What is cognition?
mental content and processes. Learning, memory, representation, problem solving, intelligence, language
What are some ways information or knowledge can be encoded?
analog/sensory
propositional/symbolic
prototype
exemplar
Analog/Sensory
The information corresponds to distinct features of the stimulus. Visual or olfactory aspects (smell)
- ex apple
Propositional/Symbolic
- ex justice
non-sensory
meaningful
verbs concept and knowledge
Information coded as a prototype.
idealized form of a concept with key features of the concept. You don’t necessarily need to have seen it
Information coded as an exemplar.
Example of the concept you’ve experienced. Used to shape your perception of the prototype. Shaped by culture and where you’ve lived
What are schemas?
Bundle of information about common concepts.
Ex- farms associated with cows, sheep, hay
What are scripts?
Schemas that carry information about sequences of behavior.
Ex- eating at a restaurant, you follow a script- get food, eat, throw out food
What happens to information that doesn’t fit with schemas or scripts?
We forget it
Or alter it to be consistent with schema.
Ex- male nurse taking care of grandma will become female in memory
What is functional fixedness?
When representation is too defined and too rigid. If we break this, we can be fluid, creative problem solvers
How do we solve problems by insight?
when trying to solve a problem, the answer just pops in our head.
- the right hemisphere has restructured the problem
- this doesn’t include analytical problem solving because there’s no trial and error
What is intelligence?
The ability to reason and use knowledge to solve problems
What is IQ? What’s its background and what is it influenced by?
- Alfred Binet created concept
- (mental age/chronological age) x 100
- reflect thinking ability
- predicts school performance
- influenced by heredity and environment
What is the reaction range?
The genetically determined boundaries on the IQ.
- IQ can increase or decrease 20 points within the boundary
- environment affects this
What happens to the IQs of kids who are adopted?
The IQs of adopted kids are more similar to their adopted siblings than their biological siblings who remain in the family
There are 3 theories about IQ- who are they from?
- Spearman
- Catell
- Gardner
What does Spearman think?
“G” is the single mental factor that determines one’s IQ
What does Cattell think?
- fluid intelligence- ability to understand relationships between things
- crystallized intelligence- acquired knowledge from life
- as you get older, fluid intelligence decreases, while crystallized intelligence (wisdom about life) increases
What does Gardner think?
there are 7 types of intelligence. All of them are independent
What do current studies saw about Spearman, Gardner, and Cattell’s theories?
- no support for Gardner
- sided with Spearman
Why are humans so smart with language?
Through language, can pass knowledge down easily and efficiently, so we don’t have to learn everything ourselves
Phonemes
- basic sounds used in language
- English has 40-45
- almost all languages have a, I, u sounds as vowel sounds
What is categorical perception?
- responsible for language efficiency
- we perceive sounds of language in categories
Normative decision theories
defines how people should make decisions
- isn’t realistic
