Summary Cognitive Psychology:
Sternberg
7th edition
Chap. 1-12
Chapter 1
1. Cognitive Psychology Defined
= study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information
– Heuristic = Mental shortcut to process information
– Dialectic: back-and-forth- development process
a. Thesis
b. Antithesis
c. synthesis
– Culture influences cognitive processes e.g. intelligence (Nisbett: east – west)
2. Philosophical Origins of Psychology: Rationalism versus Empiricism
– origins of cognitive psychology:
a. philosphy: method of introspection
b. physiology: empirical method
– two philosophical perspectives:
a. rationalism: goes back to Plato, route to knowledge is through logical analysis and
thinking, prominent thinker: Descartes, cogito ergo sum
b. empiricism: goes back to Aristotle, route to knowledge via empirical observation
prominent thinker: Locke, tabula rasa
synthesis: Immanuel Kant
3. Psychological Origins of Cognitive Psychology
3.1 Early Dialectics in the Psychology of Cognition
dialectic development of modern psychology
– Structuralism vs Functionalism
a. Structuralism: first major school of psychology; seeks to unterstand the structure of the
mind and its perceptions by analyzing those perceptions into their constituent components
(affection, attention, memory, sensation)
founder of structuralism: Wilhelm Wundt, who used the method of introspection
(=conscious observation of one’s own thinking processes)
→ problems of introspection:
a. people may not know their own thought process or put them intto words
b. information may be inaccurate
c. paying attention may alter thought process
Edward Titchener: student of Wundt, brought structuralism to the US, used method of
introspection
b. Functionalism: focus on the processes of thought rather than on its contents: seeks to
understand what people do and why they do it; developed as an alternative to
structuralism; Functionalists were interested in practical application of research and used a
variety of methods → Pragmatism: knowledge is validated by its usefulness
William James: guided functionalism towards pragmatism; author of Principles of
Psychology
John Dewey: another early pragmatist who infliuenced contemporary cognitive psychology
3.2 From Associationism to behaviourism
– Associationism = influental way of thinking in early psychology:
Associationism examines how elements of the mind, such as
events or ideas, can become associated with one another in the mind to result in a form
of learning
associations may result from:
a. contiguity (associating things that tend to occur together at about the same time);
b. similarity (associating things with similar features or properties); or
c. contrast (associating things that show polarities, such as hot/cold, light/dark,
day/night).
Hermann Ebbinghaus: first experimenter to apply associationist principles systematically;
studied his own mental processes → studied how people remember through rehearsal →
repetition fixes mental associations
Edward Lee Thorndike: satisfaction is key to formin associations → law of effect: A
stimulus will tend to produce a certain response over time if an organism is rewarded for
that response
– Behaviourism: focuses only on the relation between observable behaviour and
environmental events or stimuli; may be considered an extreme version of associatonism:
focuses on association between environment and behaviourism
Ivan Pavlov: classical conditioning, studies involunatry reactions in dogs → paved the way
for behaviourism
classical conditioning requires contiguity (stimuli appear at the same time) and
contingency (stimuli are presented together contingently)
John Watson: „father“ of radical behaviourism; believd that psychology should concentarte
only on on observable behaviour, not on mental states (thinking as subvocalized speech)
lots of behaviourist research is conducted on animals → question, whether research can be
generalized for humans
B.F. Skinner: believed that virtually all forms of human behaviour, not just learning, could
be explained by reactions to the environment → operant conditioning; applied his
principles to learning, language acquisition and problem solving
– Criticism of Behaviourism:
a. behaviourism did not account as well for complex mental activities, such as language
learning and problem solving
b. „psychologists wanted to know what went on inside the head „
c. using the techniques of behaviourism to study nonhuman animals was often easier than
studying human ones
– Opening the Black Box: behaviourists unterstand mind as input – blackbox – output
mechanism, whose internal processes cannot be described or observed
Edward Tolman: thought that understanding behaviour required taking into account
the purpose of, and the plan for, the behaviour → all behaviour is directed toward a goal;
forefather of modern cognitive psychology
Albert Bandura: learning appears to result not merely from direct rewards
for behaviour, but it also can be social, resulting from observations of the rewards or
punishments given to others → learning by examples (models) can be seen in various
animals and humans, infants as well as adults
3.3 Gestalt Psychology: Gestalt Psychology states that we best understand psychological
phenomena when we view them as organized, structured wholes → we cannot fully
understand behaviour when we only break phenomena down into smaller parts ; avid critic
of behaviourism
“the whole is more than the sum of its parts”
4. Emergence of Cognitive Psychology
– Cognitivism: „cognitive revolution“ in 1950s → belief that most human behaviour explains
how people think; rejects behaviourist idea that psychology should not study mental
processes
Cognitivism can be viewed as a syntheis of behaviourism (precise quantitative analysis) and
Gestaltism (emphasis on internal mental processes)
Karl Spencer Lashley: Watson's former student, considered the brain to be an active,
dynamic organizer of behaviour → sought to understand how the macro-organization of
the human brain made possible complex, planned activities
Donald Hebb: proposed the concept of cell assemblies (coordinated neural structures that
develop through frequent stimulation) as the basis for learning in the brain
Noam Chomsky: wrote an article against Skinners' theory of language acquisition →
stressed the biological basis and the creative potential of language; pointed out the infnite
numbers of sentences we can produce
– 1950's: machines could be programmed to intelligently process information
Alan Turing: Human and machine communication won't be distuingishable → Turing test
– Artifcial intelligence (AI): systems that show intelligence and, particularly, the intelligent
processing of information
– 1960's: development of psychobiology/cognitive neuroscience
– George Miller: Magic Number Seven (e.g. short term memory), channel capacity (the upper
limit with which an observer can match a response to information given to him)
– Ulrich Neisser: Cognitive Psychology
– 1970's:
– Jerry Fodor: Modularity of Mind = the mind has distinct modules, or special-purpose
systems, to deal with linguistic and, possibly, other kinds of information
5. Research Methods
– Goals:
data gathering, data analysis, theory development, hypothesis formulation, hypothesis
testing, application to settings outside the research environment.
– Theory = an organized body of general explanatory principles regarding a phenomenon,
usually based on observations
– hypothesis = tentative proposals regarding expected empirical consequences of the theory,
such as the outcomes of research
– Statistical signifcance indicates the likelihood that a given set of results would be obtained
if only chance factors were in operation
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a. laboratory/controlled experiments:
Independent variables are aspects of an investigation that are individually manipulated
Dependent variables are outcome responses, the values of which depend on how one or
more independent variables influence or affect the participants
control variables: irrelevant variables that are held constant
Confounding variables: a type of irrelevant variable that has been lef uncontrolled in a
study
! The experimenter also must randomly assign participants to the treatment and control
conditions !
Common variables: percent correct (error rate) and reaction time → subtraction method =
estimating the time a cognitive process takes by subtracting the amount of time
information processing takes with the process from the time it takes without the process
– inference of causal link legitimate with experimental method
– correlation: Pearson's r between 0 and 1 → causality cannot be inferred
b. neuroscientific research
– relationship between cognitive performance and cerebral events and structures
– three categories:
a. postmortem study of the brain (e.g. how lesions influence cognitive defects)
b. studying images showing structures of or activities in the brain of an individual who is
known to have a particular cognitive deficit
c. techniques for obtaining information about cerebral processes during the normal
performance of a cognitive activity
c. self-reports, case studies, naturalistic observations
– self-reports = (an individual’s own account of cognitive processes)
case studies = (in-depth studies of individuals)
naturalistic observation = (detailed studies of cognitive performance in everyday
situations and nonlaboratory contexts)
→ useful for hypothesis formulation
– ! Data based on self-reports may be unreliable due to intentional or unintentional
misreports !
– Verbal protocol: participants describe aloud all their thoughts and ideas during the
performance of a given cognitive task
→ Problem: Cognitive processes may be altered by the act of giving the report
– Case studies and naturalistic observation: high ecologic validity = the degree to which
particular fndings in one environmental context may be considered relevant outside of that
context
d. computer simulation and AI
– In computer simulations, researchers program computers to imitate a given human
function or process , e.g. Computer program that plays chess
→ three options:
a. brute force: algorithm performs very efficiently, but unlike humans
b. algorithm tries to imitate human thought processing
c. a combination of the two
– Cognitive Science = cross- disciplinary feld that uses ideas and methods from cognitive
psychology, cognitive neuroscience, AI, philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology
SUMMARY
1. What is cognitive psychology? Cognitive psychology is the study of how people perceive,
learn, remember, and think about information.
2. How did psychology develop as a science? Beginning with Plato and Aristotle, people have
contemplated how to gain understanding of the truth. Plato
held that rationalism offers the clear path to truth, whereas Aristotle espoused
empiricism as the route to knowledge. Centuries later, Descartes extended
Plato’s rationalism, whereas Locke elaborated on Aristotle’s empiricism. Kant
offered a synthesis of these apparent opposites. Decades after Kant proposed his
synthesis, Hegel observed how the history of ideas seems to progress through a
dialectical process.
3. How did cognitive psychology develop from psychology? By the twentieth century,
psychology had emerged as a distinct field of study. Wundt focused on the structures of the
mind (leading to structuralism), whereas James and Dewey focused on the processes of the
mind (functionalism). Emerging from this dialectic was associationism, espoused by
Ebbinghaus and Thorndike. It paved the way for behaviourism by underscoring the
importance of mental associations. Another step toward behaviourism was Pavlov’s
discovery of the principles of classical conditioning. Watson and, later, Skinner were the
chief proponents of behaviourism. It focused entirely on observable links between an
organism’s behaviour and particular environmental contingencies that strengthen or
weaken the likelihood that particular behaviours will be repeated. Most behaviourists
dismissed entirely the notion that there is merit in psychologists trying to understand what
is going on in the mind of the individual engaging in the behaviour. Tolman and subsequent
behaviourist researchers noted the role of cognitive processes in influencing behaviour. A
convergence of developments across many fields led to the emergence of cognitive
psychology as a discrete discipline, spearheaded by such notables as Neisser.
4. How have other disciplines contributed to the development of theory and
research in cognitive psychology? Cognitive psychology has roots in philosophy and
physiology, which merged to form the mainstream of psychology. As a discrete field of
psychological study, cognitive psychology also profited from cross-disciplinary
investigations. Fields relevant to cognitive psychology include linguistics (e.g., How do
language and thought interact?), biological psychology (e.g., What are the physiological
bases for cognition?), anthropology (e.g., What is the importance of the cultural context for
cognition?), and technological advances like artificial intelligence (e.g., How do computers
process information?).
5. What methods do cognitive psychologists use to study how people think?
Cognitive psychologists use a broad range of methods, including experiments,
neuroscientifc techniques, self-reports, case studies, naturalistic observation, and
computer simulations and artifi cial intelligence.
6. What are the current issues and various felds of study within cognitive psychology? Some
of the major issues in the feld focus on how to pursue knowledge. Psychological work can
be done
• by using both rationalism (which is the basis for theory development) and empiricism
(which is the basis for gathering data);
• by underscoring the importance of cognitive structures and of cognitive processes;
• by emphasizing the study of domain-general and of domain-specific processing;
• by striving for a high degree of experimental control (which better permits
causal inferences) and for a high degree of ecological validity (which better
allows generalization of findings to settings outside of the laboratory); and
• by conducting basic research seeking fundamental insights about cognition and applied
research seeking effective uses of cognition in real-world settings. Although positions on
these issues may appear to be diametrical opposites, often apparently antithetical views
may be synthesized into a form that offers the best of each of the opposing viewpoints.
Cognitive psychologists study biological bases of cognition as well as attention,
consciousness, perception, memory, mental imagery, language, problem
solving, creativity, decision making, reasoning, developmental changes in cognition across
the life span, human intelligence, artifcial intelligence, and various other aspects of human
thinking.
Chapter 2
1. Cognition in the Brain: The Anatomy and Mechanisms of the Brain
1.1 Gross Anatomy of the Brain: Forebrain, Midbrain, and Hindbrain
– Names come from structure of brain in development
→ Initially, the forebrain is generally the farthest forward, toward what becomes
the face. The midbrain is next in line. And the hindbrain is generally farthest from the
forebrain, near the back of the neck → relative orientations change as child develops
a. Forebrain (includes cerebral cortex, the basal ganglia, the limbic system, the thalamus,
and the hypothalamus):
– cerebral cortex: outer layer of cerebral hemispheres; essential for thinking and other
mental processes
– basal ganglia: crucial to motor function
– limbic system (important for emotion, motivation, memory, and learning):
a. septum (anger and fear)
b. amygdala: emotion, anger and aggression, fear, perception of emotional stimuli;
malfunction is possibly related to autism)
c. hippocampus: memory formation, seeing relationships among items, spatial relations;
damage → inabilty to form new memories
– thalamus: relays incoming sensory information to corresponding brain area → most
sensory information passes through thalamus; is divided into nuclei
– hypothalamus: regulates behaviour related to species survival: fighting, feeding,
fleeing, and mating (4F); regulation of emotion and stress reaction, plays a role in sleep;
b. Midbrain
– control of eye movement and coordination
– reticular activating system (RAS) = network of neurons essential to regulating
consciousness, including sleep; wakefulness; arousal; attention to some extent; and vital
functions, such as heartbeat and breathing
– brainstem = hindbrain, along with the thalamus, midbrain, and hypothalamus; connects
forebrain to spinal cord → brain death based on brainstem function
c. Hindbrain (medulla oblongata, pons, cerebellum)
– medulla oblongata controls heart activity and largely controls breathing,
swallowing, and digestion; place where nerves from right bodysite cross to left side of brain
and vice versa
– pons contains neural fbers that pass signals from one part of the brain to
another.
– Cerebellum controls bodily coordination, balance, and muscle tone, as well as some
aspects of memory involving procedure-related movements
– The prenatal development of the human brain roughly corresponds to the evolutionary
development of the human brain within the species as a whole (hindbrain, then midbrain,
then forebrain)
1.2 Cerebral Cortex and Localization of Function
Cerebral Cortex:
– enables planning, coordination of thoughts and actions, visual and acoustic perception and
use of language
– forms a 1- to 3-millimeter layer that wraps the surface of the brain, convolutions include
three elements:
a. Sulci: Small grooves
b. Fissures: large grooves
c. gyri: bulges between adjacent sulci or fissures
→ increased surface area
– Cerebral Cortex consists of gray matter (grayish neural-cell bodies), underlying structure
consists mostly of white matter (white, myelinated axons)
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Hemispheric Specialization
Two cerebral hemispheres with different specializations; correlate to opposite half of the
body (contralateral), but sometimes ipsilateral (to the same side), e.g. odours
corpus callosum connects both hemispheres
Marc Dax: Found Specialization of left hemisphere for language
Paul Broca: Identified Broca Areal for Speech (Speech production)
Carl Wernicke: Identified Wernicke Areal (Speech comprehension)
Roger Sperry: Argued that each hemisphere behaves like a seperate brain
split-brain patients : patients with severed corpus callosum
a. left hemisphere: speech, language comprehension,movement, examination of pst
experiences, analytical processing
b. right hemisphere: spacial visualization, spatial operation, does have semantic
knowledge, self-recognition, holistic processing
→ lateralization can vary (left handers, differences men-women)
Cerebral Lobes
- four lobes (largely arbitrary anatomical regions divided by fissures):
a. frontal lobe:
– motor processing and higher thought processes, such as abstract reasoning, problem
solving, planning, and judgment → critical in producing speech
– prefrontal cortex: involved in complex motor control and tasks that require integration of
information over time
– primary motor cortex: planning, control, and execution of movement → Control of the
various kinds of body movements is located contralaterally on the primary motor cortex;
similar inverse mapping occurs from top to bottom ( homunculi maps)
b. parietal lobe (upper back portion):
– somatosensory processing, perception of space and relationship to space, consciousness
and paying attention
– primary somatosensory cortex: receives information from the senses about pressure,
texture, temperature, and pain
c. temporal lobe (below the parietal lobe)
– auditory processing and comprehending language, retaining visual memories
d. occipital lobe (back)
– visual processing: numerous visual areas, each specialized to analyze specifc
aspects of a scene, including color, motion, location, and form
– Projection areas: areas in the lobes in which sensory processing occurs
– visual cortex is primarily in the occipital lobe
– rostral, ventral, caudal, and dorsal: used to describe areas in the brain:
a. Rostral refers to the front part of the brain (literally the “nasal region”).
b. Ventral refers to the bottom surface of the body/brain (the side of the stomach).
c. Caudal literally means “tail” and refers to the back part of the body/brain.
d. Dorsal refers to the upside of the brain (it literally means “back,” and in animals
the back is on the upside of the body).
1.3 Neuronal Structure and Function
– neuron has four basic parts:
a. soma (cell body): contains the nucleus, is responsible for the life of the neuron
and connects the dendrites to the axon
b. dendrites: branchlike structures that receive information from other neurons
c. axon: long, thin tube that extends (and sometimes splits) from the soma and responds to
the information, when appropriate, by transmitting an electrochemical signal, which travels
to the terminus (end), where the signal can be transmitted to other neurons
myelin: white, fatty substance that surrounds some of the axons of the nervous system,
which accounts for some of the whiteness of the white matter of the brain. The more an
axon is myelinated, the faster signals can be transmitted
→ distributed in segments broken up by nodes of Ranvier = small gaps in the myelin
coating along the axon, which increase conduction speed
d. terminal buttons: small knobs found at the ends of the branches of an axon that do not
directly touch the dendrites of the next neuron
the synapse serves as a juncture between the terminal buttons of one or more neurons
and the dendrites
– Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that transmit information across the synaptic
gap to the receiving dendrites of the next neuron; three types:
a. monoamine neurotransmitters
b. amino-acid neurotransmitters
c. neuropeptides
– Acetylcholine: memory functions, sleep and arousal
– Dopamine: attention, learning, and movement coordination, motivational processes,
“dopamine theory of schizophrenia”
– Serotonine: eating behaviour and body-weight regulation → anorexia; aggression and
regulation of impulsivity
2. Viewing the Structures and Functions of the Brain
2.1 Postmortem Studies
– researchers may be able to trace a link between an observed type of behaviour and
anomalies in a particular location in the brain, e.g. Broca's patient Tan
2.2 Studying Live Nonhuman Animals
– single-cell recordings: researchers insert a thin electrode next to a single neuron in the
brain of an animal, then record the changes in electrical activity that occur in the cell when
the animal is exposed to a stimulus
– lesioning: surgically removing or damaging part of the brain—to observe resulting
functional deficits
– genetic knockout procedures: by using genetic manipulations, animals can be created
without certain kinds of brain cells or receptors
2.3 Studying Live Humans
Electrical Recordings:
– Electroencephalograms (EEGs): recordings of the electrical frequencies and intensities of
the living brain, typically recorded over relatively long periods → study of brainwave
activity
– event-related potential (ERP): record of a small change in the brain’s electrical activity in
response to a stimulating event → cancel out the effects of noise by averaging out activity
that is not task-related; can be used to examine developmental changes in cognitive
abilities
Static Imaging Techniques:
– angiogram and CT scan: uses X-Ray for the observation of large abnormalities of the brain,
such as damage resulting from strokes or tumor
→ CT scan consists of several X-ray images of the brain that result in a three-dimensional
image
→ aim of an angiography is to examine the blood flow
– magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): reveals high-resolution images of the structure of the
living brain by computing and analyzing magnetic changes in the energy of the orbits of
nuclear particles in the molecules of the body; two kinds:
a. structural MRI: images of the brain’s size and shape
b. functional MRI: parts of the brain that are activated when a person is engaged in a
particular task
Metabolic Imaging:
– relies on changes that take place within the brain as a result of increased consumption of
glucose and oxygen in active areas of the brain → active areas have higher consumption
– subtraction method: two different measurements, one taken while the subject was involved
in control activity, and one taken when the subject was engaged in the task of interest →
difference between these two measurements equals the additional activation;
but: the subtraction technique reveals net brain activity for particular areas. It cannot show
whether the area’s effect is positive or negative (excitatory or inhibitory)!
– PET Scans: measure increases in oxygen consumption in active brain areas during particular
kinds of information processing; are not highly precise because they require a minimum of
about half a minute to produce data regarding glucose consumption
– Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): uses magnetic felds to construct a detailed
representation in three dimensions of levels of activity in various parts of the brain at a
given moment in time; less invasive and higher temporal resolution than PET
– pharmacological MRI (phMRI): combines fMRI methods with the study of
psychopharmacological agents → examine the influence and role of particular
psychopharmacological agents on the brain
– diffusion tensor imaging (DTI): examines the restricted dispersion of water in tissue and, of
special interest, in axons → measures how far protons have moved in a particular direction
within a specifc time interval; has been useful in the mapping of the white matter of the
brain and in examining neural circuits
– Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): temporarily disrupts the normal activity of the
brain in a limited area → can imitate lesions in the brain or stimulate brain regions;
restricted to brain regions that lie close to the surface of the head
→ possible to examine causal relationships
– Magnetoencephalography (MEG): measures brain activity from outside the head
(similar to EEG) by picking up magnetic felds emitted by changes in brain activity → allows
localization of brain signals
– functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD): uses ultrasound technology to track the
velocity of blood flow in the brain; the resolution of fTCD is superior to techniques such as
PET
– Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS): can monitor blood flow in the prefrontal cortex and the
amount of oxygen in the blood
Brain Disorders
3.1 Stroke
– occur when the flow of blood to the brain undergoes a sudden disruption → loss of
cognitive functioning
– two kinds:
a. ischemic stroke: occurs when a buildup of fatty tissue occurs in blood vessels over a
period of years, and a piece of this tissue breaks off and gets lodged in arteries of the brain
b. hemorrhagic stroke: occurs when a blood vessel in the brain suddenly breaks
– symptoms:
– • numbness or weakness in the face, arms, or legs (especially on one side of the body)
• confusion and difculty speaking or understanding speech
• vision disturbances in one or both eyes
• dizziness, trouble walking, or loss of balance or coordination
• severe headache with no known cause
3.2 Brain Tumors (neoplasms)
– can occur in either the gray or the white matter
– two types:
a. Primary brain tumors: start in the brain
b. Secondary brain tumors: start somewhere else
– can be benign (no cancer cells) or malignant (cancer cells)
– common symptoms:
– • headaches (usually worse in the morning)
• nausea or vomiting
• changes in speech, vision, or hearing
• problems balancing or walking
• changes in mood, personality, or ability to concentrate
• problems with memory
• muscle jerking or twitching (seizures or convulsions)
• numbness or tingling in the arms or legs
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3.3 Head Injuries
two types:
a. closed-head injuries: skull remains intact, but there is damage to the brain
b. open-head injuries: skull does not remain intact
Loss of consciousness is a sign that there has been some degree of damage to the
brain
Symptoms:
• abnormal breathing
• disturbance of speech or vision
• pupils of unequal size
• weakness or paralysis
• dizziness
• neck pain or stiffness
→ Cognitive symptoms can vary widely, depending on the area of the brain that is
affected
SUMMARY
1. What are the fundamental structures and processes within the brain? Te
nervous system, governed by the brain, is divided into two main parts: the
central nervous system, consisting of the brain and the spinal cord, and the
peripheral nervous system, consisting of the rest of the nervous system (e.g., the
nerves in the face, legs, arms, and viscera).
2. How do researchers study the major structures and processes of the
brain? For centuries, scientists have viewed the brain by dissecting it.
Modern dissection techniques include the use of electron microscopes and
sophisticated chemical analyses to probe the mysteries of individual cells of
the brain. Additionally, surgical techniques on animals (e.g., the use of selective lesioning
and single-cell recording) often are used. On humans, studies
have included electrical analyses (e.g., electroencephalograms and eventrelated
potentials), studies based on the use of X-ray techniques (e.g., angiograms and computed
tomograms), studies based on computer analyses of
magnetic felds within the brain (magnetic resonance imaging), and studies
based on computer analyses of blood flow and metabolism within the brain
(positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging)
(Sousa, 2011).
3. What have researchers found as a result of studying the brain? The major
structures of the brain may be categorized as those in the forebrain (e.g.,
the all-important cerebral cortex and the thalamus, the hypothalamus, and
the limbic system, including the hippocampus), the midbrain (including a
portion of the brainstem), and the hindbrain (including the medulla oblongata, the pons,
and the cerebellum).thehighly convoluted cerebral cortex surrounds the interior of the
brain and is the basis for much of human cognition.thecortex covers the lef and right
hemispheres of the brain. they are connected by the corpus callosum. In general, each
hemisphere contralaterally controls the opposite side of the body. Based on extensive splitbrain
research, many investigators believe that the two hemispheres are specialized:
In most people, the lef hemisphere primarily controls language.theright
hemisphere primarily controls visuospatial processing.thetwo hemispheres
also may process information differently.
Another way to view the cortex is to identify differences among four lobes.
Roughly speaking, higher thought and motor processing occur in the frontal
lobe. Somatosensory processing occurs in the parietal lobe. Auditory processing occurs in
the temporal lobe, and visual processing occurs in the occipital
lobe. Within the frontal lobe, the primary motor cortex controls the planning,
control, and execution of movement. Within the parietal lobe, the primary
somatosensory cortex is responsible for sensations in our muscles and skin.
Specifc regions of these two cortices can be mapped to particular regions of
the body.
Chapter 3
Perception is the set of processes by which we recognize,
organize, and make sense of the sensations we receive from environmental stimuli
1. From Sensation to Perception
1.1 Some Basic Concepts of Perception
– James Gibson: introduced the concepts of distal (external) object, informational
medium, proximal stimulation, and perceptual object:
a. distal (far) object: the object in the external world
b. informational medium: e.g. sound waves, reflected light, chemical molecules, tactile
information
c. proximal (near) stimulation: information comes into contact with the appropriate
sensory receptors
d. perceptual object (i.e., what you see): is created in you; reflects the properties of the
external world
– sensory adaptation: receptor cells adapt to constant stimulation by not fring
until there is a change in stimulation → we may stop detecting the presence of a stimulus
→ constant stimulation of the cells of the retina gives the impression that the image
disappears = Ganzfeld-Effect
– eyes constantly make tiny rapid movements → creates constant changes in the location of
the projected image inside the eye
1.2 Seeing Things That Aren’t There, or Are They?
– mental percept = a mental representation of a stimulus that is perceived
– minds must take available sensory information and manipulate that information to create
mental representations of objects, properties, and spatial relationships within our
environments → sensory information and mental perception may differ e.g. optical illusions
1.3 How Does Our Visual System Work?
– visible electromagnetic wavelengths are from 380 to 750 nanometers
1. Vision begins when light passes through the protective covering ( cornea = clear,
protective dome) of the eye
2. light passes through the pupil, the opening in the center of the iris
3. It continues through the crystalline lens and the vitreous humor (=gel-like
substance that makes up the majority of the eye )
4. the light focuses on the retina where electromagnetic energy is
transduced (converted) into neural electrochemical impulses
– Vision is most acute in the fovea (a small, thin region of the retina)
– The retina contains the photoreceptors: convert light energy into electrochemical energy
that is transmitted by neurons to the brain
– two kinds of photoreceptors:
a. rods (120 million/eye) = long and thin photoreceptors; more highly concentrated in the
periphery of the retina than in the foveal region; responsible for night vision and sensitive
to light and dark stimuli
b. cones (8 million/eye) = short and thick photoreceptors ; allow for the perception of
color; more highly concentrated in the foveal region than in the periphery of the retina
→both contain photo pigments, chemical substances that react to light and transform
physical electromagnetic energy into an electrochemical neural impulse
– neurochemical messages travel via the bipolar cells to the ganglion cells → axons of the
ganglion collectively form the optic nerve; optic nerves of the eyes join at the base of the
brain to form the optic chiasma
– ganglion cells from the inward part of the retina cross through the optic chiasma and
extend to the opposite hemisphere of the brain; ganglion cells from the outward area of
the retina go to the hemisphere on the same side; the lens of each eye inverts the image of
the world → the message sent to the brain is upside-down and backward
– 90% of the ganglion cells go to the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus and then to
the primary visual cortex (V1 or striate cortex) in the occipital lobe
– visual cortex contains several processing areas relating to intensity and quality e.g. color,
location, depth, pattern, and form
1.4 Pathways to Perceive the What and the Where
– pathway = the path the visual information takes from its entering the human perceptual
system through the eyes to its being completely processed
– two pathways via two fasciculi (fiber bundles):
what–where hypothesis:
a. dorsal pathway (where pathway): ascends toward the parietal lobe; for processing
location and motion information
b. ventral pathway (what pathway): descends to the temporal lobe, for processing the
color, shape, and identity of visual stimuli
what-how hypothesis:
two pathways refer not to what things are and to where they are, but rather to what they
are and to how they function → What differs between the two pathways is whether the
emphasis is on identifying what an object is or, instead, on how we can situate ourselves so
as to grasp the object
a. what pathway (ventral stream): identifcation of objects
b. how pathway (dorsal stream): controls movements in relation to the objects that have
been identifed through the what pathway
2. Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We See?
2.1 Bottom-Up Theories
= approaches in which perception starts with the stimuli whose appearance you take in
through your eye → data-driven (i.e., stimulus-driven) theories
– four main theories: direct perception, template theories, feature theories, and recognitionby-components theory
a. Direct Perception: Gibson’s Theory of Direct Perception
→ the information in our sensory receptors, including the sensory context, is all we need to
perceive anything = ecological perception
→ no need for higher cognitive processes, existing beliefs or higher-level inferential
thought processes to mediate between sensory experiences and perceptions
– use of texture gradients as cues for depth and distance → aid to perceive directly the
relative proximity or distance of objects and of parts of objects
– Ecological constraints apply not only to initial perceptions but also to the ultimate
internal representations (such as concepts) that are formed from those perception
– Neuroscientifc evidence: mirror neurons start firing directly after perceiving stimulus, with
no time to form hypothesis; separate neural pathways (what pathways) in the
lateral occipital area process form, color, and texture in objects
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b. Template Theories
suggest that our minds store myriad sets of templates
Templates = highly detailed models for patterns we might recognize
We recognize a pattern by comparing it with our set of templates, then choose the exact
template that perfectly matches what we observe
= chunk-bcased theorie i.e. theories that suggest that expertise is attained
by acquiring chunks of knowledge in long-term memory that can later be accessed
for fast recognition
fails to explain some aspects of the perception of letters
c. Feature-Matching Theories
= we attempt to match features of a pattern to features stored in memory, rather than to
match a whole pattern to a template or a prototype
Pandemonium Model: metaphorical “demons” with specifc duties receive and analyze the
features of a stimulus
– four kinds of demons:
1. image demons:receive a retinal image and pass it on to...
2. feature demons: calls out when matches are made between the stimulus and the given
feature
3. cognitive demons: shout out possible patterns stored in memory that conform to one
or more of the features noticed by the feature demons
4. decision demons: decides on what has been seen, based on which cognitive demon is
shouting the most frequently
– other feature mathing theories: distinguish global (features that give a form its overall
shape) versus local (constitute the small-scale or detailed aspects of a given pattern)
features
→ global precedence effect: participants in a study were slowed down if they had to
identify local (small) S’s combining to form a global (big) H instead of identifying local
(small) H’s combining to form a global (big) H
→ local precedence effect: letters are more widely spaced; participants more quickly
identify the local features of the individual letters than the global ones, local features
interfere with global recognition in cases of contradictory stimuli
– neuroscientific evidence for feature-matching: research showed that the visual cortex
contains specifc neurons that respond only to a particular kind of stimulus (e.g., a
horizontal line), and only if that stimulus fell onto a specifc region of the retina → individual
cortical neuron can be mapped to a specifc receptive feld on the retina; show a hierarchical
structure in the degree of complexity of the stimuli; neurons that can recognize a complex
object are called gnostic units or “grandmother cells”
c. Recognition-by-Components (RBC) Theory
= we recognize 3-D objects by manipulating simple geometric shapes called geons (for
geometrical ions) (Irving Biederman) such as bricks, cylinders, wedges, cones, … →
observing the edges and then decomposing the objects into geons
– geons are viewpointinvariant
– explains how we may recognize general instances of chairs,
lamps, and faces, but it does not adequately explain how we
recognize particular chairs or particular faces
– studies have found neurons in the inferior temporal cortex
that are sensitive to viewpoint-invariant properties; other
neurons respond primarily to one view of an object and
decrease their response gradually the more the object is
rotated → unclear if theory is correct
2.2 Top-Down Theories
= perception is driven by high-level cognitive processes, existing knowledge, and the prior
expectations that influence perception → constructive approach
– constructive perception: the perceiver builds (constructs) a cognitive understanding
(perception) of a stimulus; perceiver uses sensory information as the foundation for the
structure but also uses other sources of information to build the perception → intelligent
perception (higher-order thinking plays an important role)
– color constancy: we perceive that the color of an object remains the same despite changes
in lighting that alter the hue
– during perception, we quickly form and test various hypotheses regarding percepts, based
on:
• what we sense (the sensory data)
• what we know (knowledge stored in memory)
• what we can infer (using high-level cognitive processes)
– Context effects: the influences of the surrounding environment on perception
– confgural-superiority effect: objects presented in certain confgurations are easier to
recognize than the objects presented in isolation, even if the objects in the confgurations
are more complex than those in isolation
– object-superiority effect: target line that forms a part of a drawing of a 3-D object is
identifed more accurately than a target that forms a part of a disconnected 2-D pattern
– word-superiority effect: when presented with strings of letters, it is easier to identify a
single letter if the string makes sense and forms a word instead of being just a nonsense
sequel of letters
– central relation between perception and intelligence
2.3 How Do Bottom-Up Theories and Top-Down Theories Go Together?
– Extreme versions of both approaches are not entirely plausible
– In genera we perceive objects holistically; if we plan to act on them, we perceive them
more analytically so that we can act in an effective way (Ganel and Goodale)
3. Perception of Objects and Forms
3.1 Viewer-Centered versus Object-Centered Perception
a. viewer-centered: the individual stores the way the object looks to him or her → what
matters is the appearance of the object to the viewer
b. object-centered: the individual stores a representation of the object, independent of its
appearance to the viewer
– Recent research suggests that it is more likely we engage in viewer-centered representation
than object-centered representation - it has been found that neurons react to changes in
view
c. landmark-centered: information is characterized by its relation to a well-known or
prominent item
3.2 The Perception of Groups—Gestalt Laws
– Gestalt approach to form perception: particularly useful for understanding how we
perceive groups of objects or even parts of objects to form integral wholes
– Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Köhler and Max Wertheimer
– law of Prägnanz: tendency to perceive any given visual array in a way that most simply
organizes the different elements into a stable and coherent form
– other Gestalt principles: figure-ground perception, proximity, similarity, continuity, closure,
and symmetry
figure-ground: what stands out from, versus what recedes into, the background
Symmetry: features appear to have balanced proportions around a central axis or a central
point
– even children use Gestalt principles, but the principles appear to apply only to humans and
not to other primates → only humans misjudge the middle circle in the Ebbinghaus Illusion
3.3 Recognizing Patterns and Faces
– two systems for recognizing patterns (Martha Farah):
a. feature analysis system: specializes in recognizing parts of objects and in assembling
those parts into distinctive wholes
b. confgurational system: specializes in recognizing larger confgurations, not analyzing
parts of objects or the construction of the objects
– second system is most relevant to recognizing faces
– both confgurational and feature analysis may help in making diffcult recognitions and
discriminations
– Face recognition occurs, at least in part, in the fusiform gyrus of the temporal lobe →
responds intensely when we look at faces but not when we look at other objects
– Face recognition differs from recognition of other complex objects → more difculty in
recognizing parts of faces than recognizing whole faces, but recognition of parts of houses
works just as well as whole houses
– age-related “face positivity” effect: older adults preferred looking at happy faces and
looking away from sad or angry faces
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Neuroscientific findings:
Highly anxious people’s amygdalas always process fear automatically, but less anxious
people’s do not
emotion increases activation within the fusiform gyrus when people are processing faces
Patients with autism have impaired emotional recognition → fusiform gyrus is less active
than in nonautistic populations.
expert-individuation hypothesis: the fusiform gyrus is activated when one examines items
with which one has visual expertise
Prosopagnosia (inability to recognize faces): damage to the confgurational system
4. The Environment Helps You See
4.1 Perceptual Constancies
– Perceptual constancy = perception of an object remains the same even when our proximal
sensation of the distal object changes
– Size constancy = perception that an object maintains the same size despite changes in the
size of the proximal stimulus → Jsomething that we largely have to learn, not completely
inborn
– Muller-Lyer Illusion
– Shape constancy = perception that an object maintains the same shape despite changes in
the shape of the proximal stimulus; easier with symmetrical objects
4.2 Depth Perception
– Depth = the distance from a surface, usually using your own body as a reference surface
when speaking in terms of depth perception
– Monocular depth cues: can be represented in just two dimensions and observed with just
one eye; include include
a. texture gradients,
b. relative size,
c. interposition,
d. linear perspective,
e. aerial perspective,
f. location in the picture plane, and
g. motion parallax
– Binocular depth cues: based on the receipt of sensory information in three dimensions
from both eyes
a. binocular disparity: eyes send increasingly disparate (differing) images to brain as objects
approach → brain interprets the degree of disparity as an indication of distance
b. binocular convergence: eyes increasingly turn inward as objects approach → brain
interprets these muscular movements as indications of distance
– binocular neurons.: integrate incoming information from both eyes to form information
about depth; are found in the visual cortex
5. Deficits in Perception
5.1 Agnosias and Ataxias
agnosia: trouble perceiving sensory information, often caused by damage to the border of
the temporal and occipital lobes
→ cannot recognize what the objects are; trouble with the what pathway.
– visual-object agnosia: can see all parts of the visual feld, but the objects do not mean
anything
– simultagnosia: unable to pay attention to more than one object at a time
– Prosopagnosia = severely impaired ability to recognize human faces
( optic)ataxia: mpaired ability to use the visual system to guide movement (impaired how
pathway)
– processing failure in the posterior parietal cortex
5.2 Anomalies in Color Perception
– much more common in men than in women; genetically linked
– rod monochromacy/achromacy (least common): no color vision at all
– dichromacy: only two of the mechanisms for color perception work, and one is
malfunctioning → one of three types of color blindness (color-perception deficits)
a. red-green, protanopia
b. deuteranopia (trouble seeing greens)
c. tritanopia (blue-green confusion, yellows disappear)
SUMMARY
1. How can we perceive an object, such as a chair, as having a stable form given
that the image of the chair on our retina changes as we look at it from different
directions? Perceptual experience involves four elements: distal object,
informational medium, proximal stimulation, and perceptual object. Proximal
stimulation is constantly changing because of the variable nature of the environment and
physiological processes designed to overcome sensory adaptation.
Perception therefore must address the fundamental question of constancy.
Perceptual constancies (e.g., size and shape constancy) result when our perceptions of
objects tend to remain constant. Tat is, we see constancies even as
the stimuli registered by our senses change. Some perceptual constancies may be
governed by what we know about the world. For example, we have expectations
regarding how rectilinear structures usually appear. But constancies also are influenced by
invariant relationships among objects in their environmental context.
One reason we can perceive 3-D space is the use of binocular depth cues.
Two such cues are binocular disparity and binocular convergence. Binocular disparity is
based on the fact that each of two eyes receives a slightly different image
of the same object as it is being viewed. Binocular convergence is based on the
degree to which our two eyes must turn inward toward each other as objects get closer to
us. We also are aided in perceiving depth by monocular depth cues.
These cues include texture gradients, relative size, interposition, linear perspective, aerial
perspective, height in the picture plane, and motion parallax. One of
the earliest approaches to form and pattern perception is the Gestalt approach
to form perception. The Gestalt law of Prägnanz has led to the explication of
several principles of form perception. These principles include figure-ground,
proximity, similarity, closure, continuity, and symmetry. they characterize how
we perceptually group together various objects and parts of objects.
2. What are two fundamental approaches to explaining perception? Perception
is the set of processes by which we recognize, organize, and make sense of stimuli in our
environment. It may be viewed from either of two basic theoretical
approaches: constructive or direct perception. The viewpoint of constructive (or
intelligent) perception asserts that the perceiver essentially constructs or builds
up the stimulus that is perceived. He or she does so by using prior knowledge,
contextual information, and sensory information. In contrast, the viewpoint of
direct perception asserts that all the information we need to perceive is in the
sensory input (such as from the retina) that we receive.
An alternative to both of these approaches integrates features of each. It suggests that
perception may be more complex than direct-perception theorists
have suggested, yet perception also may involve more efficient use of sensory
data than constructive-perception theorists have suggested. Specifcally, a computational
approach to perception suggests that our brains compute 3-D perceptual models of the
environment based on information from the 2-D sensory
receptors in our retinas.
Te main bottom-up theoretical approaches to pattern perception include
template-matching theories and feature-matching theories. Some support for
feature-matching theories comes from neurophysiological studies identifying what are
called feature detectors in the brain. It appears that various cortical neurons can be
mapped to specifc receptive felds on the retina. Differing
cortical neurons respond to different features. Examples of such features are
line segments or edges in various spatial orientations. Visual perception seems
to depend on three levels of complexity in the cortical neurons. Each level of
complexity seems to be further removed from the incoming information from
the sensory receptors. Another bottom-up approach, the recognition-by-components (RBC)
theory, more specifcally delineates a set of features involved in
form and pattern perception.
Bottom-up approaches explain some aspects of form and pattern perception.
Other aspects require approaches that suggest at least some degree of top-down
processing of perceptual information. For example, top-down approaches better but
incompletely explain such phenomena as context effects, including the
object-superiority effect and the word-superiority effect.
3. What happens when people with normal visual sensations cannot perceive
visual stimuli? Agnosias, which are usually associated with brain lesions, are
defcits of form and pattern perception. they cause aficted people to be insufficiently able
to recognize objects that are in their visual felds, despite normal
sensory abilities. People who suffer from visual-object agnosia can sense all
parts of the visual feld. But the objects they see do not mean anything to them.
Individuals with simultagnosia are unable to pay attention to more than one
object at a time. People with spatial agnosia have severe difculty in comprehending and
handling the relationship between their bodies and the spatial
confgurations of the world around them. People with prosopagnosia have
severe impairment in their ability to recognize human faces, including their own. These
deficits lead to the question of whether specifc perceptual processes
are modular—specialized for particular tasks. Color blindness is another type
of perceptual defcit.
Chapter 4
1. The Nature of Attention and Consciousness Attention
– Attention = the means by which we actively select and process a limited amount of
information from all of the information captured by our senses, our stored memories,
and our other cognitive processes
→ includes conscious and unconscious processes
– increases likelihood to react speedily and accurately to interesting stimuli
– Consciousness = the feeling of awareness and the content of awareness, some of which
may be under the focus of attention → partial overlap with attention
– Conscious attention:
a. monitor interactions with the environment
b. linking past (memories) and our present (sensations) → continuity
c. control and plan for future actions
four main functions of attention: signal detection and vigilance, search, selective attention,
and divided attention
1.1 Attending to Signals over the Short and Long Terms
– Signal-detection theory (SDT) = framework to explain how people pick out important
stimuli embedded in a wealth of irrelevant, distracting stimuli
– trying to detect target stimulus (signal) → four possible outcomes:
a. hit (true positive)
b. false alarms (fale positive)
c. miss (false negative)
d. correct rejection (true negative)
– Sensitivity = hits minus false alarms
– STD in context of attention, perception and memory:
a. attention - paying enough attention to perceive objects that are there
b. perception - perceiving faint signals that may or may not be beyond perceptual range
(e.g. high-pitched tone)
c. memory - indicating whether you have or have not been exposed to a stimulus
before
Vigilance = ability to attend to a feld of stimulation over a prolonged period, during which
the person seeks to detect the appearance of a particular target stimulus
→ expectations regarding stimulus location strongly affect response efficiency
– amygdala and thalamus are involved in vigilance → amygdala: recognition of emotional
stimuli
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1.2 Search: Actively Looking
– search = scan of the environment for particular features
– distracters = nontarget stimuli that divert attention away from the target stimulus
– two kinds of search:
a. feature search: looking for just one feature (e.g., color, shape, or size) that makes search
object different from all others → number of distracters does not slow down process
b. conjunction search: combination of two or more features to find the stimulus → number
of targets and distracters affects the difculty
– two theories of concjunction search:
a. Feature-integration theory (Treisman): two stages in perception of object
first stage: perception of features of objects, including color and size; automatic, automatic
no need for conscious attention, occurs in feature searches
second stage: connecting two or more features with some sort of “mental glue”; requires
conscious attention
neuropsychological evidence: specifc neural feature detectors = cortical neurons that
respond differentially to visual stimuli of particular orientations
b. Similarity Theory: the more similar target and distracters are, the more difficult it is to
fnd the target; difficulty also depends on similarity of distracters, but not on number of
integrated features
– Study on Aging and Visual Search (Madden): Younger adults’ searches were more accurate
and faster than the searches of the older adults
1.3 Selective Attention
Colin Cherry:
– cocktail party problem = process of tracking one conversation while distracted by
other conversations
– dichotic presentation: separate message to each ear (shadowing = listening to two
different messages) → participants noticed sensory changes in unattended message (e.g.
pitch) but not semantic ones
– different theories of Selective Attention
Early Filter Model: we filter information right afer we notice it at the sensory level
Information is being perceived and stored in sensory memory → s.m. stores information
for a split second and then forwards it to a filter → allows only one message to move
forward to be processed → message is distinguished by characteristics such as loudness,
pitch, or accent → Short-term memory enables response to the message and to
store necessary information in long-term memory
Selective Filter Model: Messages that are of high importance to a person may break
through the flter of selective attention (e.g. hearing one's name) → filter blocks out most
information at the sensory level, but some personally important messages are so powerful
that they burst through the filtering mechanism
Attenuation Model: At least some information about unattended signals is being analyzed
(coherent with empirical findings) → attenuating mechanism - instead of blocking out
stimuli, the filter (attenuator) merely weakens (attenuates) the strength of all stimuli other
than the target stimulus → if unattented message contains important information (e.g., our
name), it will be picked up, even though the signal has been weakened by the attenuator
Late-Filter Model (Deutsch and Deutsch): stimuli are filtered out only afer they have been
analyzed for both their physical properties and their meaning → would allow people to
recognize information entering the unattended ear
Synthesis of Early Filter and Late-Filter Models (Ulric Neisser): two processes
govern attention:
a. Preattentive processes – rapid automatic processes that occur in parallel; can be used to
notice only physical sensory characteristics of the unattended message, do not discern
meaning or relationships – may be linked to feature detection
b. Attentive, controlled processes – later processes that are executed serially and consume
time and attentional resources, such as working memory; information is processed in much
more detail – may be linked to feature integration
→ problem with explaining the continuum of processes from fully automatic ones to fully
controlled ones
neural correlates:
– When target stimulus occurrs in attended ear the first negative component of ERP is larger
than when the target occurrs in the unattended ear (N1 is a negative wave that appears
about 90 milliseconds after ttarget stimulus) → result of the enhancement of the target
stimulus while other stimuli are suppressed → consistent with flter theories
– Similar findings for visual perception (P1)
– children of mothers with lower levels of education show reduced effects of selective
attention on neural processing
1.4 Divided Attention
– can be improved by practice
– psychological refractory period (PRP) effect (attentional blink): people fairly easily process
physical properties of incoming information while engaged in another speeded task, but
when they need to engage in more elaborate processing such as choosing a response or
retrieving information from memory, their speed will decline and one or both tasks will
show the PRP effect
– capacity models of attention: people have a fxed amount of attention that they can choose
to allocate according to what the task requires:
a. One model suggests that one single pool of attentional resources can be
divided freely → likely to simple, similar tasks interfere
b. Another model suggests multiple sources of attention are available, one for each
modality (e.g., verbal or visual)
– use of cell phones appears to be substantially more risky than listening to the radio while
driving
1.5 Factors That Influence Our Ability to Pay Attention
– a. Anxiety: Being anxious, either by nature (trait-based anxiety) or by situation
(state-based anxiety), places constraints on attention
b. Arousal: verall state of arousal affects attention as well → being tired, drowsy, or
drugged may limit attention, being excited sometimes enhances attention
c. Task difculty: working on a task that is difcult/novel → more attentional resources;
difficulty particularly influences performance during divided attention
d. Skills: The more practiced /skilled in performing a task, the more attention is enhanced
1.6 Neuroscience and Attention: A Network Model
– Michael Posner: the attentional system in the brain “is neither a property of a single brain
area nor of the entire brain” → three subfunctions of attention:
a. alerting = being prepared to attend to some incoming event, and maintaining this
attention, also getting to this state of preparedness; right frontal and parietal cortexes and
locus coeruleus involved, neurotransmitter: norepinephrine; dysfunction: ADHS
b. orienting = selection of stimuli to attend to; superior parietal lobe, temporal parietal
junction, frontal eye felds, and the superior colliculus involved, neurotransmitter:
acetylcholine, dysfunction: autism
c. executive attention: processes for monitoring and resolving conflicts that arise among
internal processes e.g. thoughts, feelings,...; anterior cingulate, lateral ventral, prefrontal
cortex and basal ganglia involved, neurotrans.: dopamine, dysfunction: Alzheimer’s disease,
borderline personality disorder, and schizophrenia
2. When Our Attention Fails Us
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2.1 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
= difficulties in focusing attention in ways that enables to adapt in optimal ways to the
environment
differences in frontal-subcortical cerebellar catecholaminergic circuits and in dopamine
regulation
three primary symptoms of ADHD: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness
three main types:
(1) hyperactive-impulsive
(2) inattentive
(3) a combination of hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive behaviour
usually detected in childhood, does not end in adulthood, but may vary in severity
treatment usually includes medication (Ritalin, Metadate, Strattera) and therapy
2.2 Change Blindness and Inattentional Blindness
– Change Blindness = inability to detect changes in objects or scenes that
are being viewed
– Inattentional blindness = inability to see things that are actually there
2.3 Spatial Neglect—One Half of the World Goes Amiss
– Spacial neglect (hemineglect) = attentional dysfunction in which participants ignore the half
of their visual feld that is contralateral to the hemisphere of the brain that has a lesion
– result mainly of unilateral lesions in the parietal and frontal lobes (most often in the right
hemisphere)
– extinction: when presented with stimuli only to right/left side, perception is often possible,
no matter which side the stimulus is on → no major visual-feld defects, but when stimuli
are present in both sides of the visual feld → ignorance of the stimuli contralateral to
lesion → patients are not able to disengage their attention from the stimulus in the
ipsilateral field (the part of the visual feld where the lesion is) in order then to shift their
attention to the contralateral visual feld
– also problems in representing timeline → indication that similar brain mechanism govern
spatial visualization and temporal events
3. Automatic and Controlled Processes in Attention
3.1 Automatic and Controlled Processes
automatic processes: performed without conscious awareness; demand little or no effort
or even intention; multiple processes may occur at once → parallel processes
controlled processes: require conscious control, performed serially (→ serial processes)
– alternative view: continuum of processes between fully automatic processes and fully
controlled processes
– automatization (proceduralization): Controlled processes becoming automatic ones
3.2 How Does Automatization Occur?
– Popular view: during practice, implementation of the various steps becomes more efficient
→ single steps are integrated into single operation which requires few cognitive ressources
– alternative theory: instance theory = automatization occurs because we gradually
accumulate knowledge about specific responses to specifc stimuli
– effects of practice on automatization show a negatively accelerated curve → early practice
effects are bigger
3.3 Automatization in Everyday Life
– dyslexia: automatization is impaired
– Stroop effect: written words interfere with naming the color of the ink
– explanations:
a. reading is an automatic process for most adults
b. different pathways interfere
– different variations:
a. number Stroop
b. directional Stroop
c. animal Stroop
d. emotional Stroop
→ similarities: interference of two properties
3.4 Mistakes We Make in Automatic Processes
– Types of Mistakes:
a. Mistakes = errors in choosing an objective or in specifying a means of achieving it
b. Slips = errors in carrying out an intended means for reaching an objective
→ mistakes involve errors in intentional, controlled processes; slips often involve errors in
automatic processes
– Slips most likely when
a. we must deviate from a routine and automatic processes inappropriately override
intentional, controlled processes
b. automatic processes are interrupted
– likelihood can be decreased by environmental feedback e.g. physical constraints → Norman
doors
4. Consciousness
4.1 The Consciousness of Mental Processes
– no conscious access to simple mental processes e.g. letter recognition
– access to complex mental processes → different views:
a. Simon: people have good access to their complex mental processes; based on
experiments with protocol analysisof people solving complex problems
b. Nisbett & Wilson: access to their complex mental processes is not very good → people
think they know how they solve complex problems, but their thoughts are frequently
erroneous → only conscious of products of thinking, but not process; minimal control over
mental processes
4.2 Preconscious Processing
– Preconscious information includes stored memories that we are not using at a given time
but that we could summon when needed
– Priming = participants are presented with first stimulus (the prime) → break (milliseconds
to weeks or months) → participants are presented with second stimulus → participants
make a judgment to see whether the presentation of the frst stimulus affected the
perception of the second ; explanation: presentation of the first stimulus may activate
related concepts in memory that are then more easily accessible
– two types:
a. positive priming: first stimulus facilitates later recognition
b. negative priming: initial stimulus impedes later recognition
– priming occurs even when stimulus is presented in a way that does not permit entry into
conscious awareness (e.g. presented too briefly)
– experiment: “dyad of triads” task → Participants were presented with pairs (dyads) of
three-word groups, one with coherent words, one with random, unrelated words, then
participants were shown various choices for a fourth word related to one of the triads and
asked to identify which of the two triads was coherent and related to a fourth word, and
which fourth word linked the coherent triad
→ participants could often correctly identifiy the coherent triad without finding the relating
word → preconscious information
– tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: trying to remember something that is stored in memory
but that cannot readily be retrieved → particular preconscious information, although not
fully accessible to conscious thinking, is still available to attentional processes
– blindsight = traces of visual perceptual ability in blind areas → Some visual processing
seems to occur even when participants have no conscious awareness of visual sensations
(only for participants with vision impairment due to cortcical lesions)
explanation: information from the retina is forwarded to (damaged) visual cortex →part of
the visual information bypasses the visual cortex and is sent to other cortical locations →
information from these locations is unconsciously accessible
SUMMARY
1. Can we actively process information even if we are not aware of doing so?
If so, what do we do, and how do we do it? Whereas attention embraces all the
information that an individual is manipulating (a portion of the information
available from memory, sensation, and other cognitive processes), consciousness
includes only the narrower range of information that the individual is aware of
manipulating. Attention allows us to use our limited active cognitive resources
(e.g., because of the limits of working memory) judiciously, to respond quickly
and accurately to interesting stimuli, and to remember salient information. Conscious
awareness allows us to monitor our interactions with the environment, to link our past and
present experiences and thereby sense a continuous
thread of experience, and to control and plan for future actions.
We actively can process information at the preconscious level without being
aware of doing so. For example, researchers have studied the phenomenon
of priming, in which a given stimulus increases the likelihood that a subsequent related (or
identical) stimulus will be readily processed (e.g., retrieval
from long-term memory). In contrast, in the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon,
another example of preconscious processing, retrieval of desired information
from memory does not occur, despite an ability to retrieve related information.
Cognitive psychologists also observe distinctions in conscious versus preconscious attention
by distinguishing between controlled and automatic processing in task performance.
Controlled processes are relatively slow, sequential
in nature, intentional (requiring effort), and under conscious control. Automatic processes
are relatively fast, parallel in nature, and for the most part
outside of conscious awareness. Actually, a continuum of processing appears to
exist, from fully automatic to fully controlled processes.
2. What are some of the functions of attention? One main function involved
in attention is identifying important objects and events in the environment.
Researchers use measures from signal-detection theory to determine an observer’s
sensitivity to targets in various tasks. For example, vigilance refers to a person’s ability to
attend to a feld of stimulation over a prolonged period, usually
with the stimulus to be detected occurring only infrequently. Whereas vigilance
involves passively waiting for an event to occur, search involves actively seeking
out a stimulus.
People use selective attention to track one message and simultaneously to
ignore others. Auditory selective attention (such as in the cocktail party problem)
may be observed by asking participants to shadow information presented dichotically.
Visual selective attention may be observed in tasks involving the Stroop
effect. Attentional processes also are involved during divided attention, when
people attempt to handle more than one task at once; generally, the simultaneous
performance of more than one automatized task is easier to handle than the
simultaneous performance of more than one controlled task. With practice, however,
individuals appear to be capable of handling more than one controlled task
at a time, even engaging in tasks requiring comprehension and decision making
3. What are some theories cognitive psychologists have developed to explain
attentional processes? Some theories of attention involve an attentional flter
or bottleneck, according to which information is selectively blocked out or
attenuated as it passes from one level of processing to the next. Of the bottleneck
theories, some suggest that the signal-blocking or signal-attenuating mechanism
occurs just afer sensation and before any perceptual processing; others propose
a later mechanism, afer at least some perceptual processing has occurred.
Attentional-resource theories offer an alternative way of explaining attention; according to
these theories, people have a fxed amount of attentional
resources (perhaps modulated by sensory modalities) that they allocate according to the
perceived task requirements. Resource theories and bottleneck theories actually may be
complementary. In addition to these general theories of
attention, some task-specifc theories (e.g., feature-integration theory, and similarity
theory) have attempted to explain search phenomena in particular.
4. What have cognitive psychologists learned about attention by studying the
human brain? Early neuropsychological research led to the discovery of feature detectors,
and subsequent work has explored other aspects of feature detection
and integration processes that may be involved in visual search. In addition,
extensive research on attentional processes in the brain seems to suggest that
the attentional system primarily involves two regions of the cortex, as well as
the thalamus and some other subcortical structures; the attentional system
also governs various specifc processes that occur in many areas of the brain,
particularly in the cerebral cortex. Attentional processes may be a result of
heightened activation in some areas of the brain, of inhibited activity in other
areas of the brain, or perhaps of some combination of activation and inhibition.
Studies of responsivity to particular stimuli show that even when an individual
is focused on a primary task and is not consciously aware of processing other
stimuli, the brain of the individual automatically responds to infrequent, deviant stimuli
(e.g., an odd tone). By using various approaches to the study of the
brain (e.g., positron emission tomography, event-related potential, lesion studies, and
psychopharmacological studies), researcher are gaining insight into
diverse aspects of the brain and also are able to use converging operations to
begin to explain some of the phenomena they observe.
Chapter 5
– Memory = the means by which people retain and draw on their past experiences to use
that information in the present (Encoding, Storage, Retrieval):
a. encoding: you transform sensory data into a form of mental representation.
b. storage: you keep encoded information in memory
c. retrieval: you pull out or use information stored in memory
1. Tasks Used for Measuring Memory
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1.1 Recall versus Recognition Tasks
Recall = expressive knowledge → you produce a fact, a word, or other item from memory
Recognition = receptive knowledge → responsive to a stimulus
three types of recall:
a. Serial recall = recall it the exact order in which they were presented
b. Free recall = recall in any order
c. Cued recall = shown items in pairs, during recall presented with only one item of each
pair → recall each mate
Relearning = the number of trials it takes to learn once again items that were already
learned in the past → shorter learning times; true for all ages and also animals
Recognition better than recall (even with extensive training, the best measured recall
performance is about 80 items)
1.2 Implicit versus Explicit Memory Tasks
Explicit memory:
– participants engage in conscious recollection
– Explicit memory changes over time → infants and older adults often have relatively poor
explicit memory, but implicit memory that is comparable to that of young adult
Implicit memory:
– participants use information from memory but are not consciously aware that they are
doing so
– Priming (e.g. word stem completion tasks) = is the facilitation of ability to utilize missing
information
– Procedural knowledge, tested with:
a. rotary pursuit: requires participants to maintain contact between an L-shaped stylus and
a small rotating disk → participants are asked to complete the task again, either with the
same disk and the same speed or with a new disk or speed → when new disk or speed is
used, participants do relatively poorly.; with same disk and speed, participants do as well as
before
b. mirror tracing: plate with the outline of a shape it is put behind a barrier where it cannot
be seen → Beyond barrier is a mirror → participant reaches around the barrier, hand and
shape are within view → Participants take a stylus and trace the outline of the shape →
difficulties at first, become effective with practive → retention of skill gives way to study
procedural knowledge or impact of sleep on procedural kowledge → sleep improves
procedural knowledge
– Doesn’t change over time like explicit memory does
Process-dissociation model (Daniels et.al., 2006; Jacoby, 1991):
– Implicit and explicit memory both have a role in virtually every response
- Two-process theory: intentional vs. automatic uses of memory
2. Two Contrasting Models of Memory
2.1 The Traditional Model of Memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin)
– three memory stores, sensory store, short-term store, long term store
– differentiates between stores and memory
a. stores = Structure that holds information (hypothetical constructs)
b.memory = stored information
a. Sensory store (iconic store)
= initial repository of much information which eventually enters the short- and long-term
stores
– Iconic store = discrete visual sensory register that holds information for very short periods
in the form of icons = visual images that represent something
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Sperling's Discovery
Independent variable: whole report vs. partial report + delay of tones
a. whole-report procedure: participants report every symbol they have seen
b. partial-report procedure (Sperling's innovation): participants need to report only part of
what they see
→ extrapolation from sample to toal knowledge
Dependent variable: number of letters recalled
Results:
participants had available roughly 9 of the 12 symbols if they were cued immediately
before or immediately after the appearance of the display. However, when they were cued
1 second later, their recall was down to 4 or 5 of the 12 items
Partial report advantage at -100,0, +150ms intervals
Partial report reduced at 300ms interval
Partial report eliminated at 1 second interval
Problems: Participants had to report multiple symbols → may have experienced
fading of memory during the report; output-interference = verbally reporting multiple
symbols may interfere with reports of iconic memory
Subsequent Refinement:
– Just one letter must be recalled from two rows of eight letters
– Results: 12 out of 16 correct (75%) → 12 items is capacity of sensory memory
– Usage of backward visual masking (= mental erasure of a stimulus caused by the placement
of one stimulus where another one had appeared previously) at intervals >100ms, and
under 250ms -> iconic memory can be erased
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b. Short-Term Store
Limited capacity -> Miller: 7 +/- 2 chunks (increased by chunking); any delay or interference
can cause seven-item capacity to drop to about three items
Limited duration -> ca. 30Sec, unless it is rehearsed to retain it
has some control processes available that regulate the flow of information to and from
the long-term store
Information ist stored acoustically rather than visually, but it is also possible to store visual
information in short-term memory (shapes, colours,...)
storage seems to depend on numbers of objects rather than numbers of features
c. Long-Term Store
– Perhaps of infinite capacity and duration (Penfield) → no indication of limit so far
– Permastore - Very long-term storage e.g. foreign language or mathematics
→ Can occur even for information that have been passively learned (street names, etc.)
→ Separate memory system?
2.2 The Levels-of-Processing Model
levels-of-processing (LOP) framework:
– Memory varies along continuous dimension in terms of depth of encoding; does not
comprise specific number of separate stores
– The level at which information is stored depends on how it is encoded → theoretically an
infinite number of levels of processing (LOP) → processing as the key to storage; the deeper
the level of processing, the higher the probability that an item may be remembered
– Three levels of processing in progressive order of depth:
a. physical: Visually apparent features
b. phonological: Sound combinations associated with the letters (e.g., rhyming)
c. semantic: Meaning
→ can also be applied to nonverbal stimuli, e.g. faces
– Self-reference effect: very high levels of recall when asked to relate words meaningfully to
the participants by determining whether the words describe them
– highest levels of recall occur with words that people consider self-descriptiv
– Critique:
circular definition - the levels are defined as deeper because the information
is retained better, but the information is viewed as being retained better because the
levels are deeper
paradoxes in retention – rhyming may yield better results than semantic processing
→ Revision of LOP:
– Sequence of the levels of encoding may not be as important → the better the match
between the type of elaboration of the encoding and the type of task required for retrieval,
the better the retrieval results
– Two kinds of strategies for elaboration the encoding:
a. Within-item elaboration = elaboration of encoding of the particular item in terms of its
characteristics
b. Between-item elaboration = elaboration of encoding by relating each item's features to
features of items already in memory
2.3 An Integrative Model: Working Memory (Baddeley)
– most widely used and accepted model
– more dynamic view, whereby working memory serves not only to hold information but also
to process that information
– Working memory holds only the most recently activated, or conscious, portion of longterm
memory, and it moves these activated elements into and out of brief, temporary memory
storage
The Components of Working Memory
a. Central executive: coordinates attentional activities and governs responses → decides
how to divide attention between two or more tasks that need to be done at the same time,
or how to switch attention back and forth between multiple tasks; involved in higher-order
reasoning and comprehension and is central to human intelligence
b. Visuospatial sketchpad: holds visual images; contains spatial and visual information
Logie: Visual cache (passive) and Inner scribe (active)
c. Phonological loop: inner speech for verbal comprehension and for acoustic rehearsal
two components:
I. Phonological storage (passive): holds information in memory
II. Subvocal rehearsal (active): puts information in memory by nonverbally rehearsing; can
also verbally label images
→ articulatory suppression: subvocal rehearsal is inhibited, the new information is not
stored
word length effect: we can remember fewer longer words compared with shorter words
because it takes us longer to rehearse and produce the longer word
c. Episodic buffer: binds information from the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological
loop as well as from longterm memory into a unitary episodic representation; integrates
information from different parts of working memory → allows us to solve problems and
reevaluate previous experiences with more recent knowledge
d. Subsidiary "slave systems": perform other cognitive or perceptual tasks
– working memory capacity is a good predictor of academic success
– One view (Cowan): working memory is embedded within long-term memory
– recent study: wm is limited resource that is distributed between the different items that
need to be held in memory
Neuroscience and Working Memory
– Areas involved in visuospatial sketchpad: Prefrontal cortex, Supplementary motor,
premotor area, Posterior parietal area, Superior parietal area, Occipital lobe; fusiform gyrus
(fusiform face area [FFA]) is activated to a greater extent when a person looks at faces as
opposed to other objects such as house
– Areas involved in phonological loop: Left hemisphere of the lateral frontal and inferior
parietal lobes as well as the temporal lobe; Broca's area, Brodmanns areas and Insula
– Areas involved in central executive: little is known, activation mostly in the frontal lobes
– Areas involved in episodic buffer: frontal lobes and portions of the temporal lobes,
including the left hippocampus
– brain regions that are involved in the perception of particular stimuli are also important for
the maintenance of those stimuli in working memory; Working memory does not consist of
one brain region but rather is represented across a variety of brain regions
Measuring Working Memory
a. Retention delay task: old or new?
b. Temporally ordered working memory load task: old or new?
c. Temporal order task: which is the most recent?
d. N-back task: find and repeat n-back
e. Temporally ordered working memory load task: reproduce in correct order
f. Temporally ordered working memory load task: reproduce final items in correct order
→ allows for the examination of how much information can be manipulated in memory;
often paired with secondary task
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2.4 Multiple Memory Systems
Distinction of two memory systems (Endel Tulving):
a. Semantic memory: general knowledge (facts)
b. Episodic memory: personal experiences
Evidence for semantic vs. episodic memory: Lesions in the frontal lobe appear to affect
recollection regarding when a stimulus was presented, but they do not affect recall or
recognition memory that a particular stimulus was presented. Some people have only
trouble to recall facts, other people have only trouble to recall personal events
It is not clear that semantic and episodic memory are two distinct systems
→ Boundary is fuzzy, Methodological problems with some of the supportive evidence
Perhaps episodic memory is a specialized form of semantic memory
neuroscientifc model called HERA (hemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry): there is
greater activation in the left prefrontal hemisphere for tasks requiring retrieval from
semantic memory and more activation in the right prefrontal hemisphere for episodic
retrieval tasks → model proposes that semantic and episodic memories must be distinct
because they draw on separate areas of the brain
2.5 A Connectionist Perspective
– Connectionist models arguethat our brain handles many operations and processes at once
→ parallel-processing model of working memory
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Connectionist parallel distributed processing (PDP) model:
based on a network of interconnected neuronlike computational units ( nodes) → key to
knowledge representation lies in the connections among nodes (elements) stored in
memory
Fits nicely with the notion of working memory as comprising the activated portion of longterm memory
Activation spreads through nodes within the network
explanation for Priming: Prime = node that activates a connected node → Priming effect =
resulting activation of the node
Integrates several contemporary notions about memory:
Working memory comprises the activated portion of long-term memory and operates
through at least some amount of parallel processing
Spreading activation involves the simultaneous activation of multiple links among nodes
within the network
– Contemporary cognitive-psychological conceptions of working memory, network models of
memory, spreading activation, priming, and parallel processing mutually enhance and
support one another
– Connectionist models effectively explain priming effects, skill learning, and several other
phenomena of skill learning, but have failed to provide clear predictions and explanations
of recall and recognition memory that occurs following a single episode or a single
exposure to semantic information → some psychologists believe that complex behaviour
displays a degree of top-down orderliness and purposefulness that connectionist models,
which are bottom-up, cannot incorporate
3. Exceptional Memory and Neuropsychology
3.1 Outstanding Memory: Mnemonists
– Mnemonist = someone who demonstrates extraordinarily keen memory ability, usually
based on using special techniques for memory enhancement
→ Can be learned to some extent
– Synesthesia = experience of sensations in a sensory modality different from the sense
that has been physically stimulated
→ Can interfere with ability to follow a conversation
→ Hard to understand abstract concepts
– Hypermnesia = process of producing retrieval of memories that would seem to have been
forgotten → Achieved by trying many and diverse retrieval cues to unearth a memory;
Risk: individuals may create a new memory, believing it is an old one
3.2 Deficient Memory
– Amnesia = Severe loss of explicit memory
– different kinds:
a. Retrograde amnesia = inability to recall events prior to a dramatic event; light form can
be caused by concussion
b. Anterograde amnesia = inability to recall events that occur after a traumatic event
c. Infantile amnesia = inability to recall events that happens in very early childhood
– Amnesia and the Explicit-Implicit Memory Distinction:
→ Explicit memory is impaired, implicit memory is not impaired
→ Declarative knowledge is impaired, procedural knowledge is not impaired
Amnesia and Neuropsychology
– Dissociations: Normal individuals show the presence of a particular function, but people
with specific lesions on the brain show the absence of that particular function; This
absence occurs despite the presence of normal functions in other areas
– Double dissociations: People with different kinds of neuropathological conditions show
opposite patterns of deficits; Can be observed if a lesion in brain structure 1 leads to
impairment in memory function A but not in memory function B ; and a lesion in brain
structure 2 leads to impairment in memory function B but not in memory function A
→ Offer strong support for the notion that particular structures of the brain play particular
vital roles in memory
→ Support distinctions between explicit and implicit memory
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Alzheimer's Disease
is a disease of older adults that causes dementia as well as progressive memory loss
Leads to atrophy of the brain (especially in hippocampus and frontal and temporal regions)
Formation of plaques (protein deposits outside neurons) and tangles (pairs of filaments
that become twisted around each other in cell bodies and dendrites)
Diagnosed when memory is impaired and when there is at least one other area of
dysfunction in the domains of language, motor, attention, executive function, personality,
or object recognition
Symptoms are of gradual onset; Progression is continuous and irreversible, but can be
slowed
Incidence increases exponentially with age
Early-onset Alzheimer's: linked to genetic mutation; people with this mutation always
develop this disease
Earliest signs typically include impairment of episodic memory, alter semantic memory also
begins to fade; no difference between emotionally charged information and nonemotionally charged information
Most forms of implicit memory are spared until near the end of its course
Ends in death
SUMMARY
1. What are some of the tasks used for studying memory, and what do various
tasks indicate about the structure of memory? Among the many tasks used
by cognitive psychologists, some of the main ones have been tasks assessing
explicit recall of information (e.g., free recall, serial recall, and cued recall)
and tasks assessing explicit recognition of information. By comparing memory performance
on these explicit tasks with performance on implicit tasks
(e.g., word-completion tasks), cognitive psychologists have found evidence of
differing memory systems or processes governing each type of task (e.g., as
shown in studies of amnesics).
2. What has been the prevailing traditional model for the structure of memory?
Memory is the means by which we draw on our knowledge of the past to use
this knowledge in the present. According to one model, memory is conceived
as involving three stores: A sensory store is capable of holding relatively limited
amounts of information for very brief periods; a short-term store is capable of
holding small amounts of information for somewhat longer periods; and a longterm store is
capable of storing large amounts of information virtually indefnitely. Within the sensory
store, the iconic store refers to visual sensory memory.
3. What are some of the main alternative models for the structure of memory?
An alternative model uses the concept of working memory, usually defined
as being part of long-term memory and also comprising short-term memory.
From this perspective, working memory holds only the most recently activated
portion of long-term memory. It moves these activated elements into and out of
short-term memory A second model is the levels-of-processing framework, which
hypothesizes distinctions in memory ability based on the degree to which items are
elaborated during encoding.
A third model is the multiple memory systems model, which posits not only
a distinction between procedural memory and declarative (semantic) memory
but also a distinction between semantic and episodic memory.
In addition, psychologists have proposed other models for the structure of
memory. they include a parallel-distributed processing (PDP; connectionist)
model.thePDP model incorporates the notions of working memory, semantic
memory networks, spreading activation, priming, and parallel processing of
information.
Finally, many psychologists call for a complete change in the conceptualization of memory,
focusing on memory functioning in the real world. Tis call
leads to a shif in memory metaphors from the traditional storehouse to the
more modern correspondence metaphor.
4. What have psychologists learned about the structure of memory by studying
exceptional memory and the physiology of the brain? Among other fndings, studies of
mnemonists have shown the value of imagery in memory for
concrete information. they also have demonstrated the importance of fnding
or forming meaningful connections among items to be remembered.themain
forms of amnesia are anterograde amnesia, retrograde amnesia, and infantile
amnesia.thelast form of amnesia is qualitatively different from the other forms
and occurs in everyone.
Trough the study of the memory function of people with each form of
amnesia, it has been possible to differentiate various aspects of memory. These
include long-term versus temporary forms of memory, procedural versus
declarative memory processes, and explicit versus implicit memory.
Although specifc memory traces have not yet been identifed, many of the
specifc structures involved in memory function have been located. To date, the
subcortical structures involved in memory appear to include the hippocampus,
the thalamus, the hypothalamus, and even the basal ganglia, and the cerebellum.
Te cortex also governs much of the long-term storage of declarative knowledge.
Te neurotransmitters serotonin and acetylcholine appear to be vital to memory function.
Other physiological chemicals, structures, and processes also play
important roles, although further investigation is required to identify these roles.
Chapter 6
1. Encoding and Transfer of Information
1.1 Forms of Encoding
Short-Term Storage:
– Acoustically encoded rather than a visually or semantically (Baddeley); still at least some
semantic and visual encoding in short-term memory
– Long-Term Storage:
– Semantically encoded rather than visually or acoustically; Levels of processing influences
encoding in long-term memory
→ People move more information into long-term memory when using semantic encoding
strategies than when using nonsemantic strategies
→ Not seen in people with autism: when engaged in semantic processing, people with
autism show less activatoin in Broca's area than do healthy people → Broca's area may be
related to the semantic deficits autistic patients often exhibit
– also evidence for visual encoding
1.2 Transfer of Information from Short-Term Memory to Log-Term Memory
– Two Problems - Interference and Decay:
a. Interference = when competing information interferes with stored information
b. Decay = Forgetting facts because time passes → priming and habituation decay quickly
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Processes for entrance of information into long term declarative memory store:
Deliberately attending to information to comprehend it
Making connections or associations between new information and what is already known
and understood
Consolidation = process of integrating new information into stored information; process
can continue for many years
Stress: Impairs memory function, but can also enhance memory function through the
release of hormones
– Metamemory strategies: Component of metacognition (ability to think about and control
our own processes of thought and ways of enhancing our thinking); Involve reflecting on
our own memory processes with a view to improving our memory
→ Important when transferring new information into long-term memory by rehearsing it
– Rehearsal
= repeated recitation of an item → practice effects
Overt rehearsal (aloud) vs. covert rehearsal (silent)
– Elaborative and Maintenance Rehearsal:
a. Elaborative rehearsal = meaningful integration of an item into what is already in longterm storage or meaningful connection to one another
b. maintenance rehearsal = repetition of an item → temporarily maintains information in
short-term memory without transferring it to long-term memory
→ Without any kind of elaboration, information cannot be organized and transferred
– Spacing Effect = the greater the distribution of learning trials over time, the more
information is remembered over long periods
→ Distribution of study session over time affects consolidation of information in long-term
memory
→ Context for encoding may vary
→ Usage of different strategies and cues for encoding
→ distributed practice (various sessions spaced over time) more effective than massed
practice (sessions occur in short time period)
Sleep and Memory Consolidation:
– Amount of REM sleep is important for memory consolidation → people with insomnia have
problems with memory consolidation
– Memory processes in the hippocampus are influenced by the production and integration of
new cells into the neuronal network → REM sleep important for synaptic consolidation and
also in weakening unimportant memories
Neuroscience and Memory Consolidation:
Cells of the hippocampus that are activated during initial learning are reactivated during
subsequent periods of sleep - during this activity, the hippocampus shows extremely low
levels of acetylcholine
→ when acetylcholine is given during sleep, decalarative memory is impaired, but not
procedural
– hippocampus acts as rapid learning system: temporarily maintains new experiences until
they can be assimilated into the more gradual neocortical representation system →
integrating new experiences to rapidly leads to disruptions in long-term memory systems
– Consolidation makes memories less likely to undergo interferences or decay
→ After a memory is recalled, it may return to a more unstable state → memory may fall
victim to interferences or decay → Reconsolidation
– Reconsolidation: same effect as consolidation, but it is completed on previously (relatively
new) encoded information
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Organization of Information
– Mnemonic devices = specific techniques to help memorize information which add meaning
to otherwise meaningless items
a. Categorical clustering = organization of a list of items into a set of categories
b. Interactive images = imagination of objects represented by words one has to remember
as of the objects are interacting with each other
c. Pegword system = association of each word on a previously memorized list and
formation of an interactive image between the two words
d. Method of loci = visualization of well-known landmarks and linking them to specific
items to be remembered
e. Acronyms = devising a word or expression in which each of its letters stands for a certain
other word or concept
f. Acrostics = forming sentences
g. Keyword system = creating an interactive image that links the sound an meaning of a
foreign word with the sound and meaning of a familiar word
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→ The relative effectiveness of the methods for encoding is influenced by the kind of task
required at the time of retrieval (e.g. free vs serial recall)
→ Mnemonic devices and other techniques for aiding memory involve metamemory
reminders: external memory aids—to enhance the likelihood that we will remember
important information
Forcing functions: = physical constraints that prevent people from acting without at least
considering the key information to be remembered
Retrospective memory (= memory for the past) vs Prospective memory (= memory for
things we need to do or remember in the future)
→ both are subject to decline as we age
Neuroscience of memory storage:
specifc sensory properties of a experience are organized across various areas of the
cerebral cortex → visual, spatial, and olfactory (odor) features may be stored in each of the
areas of the cortex responsible for processing each type of sensation → cerebral cortex
plays an important role in long term memory storage
hippocampus: important for explicit memory of experiences and other declarative
information; key role in the encoding of declarative information; main function: integration
and consolidation of separate sensory information as well as spatial orientation and
memory; transfer of newly synthesized information into long-term structures supporting
declarative knowledge; crucial role in complex learning; role in the recollection of
information
cerebellum: plays key role in memory for classically conditioned responses and contributes
to many cognitive tasks in general
when memories are emotionally charged → level of amygdala activation is associated with
recall; amygdala also has important role in memory consolidation, especially with
emotional experiencs
repeated stimulation of particular neural pathways tends to strengthen the likelihood of
firing = long-term potentiation
Serotonin, Acetylcholine and norepinephrine enhance neural transmission associated with
memory
2. Retrieval
2.1 Retrieval from Short-Term Memory
– Parallel or Serial Processing?
Parallel processing: simultaneous handling of multiple operations; response times should
be the same, regardless of the size of the information
Serial processing: operations being done one after another; response times should differ
according to the size of the information
– Exhaustive or Self-Terminating Processing?
Exhaustive serial processing: comparison of test digits against all other digits, even if a
match was found partway through the list → positive responses would all take the same
amount of time
Self-terminating serial processing: comparison of one digit only against those digits
needed to make a response
→ Research supports the serial exhaustive model (mean response times for positive and
negative responses were essentially the same); it appears that which process individuals
use depends in part on the stimuli that are processed; some psychologists still propose
parallel- processing models which can adequatly account for the data
2.2 Retrieval from Long-Term Memory
– Memory fails could be largely a result of retrieval, rather than storage fails → cued recall is
far better, on average, than free recall
– Categorization can dramatically affect retrieval: words given in categorical order is
remembered far easier than words given in random order
– material that is processed in certain cortical areas during perception also activates those
same areas again during long-term memory recall
– Difficult to distinguish between availability and accessibility of information
Availability = presence of information stored in long-term memory
Accessibility = degree to which people can gain access to the available information
3. Processes of Forgetting and Memory Distortion
3.1 Inference Theory
– Interference theory = forgetting that occurs because recall of certain words
interferes with recall of other words
– two kinds:
a. Retroactive interference (or inhibition): Occurs when newly acquired knowledge
impedes the recall of older material, caused by activity occurring after learning but before
recall
b. Proactive interference (or inhibition): Occurs when material that was learned in the past
impedes the learning of new material; interfering material occurs before rather than after
learning of the new material
→ Amount increases with increases in the length of time between when the information is
presented and when the information is retrieved
→ Increases as the amount of prior learning increases
→ Stronger effect in older adults than in younger people
→ Seems to be associated with activation in the frontal cortex (Brodmann area 45)
→ Seen to a lesser degree in alcoholic patients → alcoholic patients may have difficulty
integrating past information with new information → difficulty binding together unrelated
items in a list
→ Release from proactive interference = enhancement in performance by switching midtask to another task (e.g. numbers to letters)
– Schemas = mental frameworks that represent knowledge in a meaningful way → may
distort recall
– Serial-position curve: represents the probability of recall of a given word, given its serial
position (order of presentation) in a list: primacy effect (superior recall of words at and
near the beginning of a list) and recency effect (superior recall of words at and near the
end of a list); reason: words in the middle of the list are subject to both types of
interference
3.2 Decay Theory
= Information is forgotten because of gradual disappearance, rather than displacement,
of the memory trace → Contrasts with interference theory (one or more pieces
of information block recall of another)
–
Difficult to test because under normal circumstances because preventing participants from
rehearsing is difficult
→ Recent-probes task: does not encourage participants to rehearse the items presented
o Participants are shown four target words
o Participants are presented with a probe word
o Participants decide whether or not the probe word is identical to one of the four target
words
→ If probe word is not the same as target words but is identical to a target word
from a recent prior set of target words (“recent negative”), then it will take participants
longer to decide that probe word and target words do not match than if the probe word
is new
–
Decay has a relatively small effect on forgetting in short-term memory → Interference
accounts for most of the forgetting: Even if both decay and interference contribute to
forgetting, it can be argued that interference has the strongest effect
4. The Constructive Nature of Memory
– Memory is not just reconstructive, but constructive: prior experiences affect how and what
things are recalled from memory
4.1 Autobiographical Memory
= memory of an individual's history → Subject to distortions
– Self-esteem is important in the formation and recall of autobiographical memory
→ people with positive self-esteem: remember more positive events
->people with negative self-esteem: remember more negative events
– When people misremember, they usually tend to be wrong with regard to minor and
marginal aspects but remember the central characteristics correctly
– Flashbulb memory = a memory of an event so powerful that the person remembers the
event as vividly as if it were indelibly preserved on film; memory is most likely
to become a flashbulb memory under three circumstances
a. Important to the individual
b. Surprising
Emotional effect → The emotional intensity of an experience may enhance the likelihood of
recalling the particular experience ardently and perhaps accurately; other views suggest
that flashbulb memories just seem more vivid, but are not actually more accurate or
immune to distortion
– Medial temporal lobe central for autobiographical memory → People with lesions in this
area have trouble recalling memories from their recent past
4.2 Memory Distortions
– tend to occur in seven specific ways (“seven sins of memory”):
a. Transience: memory fades quickly
b. Absent-mindedness: e.g. brushing teeth twice
c. Blocking: people sometimes have something that they know they should remember, but
can't
d. Misattribution: people often cannot remember where they heard what they heard or
read what they read; sometimes people think they saw/ heard something they did not see/
hear
e. Suggestibility: if one suggests to another person if they might have seen something they
might think they actually did
e. Bias
f. Persistence: people sometimes remember things as consequential that are
inconsequential
The Eyewitness Testimony Paradigm:
– people are susceptible to mistakes in eyewitness testimony: they are generally prone to
imagine that they have seen things they have not seen, e.g. Lofus’s eyewitness testimony
experiment
– What Influences the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimonies?
a. Suggestive questions
b. Line-ups (influence of “distracter” individuals”)
c. Confessions, even if they are not true
d. Feedback to other eyewitnesses (post-identification feedback effect)
e. Level of stress
– Children as Eyewitnesses: Children’s recollections are particularly susceptible to distortion,
the younger the child, the less reliable the testimony can be expected to be → when a
questioner is coercive or even just seems to want a particular answer, children can be quite
susceptible to providing the answer the questioner wants to hear; Children may believe
that they recall observing things that others have said they observed; Children are easily
impressed by the presence of an uniformed officer
– Can Eyewitness Testimonies Be Improved? → Using methods to reduce potential biases:
Reduce the pressure to choose a suspect from a limited set of options; Ensure that each
member of an array of suspects fits the description given by the eyewitness, yet offers
diversity in other ways; Presenting only one suspect per lineup so that witnesses do not
feel like they have to decide among several people; ensuring that all people in the lineup
are reasonably similar; cautioning witnesses that the suspect may not be in the lineup
Repressed Memory
= memories that are alleged to have been pushed down into unconsciousness because of
the distress they cause; inaccessible, but they can be dredged up
– support for concept is only dubious → Some therapists might inadvertently plant ideas in
their clients' heads, showing that implanted memories are false is hard
– Source-monitoring error: person attributes a memory derived from one source to another
source
– Spreading activation: every time an item is studied, you think of the items related
to that item
4.3 The Effect of Context on Memory
– emotions, moods, states of consciousness, schemas, and
other features of our internal context, clearly affect memory retrieval
– cognitive contexts for memory clearly influence our memory processes of encoding,
storing, and retrieving information
–
Expertise enhances confidence in recollected memories → experts have more elaborated
schemas-> schemas provide a cognitive context in which the experts can operate → makes
integration and organization relatively easy
– Moods and states of consciousness also my provide a context for encoding that affects later
retrieval of semantic memories → easier to retrieve in similar context
– External contexts may affect ability to recall information (e.g. being in same place where
information was encoded); also: when information is encoded in various contexts, the
information also seems to beretrieved more readily in various contexts
– Encoding specificity = how information is encoded has a strong effect both on how, and on
how well, information is retrieved → explanation for Self-reference effect: when people
generate their own cues for retrieval, they are much more potent than when others do so
– cue words are most helpful when they are both compatible with the target word but also
distinctive
SUMMARY
1. What have cognitive psychologists discovered regarding how we encode
information for storing it in memory? Encoding of information in short-term
memory appears to be largely, although not exclusively, acoustic in form. Information in
short-term memory is susceptible to acoustic confusability—that is, errors based on sounds
of words. But there is some visual and semantic encoding of information in short-term
memory. Information in long-term memory
appears to be encoded primarily in a semantic form. Tus, confusion tends
to occur in terms of meanings rather than in terms of the sounds of words. In
addition, some evidence points to the existence of visual encoding, as well as of
acoustic encoding, in long-term storage.
Transfer of information into long-term storage may be facilitated by several
factors:
a. rehearsal of the information, particularly if the information is elaborated
meaningfully;
b. organization, such as categorization of the information;
c. the use of mnemonic devices;
d. the use of external memory aids, such as writing lists or taking notes; and
e. knowledge acquisition through distributed practice across various study sessions, rather
than through massed practice.
Te distribution of time during any given study session does not seem to
affect transfer into long-term memory.theeffects of distributed practice may
be due to a hippocampal-based mechanism that results in rapid encoding of
new information to be integrated with existing memory systems over time, perhaps during
sleep.
2. What affects our ability to retrieve information from memory? Studying
retrieval from long-term memory is difcult because of problems of differentiating retrieval
from other memory processes.
It also is difcult to differentiate accessibility from availability. Retrieval
of information from short-term memory appears to be in the form of serial
exhaustive processing. Tis implies that a person always sequentially checks
all information on a list. Nevertheless, some data may be interpreted as allowing for the
possibility of self-terminating serial processing and even of parallel
processing.
3. How does what we know or what we learn affect what we remember? Two
of the main theories of forgetting in short-term memory are decay theory and
interference theory. Interference theory distinguishes between retroactive interference and
proactive interference. Assessing the effects of decay, while ruling
out both interference and rehearsal effects, is much harder. However, some evidence of
distinctive decay effects has been found.
Interference also seems to influence long-term memory, at least during the
period of consolidation. Tis period may continue for several years afer the
initial memorable experience.
Memory appears to be not only reconstructive—a reproduction of what was
learned, based on recalled data and on inferences from only those data—but
also constructive—influenced by attitudes, subsequently acquired information, and
schemas based on past knowledge. As shown by the effects of existing
schemas on the construction of memory, schemas affect memory processes.
So, however, do other internal contextual factors, such as emotional intensity
of a memorable experience, mood, and even state of consciousness. In addition,
environmental context cues during encoding seem to affect later retrieval.
Encoding specifcity refers to the fact that what is recalled depends largely
on what is encoded. How information is encoded at the time of learning will
greatly affect how it is later recalled.
One of the most effective means of enhancing recall is for the individual to
generate meaningful cues for subsequent retrieval.
Chapter 7
1. Mental Representation of Knowledge
– Knowledge representation = the form for what people know in their minds about things,
ideas, events, etc.
– Two main sources of empirical data on knowledge representation:
a. Standard laboratory experiment ->Indirect; observation of how people handle various
cognitive tasks that require manipulation of mentally represented knowledge
b. Neuropsychological studies → ( 1) Observation of how the normal brain responds to
various cognitive tasks involving knowledge representation; (2) Observation of the links
between various deficits and in knowledge representation and associated pathologies in
the brain
1.1 Communicating Knowledge: Pictures versus Words
– Knowledge can be represented in different ways in your mind: mental pictures, words, or
abstract propositions
– Pictures: analogous (i.e., similar) to the realworld object it represents → picture shows
concrete attributes
→ Aptly capture concrete and spatial information in a manner analogous to whatever they
represent
→ Convey all features simultaneously
– Words: Symbolic representation -> relationship between the word and what it represents
is arbitrary → use requires the application of rules/conventions
→ Handily capture abstract and categorical information in a manner that is symbolic of
whatever they represent
→ usually convey information sequentially
1.2 Pictures in Your Mind: Mental Imagery
– Imagery = mental representation of things that are not currently seen or sensed by the
sense organs; can also represent things that were never experienced
– Visual imagery seems to be the most common
→ Visual images are used to solve problems and to answer questions involving objects
→ Visual images can be used to treat physical and psychological illness
→ Usage of mental images can help to improve memory
→ learning can indeed take place just by using mental images (study by Tartaglia: presented
participants with a vertical parallel arrangement of three lines with the middle one closer
either to the right or left line → Practice using mental images resulted in participants
becoming more sensitive to the asymmetry)
1.3 Dual-Code Theory: Images and Symbols
– People use pictorial and verbal codes for representing information in their minds
→ Mental images are analog codes = codes that resemble the objects they are
representing
→ mental representations for words are a symbolic code = code that has been chosen
arbitrarily to stand for something that does not perceptually resemble what is being
represented
– Verbal information seems to be processed differently than pictorial information (e.g.
pictures are recalled more easily in random order, but words in the sequential order they
were shown in; visual perception can interfere with imagery, verbal responses can interfere
with mental manipulation of words, but not vice versa → Brooks)
1.4 Storing Knowledge as Abstract Concepts: Propositional Theory
– we do not store mental representations in the form of images or mere
words → images are mere epiphenomena (= secondary and derivate phenomena that
occur as a result of other more basic cognitive processes)
→ Mental images more closely resemble the abstract form of a proposition = the meaning
underlying a particular relationship among concept
– What is a Proposition?
Predicate calculus: [Relationship between elements]([Subject element], [Object element])
→ Expresses the underlying meaning of a relationship
→ Strips away various superficial differences in the ways people describe the deeper
meaning of a proposition
→ Would need to be translated by the brain in a format suitable for its internal mental
representation
– Using Propositions: the propositional form of mental representation is neither in words nor
in images; rather, it is in an abstract form representing the underlying meanings of
knowledge
→ May be used to describe any kind of relationship (e.g. actions, attribute, positions, class
membership)
→ Any number of proposition may be combined to represent more complex relationships,
images, or series of work
→ Pictorial and verbal information are encoded and stored as propositions
→ By retrieval, the proposition is recreated as the verbal or imaginal code
1.5 Do Propositional Theory and Imagery Hold Up to Their Promises?
– Limitations of Mental Images:
a. Propositional code may override the imaginal code
→ you need to have an actual percept (object of perception) of the figure in front of you so
you can guess an alternative interpretation of the figure → indicates that mental
representations of figures are not the same as percepts of these figures
b. Semantic information tends to distort recall of visual images in the direction of the
meaning of the images ((ambiguous figures are recalled differently when given different
description of them, e.g. hourglass/table, rabbit/duck) (Chambers and Reisenberg)
– Limitations of Propositional Theory: Evidence suggests that people do not necessarily need
a propositional code to manipulate information, but can manipulate mental imagery
directly → it appears that propositional codes are less likely to influence imaginal ones
when participants create their own mental images, rather than when they are presented
with a picture to be represented, but propositional codes may influence imaginal ones →
especially likely to occur when the picture used to create an image
is ambiguous
– Finke, Pinker, & Farah: alternative view of Chambers and Reisberg’s fndings regarding the
manipulation of ambiguous fgures → the mental reinterpretation of ambiguous figures
involves two manipulations:
a. mental realignment of the reference frame → shift in the positional orientations of the
figures on the mental “page” or “screen” on which the image is displayed
b. mental reconstrual (reinterpretation) of parts of the figure
→ such manipulations occur when participants are given the right context, e.g. using
different hints:
a. Implicit reference frame hint. Participants first were shown another ambiguous
figure involving realignment of the reference frame
b. Explicit reference frame hint. Participants were asked to modify the reference frame , e.g.
considering “the front of the thing you were seeing as the back of something else”
c. Attentional hint. Participants were directed to attend to regions of the figure where
realignments or reconstruals were to occur
d. Construals from “good” parts. Participants were asked to construe an image
from parts determined to be “good” (according to both objective [geometrical]
and empirical [interrater agreement] criteria), rather than from parts determined to be
“bad” (according to similar criteria)
→ processes involved in constructing and manipulating mental images are similar to the
processes involved in perceptual processes = functional equivalence
2. Mental Manipulations of Images
– Functional-equivalence hypothesis: visual imagery is not identical to visual perception, but
it is functionally equivalent to it → suggests that we use images rather than propositions
in knowledge representation for concrete objects that can be pictured in the mind
2.1 Principles of Visual Imagery
2.2 Neuroscience and Functional Equivalence
– Participants either viewed or imagined an image
→ Activation of similar brain areas in frontal and parietal regions, imagery can evoke
responses in high-level visual brain areas and the visual primary cortex, but: contributions
of the areas and their levels of activation differed depending on whether the participants
actually saw or just mentally imagined an object → Internal processing is less complex
because there is less information to deal with,signals are less differentiated between
different brain regions
– Schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations: many people who suffer from schizophrenia
experience auditory hallucinations
→ Internally generated material without externally provided stimuli → difficult to
differentiate for patients
→ Abnormal activation of the auditory cortex; activation of areas involved with receptive
language; malfunction of the auditory imaging system
2.3 Mental Rotations
= rotationally transforming an object’s visual mental image
How Does Mental Rotation Work?
– Classical experiment: Response times for answering the questions about the rotation of the
figures form a linear function of the degree to which the figures are rotated, but whether
the objects are rotated clockwise, counterclockwise, or in the third dimension of depth
makes little difference
→ support for functional equivalence hypothesis
– Response times are longer for
a. degraded stimuli (e.g. blurry, incomplete, less informative)
b. complex items
c. unfamiliar figures
– Older adults have more difficulty with mental rotation than do younger adults
– Practice effects may occur
– May be an automatic process:
→ Not impaired when engaging in simultaneous tasks involving memory recall
→ Familiarity and practice enhance response times
→ Enhanced response times may be the result of increasing automatization of the task
across years
Neuroscience and Mental Rotation:
– single cell recordings found evidence for mental rotation in monkeys → Same individual
cortical cells in the motor cortex tend to respond for actual rotation and mental rotation;
areas associated with hand movements are particularly active
– fMRI studies: Same brain areas involved in perception also are involved in mental rotation
tasks early visual cortex especially important
→ imagery and perception are functionally equivalent in many psychological studies,
neuropsychological techniques also verify this equivalence by demonstrating overlapping
brain activity → strong support for functional equivalence
Gender and Mental Rotation:
– Number of studies found an advantage for males over females; Studies which did not found
a gender difference, often used characters (e.g. letters or numbers)
→ different processes for characters than other objects
–
Young children: no gender difference either in performance or in neurological activation
– More activation of the parietal regions in men and additional inferior frontal activation in
women
→ perhaps different mental strategies
–
Women have a proportionally greater amount of grey matter in the parietal lobe than do
men → performance disadvantage for mental rotation for women
–
Training causes gender difference to decrease or even to disappear
2.4 Zooming in on Mental Images: Image Scaling
– People use mental images the same way they use actual perceptions
– Participants take longer to describe the details of smaller objects than to describe details of
larger objects → when mental images are used for describing attributes about an object,
respond times are faster when the object is larger (support for funtional equivalence),
when no mental images are used for describing attributes about an object, respond times
are fasterwhen the physical attributes are distinctive for the object, the physical size of the
object has no effect
– Children respond more quickly regarding larger attributes in the imagery and nonimagery
condition, while dults respond more quickly in both conditions; much greater difference in
the nonimagery condition → Support for dual-code view:
a. responses based on the use of imagery differs from responses based on propositions
b. development of propositional knowledge and ability does not occur at the
same rate rate the development of imaginal al knowledge and ability
2.5 Examining Objects: Image Scanning
– Stephen Kosslyn: hypothesis that we use mental images in image scanning
– Underlying idea: Images can be scanned in much the same way as physical percepts can be
scanned → Strategies and responses for imaginal scanning should be the same as for
perceptual scanning
– experiment shows near relationship between the distances separating pairs of objects in
the mental map and the amount of time it takes to scan from one object to another when
locating objects on mental map → encoding of the map as an image, support for imaginal
coding
– people with ASD may use different strategies to solve scanning problems
2.6 Representational Neglect = a person asked to imagine a scene and then describe it
ignores half of the imagined scene
– People suffering from spatial neglect often also suffer from representational neglect, but
both can occur independently
In scenes, representational neglect is present only when a vantage point is given
3. Synthesizing Images and Propositions
3.1 Do Experimenters’ Expectations Influence Experiment Outcomes?
– Experiment on experimenters expectations: experimenter expectancies influenced
participants' responses in three tasks: image scanning, mental rotations, and comparing
perceptual performance with imaginal performance → experimental participants
performing visualization tasks may be responding in part to the demand characteristics of
the task
– other experiments: experimenter expectancies did not influence participants' responses to
mental map scanning task
3.2 Johnson-Laird Mental Models
– Mental representations may take any of three forms:
a. proposition = fully abstracted representations of meaning that are verbally expressible
b. images
c. mental model = knowledge structures that individuals construct to understand and
explain their experiences; constrained by the individuals’ implicit theories about these
experiences, which can be more or less accurate
– experiment: inference of additional spatial information when given determinate description
of spatial layout of objects without good recall of verbatim items of description supports
existence of mental models; when given indeterminate (ambiguous) descriptions,
information is represented verbally
– experiment: differnece of blind and sighted people with mental maps: blind people show
slower overall response, but still showed similar response patterns to those of sighted
participants and showed faster response times when scanning shorter distances and
answering about larger objects
→ Spatial imagery appears not to involve representations that are analogous to visual
percepts
– Haptic imagery shares a number of features with visual imagery (e.g. similar active brain
regions)
– Auditory imagery: the relative response times to mentally change sounds in pitch are
analogous to the time needed physically to change sounds in pitch
– Psychophysical tests of auditory sensation and perception reveal findings analogous
to the studies on auditory and haptic imagery
– Faulty mental models are responsible for many errors in thinking → experience can help
correct them
– Mental models summary: mental models provide an additional means of representation in
addition to propositions and visual images → are not mutually exclusive with these other
two forms of representation, but they are complementary to them; provide a way of
explaining empirical findings, such as haptic and auditory forms of imagery
3.3 Neuroscience: Evidence for Multiple Codes
Left Brain or Right Brain: Where Is Information Manipulated?
– right hemisphere: represents and manipulates visuospatial knowledge in a manner similar
to perception → represents knowledge in way analogous to our physical environment
– left hemisphere : more proficient in representing and manipulating verbal and other
symbol-based knowledge → ability to manipulate imaginal components and symbols and to
generate entirely new information
→ Both hemispheres may be partially responsible for task performance
Two Kinds of Images: Visual versus Spatial
a. Visual imagery: use of images that represent visual characteristics such as colours and
shapes
b. Spatial imagery: images that represent spatial features such as depth, dimensions,
distances, and orientations
– Evidence suggests that visual and spatial imagery are independent
– Knowledge of object labels and attributes taps propositional, symbolic knowledge while the
ability to rotate or manipulate the size of images taps imaginal, analogous knowledge
4. Spatial Cognition and Cognitive Maps
– Spatial cognition: deals with the acquisition, organization, and use of knowledge about
objects and actions in two- and three-dimensional space
– Cognitive maps: internal representations of our physical environment, particularly
centering on spatial relationships
4.1 Of Rats, Bees, Pigeons, and Humans
– Edward Tolman: earliest work on cognitive maps, experiments with rats in maze → the rats
were learning a cognitive map, an internal representation of the maze → one of the earliest
cognitive theorists
– also simpler creatures like bees and pigeons form cognitive maps of their environment
– (Left) Hippocampus plays a crucial role in the formation of cognitive maps
– Humans seem to use three types of knowledge when forming and using cognitive maps:
a. Landmark knowledge = information about particular features at a location which may be
based on both imaginal and propositional representations
b. Route-road knowledge: specific pathways for moving from one location to another; may
be based on both procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge
c. Survey knowledge: estimated distanced between landmarks; may be represented
imaginally or propositionally
→ people use both an analogical code and a propositional code for imaginal
representations such as images of maps
– spatial-framework theory (Franklin & Tversky): when people construct a mental model of
the space around them, they often orient themselves on their body along three axes: up–
down, front–back, and left–right, access to information is quickest along the up–down axis,
followed by the front-back axis
4.2 Rules of Thumb for Using Our Mental Maps: Heuristics
– As the density of intervening landmarks increases, estimates of distances increase
correspondingly → The more landmarks, the larger the estimated distance
– People estimate the distance between two places to be shorter when travelling to a
landmark than when travelling to a non-landmark
– In estimations of distances between particular physical locations, route-road knowledge
appears often to be weighed more heavily than survey knowledge
– The use of heuristics in manipulating cognitive maps suggests that propositional knowledge
affects imaginal knowledge
– spatial heuristics:
a. Right-angle bias = people tend to think of intersections as forming 90-degree angles
more often than they really do
b. Symmetry heuristic = people tend to think of shapes as being more symmetrical than
they really are
c. Rotation heuristic = when representing figures and boundaries that are slightly slanted.
People tend to distort the images as being either more vertical or more horizontal than
they really are
d. Alignment heuristic = people tend to represent landmarks and boundaries that are
slightly out of alignment by distorting their mental images to be better aligned than they
really are
e. Relative-position heuristic = the relative positions of particular landmarks and
boundaries is distorted in mental images in ways that more accurately reflect people's
conceptual knowledge about contexts in which the landmarks and boundaries are located,
rather than reflecting the actual spatial configurations
– Some of these heuristics also affect our perception of space and of forms
– Semantic or propositional knowledge (or beliefs) can also influence imaginal
representations of maps → Propositional knowledge about semantic categories may affect
imaginal representations of maps, e.g. drawing eurocentric world maps
– different brain areas are involved in representing abstract, more global maps and more
concrete, direct mental maps:
the condition involving the abstract map → activation of left angular gyrus; condition
involving navigational skills and concrete locations: activation in areas needed for
navigation (the retrosplenial complex and the parahippocampal gyrus)
4.3 Creating Maps from What You Hear: Text Maps
→ People may be able to create cognitive maps from verbal descriptions; may be as
accurate as those created from looking at a graphic map
SUMMARY
1. What are some of the major hypotheses regarding how knowledge is represented in the
mind? Knowledge representation includes the various ways in
which our minds create and modify mental structures that stand for what we
know about the world outside our minds.
Knowledge representation involves both declarative (knowing that) and
nondeclarative (knowing how) forms of knowledge. Trough mental imagery,
we create analog mental structures that stand for things that are not presently
being sensed in the sense organs. Imagery may involve any of the senses, but
the form of imagery most commonly reported by laypeople and most commonly studied by
cognitive psychologists is visual imagery. Some studies
(e.g., studies of blind participants and some studies of the brain) suggest that visual
imagery itself may include two discrete systems of mental representation: One system
involves nonspatial visual attributes, such as color and shape;
another involves spatial attributes, such as location, orientation, and size or
distance scaling.
According to Paivio’s dual-code hypothesis, two discrete mental codes for
representing knowledge exist. One code is for images and another for words
and other symbols. Images are represented in a form analogous to the form we
perceive through our senses. In contrast, words and concepts are encoded in a
symbolic form, which is not analogical.
An alternative view of image representation is the propositional hypothesis.
It suggests that both images and words are represented in a propositional form.
Te proposition retains the underlying meaning of either images or words,
without any of the perceptual features of either. For example, the acoustic features of the
sounds of the words are not stored, nor are the visual features of the
colors or shapes of the images. Furthermore, propositional codes, more than
imaginal codes, seem to influence mental representation when participants are
shown ambiguous or abstract fgures. Apparently, unless the context facilitates
performance, the use of visual images does not always readily lead to successful
performance on some tasks requiring mental manipulations of either abstract
fgures or ambiguous fgures.
2. What are some of the characteristics of mental imagery? On the basis of a
modifcation of the dual-code view, Shepard and others have espoused a functional
equivalence hypothesis. Tis hypothesis asserts that images are represented in a form
functionally equivalent to percepts, even if the images are not
truly identical to percepts. Studies of mental rotations, image scaling, and image
scanning suggest that imaginal task performance is functionally equivalent to
perceptual task performance. Even performance on some tasks involving comparisons of
auditory images seems to be functionally equivalent to performance
on tasks involving comparisons of auditory percepts.
Propositional codes seem less likely to influence mental representation than
imaginal ones when participants are given an opportunity to create their own
mental images. For example, they might do so in tasks involving image sizing
or mental combinations of imaginal letters.
Some researchers have suggested that experimenter expectancies may
have influenced cognitive studies of imagery, but others have refuted these
suggestions. In any case, neuropsychological studies are not subject to such
influences. They seem to support the functional equivalence hypothesis by
finding overlapping brain areas involved in visual perception and mental
rotation
3. How does knowledge representation beneft from both images and propositions? Kosslyn
has synthesized these various hypotheses to suggest that images
may involve both analogous and propositional forms of knowledge representation. In this
case, both forms influence our mental representation and manipulation of images. Tus,
some of what we know about images is represented in a
form that is analogous to perception. Other things we know about images are
represented in a propositional form. Johnson-Laird has proposed an alternative synthesis.
He has suggested that knowledge may be represented as verbally
expressible propositions, as somewhat abstracted analogical mental models, or
as highly concrete and analogical mental images.
Studies of split-brain patients and patients with lesions indicate some tendency toward
hemispheric specialization. Visuospatial information may be processed primarily in the
right hemisphere. Linguistic (symbolic) information
may be processed primarily in the lef hemisphere of right-handed individuals.
A case study suggests that spatial imagery also may be processed in a different
region of the brain than the regions in which other aspects of visual imagery
are processed. Studies of normal participants show that visual-perception tasks
seem to involve regions of the brain similar to the regions involved in visualimagery tasks.
4. How may conceptual knowledge and expectancies influence the way we use
images? People tend to distort their own mental maps in ways that regularize
many features of the maps. For example, they may tend to imagine right angles,
symmetrical forms, either vertical or horizontal boundaries (not oblique ones),
and well-aligned fgures and objects. People also tend to employ distortions of
their mental maps in ways that support their propositional knowledge about
various landmarks.
they tend to cluster similar landmarks, to segregate dissimilar ones, and to
modify relative positions to agree with conceptual knowledge about the landmarks. In
addition, people tend to distort their mental maps. they increase
their estimates regarding the distances between endpoints as the density of
intervening land marks increases.
Some of the heuristics that affect cognitive maps support the notion that
propositional in formation influences imaginal representations.theinfluence
of propositional information may be particularly potent when participants
are not shown a graphic map. Instead, they are asked to read a narrative passage and to
envision themselves as participants in a setting described in the
narrative.
Chapter 8
1. Declarative versus Procedural Knowledge
– Knowledge representation and processing have been investigated by researchers
from several disciplines e.g. cognitive psychologists, neuropsychologists, and
computer scientists (AI)
→ converging operations = the use of multiple approaches and techniques to address a
problem
2. Organization of Declarative Knowledge
– Concept = the fundamental unit of symbolic knowledge (correspondence between symbols
and their meaning ); an idea about something that provides a means of understanding the
world
→ May be captured in a single word
→ Each concept relates to other concepts
→ Organization by the means of categories
– Category = hierarchy of concepts; a concept with members → a group of items into which
different objects or concepts can be placed that belong together
2.1 Concepts and Categories
– Distinction between
a. natural categories = groupings that occur naturally in the world
b. artificial categories = groupings that are designed or invented by humans to serve
particular purposes or functions
→ Speed it takes to assign objects to either category seems to be about the same for both
types
→ often relatively stable Concepts
– Ad hoc categories: categories are created to achieve goals in everyday life or for a specifc
purpose; are not stable categories
→ Described in phrases
→ Content varies, depending on the context
→ Have a basic level of specificity: level within a hierarchy that is preferred to other level
– basic level (natural level) of specificity of a category: level within a hierarchy that is
preferred to other levels; usually neither the most specific nor the most abstract, opposed
to superordinate and subordinate levels
→ By means of training the basic level can be shifted to a more subordinate level (learning
more about a subject)
Feature-Based Categories: A Defining View
– concept = a set of featural components
– An object needs to have defining features to be assigned to a certain category → each
feature is an essential element; together, these features uniquely define the category
– Problems:
a. Some categories do not lend themselves to featural analysis → Game (famous example
by Wittgenstein) → family resemblance: not all objects in a particular category share all of
their defining features, category members do resemble each other in some way
b. Some instances of a category seem to be more typical than others
Prototype Theory: A Characteristic View
= Grouping things together by their similarity to an averaged model of this category
– Prototype = an abstract average of all the objects in the category → Objects are compared
to the prototype in order to put them into a category
– Characteristic features: describe the prototype but are not necessary for it (e.g. birds can
fly)→ Stereotypes of different groups of people consist of a conglomerate of average
features
– Two Kinds of concepts: Classical and Fuzzy Concepts
a. Classical concepts = categories that can be defined through defining features → Tend to
be inventions that experts have devised for arbitrarily labeling a class that has associated
defining features
b. Fuzzy concepts = categories that cannot be easily defined
→ Evolve naturally
→ Built around prototypes
Real-World Examples: Using Exemplars
– Instead of using a single abstract prototype for categorizing a concept, people use multiple,
specific exemplars
– Exemplars = typical representatives of a category, not necessarily averaged over all objects
of a category
– According to some theories, categories are set up by creating a rule and then by storing
examples as exemplars; objects are then compared to the exemplars to decide whether or
not they belong in the category the exemplar represents
→ Criticism: Maybe not enough resources within the mind to store all the exemplars one
would need to typify membership in a category
– VAM (varying abstract model): prototypes and exemplars are just two extremes on a
continuum of abstraction → people use a number of intermediate representations that
represent subgroups within the category
A Synthesis: Combining Feature-Based and Prototype Theories
→ Each category has a prototype and a core
– Core = the defining features something must have to be considered an example of a
category
– Prototype: encompasses the characteristic features that tend to be typical of an example
but that are not necessary for being considered an example
→ younger children view categories largely in terms of characteristic features, not defining
ones
Theory-Based View of Categorization (explanation-based view)
theory-based view of meaning = people understand and categorize concepts in terms of
implicit theories, or general ideas they have regarding those concepts
→ difficult to capture the essence of the theory in a word or two, concepts are more
complex
– people distinguish between essential and incidental features of concepts → complex
mental representations of these concepts
– Study of fictional creatures (sorp/doon) → people differentiate between essential and
accidental/incidental changes
– Essentialism: certain categories have an underlying reality that cannot be observed directly
→ members of a particular group are intrinsically one way and cannot change
→ even children look beyond obvious features to understand the essential nature of things
(contradicts Piaget)
– How people learn about concepts and category depends partly on the tasks they need to
do with those concepts and category (e.g. making classifications, making inferences) →
Learning is strategically flexible
2.2 Semantic-Network Models
– Knowledge is represented in the form of concepts that are connected with each other in a
web-like form
Collins and Quillian's Network Model
– Knowledge is represented in terms of a hierarchical semantic network
– Semantic network = a web of elements of meaning (nodes, typically concepts) that are
connected with each other through links (labeled relationships)
– Concept of inheritance: lower-level items inherit the properties of higher-level items → high
degree of cognitive economy
– Criticism: anomalies in data (e.g. verifying “lion=animal” takes longer than “lion=mammal”,
even though they are hierarchically closer
Comparing Semantic Features
– Knowledge is organized based on comparison of semantic features
→ Features of different concepts are compared directly, rather than serving as the basis for
forming a category
→ nonhierarchical
2.3 Schematic Representations
– Schemas = mental framework for organizing knowledge; creates a meaningful structure of
related concepts
→ Similar to semantic networks, but more task-oriented
– Central characteristics:
a. Can include other schemas
b. Encompass typical, general facts that can vary slightly from one specific instance to
another
c. Can vary in their degree of abstraction
– Schemas can include information about relationships among:
→ Concepts
→ Attributes within concepts
→ Attributes in related concepts
→ Concepts and particular contexts
→ Specific concepts and general background knowledge
– Schemas influence memories of the scenes we perceive and store in our memory →
boundary extension: we extend the boundaries of what we have seen and incorporate
information in our memory
– Schemas can give rise to stereotypes
Scripts
= Particular kind of schema; contains information about the particular order in which things
occur
– Less flexible that schema
– Include default values for the actors, the props, the setting, and the sequence of events
expected to occur → values taken together compose an overview of an event
– scripts seem to guide what people recall andrecognize
– Experts share a common understanding of scripts that are known by insiders to the field of
expertise
– Frontal and parietal lobe are involved in the generation of scripts, requires working
memory, temporal and spatial information; people with schizophrenia, ADHD, ASD and
elder people may have problems recalling scripts → frontal lobes seem to play a central
role
– Typicality effect = when a person is learning a script, if both typical and atypical actions are
provided, the atypical information will be recalled more readily → increased effort in
processing required for atypical information
3. Representations of How We Do Things: Procedural Knowledge
3.1 The “Production” of Procedural Knowledge
– Acquired through practice
– Once a mental representation is constructed, that knowledge is implicit
– Practice tends to decrease explicit access → as explicit access decreases, speed and ease of
gaining implicit access increases; most nondeclarative knowledge can be retrieved more
quickly than declarative knowledge
– Involves serial processing (linear sequence of operations) of information through “if-then”
rules
– Rules of performing actions are organized into a structure of routines (= instructions
regarding procedures for implementing a tasks) and subroutines (= instructions for
implementing a subtask within a larger task governed by aroutine)
→ Many routines and subroutines are iterative: they are repeated many times during the
performance of a task
– Production system: comprises the entire set of rules (productions) for executing the task or
using the skill; required to complete a particular task
→ can contain bugs = flaws in the instructions for the conditions or for the executing
actions
3.2 Nondeclarative Knowledge
– traditionally, knowledge viewed as either declarative or procedural; expansion of
distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge to suggest that nondeclarative
knowledge may encompass a broader range of mental representations
– forms of nondeclarative knowledge:
a. Perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills (procedural knowledge)
b. Simple associative knowledge (classical and operant conditioning)
c. Simple non-associative knowledge (habituation and sensitization)
d. Priming (fundamental links within a knowledge network, in which the activation of
information along a particular mental pathway facilitates the subsequent
retrieval of information along a related pathway or even the same mental pathway)
– two kinds of priming:
a. semantic priming = we are primed by a meaningful context or by meaningful
information
b. repetition priming = a prior exposure to a word or other stimulus primes a subsequent
retrieval of that information
→ spreading activation theories: the amount of activation between a prime
and a given target node is a function of (I) the number of links connecting the prime and
the target and (ii) the relative strengths of each connection
4 Integrative Models for Representing Declarative and Nondeclarative Knowledge
4.1 Combining Representations: ACT-R
– Anderson’s view: individual cognitive processes such as memory, language comprehension,
problem solving, and reasoning are merely variations on a central theme
– ACT (adaptive control of thought) model of knowledge representation and information
processing → Synthesis of some features of serial information-processing models and of
semantic-network models:
– Procedural knowledge is represented in the form of production systems
Declarative knowledge is represented in the form of propositional networks
→ Proposition = the smallest unit of knowledge that can be judged to be either true or
false; describes abstract relationships among elements
– Networks include images of objects and corresponding spatial configurations and
relationships, and temporal information (“temporal strings”, contain information about the
relative time sequence)
Declarative Knowledge within the ACT-R
– Nodes can be either active or inactive at a given time; a node can be activated directly by
external or internal stimuli, or indirectly by the activity of one or more neighboring nodes
→ Spreading activation
– limited amount of information that can be activated at any one time
– Activation weakens linearly to the distance of the node activated first
– the more often particular links between nodes are used, the stronger the links become;
activation is likely to spread along the routes of frequently travelled connections
Procedural Knowledge within the ACT-R
– Knowledge representation occurs in three stages: cognitive, associative, and autonomous
– Proceduralization = the overall process by which people transform slow, explicit
information about procedures into speedy, implicit implementations of procedures
→ composition = construction of a single production rule that effectively embraces two or
more production rules →streamlining of the number of rules required for executing the
procedure
→ Production tuning: involves generalization and discrimination
4.2 Parallel Processing: The Connectionist Model
– based on psychobiological findings, doesn't focus on serial processing (like computer
inspired models), but on parallel processing → distribution of parallel processes better
explains the speed and accuracy of human information processing
parallel distributed processing (PDP) models or connectionist models
– we handle very large numbers of cognitive operations at once through a network
distributed across incalculable numbers of locations in the brain → all forms of knowledge
are represented within the network structure
– PDP model: the network is made up of neuron-like units that do not, in and of themselves,
represent information → Pattern of connections represents the knowledge, not he specific
units
– Differing cognitive processes are handled by differing patterns of activation
– A given neuron may be inactive, excitatory, or inhibitory
a. Inactive neurons: not stimulated beyond their threshold of excitation →
do not release any neurotransmitters
b. Excitatory neurons: release neurotransmitters → increase the likelihood that the
receiving neurons will reach their threshold of excitation
c. Inhibitory neurons: release neurotransmitters that inhibit receptive neurons → reduce
the likelihood that the receiving neurons will reach their threshold of excitation
–
PDP model uses the physiological processes of the brain as a metaphor for understanding
cognition → connections between units can possess varying degrees of potential excitation
or inhibition
– Whenever people use knowledge, they change their representation of it
→ Knowledge representation is a process not a product
→ What is stored is a pattern of potential excitatory or inhibitory connection strenghts
→ New information strengthens or weakens the connections between units
– The ability to create new information by drawing inferences and making generalizations
allows for almost infinite versatility in knowledge representation and manipulation →
ability to accommodate incomplete and distorted information = cognitive flexibility
– Criticism of the Connectionist Models:
a.Neglect properties that neural systems have
b. Propose systems that neural systems do not have
c. Some aspects are not yet well defined (e.g. explaining the recall of a single event)
d. do not satisfactorily explain how people often quickly can unlearn established patterns of
connections when presented with contradictory information
→ possible solution: brain has two learning systems - one corresponds to the connectionist
model in resisting change and in being relatively permanent; the complementary system
handles rapid acquisition of new information
– Comparing Connectionist Models with Network Representations:
a. network representation: nodes represent concepts; information is in the nodes ->
b. connectionist models: nodes represent patterns of activation; information is in the
connections
4.3 How Domain General or Domain Specific is Cognition?
– Since 1970's: tendency look at domain specific processes
– Jerry Fodor: The mind is modular: divided into discrete modules that operate
independently of each other → each independent module can process only one kind of
input; supported by fMRI studies
– Domain specificity exists in language, face recognition, scenes, bodies, …
SUMMARY
1. How are representations of words and symbols organized in the mind? The fundamental
unit of symbolic knowledge is the concept. Concepts may be
organized into categories, which may include other categories. they may be
organized into schemas, which may include other schemas. they also may vary
in application and in abstractness.
Finally, they may include information about relationships among concepts,
attributes, contexts, and general knowledge and information about causal relationships.
There are different general theories of categorization. they include featurebased defnitional
categories, prototype-based categories, and exemplar-based
approaches. One of the forms for schemas is the script. An alternative model for
knowledge organization is a semantic network, involving a web of labeled relations
between conceptual nodes. An early network model, based on the notion of cognitive
economy, was strictly hierarchical. But subsequent models have tended to
emphasize the frequency with which particular associations are used.
2. How do we represent other forms of knowledge in the mind? Many cognitive
psychologists have developed models for procedural knowledge. These are
based on computer simulations of such representations. An example of such a
model is the production system.
3. How does declarative knowledge interact with procedural knowledge? An
important model in cognitive psychology is ACT, as well as its updated revision, ACT-R. It
represents both procedural knowledge in the form of production systems and declarative
knowledge in the form of a semantic network. In
each of these models, the metaphor for understanding both knowledge representation and
information processing is based on the way in which a computer
processes information. For example, these models underscore the serial processing of
information.
Research on how the human brain processes information has shown that
brains, unlike computers, use parallel processing of information. In addition, it
appears that much of information processing is not localized only to particular
areas of the brain. Instead, it is distributed across various regions of the brain
all at once. At a microscopic level of analysis, the neurons within the brain may
be inactive, or they may be excited or inhibited by the actions of other neurons
with which they share a synapse. Finally, studies of how the brain processes
information have shown that some stimuli seem to prime a response to subsequent stimuli
so that it becomes easier to process the subsequent stimuli.
A model for human knowledge representation and information processing
based on what we know about the brain is the parallel distributed processing (PDP)
model. It is also called a connectionist model. In such models, it is held that neuron
like units may be excited or inhibited by the actions of other units, or they may
be inactive. Furthermore, knowledge is represented in terms of patterns of excitation or
inhibition strengths, rather than in particular units. Most PDP models also
explain the priming effect by suggesting the mechanism of spreading activation.
Many cognitive psychologists believe that the mind is at least partly modular. It has
different activity centers that operate fairly independently of each
other. Other cognitive psychologists believe, however, that human cognition
is governed by many fundamental operations. According to this view, specifc
cognitive functions are merely variations on a theme. In all likelihood, cognition involves
some modular, domain-specifc processes and some fundamental,
domain-general processes.
Chapter 9
– Language = the use of an organized means of combining words in order to communicate
→ Makes it possible to think about things and processes people currently cannot see, hear,
feel, touch, or smell
– Communication = exchange of thoughts and feelings (verbal or nonverbal)
– Psycholinguistics = psychology of our language as it interacts with the human mind
→ Considers production and comprehension of language, four fields contribute to it:
a. Linguistics = the study of language structure and change
b. Neurolinguistics =the study of the relationship among the brain, cognition, and language
c. Sociolinguistics = the study of the relationship between social behaviour and language
d. Computational linguistics = the study of language via computational methods
1. What Is Language?
1.1 Properties of Language
– All languages are:
a. Communicative
b. Arbitrarily symbolic
→ Referent = the thing or concept in the real world that a word refers to
→ Principle of conventionality: meanings of words are determined by conventions
→ Principle of contrast: different words have different meanings
c. Regularly structured
d. Structured at multiple levels (sounds, meaning units, words, and phrases)
e. Generative/Productive → possible to produce infnite
number of unique sentences and other meaningful combinations of words (Chomsky!)
f. Dynamic → language evolves naturally
1.2 The Basic Components of Words
– Phoneme = the smallest unit of speech sound that can be used to distinguish one utterance
in a given language from another
→ Phonemics = the study of the particular phonemes of a language
→ Phonetics = the study of how to produce or combine speech sounds or to represent
them with written symbols
– Morpheme = the smallest unit of meaning within a particular language
- Content morphemes = the words that convey the bulk of the meaning of a language
- Function morphemes add detail and nuance to the meaning of the content morphemes or
help the content morphemes to fit the grammatical context
– Lexicon = entire set of morphemes in a given language or in a given person’s linguistic
repertoire
– Syntax = the systematic way in which words can be combined and sequenced to form
meaningful phrases and sentences
– A sentence comprises at least two parts: a noun phrase and a verb phrase (predicate)
2. Language Comprehension
2.1 Understanding Words
– we can perceive as many as fifty phonemes per second in a language in which we are
fluent, but less than one nonspeech sounds/second
– Coarticulation = simultaneous pronunciation of more than one sound (Result of the
anticipation of the next word)
– Speech segmentation = the process of trying to separate the continuous sound stream into
distinct words
The View of Speech Perception as Ordinary
– when we perceive speech, we use the same processes as when we perceive other sounds
→ theories of Template-matching or feature-detection processes
a. Speech sounds are analyzed into their components
b. Components are analyzed for patterns and matched to a prototype or template
→ Require decision-making processes above and beyond feature detection or template
matching; cognitive and contextual factors influence perception of speech
→ Phonemic restauration effect = integrating what we know with what we hear when we
perceive speech
The View of Speech Perception as Special
– Categorical Perception - discontinuous categories of speech sounds
→ Perception of speech sounds is experienced categorically
→ People are better able to discriminate between two different categories than within
categories
– McGurk effect = perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between
hearing and vision in speech perception → illusion occurs when the auditory component of
one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, leading to the perception
of a third sound
– physiological basis in the superior temporal sulcus (STS); motor parts of the cortex are
involved not only in the production of speech but also in speech perception
2.2 Understanding Meaning: Semantics
– Semantics = the study of meaning in a language
– Denotation = strict dictionary definition of a word
– Connotation = a word’s emotional overtones, presuppositions, and other non-explicit
meanings
→ Denotation and connotation together form the meaning of a word
– Meanings are encoded into memory through concepts
→ Having a word for something helps us to add new information to our existing
information about that concept and also facilitates and enhances recall
– All words are stored in our mental lexicon, which contains both the words and their
meanings ; When retrieving the meaning of words, people may rely on their
a. perceptual features (living things) and the
b. function (artificial, manmade objects)
2.3 Understanding Sentences: Syntax
– Syntax = the systematic way in which words can be combined and sequenced to make
meaningful phrases and sentences
–
Grammar = the study of language in terms of noticing regular patterns (patterns relate to
the functions and relationships of words in a sentence)
a. Prescriptive grammar: describes the “correct” ways in which to structure the use of
written and spoken language
b. Descriptive language: describes the structures, functions, and relationships of words in
language
Syntactical Priming
= People tend to use syntactical structures and read faster sentences that parallel the
structures of sentences they have just heard
– Sentence priming: independent of its grammatical correctness, a sentence is rated more
grammatically correct when a sentence with the same structure was presented before
Speech Errors
– When speech errors occur they do so in accordance with grammar (nouns are switched for
nouns, verbs for verbs, propositions for propositions, etc.)
→ attachment/detachment of function morphemes to make the switched words fit their
new positions
Analyzing Sentences: Phrase-Structure Grammar
– Humans seem to have a mental mechanism for classifying words according to syntactical
categories which is separate from the meaning of words
a. Parsing: when composing sentences, people seem to analyze and divide them into
functional components
b. People assign appropriate syntactical categories to each component
c. Syntax rules are used to construct grammatical sequences of the parsed components
– Sentences are organized in hierarchical structures of embedded phrases → Phrase
Structure Grammar e.g. noun phrase, verb phrase
→ phrase-structure rules: rules governing the sequences of words
A New Approach to Syntax: Transformational Grammar
– Chomsky: to understand syntax, we must not only observe the interrelationships among
phrases within sentences but also consider the syntactical relationships between sentences
→ phrase-structure analysis fails to show relation between sentences that express the
same proposition in different ways
– → introduction of transformational grammar: involves transformational rules = rules that
guide the ways in which an underlying proposition can be arranged into a sentence
– Deep structure = underlying syntactical structure that links various phrase structures
through various transformation rules
– Surface structure = any of the various phrase structures that may result from such
transformations
Relationships between Syntactical and Lexical Structures
– Chomsky: Each lexical item contains not only meaning attached to morphemes, but also
syntactical information, which indicates:
a. The syntactical category of the items (noun, verb,…)
b. The appropriate syntactical contexts in which the particular morpheme may be used
(pronouns as subjects, direct objects,…)
c.Any idiosyncratic information about the syntactical uses of the morpheme (treatment of
irregular verbs,…)
→ By making the mental lexicon more complex, the syntax is made simpler (number of
required rules is reduced)
– Criticism: too much focus on syntax, too less on meaning → theory that put so much
emphasis on syntax seems insufficient to explain the processes of language usage to
express meaning
– Thematic roles = ways in which items can be used in the context of communication
a. .Agent = “doer” of any action
b. Patient = direct recipient of the action
c. Beneficiary = indirect recipient of the action
d. Instrument = means by which the action is implemented
e. Location = place where the action occurs
f. Source = where the action originated
g. Goal = where the action is going
→ various syntactical slots can be filled by lexical entries with corresponding thematic roles
3. Reading
= complex process that involves, at minimum, perception, language, memory,
thinking, and intelligence
3.1 Perceptual Issues in Reading
– Two basic kinds of processes:
a. Lexical processes: used to identify letters and words; activate relevant information in
memory about these words (bottom-up)
b. Comprehension processes: used to make sense of the text as a whole (top-down)
3.2 Lexical Processes in Reading
Fixations and Reading Speed
– When reading the eyes move in saccades (rapid sequential movements ) as they fixate on
successive clumps of text → Longer on longer words, unfamiliar words, and the last word in
a sentence (“sentence wrap-up time”)
Lexical Access
= the identification of a word that allows people to gain access to the meaning of the word
from memory → Interactive process: combines information of different kinds (features of
letters, the letters themselves, the words comprising the letters,…)
– Interactive-activation model (McClelland, Rumelhart): Activation of lexical elements occurs
at multiple levels:
a. feature level
b. letter level
c. word level
→ Activity at each level is interactive
→ Information at each level is represented separately in memory
→ Information passes from one level to another bidirectionally

– Word-superiority effect (similar to confgural-superiority effect and the object-superiority
effectt): letters are read more easily when they ar eembedded in words than when they are
presented either in isolation or with letters that do not form words (Reicher-Wheeler
effect); measured using lexical-decision-task
– Sentence-superiority effect: people take about twice as long to read unrelated words as
opposed to words in a sentence → Context effects occur on a conscious and preconscious
level
Intelligence and Lexical-Access Speed
- Lexical-access speed = the speed with which people can retrieve information about words
stored in
long-term memory
3.3 Teaching How to Read
– several approaches to teach children to read:
a. the phonics approach: children are taught how the letters of the alphabet sound and
then progressively put them together to read more letters together
b. the whole-word approach: teaches children to recognize whole words, without the
analysis of the sounds that make up the word → more interesting for children
c. the whole-language approach: words are pieces of sentences
and reading should therefore be taught in connection with entire sentences
3.3 When Reading Is a Problem—Dyslexia
= difficulty in deciphering, reading, and comprehending text
– Different processes may be impaired:
a. Phonological awareness: awareness of the sound structure of spoken language
(recognizing the different sounds that make up a word).
b. Phonological reading: reading words in isolation (often have more trouble recognizing
words in isolation than in context)
c. Phonological coding in working memory: difficulty storing phonemes in working memory;
tendency to confuse them
d. Lexical access: ability to retrieve phonemes from long-term memory
– Different kinds of dyslexia, most common:
a. Developmental dyslexia: starts in childhood; both biological (abnormalities in certain
chromosomes) and environmental causes
b. Acquired dyslexia: result of a traumatic brain injury
– linked to hypoactivation (=too little activation) in certain brain areas (left
temporoparietal cortex) and atypical activation in others (left prefrontal region, left middle
and superior temporal gyri; left occipitotemporal regions )
4. Understanding Conversations and Essay: Discourse
– Discourse involves units of language larger than individual sentences; passages of discourse
are structured systematically
→ sentences influence the interpretation of other sentences
→ meanings of pronouns, ellipses, definite articles, event references, and other local
elements within sentences usually depend on the discourse structure
4.1 Comprehending Known Words: Retrieving Word Meaning from Memory
– Semantic encoding = the process by which people translate sensory information into a
meaningful representation → reader needs to know what a given word means to
semantically encode it
– People with larger vocabularies are able to access lexical information more rapidly than
those with smaller vocabularies
4.2 Comprehending Unknown Words: Deriving Word Meanings from Context
– Using context cues, we can formulate the meaning of an unknown word based on the
existing information stored in memory.
→ Most of the vocabulary is learned indirectly through context information
– High-verbal people (people with large vocabulary) perform a deeper analysis of the
possibilities for a new word’s meaning; they use a well-formulated strategy for figuring out
word meanings; Low-verbal people seem to have no clear strategy to decipher the meaning
of an unknown word
4.3 Comprehending Ideas: Propositional Representations
– Kintsch - model of text comprehension:
→ People extract the fundamental idea from groups of words and store them in a
simplified representational form in working memory
→ Representational form: propositions; working memory holds propositions rather than
words
→ Propositions that are thematically central to the understanding of a text
(=macropropositions) will remain in working memory longer than propositions that are
irrelevant to the theme; overarching thematic structure = macrostructure
4.4 Comprehending Text Based on Context and Point of View
– Varying the retrieval situations or cues can cause different details to be remembered
4.5 Representing the Text in Mental Models
– After semantic encoding → Creation of a mental representation/ mental model (internal
working model of the situation described in the text, as the reader understands it) that
contains the main elements of a text
→ Elements are simpler and more concrete than the text itself
– To form mental models one must make at least tentative inferences about what is meant by
the text → passages of text that lead to a single mental model are easier to comprehend
than are passages that may lead to multiple mental models
– Bridging inference = an inference a reader/ listener makes when a sentence seems not to
follow directly from the sentence preceding it
– minimalist hypothesis = readers make inferences based only on information that is easily
available to them and only when they need to make such inferences to make sense of
adjoining sentences
SUMMARY
1. What properties characterize language? There are at least six properties of
language, defined as the use of an organized means of combining words to
communicate: (a) Language permits us to communicate with one or more
people who share our language. (b) Language creates an arbitrary relationship
between a symbol and its referent—an idea, a thing, a process, a relationship, or
a description. (c) Language has a regular structure; only particular sequences of
symbols (sounds and words) have meaning. Different sequences yield different
meanings. (d)Thestructure of language can be analyzed at multiple levels (e.g.,
phonemic and morphemic). (e) Despite having the limits of a structure, language users can
produce novel utterances; the possibilities for generating new
utterances are virtually limitless. (f) Languages constantly evolve.
Language involves verbal comprehension—the ability to comprehend written and spoken
linguistic input, such as words, sentences, and paragraphs. It
also involves verbal fluency—the ability to produce linguistic output.Thesmallest units of
sound produced by the human vocal tract are phonemes. Phonemes
are the smallest units of sound that can be used to differentiate meaning in a
given language.Thesmallest semantically meaningful unit in a language is a
morpheme. Morphemes may be either roots or affixes—prefixes or suffixes. A
lexicon is the repertoire of morphemes in a given language (or for a given language
user).Thestudy of the meaningful sequencing of words within phrases
and sentences in a given language is syntax. Larger units of language are
embraced by the study of discourse.
2. What are some of the processes involved in language? In speech perception,
listeners must overcome the influence of coarticulation (overlapping) of phonemes on the
acoustic structure of the speech signal. Categorical perception
is the phenomenon in which listeners perceive continuously varying speech
sounds as distinct categories. It lends support to the notion that speech is
perceived via specialized processes. Tose who believe speech perception is ordinary explain
speech perception in terms of feature-detection, prototype,
and Gestalt theories of perception.
Syntax is the study of the linguistic structure of sentences. Phrase-structure
grammar analyzes sentences in terms of the hierarchical relationships among
words in phrases and sentences.
Transformational grammar analyzes sentences in terms of transformational
rules that describe interrelationships among the structures of various sentences.
Some linguists have suggested a mechanism for linking syntax to semantics. By
this mechanism, grammatical sentences contain particular slots for syntactical
categories. These slots may be filled by words that have particular thematic roles
within the sentences. According to this view, each item in a lexicon contains
information regarding appropriate thematic roles, as well as appropriate syntactical
categories.
3. How do perceptual processes interact with the cognitive processes of
reading?Thereading difficulties of people with dyslexia often relate to
problems with the perceptual aspects of reading.
Reading includes two basic kinds of processes: (a) lexical processes, which
include sequences of eye fixations and lexical access; and (b) comprehension
processes.
4. How does discourse help us understand individual words? Obviously, we
can understand discourse only through analysis of words. But sometimes
we understand words through discourse. For one example, sometimes in
a conversation or watching a movie, we miss a word.Thecontext of the
discourse helps us fgure out what the word was likely to be. As a second
example, sometimes a word can have several meanings, such as “well.” We
use discourse to help us fgure out which meaning is intended. As a third
example, sometimes we realize, through discourse, that a word is intended to
mean something different from its actual meaning, as in “Yeah, right!” Here,
“right” is likely to be intended to mean “not really right at all.” So discourse
helps us understand individual words, just as the individual words help us
understand discourse.
Chapter 10
1. Language and Thought
1.1 Differences among Languages
– socio-economic differences can lead to differences in language
– syntactical structures of languages differ:
→ Different order of subject, verb, object
→ Different ranges of grammatical inflections
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis - Linguistic relativity
= assertion that speakers of different languages have differing cognitive systems and that
these different cognitive systems influence the ways in which people think about the world
→ Language shapes thought/Language may not determine thought but just influence it
(facilitates it)
→ Language affects perception and memory
– Language affects encoding, storage and retrieval (e.g. ambiguous figures)
→ eye-witness reports can be distorted by verbal labels (e.g. crashed vs collided vs
bumped)
→ verbal overshadowing effect: when given an opportunity to identify statements about an
event, participants are less able to do so accurately if they previously had described it
Linguistic Relativity or Linguistic Universals?
– Linguistic universals = characteristic patterns across all languages of various cultures
→ Colours: convenient subject, because every culture is exposed to same colours
→ A systematic pattern seems universally to govern colour naming across languages, two
linguistic universals:
a. All languages take their basic color terms from a set of 11 color names: black, white, red,
yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, gray
b. When only some of the colour names are used, the naming falls into a hierarchy of five
level: (1) Black-white → (2) Red → (3)Yellow, green, blue → (4) Brown → (5) Purple, pink,
orange, gray: order of selection within the categories may vary between cultures
– colour categories vary, depending on the speaker’s language → no single consistent theory
why
– Colour names can have an impact on perception and cognition
–
–
–
–
Verbs and Grammatical Gender
Two forms of “to be” in Spanish which are used in different contexts→ Children treat the
location of events in the same way as the location of objects, Adults differentiate →
differences in language use may indicate differences in thinking
Different use of prepositions in English and Korean → English speakers rated spatial actions
differently than Korean speakers
Gender of objects (German vs. Spanish) influences description of objects, even when
testing in English
Differences in acquisition of verbs and nouns between Asian and European children
Concepts
– When fluent in more than one language, thought in influences according to which language
is spoken or being read in at the moment
→ experiment with English/Chinese speakers
→ having a stereotype (which only exists in one language) readily accessible facilitates its
mental manipulation
→ Language and thought interact with each other throughout the life span
1.2 Bilingualism and Dialects
An Advantage or Disadvantage?
– Positive effects:
a. enhanced executive functions
b. the onset of dementia may be delayed by as much as four years
c. bilingual toddlers pay more attention to unexpected stimuli than monolingual ones →
more effective processing
– Negative effects:
a. smaller vocabularies
b. access to lexical items in memory is slower
– two kinds of bilingualism:
a. Additive bilingualism: a second language is acquired in addition to a relatively welldeveloped first language → increased thinking ability
b. Subtractive bilingualism: elements of a second language replace elements of the first
language → decreased thinking ability (children from backgrounds with lower SES may be
more likely to be subtractive bilinguals)
→ Threshold effect = individuals may need to be at a certain relatively high level of
competence in both languages for a positive effect of bilingualism
– another distinctions:
a. simultaneous bilingualism: a child learns two languages from birth
b. sequential bilingualism: an individual first learns one language and then another
→ both can contribute to fluency
Factors That Influence Second Language Acquisition
– Age:
→ Mastery of some aspects of a second language is rarely acquired after adolescence →
some dispute; some argue it is still possible (exception: pronunciation)
→ There do not appear to be critical periods for second-language acquisitions
→ Age and proficiency in a language are negatively correlated
– The kinds of learning experiences that facilitate second-language acquisition should match
the context and uses for the second language once it is acquired
Bilingualism: One System or Two?
– Two hypothesis:
a. Single system hypothesis: two languages are represented in just one system or brain
region
b. Dual-system hypothesis: two languages are represented somehow in separate systems
of the mind
→ Individuals who suffered from brain injury: recovery of one or both languages seems
contingent on age of acquisition of the second language and on pre-incident language
proficiency; no definite support for either single- or dual-system hypothesis
→ Some aspects of two languages may be represented singly, other aspects may be
represented separately
→ recent study suggests that whether one or two systems are used depends on when and
how the second language was learned: more interference for balanced bilinguals
Neuroscience and Bilingualism
– Learning a second language increases the gray matter in the left inferior parietal cortex →
positively correlated with proficiency
– negative correlation between age of acquisition and the density in the left inferior parietal
cortex
– first and second languages may be distributed in different anatomic regions of the brain;
other studies suggest that areas overlap
Language Mixtures and Change
– Prolonged contact between people of two different language groups
→ sharing of the same vocabulary
– pidgin = language that has no native speakers (results from language mixing) → Pidgin can
develop into a distinct linguistic form: own grammar → becomes a creole
– Modern creoles may resemble an evolutionarily early form of language (=protolanguage)
→ pidgin, creole and protolanguage support the universality notion (e.g. Chomsky)
– Dialect = regional variety of a language distinguished by features such as vocabulariy,
syntax, and pronounciation e.g. soda vs pop vs coke
– Differing dialects are sometimes assigned different social statuses e.g. standard
forms having higher status than nonstandard ones → linguicism = a stereotype based on
dialect
1.3 Slips of the Tongue
= Inadvertent linguistic error
→ may occur at any level of linguistic analysis: phonemes, morphemes, or larger units of
language
→ Mental plan for what is going to be said can be disrupted e.g. by intrusion of other
thoughts or environmental stimuli
– Indicate that that language of thought differs somewhat from the language through which
thought is expressed (Fodor)
– Kinds of errors
a. Anticipation = usage of an element before it is appropriate in the sentence
b. Perseveration = usage of language that was appropriate earlier
c. Substitution = one element is substituted by another
d. Reversal/ transposition = switch of two elements
e. Spoonerisms = reversal of initial sounds of two words
f. Malapropism = one word is replaced by another that is similar in sound but different in
meaning
g. Insertions or deletion/ blending of sounds
→ All may occur at different hierarchical levels of linguistic processing
→ Even at the level of words, the same parts of speech tend to be involved in the errors
we produce (e.g., nouns interfere with other nouns, and verbs with verbs); also syntactic
categories are preserved
1.4 Metaphorical Language
– Metaphors Juxtapose two nouns in a way that positively asserts their similarities, while not
disconfirming their dissimilarities
– Similes introduce the words like or as into a comparison between items (e.g., the child was
as quiet as a mouse)
– Metaphors guide scientifc thinking and research as well as problem-solving strategies
2. Language in a Social Context
– Pragmatics = the study of how people use language
– Use of language changes in response to contextual cues
– personal space = the distance between people in a conversation or other interaction that is
considered comfortable for members of a given culture → Proxemics = the study of
interpersonal distance or proximity
2.1 Characteristics of Successful Conversations
– Conversations thrive on the basis of a cooperative principle, by which we seek to
communicate in ways that make it easy for our listener to understand what we mean
– Successful conversations follow four maxims/ conversational postulates (Grice)
I. Quantity
II. Quality
III. Relation
IV. Manner
– people with ASD have difficulties detecting violations of these maxims
2.2 Gender and Language
Gender differences in conversation and writing style:
a. Males: political views, sources of personal pride, what they like about the other person,
object properties, impersonal topics
b. Females: feelings toward parents, friends, fears; disclose more about themselves,
psychological and social processes
– Tannen: Differences in conversational style largely center on differing understandings of the
goals of communication → cross-cultural communication
a. Males: world as a hierarchical social order in which the purpose of communication is to
negotiate for the upper hand, to preserve independence, and to avoid failure, prefer to
inform rather than to consult
b. Females: seek to establish a connection between the two participants, to give support
and confirmation to others, to reach consensus through communication
3. Do Animals Have Language?
– language is an organized means of combining words to communicate; communication
more broadly encompasses not only the exchange of thoughts and feelings through
language but also nonverbal expression
– Chimpanzees: use of repertoire of communicative vocalizations, but these do not
satisfy the criteria for a language (small, nonproductive, limited in structure and complexity,
also not spontaneously acquired )
→ Can be taught to use sign language
– Famous example of language use in animals: The gorilla Koko: Can use about 1000 signs;
Can communicate effectively with humans, expressing desires and thoughts → Seems to be
able to use language in a novel way (combining signs in new ways, forming entirely to signs)
– Herbert Terrace: chimps are able to reproduce simple sign-language phrases, but not to
express syntactic sentences
– Conclusion: Not quite clear to what extent animals can use language, but it seems almost
certain that the language facility of humans far exceeds that of other species psychologists
have studied
4. Neuropsychology of Language
4.1 Brain Structures Involved in Language
– Certain areas play central role for language production and comprehension, but
neurological language functioning can redistribute to other areas if these are damaged and
previously dormant or overshadowed areas take over the vacant duties → neuroplasticity.
The Brain an Word Recognition
– Middle part of the superior temporal sulcus responds more strongly to speech sounds than
to nonspeak sounds; stronger in the left hemisphere; no processing of semantic
information
The Brain and Semantic Processing
– Five areas central for semantic processing:
I. the ventral temporal lobes
II. the angular gyrus
III. the anterior aspect (pars orbitalis) of the inferior frontal gyrus
IV. the dorsal prefrontal cortex
V. the posterior cingulate gyrus
→ The activation of these areas takes place mostly in the left hemisphere, although
there is some activation in the right hemisphere
The Brain and Gender Differences in Language Processing
– Kimura: Men and women appear to process language differently, at least at the
phonological level → activation of different brain areas in some tasks; Men show more lefthemisphere dominance for linguistic function women,women show more bilateral,
symmetrical patterns of linguistic function; brain regions associated with aphasia differ
between genders
→ findings not entirely clear, meta-study did not show effects
– Females have superior verbal skills; males have a larger language area
The Brain and Sign Language
– the locations of lesions that would be expected to disrupt speech also disrupt signing →
brain processes both signing and speech similarly in terms of
their linguistic function
4.2 Aphasia
= impairment of language functioning caused by damage to the brain
Wernicke’s Aphasia (e.g. “That was the pumpkin furthest from my thoughts”)
– Caused by damage to Wernicke’s area
– Notable impairment in the understanding of spoken words and sentences
– Involves the production of sentences that have the basic structure of language spoken but
make no sense
Broca’s Aphasia (e.g. “Stroke . . . Sunday . . . arm, talking - bad” )
– Caused by damage to Broca’s area
– Production of agrammatical speech at the same time that verbal comprehension ability is
largely preserved
Global Aphasia
– Combination of highly impaired comprehension and production of speech
– Caused by lesions to Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas
Anomic Aphasia
– Involves difficulties in naming objects or in retrieving words
– Sometimes specific categories of things cannot be recalled
4.3 Autism
= a developmental disorder characterized by abnormalities in social behaviour, language,
and cognition
– About half of the children with autism fail to develop functional speech → Speech tends to
be characterized by echolalia = repetition of speech they have heard
– Possibly also problems with semantical encoding of language
SUMMARY
1. How does language affect the way we think? According to the linguistic-relativity view,
cognitive differences that result from using different languages
cause people speaking the various languages to perceive the world differently.
However, the linguistic-universals view stresses cognitive commonalities across
different language users. No single interpretation explains all the available evidence
regarding the interaction of language and thought.
Research on bilinguals seems to show that environmental considerations
also affect the interaction of language and thought. For example, additive bilinguals have
established a well-developed primary language. Te second language
adds to their linguistic and perhaps even their cognitive skills. In contrast, subtractive
bilinguals have not yet firmly established their primary language when
portions of a second language partially displace the primary language. Tis displacement
may lead to diffculties in verbal skills. Theories differ in their views
as to whether bilinguals store two or more languages separately (dual-system
hypothesis) or together (single-system hypothesis). Some aspects of multiple
languages possibly could be stored separately and others unitarily. Creoles and
pidgins arise when two or more distinct linguistic groups come into contact. A
dialect appears when a regional variety of a language becomes distinguished by
features as distinctive vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
Slips of the tongue may involve inadvertent verbal errors in phonemes, morphemes, or
larger units of language. Slips of the tongue include anticipations,
perseverations, reversals (including spoonerisms), substitutions, insertions, and
deletions.
2. How does our social context influence our use of language? Psychologists,
sociolinguists, and others who study pragmatics are interested in how language is used
within a social context. Teir research looks into various aspects of
nonverbal as well as verbal communication. Conversational maxims provide a
means for establishing language as a cooperative enterprise. Tey include several maxims,
including the maxims of quantity, quality, relation, and manner.
Sociolinguists have observed that people engage in various strategies to signal
turn-taking in conversations.
Sociolinguistic research suggests that male–female differences in conversational style
center largely on men’s and women’s differing understandings of
the goals of conversation. It has been suggested that men tend to see the world
as a hierarchical social order in which their communication aims involve the
need to maintain a high rank in the social order. In contrast, women tend to
see communication as a means for establishing and maintaining their connection to their
communication partners. To do so, they seek ways to demonstrate
equity and support and to reach consensual agreement.
In discourse and reading comprehension, we use the surrounding context to
infer the reference of pronouns and ambiguous phrases. Te discourse context
also can influence the semantic interpretation of unknown words in passages
and aid in acquiring new vocabulary. Propositional representations of information in
passages can be organized into mental models for text comprehension.
Finally, a person’s point of view likewise influences what will be remembered.
3. How can we find out about language by studying the human brain, and what
do such studies reveal? Neuropsychologists, cognitive psychologists, and other
researchers have managed to link quite a few language functions with specifc
areas or structures in the brain. Tey observe what happens when a particular
area of the brain is injured, is electrically stimulated, or is studied in terms of
its metabolic activity. For most people, the lef hemisphere of the brain is vital
to speech. It affects many syntactical aspects and some semantic aspects of linguistic
processing. For most people, the right hemisphere handles a more limited number of
linguistic functions. Tey include auditory comprehension of
semantic information, as well as comprehension and expression of some nonliteral aspects
of language use. Tese aspects involve vocal inflection, gesture,
metaphors, sarcasm, irony, and jokes.
Chapter 11
– Problem solving = an effort to overcome obstacles obstructing the path to an solution →
How people solve problems depends partly on how they understand the problem
1. The Problem-Solving Cycle
– initial state → obstacle → desired state
– The problem solving cycle includes:
a. Problem identification
b. Problem definition and representation
c. Strategy formulation:
→ analysis vs. synthesis,
→ divergent thinking (generate a diverse assortment of possible alternative solutions ) vs.
convergent thinking (narrow down the multiple possibilities to converge on a single
answer)
d. Organization of information
e. Allocation of resources: experts and better students tend to devote more mental
resources to global planning
f. Monitoring
g. Evaluation
→ order may vary, steps may be repeated or skipped; Emotions can influence how the
problem-solving cycle is implemented
2. Types of Problems
a. Well-structured problems: have clear paths to solutions; well-defined problems
b. Ill-structured problem: lack clear paths to solutions; ill-defined problems
2.1 Well-Structured Problems
– Move problems: require a series of moves to reach the final goal state
– Three main errors when trying to solve well-structured problems:
a. Inadvertently moving backward
b. Making illegal moves
c. Not realizing the nature of the next legal move
– Problem space = the universe of all possible actions that can be applied to solving a
problem, given any constraints that apply to the solution of the problem
– Algorithms = sequences of operations in a problem space that may be repeated over and
over again that, in theory, guarantee the solution to a problem → continues until it satisfies
a condition determined by a program
– Humans use heuristics (informal, intuitive, speculative mental shortcuts) to solve problems
due to the limited capacity of working memory (e.g. availability heuristic)
Isomorphic Problems
= Formal structure is the same, only the content differs
– It is often difficult to observe the underlying structural isomorphism of problems and to be
able to apply problem-solving strategies from one problem to another
Problem Representation Does Matter!
–
Initial state → various intermediate states → desired goal
– A major determinant of the relative ease of solving a problem is how the problem is
represented
– There might be a relationship between the working-memory capacity and the ability to
solve analytic problems; no correlation with processing speed
2.2 Ill-Structured Problems and the Role of Insight
– ill-structured problems do not have well-defined problem spaces → problem solvers have
difficulty constructing appropriate mental representations for modelling ill-structured
problems and their solutions
– Problem: constructing a plan for sequentially following a series of steps that come closer to
their solution
– Domain knowledge and justification skills are important for solving problems of any kind
– Insight problems = problems you need to see in a novel way/ restructure the representation
to solve → Insight = a distinctive and sometimes seemingly sudden understanding of a
problem or strategy that aids in solving the problem; involves detecting and combining
relevant old and new information to gain a novel view of the problem
Early Gestalt Views
– Wertheimer: Productive thinking: involves insights that go beyond the bounds of existing
associations vs Reproductive thinking: based on existing associations involving what is
already known
→ Insightful thinking is productive
The Neo-Gestalt View
– When given routine problems, problem solvers show great accuracy in their ability to
predict their success before any attempt to solve it, but when given insight problem,
problem solvers show poor ability to predict their own success → successful problem
solvers often pessimistic about their ability, unsuccessful ones often optimistic
Insights into Insight
– Insight can occur gradually (not necessarily aha-Erlebnis)
– Sleep has shown to increase the likelihood that an insight will be produced
Neuroscience and Insight
– Networks that are active during rest are also active during problem solving
– fMRI: Activity in the right anterior superior-temporal gyrus increases when a person
experiences an insight
– EEG: Burst of high-frequency activity is recorded during insight
– Before insight even become conscious, activity in the right hemisphere can be observed;
right hippocampus is critical on the formation of an insightful solution
– Neural correlates measured even before an individual sees a problem can predict if insight
will occur → activity in frontal lobes → some people are more likely to use insight than
others; insight involves advanced planning that occurs before a problem is even presented
3. Obstacles and Aids to Problem Solving
3.1 Mental Sets, Entrenchment, and Fixation
– Mental set = a frame of mind involving an existing model for representing a problem, a
problem context or a procedure for problem solving (e.g. stereotypes)
– Entrenchment = a fixated mental set that works well in solving many problems but that
does not work in solving one particular problem
– Functional fixedness = the inability to realize that something known to have a particular
use may also be used for performing other functions (prevents people from solving new
problems by using old tools in novel ways)
– Stereotypes = beliefs that members of a social group tend more or less uniformly to
have particular types of characteristics; special form of mental set
3.2 Negative and Positive Transfer
– Transfer = any carryover of knowledge or skills from one problem situation to another
a. Negative transfer: solving an earlier problem makes it harder to solve a later one
b. Positive transfer: the solution of an earlier problem makes it easier to solve a new
problem
Transfer of Analogies
– analogical problem solving: thinking back to other problems → look for similarities → if
relationship is found → starting point to solve the new problem.
– When the domains or the contexts for two problems are similar, people are more likely to
see and apply the analogy to solve the problem
– Analogies are often not found, unless they are explicitly sought
– surface- and deep structure of a problem may differ → possible to be led astray by surface
similarities
Intentional Transfer: Searching for Analogies
– What matters in analogies is how closely their structural systems of relationship match (not
the content)
– ability for spontaneous analogical transfer is acquired around the age of 5½ years
– Transparency: people see analogies where they do not exist because of similar content
3.3 Incubation
Incubation = putting the problem aside for a while without consciously thinking about it →
minimizes negative transfer
– during incubation time, subconscious processing may occur
– Incubation depends on the time available, the cognitive demand of other tasks one is
occupied with and the kind of task (better for divergent-thinking tasks, worse for linguistic
tasks)
3.4 Embodied Cognition and Problem Solving
– Embodied cognition = the theory that the mind influences the body and the
body influences the mind
– experiment: physical movement had an impact on their problem solving; when we
physically enact metaphors that are related to problem, the ability to solve the problems is
enhanced
3.5 Neuroscience and Planning during Problem Solving
– Planning saves time and improves performance
– Frontal lobes and prefrontal cortex are essential for planning for complex problem-solving
tasks → greater bilateral prefrontal activation when giving an incorrect answer, because
participant has to keep working on the problem
4. Expertise: Knowledge and Problem Solving
Expertise = superior skills or achievement reflecting a well-developed and well-organized
knowledgebase
4.1 Organization of Knowledge
–
Learners perform better when they are presented new material in a coherent way
– Experts perform better when they are presented with material in a low coherent way →
need to focus more
Elaboration of Knowledge
– Biggest difference between experts and novices are the kinds of schemas they use for
solving problems within their own domain of expertise
a. Experts: Large, highly interconnected units of knowledge; Organization according to
underlying structural similarities among knowledge units
b.Novices: Relatively small and disconnected units of
knowledge; Organization according to superficial
similarities
– Difference between experts and novices in how they classify problems, describe the
essential nature of problems, and how they determine and describe solutions
– The ability to apply a visual representation to a variety of problems allow greater flexibility
and an increased likelihood that a solution will be found (e.g. in mathematics)
Reflections on Problem Solving
– Communicating problem-solving strategies (verbal protocols, writing descriptions of
strategy) can lead to an increased problem-solving ability
– Experts spend more time determining how to represent a problem than novices, but
spend less time implementing the strategy for solution
– Experts work forward from the given information to find the unknown information; they
implement the correct sequence of steps, based on the strategies they have retrieved from
the schemas in their long-term memory; they have better declarative and procedural
knowledge
– Novices spend little time trying to represent the problem; they work backward from the
unknown information to the given information; they use means-ends analysis
Automatic Expert Processes
– Experts use schematization and automatization:
a. Schematization = developing rich, highly organized schemas
b. Automatization = consolidating sequencing steps into unified routines that require little
or no conscious control
→ frees working-memory capacity, enables to monitor progress and accuracy
→ Automaticity may also hinder problem solving, when problem is structurally different
4.2 Long-Term Working Memory and Expertise
– experts develop a long-term working memory in their area of expertise → allows to hold
large amounts of information when performing tasks
– Long-term working memory retains memories in a stable form (unlike short-term working
memory) but can be accessed only with adequate retrieval cue
– neuroimaging: two-stage framework for how expertise is acquired:
I. Novices gain more experience → start chunking information in their working memory →
decrease in activation in working memory (prefrontal–parietal activation)
II. Even more experience → chunks start stabilizing in long-term memory → long-term
memory (temporal) areas in addition to working memory when a task is performed
4.3 Innate Talent and Acquired Skill
– Two approaches
a. “practice makes perfect”: deliberate and focused practice which emphasizes acquisition
and application of skills leads to expertise
b. focus on “talent” (e.g. intelligence, personality traits, passion), while practice is still
important → Genetic heritage seems to make some difference in the acquisition of at least
some kinds of expertise
– Experts in some domains perform at superior level by virtue of prediction skills (e.g. music
or sport)
– Experts tend to use a more systematic approach to difficult problems within their domain
5. Creativity
= the process of producing something that is both original and worthwhile
5.1 What Are the Characteristics of Creative People?
– Creativity is sometimes measured through divergent production = the generation of a
diverse assortment of appropriate responses
– Others focus on creativity as a cognitive process
→ focus on problem solving and insight
→ what distinguishes creative individuals from less remarkable people is their expertise
and commitment
– Personality: flexible beliefs and broadly accepting attitudes toward anything different from
themselves, open to new experiences, selfconfident, self-accepting, impulsive, ambitious,
driven, dominant, hostile, less conventional
– Intrinsic motivation (enjoyment or personal desire to solve a problem ) is superior to
extrinsic motivation (fame, fortune) for creative tasks
– creativity may occurs as an outcome of a process of blind variation and selective retention:
generation of an idea → no real sense of whether the idea will be successful (selected for)
→ production of large quantity of ideas → Some of these ideas will be selectively retained
– Gardner: Creative individuals
→ Tend to have moderately supportive, often strict and relatively chilly early family lives,
but highly supportive mentors
→ Show early interest in their chosen field and in exploring uncharted territory
→ Only after gaining mastery do they have their initial revolutionary breakthrough
→ Generally dedicate all their energies to their work
→ Sometimes abandon, neglect, or exploit close relationships during adulthood
→ most make a second breakthrough that less revolutionary
– The investment theory of creativity: Multiple individual and environmental factor must
converge for creativity to occur → Creative individuals take buy-low, sell-high approaches to
ideas - see hidden potential in unrecognized or undervalued ideas
5.2 Neuroscience Creativity
– Prefrontal regions are especially active during the creative process, regardless of whether
the creative thought is effortful or spontaneous
– Brodmann’s area 39: involved in verbal working memory, task switching, and imagination
– Selective thinning of cortical areas in left frontal lobe, lingual, cuneus, angular, inferior
parietal, fusiform gyri correlate with intelligence and creativity
– Relative thickness of the right posterior cingulate gyrus and right angular gyrus related
to higher creativity
SUMMARY
1. What are some key steps involved in solving problems? Problem solving
involves mentally working to overcome obstacles that stand in the way of
reaching a goal. The key steps of problem solving are problem identification, problem
definition and representation, strategy construction, organization of information, allocation
of resources, monitoring, and evaluation.
In everyday experiences, these steps may be implemented flexibly. Various
steps may be repeated, may occur out of sequence, or may be implemented
interactively.
2. What are the differences between problems that have a clear path to a
solution versus problems that do not? Although well-structured problems
may have clear paths to solution, the route to solution still may be difcult
to follow. Some well-structured problems can be solved using algorithms.
Tey may be tedious to implement but are likely to lead to an accurate solution if applicable
to a given problem. Computers are likely to use algorithmic problem-solving strategies.
Humans are more likely to use rather informal
heuristics (e.g., means–ends analysis, working forward, working backward,
and generate and test for solving problems). When ill-structured problems
are solved, the choice of an appropriate problem representation powerfully
influences the ease of reaching an accurate solution. Additionally, in solving
ill-structured problems, people may need to use more than a heuristic or an
algorithmic strategy; insight may be required. Many ill-structured problems
cannot be solved without the beneft of insight. Tere are several alternative views of how
insightful problem solving takes place. According to the
Gestaltist and the neo-Gestaltist views, insightful problem solving is a special
process. It includes more than the sum of its parts and may be evidenced by
the suddenness of realizing a solution.
3. What are some of the obstacles and aids to problem solving? A mental set
(also termed entrenchment) is a strategy that has worked in the past but that
does not work for a particular problem that needs to be solved in the present.
A particular type of mental set is functional fxedness. It involves the inability to see that
something that is known to have a particular use also may be
used to serve other purposes. Transfer may be either positive or negative. It
refers to the carryover of problem-solving skills from one problem or kind of
problem to another. Positive transfer across isomorphic problems rarely occurs
spontaneously, particularly if the problems appear to be different in content
or in context. Incubation follows a period of intensive work on a problem. It
involves laying a problem to rest for a while and then returning to it. In this
way, subconscious work can continue on the problem while the problem is consciously
ignored.
4. How does expertise affect problem solving? Experts differ from novices in
both the amount and the organization of knowledge that they bring to bear on
problem solving in the domain of their expertise. For experts, many aspects of
problem solving may be governed by automatic processes.
Such automaticity usually facilitates the expert’s ability to solve problems
in the given area of expertise. When problems involve novel elements requiring novel
strategies, however, the automaticity of some procedures actually
may impede problem solving, at least temporarily. Expertise in a given domain
is viewed mostly from the practice-makes-perfect perspective. Talent, however, should not
be ignored and probably contributes much to the differences
among experts.
5. What is creativity, and how can it be fostered? Creativity involves producing
something that is both original and worthwhile. Several factors characterize
highly creative individuals. One is extremely high motivation to be creative
in a particular feld of endeavor (e.g., for the sheer enjoyment of the creative
process). A second factor is both nonconformity in violating any conventions
that might inhibit the creative work and dedication in maintaining standards
of excellence and self-discipline related to the creative work. A third factor in
creativity is deep belief in the value of the creative work, as well as willingness
to criticize and improve the work. A fourth is careful choice of the problems or
subjects on which to focus creative attention.
A ffh characteristic of creativity is thought processes characterized by both
insight and divergent thinking. A sixth factor is risk taking. Te fnal two factors in creativity
are extensive knowledge of the relevant domain and profound
commitment to the creative endeavor. In addition, the historical context and
the domain and feld of endeavor influence the expression of creativity
Chapter 12
– Fallacy = erroneous reasoning
– Judgement and decision making are used to select from among choices or to evaluate
opportunities
1. Judgement and Decision Making
1.1 Classical Decision Theory
– mostly devised by economists
The Model of Economic Man and Woman
– Three assumptions:
I. Decision makers are fully informed regarding all possible options for their decision and of
all possible outcomes of their decision options
II. Decision makers are infinitely sensitive to the subtle distinctions among decision options
III. Decision makers are fully rational in regard to their choice of options
→ rationality (in this model): people make their choices to maximize something of value
Subjective Expected Utility Theory
– The goal of human action is to seek pleasure and avoid pain → in making decisions, people
will seek to maximize pleasure (positive utility) and to minimize pain (negative utility)
– Two things are calculated:
a. Subjective utility = the calculation based on the individual’s judged weightings of utility
(value), rather than objective criteria
b. Subjective probability = the calculation based on the individual’s estimates of likelihood,
rather than on objective statistical computations
1.2 Heuristics and Biases
Heuristics
= mental shortcuts that lighten the cognitive load of making decision → reduce the
available information to a manageable amount and decrease efforts by allowing to examine
fewer cues
– People show bounded rationality = being rational within limits
Satisficing = Options are considered one by one, and then an option is selected as soon as
the one that is satisfactory or good enough to meet the minimum level of acceptability is
found (classical assumption: optimum is sought for)→ Increases when working-memory
resources are limited
– appropriateness of the method varies with the circumstances
Elimination by Aspects = When faced with far more alternatives than people feel that they
reasonably can consider in the time that is available → Elimination of alternatives by
focusing on aspects of each alternatives, one at a time
I. Focus on one aspect (attribute) of the various options
II. Form a minimum criterion for that aspect
III. Eliminate all options that do not meet that criterion
IV. For the remaining options, select a second aspect for which a minim criterion is set by
which to eliminate additional options
V. Continue using a sequential process of elimination of options by considering a series of
aspects until a single option remains
– The use of heuristics and biases limit and distort the ability to make rational decisions
– Conditional probability = the likelihood of one event, given another → Bayes's Theorem
– Representativeness Heuristic = The probability of an uncertain event is judged according
to:
a. how obviously it is similar to or representative of the population from which it is derived
b. the degree to which it reflects the salient features of the process by which it is generated
(such as randomness)
→ People reason in terms of whether something appears to represent a set of accidental
occurrences, rather than actually considering the true likelihood of a given chance
occurrence
– More frequently used when people are highly aware of anecdotal evidence based on a very
small sample of the population
– People often fail to understand the concept of base rates = prevalence of an event or
characteristic within its population of events or characteristics → important to effective
judgement and decision making
Availability Heuristic = Judgements are made on the basis of how easily people can call to
mind what they perceive as relevant instances of a phenomenon
Anchoring: Anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic = people adjust their evaluations of things
by means of certain reference points called end-anchors
– the adjustment people make in response to an anchor is bigger when the anchor is
rounded than when it seems to be a precise value
– less persuasive when they come from sources of low credibility
Framing: framing effects = the way in which the options are presented influences the
selection of an option → e.g. people tend to choose options that demonstrate risk aversion
when they are faced with an option involving potential gains
Biases
Illusory Correlation = Predisposition to see particular events or attributes and categories as
going together, even when they are not → strengthened by availability heuristic →
stereotypes
Overconfidence = an individual’s overvaluation of her/his own skills, knowledge, or
judgement → may occur because people do not realize how little they know or that their
information comes from unreliable sources
– myside bias = bias in favor of own attitudes and beliefs
Hindsight Bias = When people look at a situation retrospectively, they believe they can
easily see all the signs and events leading up to a particular outcome → people
misremember their original judgement of a situation in the face of the outcome of that
situation (memory distortion)
– Hinders learning because it impairs one’s ability to compare one’s expectations with the
outcome
– Experience does not reduce the bias, but negatively correlated with working-memory
capacity
1.3 Fallacies/1.4 Gambler’s Fallacy and the Hot Hand
– The application of a heuristic to make a decision may lead to fallacies in thinking
Gambler’s Fallacy = a mistaken belief that the probability of a given random event, such as
winning or losing at a game of chance, is influenced by previous random events
– reason: representative heuristic
– more common in men
– Hot hand effect = a belief that a certain course of events will continue
1.5 Conjunction Fallacy
= An individual gives a higher estimate for a subset of events that for the larger set of
events containing the given subset
– availability heuristic may lead to conjunction fallacy
Sunk-Cost Fallacy
= the decision to continue to invest in something simply because one has invested in it
before and hopes to recover one’s investment
1.5 Do Heuristics Help Us or Lead Us Astray?
– judgements best on heuristics can often lead to sound conclusions
– Take-the-best heuristic (belongs to fast-and-frugal heuristics): identifying the single most
important criterion for making that decision and choose on this base
→ Often leads to good decisions, often produces even better decisions than far more
complicated heuristics
– Fast-and-frugal heuristics (FFH): Based on a small fraction of information; decisions are
made rapidly
→ Set a standard for rationality that considers constraints (e.g. time, information, cognitive
capacity) and consider the lack of optimum solutions and environments in which the
decision is taking place
→ Form a comprehensive description of how people behave in a variety of contexts
1.6 Opportunity Costs
= the prices paid for availing oneself of certain opportunities → must be taken into account
when making judgements
1.7 Naturalistic Decision Making
– Criticism that decision making cannot be accurately reproduced in laboratory → field of
study based on deciding in natural environments (natural decision making), often from
professional settings (e.g. hospitals, nuclear plants)
– The situations share features, e.g. Ill-structured problems, changing situations, high risk,
time pressure, team environment
– The models which are used to explain performance in high-stake situations allow for the
consideration of cognitive, emotional, and situational factors of skilled decision makers and
also provide a framework for advising future decision makers
1.8 Group Decision Making
Benefits of Group Decisions:
– Can enhance the effectiveness of decision making and the effectiveness of problem solving,
lead to and increase in resources and ideas and benefit from improved group memory
– Characteristics of successful groups:
a. Small
b. Members identify with the group
b. Open communication
c. Members agree on acceptable group behaviour
d. Members share a common mind-set
Groupthink
= a phenomenon characterized by premature decision making that is generally the result of
group members attempting to avoid conflict (Janis) → results in suboptimal decisions
– Conditions that lead to groupthink (Janis):
a. Isolated, cohesive, and homogeneous group empowered to make decisions
b. Objective and impartial leadership is absent
c. High levels of stress impinge on the group decision-making process
(d. anxiety, not one of Janis' conditions)
– Symptoms of groupthink:
a. Closed-mindedness
b. Rationalization of process and product
c. Squelching of dissent
d. Formation of a “mindguard” = one person appoints himself or herself the keeper of the
group norm and ensures that people stay in line
e. Feeling invulnerable = group believes that it must be right, given the intelligence of its
members and the information available to them
f. Feeling unanimous = members believe that everyone unanimously shares the
opinions expressed by the group
Antidotes for Groupthink
– Leader should encourage constructive criticism, be impartial, and ensure that members
seek input from people outside the group
– Formation of subgroups
– leader should take responsibility for preventing spurious conformity to a group norm
1.9 Neuroscience of Decision Making
– Prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex are active during decision making
– Monkeys: parietal regions, the amount of gain associated with a decision affects the
amount of activation observed in the parietal region
– ultimatum game: anterior insula is involved when people are confronted with unfair
offer
2. Deductive Reasoning
– Reasoning = the process of drawing conclusions from principles and from evidence (people
move from what is already known to infer a new conclusion or to evaluate a proposed
conclusion)
2.1 What is Deductive Reasoning?
= the process of reasoning from one or more general statements regarding what is known
to reach a logically certain conclusion, often to a specific application of the general
statement
– Based on logical propositions:
Proposition = an assertion which may be either true or false
Premises = propositions about which arguments are made
2.2 Conditional Reasoning
What is Conditional Reasoning?
= The reasoner must draw a conclusion based on an if-then proposition (q → p)
→ One can reach deductively valid conclusions that are completely untrue with respect to
the world
– Deductive validity = logical soundness of the reasoning [Anm. Von Matteo: falsch, validity
und soundness sind in der Logik zwei verschiedene Dinge]
– Modus ponens argument: the reasoner affirms the antecedent: if p, then q. p, therefore q
– Modus tollens argument: the reasoner denies the consequent: if p, then q. not q, therefore
not p
The Wason Selection Task
– Participants are presented with a set of four two-sided cards → each card has a number on
one side and a letter on the other side → Face up are two letters and two numbers →The
letters are a consonant and a vowel → The numbers are an even and an odd number →
Each participant is told a conditional statement
– The task is to determine whether the conditional statement is true or false → One does so,
by turning over the exact number of cards necessary to test the conditional statement
– The participant must not turn over all cards that are not valid tests of the statement
– The participant must turn over all cards that are valid tests of the conditional proposition
→ Most participants knew to test for the modus ponens argument, but failed to test for the
modus tollens argument
Conditional Reasoning in Everyday Life
– Most people appear to have no difficulty in recognizing and applying the modus ponens
arguments, but few people spontaneously recognize the need for reasoning by means of
the modus tollens arguments → may be due to usual implications of if-then sentences in
every day speech
– In everyday life people tend to be better at recognizing the need for reasoning by means of
the modus tollens arguments
Influences on Conditional Reasoning
– Beliefs regarding plausibility influence whether people choose the modus tollens argument
– Pragmatic reasoning schemas = general organizing principles or rules related to particular
kinds of goals (e.g. permissions, obligations, causations); often used instead of formal
inference rules → Help deduce what might reasonably be true
– One’s performance may be affected by perspective effects → what may matter are the
perspectives one takes when solving such problems
Evolution and Reasoning
– What kinds of thinking skills would provide a naturally selective advantage for humans in
adapting to our environment across evolutionary time
→ Humans may possess a schema-acquisition device which facilitates the ability to quickly
glean important information from our experiences and helps to organize that information
into meaningful frameworks
– Social exchange: inferences related to cost-benefit relationships and inferences that help
detect whether someone is cheating in a particular social exchange
2.3 Syllogistic Reasoning: Categorical Syllogisms
– Syllogisms = deductive arguments that involve drawing conclusions from two premises
→ Comprise a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion
What are Categorical Syllogisms?
– The premises state something about the category memberships of the terms
– Each term represents all, none, or some of the members of a particular class or category
– Each premise contains two terms:
a. One of them must be the middle term, common to both premises
b. The first and the second terms in each premise are linked through the categorical
membership of the terms (one term is a member of the class indicated by the other term)
– Four kinds of premises:
I. Universal affirmatives: All A are B
II. Universal negative statements: None A are B
III. Particular affirmative statements: Some A are B
IV. Particular negative statements: Some A are not B
→ some combinations of premises lead to no conclusion (e.g. double negative)
How Do People Solve Syllogisms?
–
One view: People solve syllogisms by using a semantic process based on mental models
(meaning based)
– Mental model = an internal representation of information that corresponds analogously
with whatever is being represented
– The choice of a mental model may affect the reasoner’s ability to reach a valid deductive
conclusion → Some model are better than other others for solving some syllogisms  a
person is more likely to reach a deductively valid conclusion by using more than one mental
model
– The difficulty of many problems of deductive reasoning relates to the number of mental
models needed for adequately representing the premises of the deductive argument →
limitations of working memory capacity may underlie at least some of the errors observed
in human deductive reasoning
2.4 Aids and Obstacles to Deduce Reasoning
Heuristics in Deductive Reasoning
– Overextension errors: people overextend the use of strategies that work in some syllogisms
– Foreclosure effects: people fail to consider all the possibilities before reaching a conclusion
– Premise-phrasing effects: the way the premises are wordedmay influence people’s
deductive reasoning
Biases in Deductive Reasoning
– Generally relate to the content of the premises and the believability of the conclusion
– Tendency toward confirmation bias = people seek confirmation rather than
disconfirmation of what they already believe
3. Inductive Reasoning
3.1 What Is Inductive Reasoning?
= the process of reasoning from specific facts or observations to reach a likely conclusion
that may explain the facts; usage of the probable conclusion to attempt to predict future
specific instances
– In inductive reasoning, a logically certain conclusion can never be reached
–
Forms the basis of the empirical method (when rejecting the null hypothesis)
– People use inductive reasoning because
a. It helps them to become increasingly able to make sense out of great variability in their
environment
b. It helps them to predict events in their environment, thereby reducing their uncertainty
3.2 Causal Inferences
= how people make judgements about whether something causes something else → if
people see two events paired enough, they come to believe that the first causes the second
– Discounting error: once one of the suspected causes of a phenomenon is identified, people
stop searching for additional alternative of contributing causes
3.3 Categorical Inferences
– Bottom-up strategies: based on observing various instances and considering the degree of
variability across instances; from these observations, people abstract a prototype; once a
prototype/ category has been induces, the individual may use focused sampling to add new
instances to the category; he/ she focuses chiefly on properties that have provided useful
distinctions in the past
– Top-down strategies: include selectivity searching for constancies within many variations
and selectivity combining existing concepts and categories
3.4 Reasoning by Analogy
– Are used in everyday life as people make predictions about their environment →
connection of perception with memories by means of analogies → analogies activate
concepts and items stored in the mind that are similar to the current input → prediction of
what is likely in a given situation
4. An Alternative View of Reasoning
– Dual-process theory: two complementary systems of reasoning can be distinguished, both
are necessary
I. Associative system: involves mental operations based on observed similarities and
temporal contiguities
→ Can lead to speedy responses that are highly sensitive to patterns and to general
tendencies
→ Detection of similarities between observed patterns and patterns stored in memory
→ People may pay more attention to salient features than to defining features of a pattern
→ Imposes rather loose constraints that may inhibit the selection of patterns that are poor
matches to the observed pattern
Belief-bias effect: occurs when people agree more with syllogisms that affirm people’s
beliefs, whether or not these syllogisms are logically valid
False-consensus effect: people belief that their own behaviour and judgements are more
common and more appropriate that those of other people
II. Rules-based system: involves manipulations based on the relations among symbols
→ More deliberate procedures for reaching conclusions
→ Careful analysis of relevant features of the available data, based on the rules stored in
memory
→ Imposes rigid constraints that rule out possibilities that violate the rules
Evidence in favor of rule-based reasoning: People can... recognize logical arguments when
they are explained to them; recognize the need to make categorizations based on defining
features despite similarities in typical features; rule out impossibilities; recognize many
improbabilities
– The two systems may be conceptualized within a connectionist framework:
→ Associative system: represented easily in terms of pattern activation and inhibition
→ Rule-based system: may be represented as a system of production rules
→ Deductive reasoning may occur when a given pattern of activation on one set of nodes
entails or produces a particular pattern of activation in a second set of nodes
→ Inductive reasoning may involve the repeated activation of a series of similar patterns
across various instances
5. Neuroscience of Reasoning
– Prefrontal cortex: problem solving and decision making
– Basal ganglia: reasoning, working memory, cognition, learning
–
Left lateral frontal lobe, lateral parietal cortex, precuneus, left ventral fronto-lateral cortex:
syllogistic reasoning; left-fronto-lateral cortex + basal ganglia: conditional and syllogistic
reasoning → syllogistic and conditional reasoning seem to involve processing in different
parts of the brain
– Conditional reasoning: increased negativity in the anterior cingulate cortex after task
presentation → suggests increased cognitive control
SUMMARY
1. What are some of the strategies that guide human decision making? Early
theories were designed to achieve practical mathematical models of decision
making and assumed that decision makers are fully informed, infnitely sensitive to
information, and completely rational. Subsequent theories began to
acknowledge that humans ofen use subjective criteria for decision making, that
chance elements ofen influence the outcomes of decisions, that humans ofen
use subjective estimates for considering the outcomes, and that humans are not
boundlessly rational in making decisions. People apparently ofen use satisfcing strategies,
settling for the frst minimally acceptable option, and strategies
involving a process of elimination by aspects to eliminate an overabundance of
options.
One of the most common heuristics most of us use is the representativeness
heuristic. We fall prey to the fallacious belief that small samples of a population
resemble the whole population in all respects. Our misunderstanding of base
rates and other aspects of probability ofen leads us to other mental shortcuts as
well, such as in the conjunction fallacy and the inclusion fallacy.
Another common heuristic is the availability heuristic, in which we make
judgments based on information that is readily available in memory, without
bothering to seek less available information. Te use of heuristics, such as
anchoring and adjustment, illusory correlation, and framing effects, also ofen
impairs our ability to make effective decisions.
Once we have made a decision (or better yet, another person has made a
decision) and the outcome of the decision is known, we may engage in hindsight bias,
skewing our perception of the earlier evidence in light of the eventual
outcome. Perhaps the most serious of our mental biases, however, is overconfdence, which
seems to be amazingly resistant to evidence of our own errors.
2. What are some of the forms of deductive reasoning that people may use, and
what factors facilitate or impede deductive reasoning? Deductive reasoning
involves reaching conclusions from a set of conditional propositions or from
a syllogistic pair of premises. Among the various types of syllogisms are linear
syllogisms and categorical syllogisms. In addition, deductive reasoning may
involve complex transitive inference problems or mathematical or logical proofs
involving large numbers of terms. Also, deductive reasoning may involve the
use of pragmatic reasoning schemas in practical, everyday situations.
In drawing conclusions from conditional propositions, people readily apply
the modus ponens argument, particularly regarding universal afrmative propositions. Most
of us have more difculty, however, in using the modus tollens
argument and in avoiding deductive fallacies, such as afrming the consequent
or denying the antecedent, particularly when faced with propositions involving
particular propositions or negative propositions.
In solving syllogisms, we have similar difculties with particular premises
and negative premises and with terms that are not presented in the customary sequence.
Frequently, when trying to draw conclusions, we overextend a
strategy from a situation in which it leads to a deductively valid conclusion to
one in which it leads to a deductive fallacy. We also may foreclose on a given
conclusion before considering the full range of possibilities that may affect the
conclusion. Tese mental shortcuts may be exacerbated by situations in which
we engage in confrmation bias (tending to confrm our own beliefs). We can enhance our
ability to draw well-reasoned conclusions in many ways, such as
by taking time to evaluate the premises or propositions carefully and by forming multiple
mental models of the propositions and their relationships. We also
may beneft from training and practice in effective deductive reasoning. We
are particularly likely to reach well-reasoned conclusions when such conclusions seem
plausible and useful in pragmatic contexts, such as during social
exchanges.
3. How do people use inductive reasoning to reach causal inferences and to
reach other types of conclusions? Although we cannot reach logically certain
conclusions through inductive reasoning, we can at least reach highly probable conclusions
through careful reasoning. When making categorical inferences, people tend to use both
top-down and bottom-up strategies. Processes of
inductive reasoning generally form the basis of scientifc study and hypothesis
testing as a means to derive causal inferences. In addition, in reasoning by analogy, people
ofen spend more time encoding the terms of the problem than in
performing the inductive reasoning. Reasoning by analogy can lead to better
conclusions, but also to worse ones if the analogy is weak or based on faulty
assumptions. It appears that people sometimes may use reasoning based on
formal rule systems, such as by applying rules of formal logic, and sometimes
may use reasoning based on associations, such as by noticing similarities and
temporal contiguities.
4. Are there any alternative views of reasoning? A number of scientists have suggested that
people have two distinct systems of reasoning: an associative system
that is sensitive to observed similarities and temporal contiguities and a rulebased system
that involves manipulations based on relations among symbols.
Te two systems can work together to help us reach reasonable conclusions in
an efficient way