Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition PDF

Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition Type Quiz Recitation Due @October 8, 2023 Grade 97 Status In progress Cognitive Science: Study of the mind and cognition...

Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition Type Quiz Recitation Due @October 8, 2023 Grade 97 Status In progress Cognitive Science: Study of the mind and cognition that integrates a number of different academic disciplines Neuroscientists study the mind’s biological machinery Psychologists directly study mental processes, such as perception and decision-making Computer scientists explore how those processes can be simulated and modeled in computers Philosophers ask critical questions about the nature of the mind Evolutionary biologists and anthropologists speculate about how the mind evolved The job of cognitive science is to provide a framework for bringing all those perspectives on the mind together The various academic disciplines that comprise cognitive science use different methods For example, for philosophers – particularly in the so-called analytic tradition, the tradition most relevant to cognitive science – the unity of their discipline comes from Certain problems that are standardly accepted as philosophical A commitment to rigorous argument and analysis Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition 1  In contrast, the unity of psychology comes from a shared set of experimental techniques and paradigms Different branches of neuroscience employ different tools appropriate to the level of organization at which they are studying the brain These tools and techniques vary in Spatial resolution (y-axis): the scale on which they give precise measurement Temporal resolution (x-axis): time intervals to which they are sensitive Summary of Disciplines and Methods Discipline Method Philosophers Deductive reasoning Psychologists Scientific method Cognitive psychologists Modeling AI researchers Computer models Neuroscientists Case studies, lesion methods, brain imaging Roboticists Build and test machines Ideally, Cognitive Science would involve integration of these disparate methods ✧ Conclusions derived from Western psychology experiments may not be very representative of humanity as a whole Typical research participants tend to be WEIRD – Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic ✧ In part for this reason, Cognitive Science includes the study of anthropology and cultural differences Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition 2  💡 Cognition is mental activity – the acquisition, storage, transformation, and use of knowledge History of Cognitive Psychology/Cognitive Science Attempts to understand mind go back at least to the ancient Greeks Discovered laws of learning and memory, e.g., method of loci Described human thinking in terms of mechanical manipulation of symbols Study of mind remained province of philosophy until 19th century In 1879, Wundt established first psychology laboratory Studied mental processes systematically using technique of introspection Within decades, however, experimental psychology became dominated by behaviorism, a view that virtually denied the existence of the mind Psychology should study relation between observable stimuli and observable behavioral responses Mind was banished from respectable scientific discussion However, in 1950’s, people started to become disenchanted with behaviorism, and cognitive psychology began to emerge Result of growth of interest in memory and developmental psychology, linguistics and computer science View that mental processes can best be understood by comparison with a computer A particular cognitive process can be represented by information flowing through a series of stages Development of Computational Model of Mind Alan Turing, in article published in 1936-37 Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition 3  Conceived of information processing as an algorithmic or rule-based calculation process (Turing machine) Together with advances that were made in designing and building digital computers during and after World War II, this led to development of view that cognition involves an algorithmic process of information processing A Turing machine has a set of instructions (machine table) that determines what the machine will do when it encounters a particular symbol in a particular cell, depending upon which internal state it is in Parallel distributed processing (PDP) and connectionist models/neural networks became popular in 1990’s – Contrast with serial processing approach – Hold that cognitive processes operate in a parallel fashion. Ex: face recognition ➜ Cognitive processes can be completed even when supplied information is incomplete or faulty Research in AI and Machine Learning boomed in early 21st century due to growth in computing power and availability of large data sets Artificial Intelligence (AI): tries to design computer models that accomplish the same cognitive tasks that humans do Machine Learning: a subset of AI that allows computers to “learn” (i.e., progressively improve performance on a specific task) by creating new algorithms to produce a desired output based on structured (or unstructured) data that is provided Deep Learning: a subset of Machine Learning involving numerous layers of algorithms ➜ Machine does not need to be provided with structured data Neural Networks: Networks of algorithms that are similar to the neural networks present in the human brain The Turn to the Brain in Cognitive Science Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition 4  Early models of cognitive functions, such as visual perception, focused on top-down analysis and included relatively little discussion of neural implementation Neuroimaging techniques that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, such as PET and fMRI, allowed neuroscientists to begin establishing large-scale correlations between types of cognitive functioning and specific brain areas Other techniques, such as single-cell recordings, have made it possible to study brain activity in nonhuman animals at the level of the single neuron The Cerebral Cortex Frontal lobes: involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgments Parietal lobes: include the sensory cortex, important in spatial navigation Occipital lobes: include the visual areas, which receive visual information from the opposite visual field Temporal lobes: include the auditory areas Motor cortex: area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements Sensory cortex: area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body sensations Limbic System Limbic cortex: phylogenetically older part of cortex Amygdala Two almond-shaped neural clusters that are components of the limbic system and are linked to emotion, particularly fear and aggression Hippocampus: Donut-shaped structure that is important in memory Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition 5  Are Our Behaviors Determined by Brain Function? Or is brain function determined by our behaviors? (Which came first? The chicken or the egg?) Physiological correlates can almost always be found for psychological states Penfield found that stimulating various parts of the brain with electrodes give rise to specific thoughts, emotions, images, or motor movements Abnormal EEG patterns seen in those with schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder ☞ However, this does not necessarily mean that brain states cause mental states! Ex: Psychotherapy and drug therapy produce similar types of brain changes (e.g., in studies of treatment of depression, OCD, and ADHD) ☛ Controversies in Cognitive Science One controversy in Cognitive Science is whether the benefits of cognitive neuroscience justify its costs: Neuroimaging studies can be quite outrageously expensive, and many of these studies do not provide direct practical benefits Some researchers claim that cognitive neuroscience has not really helped to develop psychological theories – people are just wowed by pictures of brains Limitations of the Experimental Method Artificiality of experiments (lack of ecological validity): the more you control the environment, the less like real life it becomes Argument that the best things in life (e.g., love, beauty, truth, joy) cannot be quantified Belief as a confounding variable: Magellan’s diary Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition 6  SQ3R Technique for Efficient Reading Survey Scan material Read headings, figures, summaries Question Pose questions to yourself Read Look for answers to questions as you read Read actively, not word by word (key to speed-reading!) Recite Practice rehearsal (tell someone about the material) Review Go over answers to questions Review material again a day or several days later Fallacies You have to read every word. The slower you read, the higher your comprehension. It’s a sin to skip around when you are reading. Lecture 1 - Basic Issues in Cognition 7