chapter 9 Flashcards
(51 cards)
What is conceptual knowledge?
the ability to recognize objects and events to make inferences about the concepts
What is a concept?
it’s a mental representation of objects, events, or ideas
What is categorization?
It’s the process of which items are placed into groups called categories
What is the prototype approach to categorization?
It is when membership in a category is determined based on how the object represents the prototype
its based on family resemblance
What is family resemblance?
It is how category members resemble each other in a number of ways even if they differ from one another
What is a prototype?
it is a an abstract representation of the typical member of the category
contains the most salient (prominent) features
ex. the prototype of a bird typically has wings and can fly
What is high prototypicality?
It is the member that closely resembles the prototype
the typical member
ex. “bird” probably think of a robin not a penguin
What is low prototypicality?
It is the member that significantly differs from the group
ex. “bird” wouldn’t immediately think of a penguin
What ability does prototypicality affect?
It affects our ability to make judgements about objects
What is the sentence variation technique?
It is a method where you respond to statements using true or false judgements
ex. an apple is a fruit (true), a potato is a fruit (false)
What is the typicality effect?
protypical objects are easier to process
when listing objects from a category people think of the most protypical members first
What is the exemplar approach?
It is the idea that concepts are defined by multiple examples (examplers), instead of a single prototype
-instead of comparing to one prototype, compare to a set of examples
-represent things, not define them
exemplars are category members and not abstract
ex. when asked to name a fruit think of banana or apple first
What is the difference between the exemplar approach and prototype perspective?
-The representation isn’t abstract
-the representations are a specific example
-things you have seen/experienced before
ex. hear dog, think of golden retriever
the most similar a specific exemplar is known to a category member faster it will be categorized
Should we use prototypes or exemplars?
We can use both
-average exemplars are turned into prototypes
-keep exemplars for nonprototypical members
What is the hierarchy of categories?
-organizing categories can make things simpler to identify
-some categories fit easier than others
What are the 3 categories of the hierarchy of categories?
-superodridnate (global) level
-basic level
-subordinate (specific) level
What is the superordinate (global) level?
-it is very broad
-not much information given
ex. furniture
What is the basic level?
Typical example
ex. table
What is the subordinate (specifc) level?
-it is very narrow
-have a little bit of information
ex. a kitchen table
Why is the basic level special?
It is easier to identify basic level category
-children learn basic level concepts faster than other levels
different cultures tend to use the same basic level categories, typicall
ex. animal: cat or dog
How do we understand how people categorize objects?
to understand we must consider:
-properties of objects
-the learning and the experience that the percievers have
-that some people are more knowledgable for some levels than others
What is the semantic network approach?
It is the idea that concepts in the mind are organized into networks
-related concepts are connected to each other
What is collins and quillian’s hierarchical model?
it is a model for how concepts and properties are connected in the mind
concepts are stored in a hierarchy of nodes connected by links
each concepts has its own node and each node has properties associated with it
What is cognitive economy?
Shared properties are only stored at higher level nodes
exceptions are stored at lower nodes (ex. penguins can’t fly)
a robin can fly is determined by looking at the bird node (typical for the category)
