Cognitive Psychology Lecture: Knowledge Representation

This set of flashcards encompasses key concepts related to knowledge representation in cognitive psychology, focusing on memory systems and theories of categorization.

Semantic Memory

The part of long-term memory responsible for storing knowledge about facts, concepts, and meanings.

Cognitive Economy

A principle that suggests properties and facts should be stored at the highest relevant level to reduce redundancy.

Network Model

A representation of semantic memory as interconnected nodes (words/concepts) connected by links.

Prototype View

A theory suggesting that concepts are formed around idealized representations, or prototypes, of a category.

Exemplar View

A theory that proposes concepts are represented by specific instances (exemplars) rather than abstract averages.

Schemata

Large, organized structures of knowledge that represent concepts, situations, events, and actions.

Spreading Activation

A process where activation of one node spreads to related nodes, enhancing recall of related information.

Hierarchical Semantic Network

A model that organizes concepts in a hierarchy, where each level represents increasing abstraction.

Typicality Effect

The observation that certain category members (e.g., robins) are considered better examples than others (e.g., turkeys).

Connectionist Models

Models of cognitive processes that learn through changes in the strength of connections between units in a network.