Cognitive Psychology: Reasoning and Problem Solving

Deductive reasoning involves deriving a logically necessary conclusion from given premises, whereas inductive reasoning involves generalizing from cases seen to cases unseen.

Inductive reasoning can only prove a hypothesis false, not true.

Abductive reasoning is the process of reasoning from an event to its possible cause. Its limitation is that it can lead to false explanations.

<p>The Problem Space Theory suggests that problem solving involves generating states using legal operators within a problem space, and heuristics may be employed to select operators.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Productive problem solving draws on insight and restructuring of the problem, whereas reproductive problem solving involves recalling existing solutions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Means-ends analysis is an example of a heuristic used in problem solving.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Deductive reasoning can produce a logically valid conclusion, but it does not necessarily guarantee the truth of the conclusion.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Wason's cards are used to demonstrate the difficulty of using negative evidence in inductive reasoning.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Iconic memory is responsible for storing visual stimuli, and an example of it is the 'sparkler' trail.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>STM has rapid access (~ 70ms) and rapid decay (~ 200ms), while LTM has slow access (~ 1/10 second) and slow decay, if any.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The capacity of STM is limited to 7± 2 chunks, and an example of it is remembering a phone number like 0121 414 2626.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Episodic LTM involves the serial memory of events, while semantic LTM involves the structured memory of facts, concepts, and relationships.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Rehearsal allows information to move from STM to LTM, and the amount retained is proportional to the rehearsal time.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>The two types of interference are retroactive interference, where new information replaces old, and proactive inhibition, where old information interferes with new.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Emotion can affect forgetting, as we may subconsciously choose to forget certain information, and emotional experiences can be more memorable.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Cues can assist in the retrieval of information from LTM, allowing us to recall information more effectively.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>STM limits are largely applied to problem solving in well-defined areas, such as puzzles, rather than knowledge-intensive areas.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Analogical mapping is the process of using knowledge of a similar problem from a similar domain to solve a novel problem in a new domain.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Chunking is a characteristic of skilled activity, where a lot of information is organized to optimize STM, and information is structured more effectively through conceptual rather than superficial grouping of problems.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>A slip occurs when there is right intention, but the action is not executed correctly, whereas a mistake occurs when there is a wrong intention, often due to an incorrect understanding of the problem.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Negative affect can make it harder to do even easy tasks, while positive affect can make it easier to do difficult tasks.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Affect influences how we respond to situations, with positive affect leading to creative problem solving and negative affect leading to narrow thinking.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Stress can increase the difficulty of problem solving, making it important to design interfaces that minimize stress and promote relaxation.</p> Signup and view all the answers

<p>Designers should consider whether their design decisions will exclude a section of the user population, and take into account individual differences such as sex, physical and intellectual abilities, stress, fatigue, and age.</p> Signup and view all the answers