Midterm 1

Question 1

David Marr gave us a system for understanding phenomena at multiple levels. Suppose you discover a new species and want to know how it solves the problem of hunting for food. You observe it in its natural environment and attempt to determine the steps it follows when hunting: how it detects prey and how it attacks. You determine that it must be able to detect and categorize types of prey by smell and then use specific hunting styles for different types of prey.

What level of analysis is this (primarily)?

Answer 1

Algorithmic level

Question 2

The idea that a ‘mental’ or ‘cognitive’ process (e.g. vision, beliefs, decision making, etc.) can be implemented by different physical entities is known as:

Answer 2

Multiple Realizability

Question 3

Alan Turing described a theoretical system that could solve any mathematical or logical problem using a very simple set of rules and instructions. It was suggested that this process and the procedures were importantly similar to the steps humans might use to solve a problem. Comparing machine and human intelligence in this way is what level of analysis?

Answer 3

Algorithmic level

Question 4

In general, why does Cognitive Science use an interdisciplinary approach?

Answer 4

Studying intelligent behavior requires perspectives and tools from different fields.

Question 5

Based on our discussion in lecture, which of the following seems least likely to involve cognition?

Answer 5

An individual neuron responding to a stimulus.

Question 6

Which approach to understanding human psychology fundamentally rejects the study or measurement of ‘mental states’?

Answer 6

Behaviorism

Question 7

We learned that motor function is lateralized in the brain. If you electrically stimulated the leg region of the right hemisphere’s motor cortex, what would happen?

Answer 7

The left leg would move.

Question 8

When we look in the brain to see which specific area is responsible for Broca’s aphasia, we are doing an analysis at the:

Answer 8

Implementation level

Question 9

Patients with Broca’s aphasia typically have deficits in their ability to produce language in both spoken and written forms.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

Using the Wada test, it has been found that people who are ___________ have the highest likelihood of having language represented in both right and left hemispheres

Answer 10

Left-handed

Question 11

Dr. Seana Coulson discussed many aspects of brain anatomy and specialization. Which general area of the brain is most associated with the perception of stimuli related to touch, pressure, temperature, and pain?

Answer 11

Parietal lobe

Question 12

What cortical landmark is said to separate the frontal lobe and parietal lobe

Answer 12

The central sulcus

Question 13

The cerebral cortex is folded inside of the skull. The parts of the folds are given different names. The tops of the folds closest to the skull are called ________, while the crevices of the folds are called _______.

Answer 13

Gyri, sulci

Question 14

We saw how different regions of the brain can be specialized for different functions. Which general region is thought to be most involved with language comprehension?

Answer 14

Temporal lobe

Question 15

According to Dr. Bergen, for a culture to have a category of ‘profanity,’ it must have a cultural belief that some words are taboo and also have cultural structures to reinforce those beliefs

Answer 15

True

Question 16

A dysfunction in the ____________ has been associated with a condition in which people swear uncontrollably

Answer 16

basal ganglia

Question 17

You’ve been asked to come up with some new swear words for the fictional Dwarvish language featured in Lord of the Rings. Assuming it is similar to English, which of the following rules would be least likely to produce a word that sounded profane

Answer 17

Make the word end in a vowel sound.

Question 18

A patient with ____________ may be able to use swear words, but will typically be unable to articulate other fluent speech

Answer 18

Broca’s aphasia

Question 19

According to Prof. Bergen, in __________, no broad class of words is considered intrinsically offensive.

Answer 19

Japanese

Question 20

According to Professor Bergen, taboo words in most languages come from all but which of the following categories?

Answer 20

Family relationships

Question 21

Because the brain seems to produce profane language differently than other types of language, we typically produce more taboo speech errors than neutral speech errors.

Answer 21

False

Question 22

According to Dr. Deak, infants will show leg flexion/extension skills within weeks of birth, but walking won’t typically emerge until around 10 months of age.

Answer 22

True

Question 23

According to Dr. Deak, infants can discriminate human biological motion in a point light display by at least what age?

Answer 23

3 months

Question 24

In Dr. Deak’s talk, he noted that habituation is used in infant studies. Which of the following is a result showing an infant’s ability to discriminate between an old and novel stimulus using habituation?

Answer 24

The infant looks at the novel stimulus longer than the old stimulus.

Question 25

Professor Deák suggested that a developmental approach in Cognitive Science is useful because when we understand the __________ of a condition (e.g. Autism Spectrum Disorder), we can better identify early interventions or treatments for those at risk.

Answer 25

etiology

Question 26

Professor Deák discussed the order in which different skills emerge during development. When we ask what skills, abilities, or representations must be present in a system to accomplish a goal or function, what level of analysis is this?

Answer 26

Algorithmic level

Question 27

Professor Deák explained that kin recognition is an important skill and is a precondition to social cognition. Most animals use olfactory cues to recognize kin, but humans can only use visual cues.

Answer 27

False

Question 28

On average, at about what age are first speech sounds (babbling) produced?

Answer 28

~6-8 months

Question 29

Dr. Sarah Creel's talk on learning language examined the speech of a three-year old when describing Star Wars. It was noted that the little girl used co-speech gestures while telling the story. This kind of embodiment of meaning and expression seems most consistent with which of the following schools of thought:

Answer 29

Post-cognitivism

Question 30

One reason it is so difficult to understand spoken language is because words spoken in sentences have no clear auditory boundaries. For example, if someone speaks an unfamiliar language, it is hard to make out how many words are said if you don't already know the language. We saw evidence that human infants seem to use statistical learning to solve this problem by:

Answer 30

Detecting regularities/contingencies between speech sounds

Question 31

For English speaking families, it has been found that stress cues can be used by infants to identify word boundaries.

Answer 31

True

Question 32

We learn many different things as part of acquiring language. According to the sequential account, which of the following was said to typically take the longest?

Answer 32

Language in social context

Question 33

According to what we learned in Professor Creel's talk, when a three-year old says, “Don’t talk back to Darf Vader, he’ll get ya!” this is an example of: A. Overregularized verb forms B. Phoneme errors C. Frozen phrases Both A and B Both B and C

Answer 33

Both B and C

Question 34

In general, word production seems to precede word comprehension.

Answer 34

False

Question 35

Based on what we heard in lecture, which of the following best explains why we might see people in a group as more attractive than they would be on their own?

Answer 35

The visual system uses ensemble coding to process an average over many features and humans view average faces as attractive.

Question 36

According to Dr. Walker, which of the following most specifically describes social attribution?

Answer 36

It is the process by which people explain the causes of other people's behavior.

Question 37

Based on her research, Dr. Walker concludes that people are fairly good at social cognition, making judgments with uncertain information.

Answer 37

True

Question 38

We sometimes have a tendency to believe that other people get what they ultimately deserve. This is known as the:

Answer 38

Belief in a just-world

Question 39

According to Dr. Walker, _____________________ is the specific tendency to blame other people's' behavior on their disposition, rather than situational factors.

Answer 39

fundamental attribution error

Question 40

In Dr. Walker's lecture, the Cheerleader effect was primarily characterized as a kind of stereotype.

Answer 40

False