Cognition, Language, Problem Solving & Intelligence

Cognition

  • Definition: The umbrella term for all forms of thinking; includes processes linked to perception, knowledge, problem-solving, judgement, language, and memory.
  • Input–Processing–Output model:
    • Sensations & information enter the brain.
    • They are filtered through emotions & stored memories.
    • Resulting thoughts guide observable behaviour.
  • Historical fascination: Artwork such as Rodin’s The Thinker and Shi Ke’s Huike Thinking illustrate humanity’s longstanding curiosity about thought.

Concepts & Prototypes

  • Concepts:
    • Mental categories containing linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories.
    • Allow us to see relationships and efficiently store knowledge.
    • May be highly abstract (e.g., justice) or concrete (e.g., bird species).
  • Prototypes:
    • The “best” or most typical example of a concept.
    • Help us decide category inclusion quickly (e.g., Mahatma Gandhi as the prototype of civil disobedience).
  • Significance: Rapid classification, inference, and learning; prototypes also shape stereotypes and expectations.

Natural & Artificial Concepts

  • Natural concepts:
    • Formed “naturally” via direct or indirect experience (e.g., personal experiences with \text{snow}).
    • Fuzzy boundaries; flexible.
  • Artificial concepts:
    • Defined by strict, logical rules or properties (e.g., a square has 4 equal sides & 90^\circ angles).
    • Central to academic disciplines (math, geometry, law) and crucial in building schemas in formal learning.

Schemata

  • Schema (plural schemata): Organized clusters of related concepts.
  • Role schema: Expectations about behaviour based on social roles (e.g., “librarian = quiet, book-loving”).
  • Event schema / Cognitive script:
    • Automatic sequence of actions in specific contexts (e.g., facing the door in elevators).
    • Highly culture-specific; difficult to unlearn—creates habitual behaviours.
  • Practical implication: Can streamline social interaction but also perpetuate biases or unsafe habits (e.g., texting when phone pings while driving).

Event Schema & Technology Example

  • Automatic phone checking:
    • Receiving a text triggers habitual phone pick-up.
    • Research shows that mere availability/checking schemas heighten distraction while driving.
    • Highlights friction between ingrained schemas and safety goals.

Language: Structure & Components

  • Language (general): Rule-based symbol system for transmitting information.
  • Lexicon: Entire word inventory of a language.
  • Grammar: System of rules for combining lexicon into meaningful utterances.
    • Phoneme: Smallest sound unit (e.g., /æ/, /t/).
    • Morpheme: Smallest meaning-bearing unit (e.g., “un-”, “dog”).
  • Semantics: Meaning extracted from morphemes/words.
  • Syntax: Rules for arranging words into sentences.

Language Development

  • Chomsky’s nativist view:
    • Language acquisition is biologically driven; unfolds without formal tutoring.
    • Universal pattern across cultures → evidence for an innate Language Acquisition Device.
  • Critical period hypothesis:
    • Optimal early-life window to master language structure.
    • Deprivation—e.g., the case of Genie—yields permanent grammatical deficits despite vocabulary gains.
  • Typical stages:
    1. 0\text{–}3 mo: Reflexive sounds (cries, coos).
    2. 3\text{–}8 mo: Reflexive + social interest.
    3. 8\text{–}13 mo: Intentional babbling, social signalling.
    4. 12\text{–}18 mo: First true words.
    5. 18\text{–}24 mo: Two-word “telegraphic” phrases.
    6. 2\text{–}3 yr: Sentences \ge 3 words.
    7. 3\text{–}5 yr: Complex syntax; sustained conversation.

Problem-Solving Strategies

  • Trial & error: Random attempts until success (e.g., rebooting devices).
  • Algorithm: Guaranteed solution via step-by-step formula (software manuals).
  • Heuristic: Mental shortcut or “rule of thumb.”
    • Working-backwards, sub-goal decomposition.
    • Preferred when: information overload, strict time limits, low-stakes decisions, or accessible heuristic.

Practice Puzzles

  • Sudoku (numeric constraint satisfaction).
  • Nine-dot spatial task: Illustrates functional fixedness & need for “thinking outside the box.”

Pitfalls to Problem Solving

  • Mental set: Persisting with past strategies even when ineffective.
  • Functional fixedness: Inability to repurpose objects (e.g., candle–matchbox mounting task; box can be a platform).

Cognitive Biases

  • Anchoring bias: Over-reliance on the first piece of information.
  • Confirmation bias: Seeking evidence that supports existing beliefs; ignoring disconfirming data.
  • Hindsight bias (“I knew it all along”).
  • Representative bias: Assuming membership based on prototype resemblance → stereotypes.
  • Availability heuristic: Estimating likelihood from vivid or recent examples (e.g., plane crashes).

Classifying Intelligence

  • Spearman’s g: Single general intelligence factor underlying all tasks.
  • Cattell’s two-factor model:
    • Crystallised intelligence =\text{knowledge retrieval}.
    • Fluid intelligence =\text{novel problem-solving}.

Triarchic Theory (Sternberg)

  • Analytical: Academic / logical problem-solving.
  • Creative: Novel, imaginative solutions.
  • Practical: “Street smarts,” adaptive behaviour.

Multiple Intelligences (Gardner)

  1. Linguistic
  2. Logical-mathematical
  3. Musical
  4. Bodily-kinesthetic
  5. Spatial
  6. Interpersonal
  7. Intrapersonal
  8. Naturalist
  • Emotional intelligence (EI): Combines interpersonal & intrapersonal; involves empathy, self-regulation, cultural competence.

Creativity

  • Definition: Generating novel & valuable ideas/solutions.
  • Characteristics of creative individuals: Deep domain expertise, sustained effort, openness to novel angles, collaboration, risk-taking.
  • Divergent thinking: Many possible answers → creativity measure.
  • Convergent thinking: Single correct answer, crystallised knowledge.

Measuring Intelligence

  • IQ (Intelligence Quotient): Standardised score on intelligence tests.
  • Binet–Simon scale (early 1900s): Diagnostic for school difficulties.
  • Stanford–Binet (Terman): Introduced standardisation & norming across large samples → reliable scoring.
  • Wechsler batteries (WAIS, WISC-V): Multidimensional (verbal, visual-spatial, fluid reasoning, working memory, processing speed).
  • Flynn effect: Generational rise in average IQ → attributed to environment (education, nutrition, complexity of modern life).

The Bell Curve in IQ

  • Normal distribution: Majority cluster near mean; tails contain extremes.
  • Parameters:
    • Mean =100, standard deviation \sigma=15.
    • \approx82\% score between 85 and 115 (±1\sigma).

Source of Intelligence: Nature vs Nurture

  • Genetic evidence: Identical twins reared apart still show high IQ correlation → heritability component.
  • Environmental evidence: Enriched stimulation, parental engagement, schooling raise realised IQ.
  • Range of reaction: Genes set upper & lower boundaries; environment determines where within that range an individual lands.

Genetics and IQ Data

  • Correlation strength (highest → lowest):
    1. Identical twins together
    2. Identical twins apart
    3. Siblings/fraternal twins together
    4. Unrelated individuals together
  • Suggests additive genetic & environmental influences.

Learning Disabilities

  • General: Neurological disorders affecting specific cognitive domains; not equivalent to low global intelligence.
  • Dysgraphia: Difficulty producing written language → poor handwriting, spelling.
  • Dyslexia: Impaired letter/word processing → reversals, reading difficulty; most prevalent.
  • Comorbidity: Frequently co-occurs with ADHD, dyscalculia, etc.
  • Educational considerations: Early screening, multimodal instruction, assistive tech.