Categories and Concepts- Week 8- LEC 3- Midterm #2 Flashcards
(8 cards)
What is a concept?
mental representation of classes of things
What are concepts used for?
They allow us to make sense of the world, and to make accurate predictions about novel items of a category
What are necessary and sufficient conditions?
a necessary condition is something that must be present for an event or state to occur, while a sufficient condition is something that, if present, guarantees the occurrence of that event or state
What is typicality?
refers to the idea that some members of a category are considered more representative or “better” examples than others, and that people are faster and more accurate at judging these typical members as belonging to that category
What is the classical view?
a traditional approach to understanding concepts and categories, where members of a category share a set of defining features or properties
What is the prototype theory?
suggests that we categorize things based on similarity to a “best example” or prototype, rather than a strict list of defining features
What is the exemplar theory?
proposes that people categorize objects and ideas by comparing new stimuli to stored instances (exemplars) of those categories, rather than relying on abstract summaries or prototypes
What role does prior knowledge play in categories and concept recognition?
acting as a foundation for new learning, shaping how we perceive and organize information, and enabling us to make inferences and predictions