(5) conceptual knowledge

concept

is a mental representation that is used for a variety of cognitive functions, including memory, reasoning, and using and understanding language

categorization

is the process by which things are placed into groups called categories.

definitional approach

it can be considered whether something is a member of a category by determining whether a particular object meets the definition of the category.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

______ propose family resemblance, which refers to the idea that things in a particular category resemble one another in number of ways.

prototype approach

membership in a category is determined by comparing the object to a prototype that represents the category.

high prototypicality

• a category member closely resembles the category prototype.

low prototypicality

• category member does not closely resemble a typical member of the category.

sentence verification technique

how fast people could answer questions about an object's category

Priming

____ occurs when presentation of one stimulus facilitates the

response to another stimulus that usually follows closely in time.

back propagation

a process by which error signals are sent back to the hidden and representation units to provide information about how the connection weights should be changed to activate the correct property units.

exemplar approach

involves determining whether an object is similar to a standard object, in which the standard involves many examples, each one called an exemplar.

exemplars

are actual members of the category that a person has encountered in the past.

hierarchical organization

starts with a larger, more gencral categories, then divided into smaller, more specific categories, creating a number of levels of catcgories.

node

_____ represents a category, and the properties.

link

indicate that the nodes are related to cach other in the mind.

cognitive economy

However, instead of including the properties to each specific objects, the added information are placed at the node higher than the specific object to make an efficient network.

It is called _____

spreading activation

_____ is activity that spreads out along any link that is connected to an activated node.

spreading activation

retrieving one word from memory triggered a spread of activation to other nearby locations in a network.

semantic network

Knowledge is stored as nodes (concepts) connected by links (relationships).

activation

When you think of one concept (cg, dog), it spreads to related concepts (animal, pet, bark).

strength of links

Stronger associations (dog-bark) activate faster than weaker ones (dog-wolf).

decay

Activation weakens as it spreads farther from the original node.

flexibility

Unlike strict hierarchies, the model allows overlapping and cross-connections.

Connectionism (Parallel Distributed Processing)

is an approach to creating computer models for representing concepts and their properties based on characteristics of the brain.

connection weight

- a ______ determines how signals sent from one unit either increase or decrease the activity of the next unit.

connectionist network

Activation of a concept unit and a relation unit creates activity throughout the network that culminates in activation of property units.