Cognition and Concepts — Lecture Notes

Cognition: Overview

• The class will discuss cognition with a focus on thinking, problem solving, and related processes.
• Structure of the session: discuss cognition for most of class, then reserve time at the end for looking at the test if students want to, otherwise they can skip it.
• Test handling policy:
  • Tests are returned for in-class review, but students should not take pictures or take the test away.
  • Tests can be recycled; questions may reappear in future assessments.
  • There are four tests plus a comprehensive final exam.
  • The lowest test grade is dropped. If the first test goes well and performance remains high, the final may not be necessary.
• The speaker jokes about not using crutches and hopes not to fall, creating a light tone as the topic begins.

What is cognition? Definition and scope

• Cognition refers to how we think, what we use our mind for, how we process information, and how we solve problems.
• In psychology, cognition is studied as mental processes that underlie observable behavior.
• Observable behavior is what we can see (actions, responses), while mental processes are private and not directly observable.
• The overarching goal of cognitive psychology: explain observable behavior by examining the underlying mental processes.
• Analogy introduced: the mind resembles a computer – information input, processing, and output.
  • This analogy helped spark interest in cognitive psychology in the 1950s, a period of growing interest in computers.
• Representational view: cognition involves transforming information through internal representations, not just passive thinking.

Historical context: cognitive psychology and the computer analogy

• The 1950s saw rising interest in computers and information processing.
• Psychologists began to model the mind as a information-processing system: inputs are received, processed, and then outputs are produced.
• This perspective gave rise to cognitive psychology, which aims to explain behavior by analyzing mental processes such as perception, memory, thinking, and problem solving.
• Key idea: we study cognition by inferring unseen mental processes from visible behavior.

Thinking: definition and characteristics

• Definition: thinking is the manipulation of mental representations for a purpose.
  • It is an active process, not just daydreaming or idle thought.
  • There is a goal or task driving the mental activity.
• Mental representations are internal, not physical objects you move around.
  • Example: thinking about lunch involves a mental image or concept of lunch, not an actual meal being moved around.
• Thinking is a process, not a static state; it involves ongoing cognitive work aimed at a goal.

Mental representations and concepts

• Mental representations are the building blocks of thinking; they stand in for real-world objects, events, or ideas.
• Concepts are a type of mental representation: mental categories that group things together.
• Why concepts are important:
  • Help organize thoughts and the world around us.
  • Enable comparison and contrast (similarities vs. differences).
  • Facilitate learning by structuring new information into known categories.
  • Aid memory by providing organized schemas for events or ideas.
  • Make thinking fast and efficient by allowing quick retrieval of related information.
• Everyday example: concept of a tree
  • We use features like trunk, branches, leaves, roots, sun, and even bird activity to recognize a tree.
  • Prototypes and variability in representation affect how we picture a tree.

The tree exercise: exploring concepts and prototypes in real time

• The instructor leads a live, interactive description of a tree, inviting student input to describe what they imagine.
  • Initial cues: red leaves, maple leaves, branches, trunk, roots, a hole for critters, bird’s nest, sun.
  • Students describe various details and the instructor attempts to draw or visualize accordingly.
  • The drawing evolves with group input, including elements like a bird’s nest, branches, a swing, and a tree hole used by critters.
• Purpose of the exercise:
  • To illustrate how a single concept (tree) can have many valid mental representations across individuals.
  • To show how initial, individual prototypes influence the shared concept and how group discussion can align or reshape them.
  • To demonstrate that although each person’s mental image may differ, the features can still fit the same concept (tree).
• Outcome of the exercise:
  • By the end, participants converge on recognizing a tree despite diverse details.
  • It highlights the prototype concept: the most typical or commonly thought-of example of a concept.
• Prototypes and variability:
  • Prototype: the most commonly thought-of example of a concept.
  • Prototypes can differ from person to person due to different experiences.
  • The tree prototype is fostered by common experiences, but individual prototypes may vary (e.g., a Christmas tree, a tree with no branches, etc.).
• Prototypes serve as quick references for recognition and categorization; they influence judgments about whether an object fits a concept.
• Example discussion: when asked to picture a bird, people may have varied mental representations, but still recognize the object as a bird.

Prototypes in depth: what they are and why they matter

• The prototype is the typical or most representative example of a concept.
• Prototype is not a universal image; it reflects common experience and may differ among individuals.
• The concept of a bird illustrates variability in mental representations while still supporting recognition.
• Prototypes help with initial categorization and rapid processing, but experience can shift prototypes over time.
• How prototypes relate to memory and learning:
  • Concepts organize experiences into manageable categories.
  • When studying, students rely on concepts to group definitions, historical facts, and processes like classical conditioning.
  • Prototypes influence how new information is integrated into existing knowledge.

Why concepts and prototypes matter for cognition and learning

• Concepts provide rapid organization of thoughts, events, and experiences, enabling quick understanding and planning.
• They shape how we interpret new information by providing a framework for comparison and inference.
• They support efficient memory by encoding information into familiar categories.
• They influence how we solve problems by offering structured schemas to apply to new tasks.
• The tree exercise showcases how experience and discussion shape prototypes, illustrating that concepts are flexible and adaptable.

Practical and philosophical implications

• Concept formation is not fixed; it evolves with experience and feedback from others.
• Our mental representations are constructs that facilitate reasoning, planning, and communication.
• The balance between stable prototypes and flexible adaptation supports both stable knowledge and learning from new experiences.
• Ethical and practical considerations discussed in class include:
  • Test administration and integrity: avoiding taking pictures to prevent misuse of recycled questions.
  • The instructor’s policy of not sending tests home to protect exam question reuse and fairness.
  • The option to drop a low test grade to reduce the impact of one poor performance on overall evaluation.
  • The choice to skip the final if the lowest test grade is dropping and performance is strong enough earlier in the course.

Summary of key points about cognition and thinking

• Cognition encompasses how we think, process information, and solve problems via mental processes.
• Cognitive psychology seeks to explain observable behavior by examining unseen mental processes.
• The computer analogy (input → processing → output) helps frame information processing in the mind.
• Thinking is an active manipulation of mental representations with a purpose, not mere daydreaming.
• Concepts are mental categories that organize knowledge and experience, supporting memory, learning, and reasoning.
• Prototypes are the most typical representations of a concept; they vary across individuals and situations.
• Real-time activities (e.g., the tree exercise) demonstrate how concepts are formed, tested, and refined through experience and discussion.
• Learning involves updating concepts and prototypes as new experiences occur.
• Class policies on testing and assessment emphasize fairness, integrity, and opportunities to improve through dropping the lowest grade.
• The course plan includes continuing discussion of problem solving in upcoming sessions (Monday and Wednesday).

Connections to broader course themes

• Links to memory construction and retrieval: how concepts facilitate remembering definitions, processes, and historical facts.
• Links to problem solving: planned exploration in upcoming classes.
• Foundational principles: active processing, representational thinking, categorization, and the role of experience in shaping mental representations.
• Real-world relevance: understanding how people categorize information informs education, memory strategies, and communication.

End-of-lecture note

• The session is paused here with a promise to resume problem solving on Monday.
• The instructor keeps the door open for discussion about cognition in subsequent classes.