PSY 211 Exam 4 SDSU

prototype theory

determining if something belongs in a category by comparing it to a prototype (typical member) of the category

exemplar theory

instead of one prototype, there are many specific examples stored that are categorized based on similarity to stored individual examples

classical theory

categories have defining feature - very easy to categorize objects

rule-based view

using background knowledge on how the world works to form categories

Posner and Keele experiment

Participants had to classify dot patterns that they may or may not have seen before, both distorted and original, into categories

Posner and Keel results

Participants categorized the unseen dot patterns equally or better than the distortions they had seen before - people extract the average structure of a category, rather than memorizing the example

Posner and Keele interpretation

Participants assumed the average form of the category, providing strong evidence for the prototype theory

family resemblance in relation to categorization

the idea that things in a particular category resemble each other in a number of ways, categories are formed based on overall similarity

prototypicality

refers to how well a category member represents its category (how good of an example it is)

Rosch’s rating (typicality) task

participants rate items on a scale based on how well they think it fits into a category - higher agreement over items that were more typical

sentence verification task

participants read a sentence and had to determine if it was true or false as fast as possible - higher prototypical items resulted in a faster reaction

title comparison experiment

participants were shown a category name and had to determine if an item fit well under the category - higher prototypical items were judged to fit the category better

priming

a change in responsse to a stimulus caused by the previous presentation of the same or a similar stimulus

semantic network model

a model that represents knowledge as a network of interconnected nodes - each node represents a concept, and the connections between nodes represent the relationships between concepts

spreading activation

activity that spreads out along any link that is connected to an activate node - results in concepts becoming primed and are able to be more easily retrieved

Shepard study

participants were given a large set of items to study (pictures, words, or sentences) and they were then shown a pair of items they have seen and have not seen

Results of Sheperd study

memory for pictures was very high, memory for words was much lower, picture memory stayed strong over time

good formation of visual memories

caused by how unique it is, its meaningfulness, if it is both visually and verbally encoded, if you can associate it with something, etc

poor formation of visual memories

caused by similarity, if they aren’t meaningful, distraction while encoding, an overload of information, only glancing at an image, etc

Paivio’s dual-code hypothesis

we store information in two different systems that interact with each other - verbal code (can only be encoded verbally), imagery code (can be encoded twice)

Jonides et al. (1985)

demonstrated that the farther apart two concepts are in your mental (semantic) network, the longer it takes to mentally connect them

Kosslyn’s mental scanning

participants memorized an image (island) and were asked to imagine it and then were given tasks to arrive at specific locations on the map - the farther the distance on the mental image, the longer it took

Kosslyn’s image zooming

participants imagined two animals, one bigger than the other, and they responded faster to questions about the bigger animal - the mind uses visual or spatial representations, size affects how quickly details can be accessed

the alternative theory

Pylyshyn argued that people do not have picture-like mental images, but they rather use propositional representations

Kosslyn’s TMS experiment of imagery

participants performed a perception or imagery task while their visual cortex activity was being interrupted using TMS - demonstrated that mental imagery uses the primary visual cortex

similarities between imagery and perception

they both activate similar brain areas, show spatial properties, rely on similar cognitive processes, can interfere with each other, feel vivid and sensory

differences between imagery and perception

perception has higher resolution, imagery requires low effort, perception is more accurate, perception produces stronger activation in the visual cortex

unilateral neglect study

when a participant was asked to visualize the Piazza del Duomo, he ignored the details on the left side of his image no matter where he was facing

Ganis and colleagues’ fMRI study

imagery and perception produced identical activation in the brains higher-level visual areas - perception strongly activated early visual cortex, but imagery weakly activated it

distinguishing activity in the visual cortex

perception has strong V1 activation and imagery has weak/minimal V1 activation

imagery neurons

neurons that fire both when you perceive an object and when you imagine that same object - respond to specific content, such as a face, object, or category

epiphenomenon

something that appears to be a real, functional process but is actually just a byproduct of something else happening in the brain - most often used in debates about mental imagery