Cognitive Psychology Lecture 12

What does thought rely on?

Perceptual systems and mental imagery.

Aphantasia

A phenomenon in which individuals lack the capacity to generate mental imagery.

Why is Aphantasia difficult to study?

Because it is self-reported.

Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ)

A test in which people are asked to rate the vividness of mental images they create. This test is designed to measure object imagery ability.

What factors are not correlated with the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ)?

Creativity

What factors are correlated with the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ)?

•Frequency and intensity of flashbacks in PTSD patients

•Levels of anxiety when imagining phobias

•Scores on social desirability scales (a measure of subject bias)

Name some details regarding aphantasia

•VVIQ scores are extraordinarily low

•Reports of people being unable to will mental imagery

•Thinking occurs in words/monologue only, but they might be processing things in analog unconsciously

What is the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire-Revised (VISQ-R)

A self-report questionnaire designed to measure characteristics of inner speech.

What are the differences in cognitive ability between those with high and low inner speech?

There are no differences in cognitive ability

What is a philosophical zombie

A hypothetical being that is physically indistinguishable from a human being in both appearance and behavior, but lacks conscious experiences. An NPC.

What are some correlations between VISQ-R scores and cognition?

•Depression and anxiety

•Hallucination proneness

•Higher scores correlate to louder and meaner voices

Why is the politization of conscious thought dangerous?

•Leads to dehumanization and polarization

•Gives an excuse to disregard the thoughts and feelings of others

What are some of the reasons as to why humans categorize?

•Organizes a complicated world

•Lots of regularities in the environment

•Generalization and discrimination

•Prediction and action

What is prediction and action in categorization?

If an object is determined to be a member of a category, it can be treated like other members of that category.

What are some drawbacks to categorization?

Stereotyping

•Judgements about people determined by category membership

•Prejudice and bias

Incorrect Prejudice

What are Necessary and Sufficient Conditions in categorization?

Qualities that an item must have to be in a category as well as discriminate from other category membership.

What is the Functional Hypothesis in categorization?

Appearance of an object is less important than function.

What is Causal History in categorization?

When the history of an object is more important than its function

How do Function and History differ in categorization?

•Function is more important for items such as tools

•History is more important for biological entities or objects where history matters

Prototype Theory of Categorization

The "best" or "most typical" member of a category. Representation is "idealized" and "averaged" across all category members.

What is the main strength of prototype theory?

Fuzzy boundaries. Prototypes don't need to abide by strict rules and category membership.

Exemplar Theory of Categorization

Similar to prototype theory, but involves comparison to several specific prior examples (called exemplars). Representation corresponds to an actual category member.

What are the possible mechanisms of categorization?

•Resemblance to prototypes/exemplars

•Function

•Causal history