psy270 2nd half

categories

• knowledge and beliefs are important for categorizing

• children are taught categories

• implicit ideas are developped 

psychological essentialism

implicit ideas that tell us something belongs in a category

dog belongs in dog category because its “doggy”

doesn’t work for non naturally occuring categories

3 levels of categories

subordinate→basic levels→ superordinate

subordinate category

(specific instances of a basic level categories; eg poodle, Steinway, maple)

basic level category

(informative, distinctive; eg dog, piano, tree)

superordinate category

(broad; eg mammal, instrument, plant)

semantic network models

• how different items are related to each other

• nodes contain information and are connected by directional pathways

  • nodes activated by spreading activation

spreading activation

in network models activation of a node spreads to other ones

Collins & Quillian’s hierarchal model

• one was a compscientist one was a psychologist

• using hierarchy model to model the brain

• nodes with information, connected to each other with pathways (property/ has or ISA/what)

• subordinate nodes inherit properties (don’t have to repeated at every node)

• activation between far nodes takes longer (tested by C&Q via T/F tasks)

  • doesnt work for atypical category items***hierarchy doesn’t work

Collins & Loftus’ Semantic Relatedness model

• Nodes are organised based on the strength of their relationship

• stronger associations →shorter pathways

• typical exemplars have shorter pathways

• eg robin closer to bird than chicken

• challenge: anything can be related by hypothetical semantic relatedness; hard to verify/predict

artificial neural network models

• computing systems modeled after neuron connections in brain

• artificial neurons

• allows knowledge and knowledge representation

• composed of nodes in input, output, and hidden ;ayers connected to each other via weighted connections

• each unit can be inactive, excitatory, inhibitory

• weights may change

kosslyn functional equivalence hypothesis

all images are represented as spatial representations

aka analogue codes

pylyshyns propositional theory

knowledge is stored as propositions not images

reasoning

coming to a conslusion based on given premises or observations which we assume to be true

rationalism

gain knowledge through deduction

a priori truths

we know everything abt the world but we don’t always remember it - artistotle

empiricism

a posterion truths

gain knowledge

syllogisms

drawing a conclusion from 2 statements that we assume are true

categorical syllogisms

identified by the use of quantifiers

all mammals are animals. all dogs are mammals. all dogs are animals

cant always draw a logical conclusion - indeterminate

mental models solve ‘emlimi

limitations to solve syllogisms

limited by working memory

prior knowledge

visual imagery

conditional reasoning

given a set of propositions using an “if…then” then asked to draw a logical conclusion

can affirm or deny

antecedent

the statement that comes first and
contains the “if...” statement

consequent

the statement that follows and
contains the “then...” statement

4 possible kinds of reasoning during a conditional reasoning task

1. affirm the antecedent “if”

2. affirm the consequent “then”

3. deny the antecedent “if”

4. deny the consequent “then”

Wason Selection task

Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other
If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number
on the other side
Select the fewest cards you need to turn over to discover
whether the rule is valid or invalid

what does Wason Selection task tell us abt deductive reasoning?

people have a tendency to look for information that supports a claim but tend not to look for information that refutes it aka confirmation bias

pragmatic reasoning schemas

we can use them (e.g. permission schema) to help reduce the resources required to solve the task

Belief-Bias Effect

If my finger is cut, then it bleeds. My finger is bleeding.
Therefore, my finger is cut

INvalid 👎

knowledge is at odds with a logical conclusion

Inductive reasoning

based on our observations of the world – we make inferences about what is likely true