Language and Thought L4 Flashcards
What is representation?
Knowledge of the word which forms the content of our thoughts
How do you re-present the world to oneself?
(1) Analogical representations: Mental images
(2) Symbolic representations: Propositional thoughts -“internal statements”
What is mental imagery?
A representation of a stimulus that originates inside
your brain, rather than from external sensory input i.e. the image that it conjured up in your mind when you think of something you don’t need to have it directly infront of you
What is a Analogical Mental Representation?
Picture of a dog represents concept of dog,
but also has many similarities to an actual dog
What is the mental rotation study?
- Participants are shown a stimulus (e.g., ‘R’) that is rotated to different degrees. They must decide whether the letter is normal or a mirror image.
- The more its rotated the longer the reaction time is as we first have to rotate in our minds until straight.
What are symbols?
Represent any kind of content, but don’t resemble what it is they stand for.
What are propositions?
Statements that express ideas.
What are propositions made of?
Concepts
There is a subject, and what’s
being asserted about that subject (predicate)
What are concepts?
An unambiguous internal representation that
defines a group or set of objects or events
What is the relationship between concepts and catergories?
Concepts are mental representations of
categories
Why is categorization useful?
Allow us to know what to expect each time you encounter a member of the category.
What makes propositions powerful?
They express the relationship between concepts (organized like a network) and so this makes them flexible as they can convey complex ideas.
What evidence shows how information in Mental
Representations are Organised?
-Semantic priming studies:
Measure how long it takes to access the concept of ‘butter’
Condition 1: bread — butter
Condition 2: ball — butter
Condition 3: xxxx — butter
Condition 1 is fastest as words are related semantically
and so already a little activated
What is reasoning?
- Intelligent thought
- Making decisions, problem solving
- Drawing implications from our beliefs
What is deductive reasoning?
- Start with a belief → what are the implications of those beliefs
- Move from general principles or rules to specific instances
What are logical problems?
Validity of conclusion follows from the premises. Use deductive reasoning.
What are Syllogisms?
- A kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true.
- If/then problems
What is an example of a syllogism?
- All animals have 4 legs= premise
- Fluffy is an animal= premise
- Fluffy has 4 legs= conclusion
Conclusions follow from the premises – valid
What is the logical rule?
If something is true for all members of a category and A is a member of that category, then that something will also be true for A
What’s important about the initial premises when applying logical reasoning?
Initial premises need to be correct
What is inductive reasoning? When is it often used?
- Alternative to deductive reasoning
- Involves testing hypothesis by working up going from the pure data to theories
- Start with specifics and infer general principles
Using the following data what would you infer using inductive reasoning?
Data: You observe the sun rising today, yesterday, the
day before, etc.
Conclusion: The sun rises every morning
Using inductive reasoning how long do you hold a theory generated?
Until you get more information which disproves the theory.
What influences our ability to reason
deductively?
-Belief Bias
-Confirmation Bias
-The content of what we are reasoning
about matters
