Ch. 10

Question 1

Explain how thought can be represented as analog codes or abstract codes

Answer 1

?

Question 2

Describe the imagery debate, including ideas about depictive and descriptive representations

Answer 2

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Question 3

Provide evidence to support and refute depictive representations

Answer 3

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Question 4

Explain how cognitive neuroscience has contributed to the imagery debate

Answer 4

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Question 5

Discuss examples of how imagery affects cognition and behaviour

Answer 5

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Question 6

Describe the variability observed in imagery ability across individuals

Answer 6

?

Question 7

John B. Watson, behaviourist, believed that imagery is…

Answer 7

“sheer bunk”; what we experience as imagery is better described as over-practiced language

Question 8

Problem for scientific investigtion of imagery?

Answer 8

inherently introspective - cannot be verified by others

Question 9

Knowledge from _ _ has allowed researchers to gain insight into what happens in the brain during imagery

Answer 9

cognitive neuroscience

Question 10

Mental imagery is the experience of creating…

Answer 10

a perceptual experience in the brain in the absence of a physical stimulus

what you seen in your “mind’s eye”

Question 11

Is all imagery visual?

Answer 11

no, it can take one of many sensory modalities

e.g., song stuck in your head - auditory

Question 12

Can you create mental images of stimuli you have never experienced?

Answer 12

absolutely, that’s what dreaming helps us do

Question 13

Which of the examples below does NOT require mental imagery?

a. remembering the sour taste of a lemon
b. knowing multiplication tables from memory
c. thinking of the sound of the ocean
d. remembering the pain you feel when you stub your toe

Answer 13

b. knowing multiplication tables from memory

Correct! Mental imagery requires conjuring a mental picture or representation.

Question 14

Dual coding theory is about knowledge representation that proposes that knowledge…

Answer 14

can be stored as an abstract verbal code or an analogue imagery-based code (Allan Paivio)

Question 15

Paivio’s dual coding theory suggets that human knowledge was represented by…

Answer 15

by two separate systems:

1. verbal
2. nonverbal, imagery system

Question 16

What key feature of the verbal system is found in Paivio’s dual coding theory? What about the nonverbal system

Answer 16

1. a type of abstract code - an arbitrary symbol system (much like language)
2. sensorimotor info that is modality-specific (things resemble what they are in nature)

Question 17

What is an exception to language being an arbitrary symbol system?

Answer 17

onomatopoeia - a word that resembles the sound of the item it is referring to, for example, quack or boom

Question 18

A problem with Paivio’s dual coding theory (verbal and nonverbal systems, i.e., language and analog code)?

Answer 18

it didn’t deal with the question of the nature of imagery itself - more about representing the content of thought

Question 19

The imagery debate among cognitive psychologist is about whether…

Answer 19

images are stored as pictures in our minds or as propositions

Question 20

Which of the following ideas proposed that thought can be represented as words or images?

a. the imagery debate
b. analog codes
c. dual coding theory
d. abstract codes

Answer 20

c. dual coding theory

Correct! It is called “dual” because there are 2 proposed systems—one verbal and one non-verbal.

Question 21

Which of the following is the best example of an analog code?

a. the word stop
b. a red traffic light
c. a stop sign
d. a “walking person” walk signal at an intersection

Answer 21

d. a “walking person” walk signal at an intersection

The word “stop,” a red traffic light, and a stop sign are all abstract codes. None of them resemble what they are meant to convey, which is to stop. A “walking person” signal is the most similar to an analog code because it resembles what it is meant to convey.

Question 22

T or F: the imagery debate is concerned with whether mental images exist and whether we can use imagery for other cognitive tasks

Answer 22

false - we know that humans experience mental images based on introspective experience and experiments, and that imagery influences cognition, memory and decision making

Question 23

The imagery debate involves the interpretation of _, and in what particular modality

Answer 23

codes - language? picture-like?

Question 24

Which of the following questions does the imagery debate address?

a. Are images a primary way we use to store knowledge?
b. Can images influence cognitive processing?
c. Can humans experience imagery?
d. Is imagery the only way we understand the world?

Answer 24

a. Are images a primary way we use to store knowledge?

Empirical data support the existence of imagery, but it is still not clear the format, or code, that imagery takes on

Question 25

Kosslyn believe that, as far as the imagery debate is concerned, that images are _ _, analogue codes that maintain the perceptual and spatial characteristics of physical objects

Answer 25

depictive representations

Question 26

A depictive representation maintains the spatial relationships of the real-life stimulus. According to Kosslyn, a mental image of this kitchen would maintain…

Answer 26

relative spatial locations of the microwave, stove, and toaster

Question 27

What differentiates conceptual vs descriptive representations?

Answer 27

depictive representation maintains the relative distance between objects, and other perceptual and spatial info, whereas descriptive is only perceptual