Q2: Lecture 11 Flashcards
(45 cards)
Endel Tulving
one of the best known and highly esteemed of all cognitive psychologists. In 1972,
Tulving addressed an auditorium full of his colleagues at a conference held in Toronto. During his
address, Tulving posed a rather simple question. He asked the cognitive psychologists gathered
there to indicate what they thought were the most interesting questions about memory.
semantic memory
cognitive
psychologists were interested in abstract factual memory – something we call semantic memory.
episodic memory
memory for events or life episodes – experiences that occur at some specific time in some
specific place. If I ask you what you were doing yesterday at noon, or I ask you to tell me about the
events you experienced on your last birthday, or I ask you to recall the last sentence I spoke, I am
asking you to tap into episodic memory. Because most memory research up to the time of Tulving’s
address focused on people’s ability to recall lists of words, the emphasis was clearly on episodic
memory
conceptual memory
When we talk about semantic memory, we are talking about conceptual memory. Concepts are units
of meaning, abstract ideas, and general notions about things. Our semantic memories are made up of
vast numbers of concepts - concepts like BOOK, LOVE, HOME, PSYCHOLOGY, WORK, FUN, and
on and on.
concept
Concepts are units
of meaning, abstract ideas, and general notions about things. Our semantic memories are made up of
vast numbers of concepts - concepts like BOOK, LOVE, HOME, PSYCHOLOGY, WORK, FUN, and
on and on.
category
Any concept that is broad enough to include several
other concepts is considered a category. The concept DOG is a category because it includes many
specific types of dogs. The concept GERMAN SHEPHERD is a category because it includes many
specific German Shepherds.
superordinate concept
broad and correspond to large categories; superordinate concepts are also categories, this is not the case for subordinate
concepts.
subordinate concept
concepts are more specific and can correspond to smaller categories; Highly specific concepts (e.g., YODA, HALLOWEEN, and BILL BURR) are described as
subordinate but are not categories because they do not subsume any other concepts
traditional concept-learning
Each trial of a traditional concept learning study involves the presentation of a visual
stimulus. (Some examples are shown to the left.) The learner’s task is to determine
what concept or category the experimenter has in mind. In response to each stimulus,
the participant can say either “Yes” (I think that stimulus is an example of the concept)
or “No” (I don’t think that stimulus belongs in the to-be-learned category). After each
response, feedback is provided about the learner’s accuracy, and then the next trial
begins with the presentation of a new stimulus. This continues until the participant
meets an arbitrary learning criterion, like 10 correct responses in a row. Once the
criterion is met and the concept is considered learned, a new set of trials begins, and
the participant attempts to learn a different concept.
artificial category/concept
The rules that define
these artificial concepts are described in terms of the stimulus dimensions used to create the test stimuli.
learning criterion
like 10 correct responses in a row. Once the
criterion is met and the concept is considered learned, a new set of trials begins, and
the participant attempts to learn a different concept.
stimulus dimension
A stimulus dimension that is critical to the concept definition is a relevant dimension,
whereas those that are not part of the concept definition are irrelevant
dimension value
relevant dimensions
A stimulus dimension that is critical to the concept definition is a relevant dimension. For example, If
the to-be-learned concept is RED THINGS, then Color is a relevant dimension
irrelevant dimension
whereas those that are not part of the concept definition are irrelevant. Shape and Size are irrelevant dimensions
unidimensional rule
there is only one dimension that is relevant, and the learner
merely needs to discover the concept-defining value for that dimension to be successful.
conjunctive rule
stimuli are only members of the to-be-learned category when they
are both small and blue, so the to-be-learned CONCEPT 2 is SMALL BLUE THINGS. For this
concept, Color and Size are relevant dimensions and Shape is irrelevant. This concept is defined by a
conjunctive rule because it involves the intersection (or conjoining) of values on two different stimulus
dimensions
disjunctive rule
category members are always red and/or triangles, so the to-
be-learned concept is RED OR TRIANGLUAR THINGS. Here, Color and Shape are relevant, and
Size is irrelevant. In addition, this concept is defined by a disjunctive rule because stimuli are
category members if they exhibit either of two different features, but the presence of both features is not necessary
inclusive-or rule
examples
that exhibit the intersection of the critical features are included in the category
exclusive-or rule
stimuli that exhibit the
intersection of the relevant dimension values are excluded from the category
Eleanor Rosch
a cognitive psychologist interested in concept formation and conceptual knowledge.
She recognized that the traditional concept learning research suffered from its exclusive
concentration on artificial concepts. Rosch realized that many of the concepts and categories about
which we learn cannot be defined in terms of highly specific rules.
natural category
natural categories
like DOG, TREE and INSECT are difficult or even impossible to define in precise terms, but we
nevertheless learn about and understand these concepts.
Rosch pointed out that natural categories are often made up of ill-defined concepts, and rather than
having definite boundaries, membership in a natural category can be a matter of degree rather than
of absolute belongingness or non-belongingness. Moreover, she thought color categories were an
especially good illustration of the nature of natural categories.
ill-defined concept
natural categories are often made up of ill-defined concepts,
Labov (1973)
provided an excellent illustration of the
nature of natural categories. He conducted a simple experiment in which
people saw a series of drawings of objects and were asked to name
each one.
