1
Q
What are concepts and why are they important?
A
Concepts are mental representations of a class of things. They are important because they allow us to categorize objects, communicate efficiently, learn by analogy, and create new concepts from existing ones.
2
Q
What four functions do concepts serve?
A
(1) Classifying objects, (2) enabling efficient communication, (3) supporting learning by analogy, and (4) enabling creation of new concepts.
3
Q
What is a concept?
A
A mental representation of a class of things – like “buckets” of things (ex., sofas, tables, etc.)
4
Q
What is a category?
A
The set of things included in a concept.
5
Q
What is an exemplar?
A
A specific member of a category.
6
Q
What is an attribute?
A
A property that can be true or false of a thing.
7
Q
How do concepts, categories, exemplars, and attributes relate?
A
A concept represents a category, the category contains exemplars, and exemplars have attributes.
8
Q
What is a sentence verification task?
A
A task where people judge whether a sentence is true or false (e.g., “Birds can fly”).
9
Q
What is a lexical decision task?
A
A task where people decide whether a string of letters is a real word or not.
10
Q
How is semantic memory organized in the hierarchical model?
A
In a structured hierarchy where general categories are at the top and specific categories at lower levels.
11
Q
What is cognitive economy?
A
The idea that shared features are stored only at the highest relevant level to avoid redundancy.
12
Q
What determines retrieval time in the hierarchical model?
A
The number of steps needed to traverse the hierarchy.
13
Q
According to the spreading activation model, how do concepts inherit properties?
A
Lower-level concepts automatically inherit properties from higher-level nodes.
FIGURE CONTENT:
Nodes arranged in a tree structure.
Example: Animal → Bird → Canary.
14
Q
What major assumption does the spreading activation model abandon?
A
The principles of cognitive economy and strict hierarchy.
15
Q
What is semantic distance?
A
The degree of association strength between two concepts, represented by distance between nodes.
16
Q
What is spreading activation?
A
When a concept becomes activated, it spreads activation to related nodes through associative pathways.
17
Q
How is information organized in the spreading activation model?
A
Non-hierarchically; any node can be connected to any other node.
18
Q
What determines how much activation flows between nodes?
A
Strength of association, represented as shorter or longer distances in the figure.
FIGURE CONTENT:
Nodes for “bird,” “canary,” “yellow,” “fly,” “wings,” “animal,” etc.
Activation flows outward in parallel to all connected nodes.
Distance varies based on association strength.
19
Q
What is repetition priming?
A
Faster responses to repeated items because the corresponding nodes remain partially activated.
20
Q
How is repetition priming demonstrated with lexical decision tasks?
A
Participants respond faster to words they saw earlier in a prior list.
21
Q
What is semantic priming?
A
Faster responses to a word when it is preceded by a semantically related word.
22
Q
What does semantic priming indicate about mental representations?
A
Concepts activate related concepts automatically.
23
Q
What happens when someone sees a related word before the target word?
A
The first word activates related nodes, making the second concept easier to access.
24
Q
What does the feature comparison model propose?
A
Concepts are lists of features, and categorization occurs by comparing object features to category features.
25
What are defining features?
Necessary properties of a concept.
26
What are characteristic features?
Features typical of a concept but not required for category membership.
27
What happens in Stage I of categorization?
Quick comparison of overall feature overlap, leading to fast “yes” for high overlap and fast “no” for low overlap.
28
What happens in Stage II of categorization?
Comparison of defining features only, producing slower responses when overlap is intermediate.
29
What is the typicality effect?
Typical exemplars are processed faster and judged as better members of a category.
30
Give an example of typicality effect in verification.
“Robin is a bird” is verified faster than “Ostrich is a bird.”
31
How does typicality affect learning?
Typical exemplars are learned more quickly.
32
What is a prototype?
An abstracted average of the category’s members.
33
How is categorization done in prototype theory?
Compare the object to the prototype; if sufficiently similar, it belongs to the category.
34
Does the prototype need to be a real existing member?
No.
35
What does exemplar theory propose?
Concepts are represented by all stored exemplars, not an average.
36
How does categorization work in exemplar theory?
Compare the object to all stored exemplars and categorize if it is similar enough.
FIGURE CONTENT:
Prototype model: single abstract average.
Exemplar model: many individual instances stored.
Shows differences in representation and processing.
37
What did categorization speed differences in repeated and new items suggest?
That categorization relies on stored individual examples.
38
What does faster categorization after a similar prime suggest?
That similarity to stored exemplars influences categorization speed.
39
What brain area is implicated in categorization processes?
Temporal lobes.
40
What does visual agnosia demonstrate?
Impaired ability to recognize objects supports the role of temporal regions in categorization.
41
What do category-specific neurons indicate?
Some neurons respond selectively to certain categories of objects, suggesting specialized neural representations.
42
What is a schema?
An organized cluster of knowledge about events or objects based on experience.
43
What are sub-schemas?
More specific knowledge structures nested inside larger schemas (e.g., specific rules for dining in a fancy restaurant).
44
What is a script?
A schema for events that occur in a particular order.
45
What do scripts help with?
Understanding social situations, predicting sequences of events, and guiding behavior.
FIGURE CONTENT:
Examples: fancy restaurant schema, driving a car, throwing a ball.
Script example: alien abduction with props, roles, entry conditions, and results.
46
What are the three major theoretical approaches to categorization?
(1) Defining features, (2) prototypes, (3) exemplars.
47
Besides semantic categories, what else do concepts organize?
Expectations for social behaviors and events (schemas and scripts).
48
What are some everyday examples of problems?
Scheduling events, prioritizing goals, completing a degree, earning/investing money, choosing food, algebra, arithmetic.
49
Why is the distinction between problem solving, reasoning, and decision making blurry?
Because all involve goal-directed cognition and overcoming obstacles.
50
What constitutes a problem?
A situation where an obstacle separates the present state from the goal state, and the means of overcoming it is not immediately obvious.
51
What is problem solving?
Active efforts to determine what must be done to reach a goal not readily attainable.
52
What are the four steps of solving a problem?
(1) Identify the problem, (2) define/represent the problem, (3) develop strategy and organize information, (4) monitor and evaluate the solution.
53
What are the three main types of problems according to Greeno?
(1) Problems of inducing structure, (2) problems of arrangement, (3) problems of transformation.
Problems of inducing structure --> discovering the relationships among various elements (e.g., words, numbers, or symbols) and then constructing a new relationship based on that discovery.
Problems of arrangement --> arrange or rearrange parts of a problem in a specific way to satisfy a certain criterion.
Problems of transformation --> carry out a sequence of operations or steps to change an initial state into a goal state.
54
What are problems of inducing structure?
Problems requiring discovery of relations among numbers, words, symbols, or ideas.
55
Give an example of inducing-structure problems.
Completing sequences like "12834656 ____ ?" or "ABMCDM ____ ?"
56
What are problems of arrangement?
Problems where elements must be arranged to satisfy a criterion, often solved through insight.
57
What is insight?
Sudden realization of a problem’s solution after initial incorrect attempts, often following trial and error.
String Problem (Figure)
58
What is the classic string problem?
Two ceiling-hung strings are too far apart to grab simultaneously; objects available include matches, screwdriver, and cotton. Solve by using an object as a pendulum weight so one string swings toward the other.
59
What concept does the string problem illustrate?
Insight and overcoming functional fixedness in arranging objects.
Animal Insight (Figure)
60
What does the classic ape-with-boxes problem illustrate?
Insightful problem solving: stacking boxes to reach a banana.
61
What distinguishes insight vs. non-insight problems in warmth ratings?
Insight problems show sudden spikes in perceived closeness to solution; non-insight problems show gradual, linear increases.
62
What type of problem shows a smooth warmth curve?
Algebraic/non-insight problems.
63
What are problems of transformation?
Problems requiring a sequence of operations to reach a goal state.
64
Give examples of transformation problems.
Tying shoelaces for the first time; baking a cake.
Water Jar Problem (Figure)
65
What is the general solution pattern shown in the water jar problem?
Use the formula B – A – 2C to measure out a target quantity.
66
In the example with jars of 21, 127, and 3 cups, how do you measure exactly 100 cups?
Apply the transformation steps based on the formula (B – A – 2C).
67
What is a well-defined problem?
One with clearly specified initial state, goal state, and constraints.
68
What is an ill-defined problem?
One where one or more of these elements are unclear or missing.
69
What are major barriers?
Irrelevant information, mental set, functional fixedness, and unnecessary constraints.
70
Why is irrelevant information a barrier?
It misleads and overwhelms working memory; selective attention is required.
71
What common educational scenario illustrates this issue?
Story-based math problems overloaded with irrelevant details.
72
What is functional fixedness?
The tendency to view an item only in terms of its conventional use.
73
How does the hammer example illustrate functional fixedness?
People tend to list “hit things” rather than alternate uses.
74
What is a mental set?
Persisting with previously successful strategies even when they no longer work.
75
What classic puzzle illustrates overcoming mental set?
The nine-dot problem.
Nine-Dot Problem (Figure)
76
What is the key insight needed to solve the nine-dot problem?
Realizing you can draw lines that extend outside the implicit square boundary.
77
What barrier does the nine-dot problem illustrate?
Unnecessary constraints (imaginary limits).
78
What are unnecessary constraints?
Assumptions added to a problem that are not actually part of the problem.
79
How do they affect problem solving?
They artificially restrict the solution space.
80
What is reasoning?
The process of generating and evaluating arguments or beliefs.
81
What is deductive reasoning?
Reasoning from general premises to a guaranteed conclusion.
82
What is inductive reasoning?
Using specific observations to form general, probabilistic conclusions.
83
What is a conditional statement?
If p, then q.
84
Example of a conditional?
If today is Thursday, then I have class.
85
What is a syllogism?
Two premises and a conclusion used in deductive reasoning.
(e.g., all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs )
86
What determines the validity of a syllogism?
Its logical form, not the content.
87
What is the Wason card selection task?
Determine which cards must be turned over to test a conditional rule, e.g., “If a card has a vowel, then it has an odd number.”
The task is designed to test how people verify or falsify a conditional rule (an "if X, then Y" statement).
88
Which cards should be turned?
The vowel card and the even-number card (to check for rule violations).
89
What is matching bias in the wayson test?
The tendency to choose cards mentioned in the rule (e.g., vowel and odd) instead of logically relevant ones.
90
How does changing content improve performance?
In these tasks, people are often asked to apply logical rules to abstract symbols (like letters and numbers), and performance is usually very poor (wason task).
But when the same logical structure is presented using realistic, familiar, or socially meaningful content—like checking IDs to enforce a drinking-age rule—people suddenly perform much better.
91
What are the two principles for evaluating syllogisms?
(1) If premises are true, a valid conclusion must be true.
(2) Validity depends on form, not content.
92
What is belief bias?
The tendency to judge logical validity based on whether the conclusion fits one's beliefs.
93
What are mental models?
Internal representations used to simulate situations described by premises.
94
Why do mental models lead to errors?
People often fail to consider alternative models; working memory is taxed by generating multiple possibilities.
95
What is inductive reasoning?
Reasoning from specific observations to general principles, based on likelihood rather than certainty.
96
In what form must inductive conclusions be expressed?
In terms of probabilities or likelihoods.
97
What are the three factors that strengthen inductive reasoning?
(1) Number of observations, (2) representativeness, (3) quality of evidence.
98
What is confirmation bias?
Seeking evidence that confirms rather than disconfirms hypotheses.
99
What are discounting errors?
Stopping the search for explanations after identifying one possible cause.
100
What is the problem with inferring causation from correlation?
Correlation does not establish causal direction.
101
Why is problem solving and reasoning important?
They are core aspects of human thought and intelligence.
102
What obstacles commonly impair problem solving?
Irrelevant information, functional fixedness, mental set, unnecessary constraints.
103
What limits human reasoning abilities?
Biases, working-memory constraints, and imperfect strategies.
104
What does Bayes’ Rule compute?
The probability of a hypothesis given evidence.
105
Give three real-world examples of Bayes’ applications.
update beliefs with new evidence, modeling human reasoning
P(object in world | image on retina).
P(disease | symptoms).
P(hypothesis | data).
106
What question is raised about human reasoning under uncertainty?
Whether people naturally use probability and update beliefs accurately.
107
What are the two opposing views of Bayes' rule?
Researchers disagree about how well humans actually use Bayes’ rule when making judgments under uncertainty. The two main views are:
People can approximate Bayes' rule.
People are often “non-optimal” and violate probability rules.
108
Why do humans use heuristics rather than explicit probability calculations?
Probability calculations are computationally difficult; heuristics simplify problems.
109
What are heuristics?
Cognitive shortcuts used to make judgments and decisions efficiently.
110
What is the consequence of using heuristics?
They greatly reduce effort but lead to systematic errors (biases).
111
What is the representativeness heuristic?
Judging the probability of an event by comparing it to a prototype of that event.
112
Which coin-flip sequence seems more likely when using representativeness?
T T T T T T
H T T H T H
People choose #2, though both are equally likely.
Base-Rate Neglect Example (Tom W.)
113
What error do people tend to make when judging Tom’s likely major?
They rely on the representativeness heuristic rather than base rates.
114
Why is base-rate neglect a bias?
individuals tend to ignore general, statistical information (the "base rate") in favor of specific, often vivid or anecdotal, case-specific information when making decisions or evaluating probabilities.
115
What biases stem from the representativeness heuristic?
Insensitivity to base rates.
Insensitivity to sample size.
Overgeneralization from few cases.
116
What categories are often chosen for Susan based on her description?
Librarian (and sometimes Teacher, Lawyer).
117
What bias drives the Susan description?
Judging based on similarity to stereotypes instead of category frequencies.
118
What is the Linda problem testing?
people read a description of linda and then are asked questions. seeks to understand whether people understand the rule that a conjunction cannot be more probable than a single event.
118
What two categories are compared in the Linda problem testing?
Bank Teller
Feminist Bank Teller
119
What is the correct for the Linda problem?
Bank Teller is always more probable or equally probable.
120
What is the conjunction fallacy?
person believes a combination of two events is more probable than one of the individual events alone, even though this violates the laws of probability
Believing the probability of two events occurring together is higher than one occurring alone.
121
What were the findings of the Linda problem?
Rated “feminist bank teller” as more likely than “bank teller.”
122
Does the conjunction fallacy persist under different conditions?
Yes—across naïve, informed, sophisticated participants, and across presentation formats.
123
What is the gambler’s fallacy?
Belief that a streak is “due to end.”
(because one outcome is happening, the opposite is bound to happen soon)
124
Why is the gambling bias false?
Independent random events do not self-correct.
125
When does gambler bias occur most?
When events are perceived as random.
125
Why are humans poor at recognizing randomness?
Similarity-based judgments lead them to expect random events to “look” random, which real randomness does not guarantee.
126
What is the availability heuristic?
Judging probability or frequency based on how easily examples come to mind.
127
What factors make examples more available (and thus distort judgments)? What is this bias?
Vividness
Recency
Media coverage
Memory strength
Why is this a bias?
Ease of recall ≠ actual frequency.
128
Availability Examples (Cause of Death Table)
According to the table, what is the pattern in people's judgments?
they often choose the more publicized but less frequent event.
129
Give one example from the death table.
People choose homicides over emphysema as more common, but emphysema causes more deaths.
130
What does media reporting strongly influence?
Perceived frequency of events.
131
What is anchoring?
Using an initial value (anchor) to make estimates.
132
What is insufficient adjustment?
failing to move far enough away from the anchor.
“Is the Mississippi River longer or shorter than 500 miles?
How long is it?”
The anchor: 500 miles
You adjust upward because you know it’s longer.
But people typically adjust too little, giving estimates like 700–900 miles, when the real length is over 2,300 miles.
133
How can anchors influence judgments even if they are irrelevant?
They shape the starting point for estimation.
134
What happened when real estate agents were given different asking prices? What is surprising about this result?
real estate agents were told the same information about a house, just that the selling prices were different.
Their appraisals shifted 11–14% depending on the anchor.
What is surprising about this result?
The anchor influenced estimates even though ample real information was provided.
135
What values changed depending on the anchor?
Appraisal value
Listing price
Purchase price
Lowest acceptable offer
136
What is a framing effect?
When different presentations of the same problem lead to different choices.
137
What happens when decisions are framed as gains?
People become risk-averse.
138
What happens when decisions are framed as losses?
People become risk-seeking.
139
In the gain frame (200 saved vs. 600 with probability .33), which option do people choose?
The sure option (risk-averse).
140
In the loss frame (400 die vs. 600 die with probability .67), which option do people choose?
The risky option (risk-seeking).
141
In the gain frame ($10k sure gain vs. 50% chance of $20k), what do people choose?
The sure $10,000.
142
In the loss frame ($10k sure loss vs. 50% chance of losing $20k), what do people choose?
The gamble (risk-seeking).
143
In the AWARD custody question, which parent is chosen more?
Parent B (64%).
144
In the DENY custody question, which parent is denied more?
Also Parent B (55%).
145
What does the custody case demonstrate for parents with different framings?
Framing alters judgments even when information is identical.
146
Who is influenced by framing effects?
Everyone—even business students, physicians, and engineers.
147
What types of decisions can framing influence?
Business plans, medical treatments, safety decisions, and more.
148
What are the three main heuristics covered?
Representativeness
Availability
Anchoring and Adjustment
149
What biases correspond to each heuristic?
Representativeness Heuristic --> we judge something based on how much it looks like a typical example. This leads to base-rate neglect, sample size neglect, conjunction fallacy, and gambler’s fallacy.
Availability Heuristic --> we judge probability based on how easily examples come to mind.
Anchoring Heuristic --> we start from an initial value (an anchor) and don’t adjust enough.
150
What is one critique of heuristics-and-biases research?
It assumes unrealistic standards of rationality.
claims that people make errors because they don’t follow formal rules of logic or probability
151
What is the evolutionary argument for heuristics?
They evolved to solve real-world adaptive problems efficiently.
152
What is the “fast and frugal” view?
Heuristics are quick, approximate, and often adaptive even if not perfect.
153
What was the goal of heuristics-and-biases research?
To scientifically explain how people form subjective probabilities.
154
Why do humans rely on heuristics?
Reasoning under uncertainty is difficult; heuristics simplify it.
155
What is the trade-off of using heuristics?
Efficiency at the cost of systematic errors—but people behave reasonably well much of the time.
156
What is the definition of a language?
A system of symbols, sounds, meanings, and rules of combination that allows communication among humans.
157
What does the creative property of language mean?
Humans rarely repeat any given sentence; language allows infinite novel expressions.
158
What does it mean that language is structured?
Language obeys strict grammatical rules governing how elements can be combined.
159
What does the meaningful property of language refer to?
Language expresses ideas and conveys semantic content.
160
What does the referential property of language mean?
Language refers to events, objects, and actions in the world.
160
What does the interpersonal property of language refer to?
Language is a social activity used for communication between people.
160
What are phonemes?
The smallest units of sound; ~100 possible worldwide; English uses ~40.
161
What are morphemes?
The smallest units of meaning (root words, prefixes, suffixes); English uses ~50,000.
162
What is semantics?
The meaning of words and word combinations; the objects/actions to which words refer.
163
What is syntax?
A system of rules for arranging words into sentences; varies across languages.
164
What is remarkable about children's language learning?
They master their native language to high proficiency during preschool years, regardless of environment or motivation.
165
What does the innate perspective on language learning argue?
Humans have biological predispositions for language that animals do not.
166
What environmental factors influence language learning?
Age of exposure and location/context of learning.
167
What are infants’ earliest vocalizations and their functions?
Crying (emotional signaling), cooing, and babbling (natural vocal exploration).
168
Why is babbling important?
It helps infants practice and eventually match the prosody and phonemes of their native language; becomes social with turn-taking around 6 months.
169
How do infants’ phoneme distinctions change with age?
Initially can distinguish all phonemes; by ~6 months, begin ignoring unused phonemes (habituation).
170
When do babies enter the one-word stage?
Talking begins around 10–20 months with single-word utterances.
171
What types of words appear first in children?
Simple interaction words, nouns, adjectives, action verbs, “yes/no.”
172
What is the difference between receptive and productive vocabulary?
Receptive: words children understand; Productive: words they can say (receptive > productive).
173
What challenges exist in interpreting one-word speech?
Children may undergeneralize (too narrow) or overgeneralize (too broad) word meanings.
174
When do children begin telegraphic two-word sentences?
Around age 2.
175
What is fast mapping?
The rapid acquisition of new words from minimal exposure, often during the vocabulary spurt.
176
Why do children’s sentences sound telegraphic?
Memory and processing limitations, not syntax deficits — they prefer well-formed adult sentences.
177
What does early two-word speech reveal about syntax understanding?
Children show proper roles (doer, action, object), e.g., “throw ball” vs. “ball throw.”
178
At what ages do major language milestones occur?
6 months: babbling resembles native language
1 year: first word
18–24 months: vocabulary spurt, fast mapping
End of 2nd year: telegraphic speech
End of 3rd year: plural & past tense, complex ideas, overregularization appears
179
What is overregularization?
Applying grammatical rules to exceptions (e.g., “goed,” “mouses”).
180
What limits animals’ ability to vocalize human language?
Vocal apparatus constraints.
181
What have some animals demonstrated regarding language-like abilities?
Learned sign language or symbolic systems
Developed vocabularies (hundreds of symbols)
Showed comprehension of instructions (~70% accuracy in examples)
182
What is the role of Wernicke’s area?
Semantic processing; damage leads to receptive aphasia with fluent but meaningless speech.
language understanding
183
What is the role of Broca’s area?
Speech production; damage leads to expressive aphasia.
184
What is an aphasia?
Any disorder involving impaired language production or comprehension.
185
Why does language activate widespread brain regions?
Language comprehension and production rely on motor, auditory, semantic, and memory systems.
185
What characterizes Wernicke’s aphasia (from the example given)?
Fluent output with real words, but phrases lack meaningful cohesion.
186
What is lexical analysis?
The process of representing the meaning of words during comprehension.
186
Why is lexical meaning ambiguous?
There is not a 1:1 mapping between word and meaning — context determines meaning.
187
What happens when the brain encounters an ambiguous word (e.g., “bug”)?
Initially activates all possible meanings; context later selects the appropriate one.
188
When are both meanings activated?
When context is weak or supports the less common meaning.
189
When is only the dominant meaning activated?
When context strongly supports the more common meaning.
190
What do reaction time (RT) studies show about ambiguity?
1. At the moment you read an ambiguous word:
→ Both meanings are activated equally quickly.
(The brain briefly considers all common interpretations.)
2. A little later in the sentence, once context appears:
→ Reaction times become faster for the meaning that fits the context.
(The brain keeps the appropriate meaning and suppresses the irrelevant one.)
191
What is syntactic parsing?
Understanding the structure of a sentence and assigning relationships among words.
192
Why are multiple interpretations common during parsing?
Sentences often contain temporary syntactic ambiguities.
Parsing route: build syntactic structure and assign roles
Lexical/pragmatic route: use world knowledge and word meaning to infer structure
193
Why does speech seem easy even though it is complex?
Rapid rate (~150 words/minute)
High accuracy (1/1000 word errors)
Automaticity
Speech feels easy because the brain processes it rapidly, accurately, and automatically, even though the underlying computations are extremely complex.
194
What makes speech production difficult?
Turning abstract thought into language
Choosing syntactic structure
Selecting from >10,000 possible words
Generating novel sentences
Tight timing demands
Coordinating precise motor actions
195
Why are speech errors scientifically useful?
They reveal underlying processes of planning, retrieval, and articulation.
196
What are common types of speech errors?
Word substitutions
Sound errors
Blends
Malapropisms
Spoonerisms
(Examples from slides included implicitly: movie pit, a my offered, flow snurries.)
197
How does spontaneous conversation differ from scripted dialogue?
Contains false starts, overlaps, repairs, fillers, and interruptions — reflects real cognitive processing.
198
What is holistic planning?
Preparing the full utterance before speaking.
199
What are the main types of hesitations/disfluencies?
Silent pauses
Prolongations (“aaannd”)
Filled pauses (“uh,” “um”)
False starts & self-corrections
Repetitions
200
What is incremental planning?
Producing speech while planning the rest on the fly; the dominant method in real conversation.
201
How common are silent pauses in speech?
40–50% of speaking time (varies widely from 4–67%).
202
What causes hesitations during speech?
Competition among meaning-related words
Difficulty in lexical access
Marking intention to speak with “uh/um”
Increased difficulty when answering questions
203
What evidence shows pauses reflect lexical competition?
People are worse at guessing the upcoming word when it follows a hesitation.
204
What are the major takeaways about language?
Language is central to cognition
Children acquire it rapidly with limited input
Comprehension involves retrieving word meanings and parsing structure
Production is cognitively demanding despite appearing effortless
205
What is a widely used definition of intelligence?
Intelligence is the capacity to learn from experience, use control and monitoring processes to enhance learning, and adapt to the environment, with adaptations varying across social and cultural contexts.
206
What key innovation did the 1905 Binet-Simon Test introduce?
Age differentiation: selecting items based on what most children at a given age could or could not do.
207
How did the original Binet test express intelligence?
As the difference between the child’s chronological age and mental age (age norms), expressed in years advanced or delayed.
208
What was notable about the early Binet test regarding literacy?
A child could be completely illiterate and still earn a perfect score.
209
What formula did the 1912 IQ introduce?
IQ = Mental Age / Chronological Age.
210
What scoring innovation did Wechsler introduce?
The deviation IQ, which places scores on a normal distribution with mean 100 and SD 15.
210
How did Terman revise the IQ scoring system with the Stanford–Binet?
Multiplied the IQ ratio by 100; >100 indicated advanced, <100 indicated delayed.
211
What major contribution did the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) introduce?
A separate Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Full-Scale IQ; emphasized nonverbal reasoning.
212
What shape does the distribution of IQ scores follow?
A normal (bell-shaped) curve.
213
What does the Block Design subtest measure?
Spatial reasoning and the ability to replicate geometric patterns using colored blocks under a time limit.
214
What does the Coding subtest measure?
Processing speed through symbol-digit pairing reproduced as quickly as possible.
215
What does the Digit Span subtest measure?
Short-term and working memory via recall of digit sequences in order.
216
What do Vocabulary and Information subtests measure?
Vocabulary: word knowledge; Information: general cultural knowledge.
217
What portion of genes differ across humans?
Roughly 0.1% of genes vary among people.
218
How do humans genetically compare to other species?
~97% shared with chimpanzees; ~70% with goldfish.
219
What do twin studies reveal about intelligence?
Both genes and environment contribute substantially; identical twins raised apart show strong similarity.
220
What is reaction range?
Genetically determined limits on IQ, typically about 20–25 points.
221
How do environments influence the reaction range?
Good environments push IQ toward the top of the range; poor environments toward the lower end.
222
What did the Reaction Range figure illustrate?
Individuals with similar genetic potential can end up with different IQs depending on environment; reaction ranges may be narrow or wide depending on person.
223
What does factor analysis do in intelligence research?
Identifies clusters of test items that correlate, revealing underlying cognitive factors.
224
What does it mean if numerical items correlate but not verbal items?
They likely form a “math” factor distinct from verbal ability.
225
What did the example Factor Matrix show?
Items grouped into two factors with a correlation of .69, demonstrating partially overlapping but distinct cognitive abilities.
226
What did Spearman propose?
A two-factor theory: general intelligence (g) + specific abilities (s).
227
What does “g” represent?
A general mental energy underlying all cognitive performance.
228
What are fluid and crystallized intelligence?
Fluid (Gf): reasoning and problem-solving for novel tasks (declines with age)
Crystallized (Gc): accumulated knowledge and vocabulary (increases with age)
229
What does Carroll’s hierarchical model propose?
Carroll believed that human intelligence is organized in three levels, from very specific skills to one general ability.
**Stratum I:** specific abilities (smallest scale) --> ex., mental rotation
**Stratum II:** broad abilities (processes working together) (Gf, Gc, etc.) --> ex., knowledge
**Stratum III:** a single higher-order g factor --> ones overall intelligence
**Fluid intelligence (Gf):** reasoning, problem-solving in new situations
**Crystallized intelligence (Gc):** knowledge, vocabulary
230
What broad abilities are recognized in modern models?
Gf, Gc, memory/learning, visual perception, auditory perception, retrieval ability, cognitive speediness, and processing speed.
231
What basic cognitive abilities are thought to underlie intelligence differences?
Speed of processing, memory, attention, reasoning, and retrieval.
232
How does speed of processing relate to intelligence?
Faster processing reduces information loss and correlates strongly with many abilities.
233
What did the RT vs. Intelligence figure show?
High-intelligence individuals had much faster reaction times; correlation = –.68.
234
Why does primate RT challenge simple speed theories?
Primates often respond faster than humans, yet humans are more intelligent — meaning speed alone cannot explain intelligence.
235
How related are working memory (WM) and intelligence?
WM and intelligence share about 50% overlapping variance.
236
Why does WM matter for intelligence?
WM supports active maintenance/manipulation of information, crucial for problem solving and reasoning (fluid intelligence).
237
What did early theoretical views argue about the frontal lobes?
They support higher intellectual operations.
238
What neural findings occur during reasoning tasks on IQ tests?
Activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), parietal, and occipital regions.
239
Which brain area’s activation increases with task difficulty?
The prefrontal cortex.
240
What claim does Lumosity make regarding training?
That novel, adaptive exercises can improve intelligence and produce long-lasting gains.
241
What did Jaeggi’s experiment test?
Whether working memory training improves fluid intelligence.
242
What were the initial results of the WM and fluidity study?
aimed to see if WM affected intellectual fluidity
Improvements in the trained task and some increases in fluid intelligence depending on training duration.
243
What does later evaluation (e.g., FTC case) suggest about Lumosity’s claims?
Claims lacked scientific support; company fined for deceptive advertising.
244
What do current models suggest intelligence arises from?
Multiple interacting processes: speed, WM, LTM retrieval, reasoning, and learning systems.
245
Is there strong evidence that training (e.g., brain games) increases intelligence?
Evidence is mixed and largely questionable.
246
What are concepts and why are they useful?
Mental categories that help with classification and inference.
247
What are classical (feature-based) theories of categorization?
Categories defined by necessary and sufficient features; includes hierarchical and feature comparison models.
248
What are prototype and exemplar theories?
Categories based on similarity to a central prototype or stored exemplars.
249
What are schemas and scripts?
Schema: knowledge structures about situations.
Script: ordered sequence of behaviors expected in certain contexts.
250
What are the three types of problems?
Inducing structure, arrangement, transformation.
251
What barriers interfere with problem solving?
Irrelevant information, functional fixedness, mental set, unnecessary constraints.
252
What is deductive reasoning?
Reasoning from general rules to specific conclusions (e.g., syllogisms).
253
What is inductive reasoning?
Drawing general conclusions from specific evidence; depends on number and quality of observations.
254
What is the representativeness heuristic?
Judging likelihood based on similarity to a prototype.
255
What is the availability heuristic?
Estimating frequency or likelihood based on ease of recall.
256
What is anchoring and adjustment?
Starting from an initial value (anchor) and adjusting insufficiently, leading to bias.
257
What are framing effects?
Decisions shift depending on whether information emphasizes losses (risk-seeking) or gains (risk-averse).
258
What additional factors influence judgment?
Base rates, sample size, overconfidence, retrievability, insufficient adjustment.
259
What is the hierarchical structure of language?
Phonemes → morphemes → words → sentences.
260
What are key developmental milestones in language?
6 months: babbling
1 year: first word
18–24 months: vocabulary spurt
End of year 2: word combinations
End of year 3: complex grammar
261
What brain areas are key to language?
Broca’s area (production), Wernicke’s area (comprehension).
262
How does lexical analysis work?
Context selects the correct meaning from multiple possibilities; all meanings activated briefly.
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What is syntactic parsing?
Using sentence structure (or world knowledge) to determine meaning.
264
What do speech errors and disfluencies reveal?
They show how speech is planned incrementally and where cognitive difficulty occurs.
PSY 305
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