectations, factual knowledge) can't get in to change the output.

Fodor’s Modularity

the hypothesis that at least some cognitive processes (especially perception) are carried out by domain-specific (organs), informationally encapsulated, fast, mandatory modules that operate independently of beliefs, expectations, and other cognitive systems.

computational theory of mind

The mind works like a computer — it stores information (representations) and processes it step-by-step according to rules.

brain state

the physical stuff. Which neurons are firing, how much dopamine is in a synapse, which regions are active. It's a biology-level description.

mental state

the thinking stuff. Believing it's raining, wanting coffee, feeling anxious. It's a mind-level description.

multiple realizability

The same mental function can be physically realized in many different ways (different brains, different hardware)

turing machine

FSM paired with an unbounded tape that holds data and acts as both input and memory, while the finite state machine's transition table is the program (instructions)

Von Neumann Machine

a computer architecture where

• a single memory stores both data and instructions (the stored-program concept)

• control unit sequentially fetches and executes those instructions.

• the ALU (does arithmetic/logic),

• memory (holds program + data)

• I/O devices — each specialized for its own job, unlike the Turing machine where everything lived on one tape.

Limited central accessibility

inner workings/processing of a module are hidden from the rest of your mind

fixed neural architecture

Modules develop along a set trajectory rather than being learned, matures in an orderly sequence, and breaks down in characteristic patterns rather than randomly.

benefits of modularity

• robust: damage to one module will stay contained to that function only

• aids evolvability: selection can tweak one module and keep the improvement if it pays off, rather than gambling the whole system at once.

automaticity

module fires whether you want it to or not

underdetermination of sensory input

all sensory input is ambiguous or underdetermined, and perception itself actively structures it.

interactionism

• Alternative theory to modularity

• no wall between perception and thinking

• “free for all”

central cognition

• fodor’s term for the ONE non-modular part of brain

• the hub where all the modular outputs converge

• unencapsulated, slow and deliberate, introspectively accessible

hamlet’s problem

when do you stop thinking and just act? modules never face this because they are automatic

marr’s visual pipeline

retinal image (ambiguous pattern)→ primal sketch → 2.5D sketch → 3D model

top-down effect

when your brain uses prior knowledge, expectations, and past experiences to interpret incoming sensory information; largely touches JUDGEMENT not actual perception

el greco logic

The principle that if a factor truly distorts perception, it distorts everything you perceive, including any visual instrument you use to measure that distortion.

functionalism

what matters is the functional role of a mental state — not what it's made of, but what it does in the system.

phrenology

mental faculties like aggression, benevolence, and wit are each localized to a specific region of the brain — and that exercising a faculty makes its region grow, pushing the skull outward into a readable bump

equipotentiality

the claim that any part of the brain can do the work of any other part (no specialized reasons)

mass action

when the brain is damaged, what matters is how much tissue is destroyed, not where

double dissociation

a two-patient pattern that proves two mental tasks use different brain areas; shows mass action and equipotentiality fail

broca’s aphasia

damage to the left frontal lobe. Speech is halting and effortful, grammar collapses

wernicke’s aphasia

damage to the left temporal lobe. Speech is fluent and grammatical, but meaningless “word salad”

gyri

outward-bulging ridges on the brain's surface

sulci

the grooves tucked into the folds — literally the hills and valleys of the brain's surface.

cortical layers

parallel sheets of cells running through the depth of the cortex, numbered 1 through 6

superior/inferior

above/below

anterior/posterior

toward front/toward back

medial/lateral

closer/farther from middle

brainstem

• connecting the brain to the spinal cord.

• All traffic between brain and body passes through it, so it acts as a relay station: sensory information heading up to the cortex, motor commands heading down.

• houses the circuits for breathing, heart rate, and other autonomic processes that keep the body alive without any conscious involvement.

cerebellum

• back of hindbrain

• it receives input from the sensory systems and the spinal cord, then integrates that information to fine-tune the precision and timing of actions as they happen.

• 80% of neurons live here

proprioception

your sense of where your body parts are in space.

frontal lobe

executive function, decision-making, impulse control, motor control (primary motor cortex)

parietal lobe

touch, pain, temperature, and proprioception

cerebrum

largest part of brain, divided into left and right hemispheres, contains the cortex (four lobes)

occipital lobe

vision

temporal lobe

audition

hippocampus

• consolidation: the process by which information held in short-term memory gets written into long-term memory

• spatial memory and navigation:

topographic organization

the physical layout of what's being represented is preserved in the brain. Neurons that respond to neighboring spots in the world sit next to each other in the cortex.

retinotopy

• Neighboring points in your visual field → neighboring neurons in V1

• visual info → retina → thalamus → primary visual cortex

• contralateral processing → left visual field is processed by right hemisphere

  • Both eyes see both visual fields.

tonotopy

bilateral: audio input goes to both hemisphere

• built around perceptual categories (octaves), not raw physical units (hertz)

somatotopy

• sensory homunculus: distorted human figure where each body part is sized based on how much cortex/neurons it gets — not how big it actually is.

• neighboring body parts → neighboring neurons in somatosensory cortex

association cortex

it integrates inputs across multiple modalities and represents the world far more abstractly.

superior temporal gyrus

language regardless of input modality — not in speech sound specifically

dualism

idea that the mind and the body are two separate kinds of stuff. 

ontology

what kinds of things a framework takes as real or fundamental (subjective depending on what theory you believe in)

difference engine

Babbage's machine that computed polynomials (and nothing else); no instruction-following

analytical engine

Babbage's next design that could follow instructions, making it programmable — though never built

ada lovelace

worked out how to program the analytical engine; credited as the first computer programmer

halting problem

the question "will this program ever halt?" — Turing proved it's unsolvable: no algorithm can answer it in general

formalization

each step is broken down into instructions so exact and unambiguous that the person doing it just has to follow them mechanically.