Cognition

Thinking, Gaining knowledge, and dealing with knowledge.

Became more and more popular in 1950s through the 1970s, partially because of the computer revolution.

Categorization A category is a group that includes

numerous members that vary in similarity. Dog is a category. Allows us to categorize dogs we have

never seen before as dogs. Wide in variety

Chihuahua St. Bernard

How is it that humans categorize?

1. Categorization by prototypes. Many researchers think that humans form

categories by referring to a prototype or template.

Are the following vehicles-- car, bus, train, boat

How about these? Bicycle blimp elevator

2. Conceptual networks

Many researchers also believe that categories are made up of organized networks of related ideas. Every concept is linked to a variety of

related concepts. Reaction time research has

investigated these hypothesized networks.

Collins and Quillian (1969) first evidence of Semantic Network.

True or False Canaries are yellow Canaries can fly Canaries have skin People are slower to say true to can fly

and even slower to say true to have skin. Perhaps because skin is further removed

in the conceptual network, canary = bird = animal = skin.

Spreading Activation

When you think about a concept, that concept will become activated, and that activation will spread to other concepts that are linked to it. Say the word vehicle. Now you are more likely to recognize

the word bus flashed briefly on a screen.

Collins and Loftus (1975) example of a network.

Spreading activation continued

A concept linked to many concepts will activate each of them only slightly

A concept linked to only a few will activate them more strongly What is something red that is a flower? What is something that is a flower, and

is red.

Mental Imagery Are we capable of forming images

in our minds that resemble an actual object?

Shepard and Metzler (1971). If people form mental images that

are much like real objects, it should take them about the same time to rotate a mental image as it would a real object.

The farther one must rotate a mental image of an object. The longer it should take. Pairs of 3-dimensional objects.

Pull one lever if they are the same Pull another if they are different

It takes longer - the more you have to rotate it - this implies that mental images are at least somewhat like real vision

Cognitive maps A mental image of a spatial arrangement

Campus Your parents house

Errors Turns on streets are remembered as close to

90 degrees even when they are not Tend to imagine geographic areas as being

aligned neatly along a north-to-south axis and an east-to-west axis. Reno, Nevada and Los Angeles California (which is farther west).

Attention

Humans rely on the ability to successfully manage attention.

Listening to radio and driving. If things get complicated -- unfamiliar

exit coming up -- turn down the radio. The more complicated the task -- the

more we must attend to it. Dichotic Listening task

Preattentive process

A procedure for extracting information automatically and simultaneously across a large portion of the visual field.

Attentive processes

A procedure that extracts information from one part of the visual field at a time

The Stroop effect is an example of preattentive processes interfering with attentive processes.

Stroop effect

We are so used to reading words that that preattentive process interferes with our ability to attend to the color the word is written in.

Expertise and problem solving

What is it that makes experts better at what they do than others?

Chess players Sports players and fans Musicians

What can an expert do that non-experts can’t? They seem to be able to recognize

patterns that others cannot. Coaches see opponents weaknesses,

more easily then regular fans. Much research has been done with chess.

Allow a chess expert to look at a board that represents a real game. They can recall where almost all the pieces were.

Random placement they do no better then a novice.

Two approaches to solving problems. Algorithms

step by step rules to guarantee success at solving a problem.

All possible solutions are attempted in a systematic manner until, a solution is found

Computers playing chess Heuristics

strategies for simplifying a problem or guiding an investigation.

horseradish in the grocery store

Language

Humans are the only species that have such a sophisticated language system

Other species communicate, but their communication is much less flexible

Productivity = the ability to express new ideas.

Transformational Grammer

Human language has a deep structure and a surface structure

deep structure is the underlying meaning or logic of what is said.

Surface structure is the actual sequence of words used.

According to this theory the function of language is to transform (or convert) the deep structure into a surface structure.

We can use different surface structures to convey the same deep structure This class is exciting This is an exciting class This class kicks ass

The same surface structure can also indicate different deep structures. Never threaten someone with a chain

saw

How proficient are other animals at language? In the 1920’s some psychologists

began to raise chimps in their home to see if they could learn to speak. They didn’t learn language well, and

never learned to speak. Later the Gardner’s trained Washoe

to use american sign language. She learned about 100-150 words, but

did not link them into sentences well.

Bonobo’s (pygmy chimps)

The Rumbaugh’s have taught a couple of chimps to use symbols for words.

Why are bonobo’s better than regular chimps. More advanced? Raised from when young?

Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Kanzi

Kanzi talking to himself at the keyboard.He is concentrating on the "good" symbol.

Children are prepared to learn language It appears that there is a critical

period for learning language. If raised isolated from any other

human’s wild children - when discovered do not

learn language well Children raised in bilingual families

learn two languages equally well. Later in life it requires much more

effort to learn a second language.

Stages of language development

3 months - random vocalizations (deaf children as well)

6 months- more distinct babbling (deaf children begin to stop)

1 year - Begin to understand language and can say a word or two. Muh, duh, buh

1 and a half years old can say some words (the mean is about 50).

Holophrastic speech Don’t link words together yet.

Two years old telegraphic phrases - two or more words

that sound like from a telegram. I show book More page allgone sticky allgone outside

2 1/2 to 3 = generating full sentences, but make peculiar errors. I want to eat either feet, foots goed, doed shis (hers)

implies that they learn rules not words.

4 yrs = close to adult language