Cogpsy230 Midterm Notes #5 PDF

## COGPSY230 | MIDTERM Notes #5 ### Unit 5: Mental Representation #### Table of Contents * Knowledge Representation * Mental Representation of Knowledge * Communicating Knowledge * Picture in your mind: Mental Imagery * Dual-Code Theory: Analog and Symbolic Codes * Mental Manipulations of Images...

## COGPSY230 | MIDTERM Notes #5 ### Unit 5: Mental Representation #### Table of Contents * Knowledge Representation * Mental Representation of Knowledge * Communicating Knowledge * Picture in your mind: Mental Imagery * Dual-Code Theory: Analog and Symbolic Codes * Mental Manipulations of Images #### Knowledge Representation * The form for what you know in your mind about things, ideas, events, and so on, in the outside world. #### Mental Representation * Refers to the way in which information, knowledge, and experiences are stored and organized in the mind. #### Knowledge Representation * Refers to the way knowledge is structured, organized, and stored in the mind. It involves how information about the world-such as facts, concepts, rules, and procedures #### Communicating Knowledge Knowledge can be represented in different ways in your mind: It can be stored as a mental picture or in words. Cognitive psychologists chiefly are interested in our internal, mental representations of what we know. However, before we turn to our internal representations, let's look at external representations. #### Internal Representations * These are mental representations that exist in the mind. They are internal constructs that allow individuals to think about and manipulate information without relying on the external world. #### External Representations * These are physical symbols or objects in the environment that represent information and can be interacted with directly. | Aspect | Internal Representations | External Representations | |---|---|---| | Location | Inside the mind (mental or cognitive representations) | Outside the mind (in the physical environment) | | Form | Abstract (thoughts, images, concepts, schemas) | Concrete (symbols, diagrams, text, objects) | | Manipulation | Mentally manipulated through cognition | Physically manipulated or viewed | #### Mental Representation of Knowledge Two kinds of knowledge structures: * **Declarative Knowledge - "KNOWING THAT"** * Refers to facts that can be stated, such as the date of your birth, the name of your best friend, or the way a rabbit looks. * **Procedural Knowledge - “ KNOWING HOW”** * Refers to knowledge of procedures that can be implemented. Examples are the steps involved in tying your shoelaces, adding a column of numbers, or driving a car. #### Symbolic Representation * Refers to the use of symbols- abstract, discrete units of information-to represent abjects, concepts, or processes. These symbols stand for something other than themselves, and they can be manipulated mentally to perform various cognitive tasks, such as reasoning, problem-solving, and communication. <br> #### Two Key Characteristics of Symbolic Representation: * **Abstract** * The symbol doesn't physically resemble what it represents. * **ARBITRARY** * Refers to something that is based on personal choice, random decision, or an agreement. #### Dual-Code Theory. * **[Analog and Symbolic Codes]** * According to dual-code theory, we use both pictorial and verbal codes for representing information in our minds. These two codes organize information into knowledge that can be acted on, stored somehow, and later retrieved for subsequent use. * According to Paivio, mental images are analog codes. #### Analog Codes * Resemble the objects they are representing. #### Symbolic Code * Is a form of knowledge representation that has been chosen arbitrarily to stand for something that does not perceptually resemble what is being represented. #### Picture in your mind: Mental Imagery Imagery is the mental representation of things that are not currently seen or sensed by the sense organs. In our minds we often have images for objects, events, and settings. * Mental imagery even can represent things that you have never experienced. * Mental images even may represent things that do not exist at all outside the mind of the person creating the image * Imagery may involve mental representations in any of the sensory modalities, such as hearing, smell, or taste. Nonetheless, most research on imagery in cognitive psychology has focused on visual imagery, such as representations of objects or settings that are not presently visible to the eyes. * We use visual images to solve problems and to answer questions including objects #### Mental Manipulations of Images * **A. Mental Rotations** * Involves rotationally transforming an object's visual mental image * **B. Image Scaling** * A key cognitive skill that allows people to manipulate mental images by zooming in and out, facilitating a flexible understanding of both detailed components and larger contents within visual-spatial reasoning. * **C. Image Scanning** * Refers to the cognitive process of mentally inspecting and moving through a mental image, much like how you would visually scan an actual picture or scene. ## COGPSY230 | MIDTERM Notes #6 ### Unit 6: Problem-Solving #### Table of Contents * Introduction * The Problem Solving Cycle * Types of Problems * Obstacles and Aids to Problem Solving * Expertise #### Introduction How do you solve problems that arise in your relationships with other people? This chapter considers the process of solving problems, as well as some of the hindrances and aids to problem solving, an effort to overcome obstacles obstructing the path to a solution. We engage in problem solving when we need to overcome obstacles to answer a question or to achieve a goal. #### The Problem-Solving Cycle 1. Problem Identification 2. Problem Definition 3. Organization of Information 4. Strategy Formulation 5. Allocation of Resources 6. Monitoring 7. Evaluation #### The Problem-Solving Cycle * **Problem Identification** * Do we actually have a problem? * **Problem Definition** * What exactly is our problem? * **Strategy Formulation** * How can we solve the problem? #### Analysis Breaking down the whole of a complex problem into manageable elements. #### Synthesis Putting together various elements to arrange them into something useful #### Divergent Thinking Generating a diverse assortment of possible alternative solutions to a problem. #### Convergent Thinking Narrowing down the multiple possibilities to converge on a single best answer. #### Example: Automobile Manufacturer Adapting to Electric Vehicles (EV) #### Internal Analysis: * **Strength:** Long history of innovation and a well-established global distribution network. * **Weakness:** Reliance on traditional combustion engine technology and limited R&D in electric vehicle (EV) technology. #### External Analysis: * **Opportunity:** Increasing global demand for environmentally friendly vehicles and government incentives for EV adoption. * **Threat:** Competition from new players like Tesla and other automakers that are already ahead in EV technology. #### Synthesis: * **Strategic Option 1:** Invest heavily in R&D to accelerate in-house EV development and leverage the existing innovation culture to catch up with competitors. * **Strategic Option 2:** Partner with or acquire a startup specializing in EV technology to reduce the lead time to market while using the global distribution network for rapid scaling. * **Strategic Fit:** Partnering with an EV startup aligns with the company's strong distribution network, allowing quick market penetration while compensating for its weakness in EV technology. Investment in R&D supports long-term innovation but may be a slower route. #### Organization of Information * How do the various pieces of information in the problem fit together? #### Allocation of Resources * How much time, effort, money, etc., should I put into this problem? #### Monitoring * Am I on track as I proceed to solve the problem? #### Evaluation * Did I solve the problem correctly? #### TYPES OF PROBLEMS #### WELL-STRUCTURED PROBLEMS * Have clear paths to solutions. These problems also are termed well-defined problems. #### ILL-STRUCTURED PROBLEMS * Lack clear paths to solutions. These problems are also termed ill-defined problems. | Aspect | Well-Structured Problems | III-Structured Problems | |---|---|---| | Goal Clarity | Clearly defined | Vague or ambiguous | | Solution | Single correct solution | Multiple possible solutions | | Solution Path | Clear and established | Unclear or unknown | #### Methods * Known and well-defined #### Evaluation * Objective and based on correctness #### Example * Solving a math equation #### Thinking Style * Convergent (focused on one solution) #### Not well-known or structured #### Subjective and based on judgment #### Example * Developing a strategy to reduce poverty #### Thinking Style * Divergent (open to multiple solutions) #### Early Gestaltist Views Gestalt psychologists emphasized the importance of the whole as more than a collection of parts. In regard to problem solving, Gestalt psychologists held that insight problems require problem solvers to perceive the problem as a whole. Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer wrote about productive thinking, which involves insights that go beyond the bounds of existing associations. He distinguished it from reproductive thinking, which is based on existing associations involving what is already known. According to Wertheimer, insightful (productive) thinking differs fundamentally from reproductive thinking. In solving the insight problems given in this chapter you had to break away from your existing associations and see each problem in an entirely new light. Productive thinking also can be applied to well- structured problems. #### Obstacles and Aids to Problem Solving #### Mental Set (Entrenchment) * A frame of mind involving an existing model for representing a problem, a problem context, or a procedure for problem solving #### Functional Fixedness * The inability to realize that something known to have a particular use may also be used for performing other functions #### Transfer Transfer is any carryover of knowledge or skills from one problem situation to another. #### Negative and Positive Transfer * **a. Negative Transfer** * Occurs when solving an earlier problem makes it harder to solve a later one. * **b. Positive Transfer** * Occurs when the solution of an earlier problem makes it easier to solve a new problem #### Incubation * Putting the problem aside for a while without consciously thinking about it-offers one way in which to minimize negative transfer. #### Expertise * Plays a significant role in enhancing problem-solving abilities, influencing how individuals approach and resolve both familiar and novel problems. Experts, compared to novices, have a deeper understanding of their field, more developed cognitive strategies, and an ability to efficiently use their knowledge. ## COGPSY230 | MIDTERM Notes #8 ### Unit 8: Language #### What is Language? * Language is a system of communication used by humans to express thoughts, feelings, ideas, and information. It consists of symbols, sounds, or gestures that are combined in specific ways to convey meaning. #### Language and Thought * The relationship between language and thought is complex. While language can influence thought by providing categories, concepts, or frameworks, it is not the only factor shaping how people think. Thought can exist independently of language, and some cognitive processes (like visual thinking or emotions) do not rely on verbal language at all. #### Language Comprehension * Many processes are involved when we try to understand what somebody says. First of all, we need to perceive and recognize the words that are being said. Then we need to assign meaning to those words. In addition, we have to make sense of the sentences we hear. #### Properties of Language * **01. Communicative** * Language permits us to communicate with one or more people who share our language. * **02. Arbitrarily Symbolic** * Language creates an arbitrary relationship between a symbol and what it represents: an idea, a thing, a process, a relationship, or a description. * **03. Regularly Structured** * Language has a structure; only particularly patterned arrangements of symbols have meaning, and different arrangements yield different meanings. * **04. Generative, Productive** * Within the limits of a linguistic structure, language users can produce novel utterances. The possibilities for creating new utterances are virtually limitless. * **05. Dynamic** * Languages constantly evolve. #### The Basic Components of Words - SPEECH Language can be broken down into many smaller units. It is much like the analysis of molecules into basic elements by chemists. The smallest unit of speech sound is the *phone*, which is simply a single vocal sound. #### Phonetics * Is 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. The lexicon is the entire set of morphemes in a given language or in a given person's linguistic repertoire. The average adult speaker of English has a lexicon of about 80,000 morphemes. By combining morphemes, most adult English speakers have a vocabulary of hundreds of thousands of words. #### When Reading is a Problem - Dyslexia Difficulty in deciphering, reading, and comprehending text can suffer greatly in a society that puts a high premium on fluent reading. Problems in phonological processing, and thus in word identification, pose the major stumbling block in learning to read. Several different processes may be impaired in dyslexia: * **01. Phonological Awareness** * Which refers to awareness of the sound structure of spoken language. * **02. Phonological Reading** * Which entails reading words in isolation. Teachers sometimes call this skill "word decoding" or “word attack.“ For measurement of the skill, children might be asked to read words in isolation. * **03. Phonological Coding** * Which refers to coding in working memory. This process is involved in remembering strings of phonemes that are sometimes confusing. It might be measured by comparing working memory for confusable versus non-confusable phonemes. * **04. Lexical Access** * Which refers to one's ability to retrieve phonemes from long-term memory. The question here is whether one can quickly retrieve a word from long-term memory when it is seen. #### Kinds of Dyslexia * **Developmental Dyslexic** * The most well-known kind is developmental dyslexia, which is difficulty in reading that starts in childhood and typically continues throughout adulthood. Most commonly, children with difficulty in learning the rules that relate letters to sounds. * **Acquired Dyslexia** * A second kind of dyslexia is acquired dyslexia, which is typically caused by traumatic brain damage. A perfectly good reader who experiences a brain injury may acquire dyslexia. #### Aphasia * **Wernicke's Aphasia** * Speech is fluent and grammatically correct but often nonsensical or invented words, filled with * They may produce sentences that sound normal but lack meaning. * Location of Damage: Wernicke's area, in the temporal lobe, responsible for language comprehension. * **Broca's Aphasia** * Difficulty producing speech; speech is slow, effortful, and broken. * Comprehension is generally good, but the individual has trouble with complex sentences. * Location of Damage: Broca's area, in the frontal lobe, responsible for speech production. * **Anomic Aphasia** * Difficulty finding the correct words, particularly names of objects (word-finding difficulties). * Speech is fluent, and comprehension is largely intact, but the person struggles to recall specific words. * Location of Damage: Can be associated with various parts of the brain but typically involves damage in areas related to word retrieval. #### Global Aphasia * Severe impairment in both speech production and comprehension. * People with global aphasia have very limited ability to speak or understand language. * Location of Damage: Extensive damage to both Broca's and Wernicke's areas, typically after a massive stroke or brain injury. #### Other concepts to Remember: * Linguistic Relativity * Motherese * Verbal and Non-verbal Cues