CGSC1001 quiz 1 carleton

Cognitive system

Anything that takes input from the environment and creates an output to effect that environment

Environment

Effects the cognitive system through perception

Perception

The term for how a cognitive system gets it's input by transforming things from the environment to internal representations

Action

The term for the output that a cognitive system creates to effect the environment

Distributed cognition

Multiple cognitive systems can come together to form a group which completes a task

Cognition

The manipulation or storage of representations like making reminders or your name

How representations are stored in memory in animals, software, and distributed systems?

Animals \= long-term or short-term and in the brain
Software \= databases and symbols
Distributed system \= paper, brain, disk, environment manipulation

The different ways to describe memory

Can be described as either biologically (location) or functionally (long-term vs. short-term)

Sensory memory

Type of memory where new perceptions re-write it every few seconds

Short term memory

Type of memory where it is stored for a temporary period of time before being forgotten or stored forever

Long term memory

Type of memory that is stored forever

Workspace model

Working memory is a buffer that shuffles memories pulling out certain memories when they are to be recalled, and it can hold about 4-5 memories at a time

Declarative memory

Facts, events that have happened to you, your name, student number, etc.

Implicit memory

Procedural memory like to tie a shoe, play a video game, any sort of physical task, etc.

Implicit knowledge

Stuff that's hard to express like meeting someone and getting a bad feeling from them or that they are familiar

What parts of the brain is short term to long term memories associated with?

The hippocampus

What parts of the brain is procedural memory associated with?

Cerebellum, basal ganglia, and the motor cortex

Computer memory

Stored as a disk or flash memory

Software memory

Stored as hash tables, schemata, frames, scripts, logical sentences, bitmaps, activation patterns, and weights in links

What level of cognition are cognitive scientists most interested in?

The information level

Memory in distributed systems

Books, brains, fingers, notes, arrows, signs, etc.

What is learning?

Changing memory with the purpose of preparing a system for better action in the future

Habituation

A style of learning where the diminution of a behavioural response is seen with repeated stimulation. Decreasing sensitivity to specific stimulation or in other words you stop noticing something.

Sensitization

A style of learning where a behavioural response is amplified by repeated exposure to a stimulus.

Classical conditioning

A type of learning where the subject learns to associate 2 previously unrelated stimuli with one another. Ex. Pavlov's dogs learning to salivate at the sound of a bell because they knew that meant food would follow.

Testimonial learning

A style of learning where factual information is gained through someone telling you it like in a textbook, prof, a friend, etc.

Operant conditioning

A style of learning where either a positive or a negative stimulus is either added or removed to elicit a desired behaviour that becomes learned

What does reinforcement indicate in operant conditioning?

Encouraging behaviour

What does punishment indicate in operant conditioning?

Discouraging a behaviour

What does positive indicate in operant conditioning?

To add something

What does negative indicate in operant conditioning?

To remove something

Positive reinforcement

The strongest style of operant conditioning where a behaviour is encouraged by adding a reward

Negative reinforcement

A style of operant conditioning where a behaviour is encouraged by removing a stimulus

Positive punishment

A style of operant conditioning where a behaviour is discouraged by adding a stimulus

Negative punishment

A style of operant conditioning where a behaviour is discouraged by removing a positive sitmulus

Practice

The process of doing something over and over again to learn how to do it better. Play is theorized to be type of practice.

Automotization

When motor skills become instinct due to practice

Imprinting

A style of learning that is time-sensitive. This a rare kind of learning where a certain specifies will latch onto the first thing it sees

Observational learning

A style of learning that happens by observing another individual so something. Much of enculturation is this style.

Enculturation/imitation

Cultural learning, when an environment changes quickly

Reasoning or inference

Getting facts by figuring them out, not a form of learning

Genetic learning

Evolves over time as environments change slowly

Content bias

Imitate the best idea

Prestige bias

Imitate the most successful

Conformist bias

Imitate the most common ways of doing things

Baldwin effect

Predisposed to easily learn to be afraid of things like snakes for example

Substrate-neutral

Means it happens to all kinds of things

Learning at the sociological level

Looking at the sociological implications of certain things to gain knowledge about cognition

Learning at the psychological level

A level of learning where behaviour and response is the focus

Learning at the cognitive level

The information level of the mind, theory of mind

Theory of mind

The things we do are represented in our heads as productions (an information entity that has prerequisites and actions to be done --\> waiting for someone to ask your name and producing the response) all these productions are sitting waiting to act. Sets goals to do something, and the production will either get stronger or weaker based on the outcome

Learning at the biological level

Understanding what the brain is made of (neurons with dendrites and axons, etc.)

Learning at the chemical level

Not useful for figuring out the ways that the mind works, but helps to better understand the biological level ex. how synapses change

Learning at the physical level

Not a good description for learning. Not very applicable to cognition

How do we know if a level is legitimate?

If it can successfully make causal predictions using the ontology of that level

Ontology

A set of things said to exist

How is reductivism seen in scholars?

Certain scholars often believe that most of the levels higher than theirs can be deduced to lower levels (their own level)

Why do we need the sociological level?

To explain certain group behaviour phenomena like going on strike, because it's difficult to draw general conclusions based on an individual

Why do we need the psychological level?

Some behaviours aren't influenced by their social context so sociology won't do. We need it in addition to the cognitive level because we need a place for non-causal statistical models

Why do we need the cognitive level?

The explanation of certain behaviours without the language of information processing is too vague (how people do multiplication) which the psychological level can't explain and we need it because the biological level can't address mental states and processes because their defined functionally not anatomically

Why do we need the biological level?

In addition to the cognitive level because the biological structure sometimes influences the behaviour in ways information processing cannot explain (number/colour synesthesia). In addition to the chemical level because entire brain structures are used for particular things

Synesthesia

Mixing up information with other sensory information due to the way that sulci and gyri interact with each other

Why do we need the chemical level?

In addition to the biological level chemicals can affect behaviour (drug use) and in addition to the physical level, physics tells us nothing about behaviour

Proximate explanation

A closely related answer that makes general sense (We eat because it satisfies our hunger and food tastes good)

Ultimate explanation

The explanation from an evolutionary standpoint or a greater point of view overall (We eat because we need nutrition to stay alive)

How does cognitive science prefer information?

Described information and how it is represented for example theorizing that individual memories have "activation levels" that determine how easily they can be retrieved from memory. Being able to describe the workings of a mind at a level so detailed one could program a computer the same way.

Activation levels

As you're taking things in different parts of memory which will change in their individual activations (while camping we went to get some water at the bank --\> more likely to take the meaning of the word that best bits the scenario due to the higher activation level)

The metaphor for cognitive science is...

The mind is a computer program, the mind is like software that runs on the hardware of the brain

Programs

Information processing instructions

Functionalism

Believes that mental states and processes are determined by their functional properties rather than their physical properties e.g. pain is a functional thing that manifests itself in different ways

i.e.

That is

e.g.

For example

Historical core fields of cognitive science

Psychology, philosophy, computer science, and linguistics

Contemporary core fields

Neuroscience (cognitive neuroscience)

Secondary fields

Education and anthropology

What professor Davis believes should be considered a sub-field

Behavioural economics

What is psychology characterized by?

Subject matter: natural minds, mostly human. Broadly interested in cognitive functioning, even when it is erroneous
Methods: laboratory
experimentation, statistical
analysis, computer cognitive
modeling
60^% of papers are this

Natural minds

Minds that come about through evolution (humans)

Psychology subfields

Cognitive psychology, HCI, evolutionary psychology, psycholinguistics, and comparative psychology

Cognitive psychology

Broad field of basic research in human internal mental processes - limited to behavioural experiments

Human factors/Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

How people psychologically interact with artifacts (human-designed things), such as user interfaces

Evolutionary psychology

How our evolutionary history has made our minds what they are

Psycholinguitics

Studying language with experiments - have their own methodology and experiments

Comparative psychology

Animal cognition, sometimes comparing it to human

Psychology critiques

Not enough model building, dustbowl empiricism (not enough theory), methodologically limited, underestimate the complexity of language

Dustbowl empiricism

Being too focused on experimentation that there isn't enough focus on developing theories as to how the mind actually works

A model

A simplified representation that helps you to figure out how something works, but sometimes might not be detailed enough to make accurate predictions

What is Philosophy characterized by?

Subject Matter: usually big questions, what our concepts mean, otherwise quite broad
Methods: Thinking and writing.
Thought experiments
Conceptual analysis - trying to figure out the exact meaning of words we use
Argumentation - different from thought experiment without asking questions
Theorizing from evidence from other fields and common sense observations

Philosophy sub-fields

Philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, philosophy of language

Philosophy of mind

Deals with qualia and comparing different philosophical view points

Philosophy of science

Analyzing how science should be practiced, philosophy of psychology, making theories, etc.

Philosophy of language

Figuring out how to connect words to create meaning and referring to something that doesn't exist

Philosophy critiques

Don't pay enough attention to empirical study, think the existence of a word implies the existence of its intended referent, too concerned with too many unimportant problems

How is Computer science characterized?

Subject Matter: How mental processes can work on machines, and how computers can effectively interact with humans
Methods: building and testing computer programs

AI - artificial intelligence

Trying make computers smart by however we can by building mental processes with computer programs to understand and create mental systems

Computer science sub-fields

Artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction

Human-computer interaction

To design computer interfaces that humans can effectively use

Artificial intelligence critiques

Insufficiently concerned with natural intelligence --\> AI doesn't work the same way that people or animals do, too optimistic about the future of AI

How is Linguistics characterized?

Subject Matter: human spoken or signed natural language
NOT computer or animal languages
NOT (for the most part) written language
Methods: sound analysis, grammar creation, corpus analysis

Linguistics sub-fields

Phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics