Cognition

Mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining and using

knowledge

History of the Study of Cognition Aristotle proposed laws for learning and memory

and emphasized the importance of mental imagery

Wilhelm Wundt used introspection to study conscious experience

Hermann Ebbinghaus studied human memory Gestalt psychology studied how we organize

what we see and hear - perception Studied insight in problem solving

Sept. 11, 1956 symposium at MIT and the rejection of the behaviorist approach George Miller Noam Chomsky- Linguist Jean Piaget- Swiss psychologist Computer Science- information processing approach

Metacognition

Knowledge of and awareness about our own cognitive processes You know what tasks are easier for you and

what are easier for your friends Knowledge about our cognitive processes can

guide us in arranging circumstances and selecting strategies to improve future cognitive performance

It is important for us to understand how we think and why we think the way we do

Thinking Changing and

reorganizing information stored in memory in order to draw inferences and conclusions

Creates new information Thinking involves two

forms of mental representation Mental Images Concepts

Mental Images

Image: a mental visualization of an object or experience

Symbol: something that stands for or represents a specific object or event $ or %

Analogy – analogy bet. the word and the image it creates

Mental Rotation

The ability to hold and manipulate mental images helps us with many cognitive tasks

Spatial abilities Mental imaging can

spark creativity

Conceptual Thinking Concept: a mental category

for classifying people, things, or events

Prototype: a representation of a concept A prototype has most if not all

characteristics of a concept The robin is the prototypical

bird while the penguin is not Stereotypes

Overgeneralizations of characteristics of a group

Rule: a statement about relationships between concepts

Schemata (Schema) Generalized ideas that represent generic

concepts we store Conceptual frameworks that a person uses to

make sense of the world Pigeon-holes that we put things in to help us

organize our concepts Leads to a set of expectations When we discover a new idea that is different

from our concept we either assimilate or accommodate the idea Assimilate an idea is to change the idea to make it fit

into our schema Accommodate an idea is to change our schema to

make it fit

Logical Reasoning

Deductive reasoningInductive reasoning

Deductive Reasoning

Reasoning from the general to the specific For example, start with a general statement: All

cars have tires. You can apply this general statement to specific

instances and deduce that a Ford Escort, a Toyota Camry, and a Mercedes Benz must have tires.

Common deductive reasoning problems

Series problemsSyllogisms

Series problems

review series of statements arrive at a conclusion not contained in any single

statement For example: Robin is funnier than Billy Billy is funnier than Sinbad Whoopi is funnier than Billy Q: Is Whoopi funnier than Sinbad? Q: Is Whoopi funnier than Robin?

SyllogismsPresent two general premises that must

be combined to see if a particular conclusion is true

Syllogism ExampleAll Intro to Psychology students love

their instructor.You are all Intro to Psychology

students.Must you love your instructor?

Syllogism Example

All chefs are violinists.Mary is a chef.Is Mary a violinist?

Syllogism QuestionsAll of the scientists are professorsAll of the professors are clever people

Therefore all scientists are clever peopleAll geologists are backpackers.Some nature lovers are geologists.

Therefore, some of the nature lovers are backpackers

All ministers are gardeners.No gardeners are English professors

No ministers are English professors

Mental models theories

To solve a syllogism, you might visualize the

statements All Intro to Psychology

students love their instructor.

You are all Intro to Psychology students.

Must you love your instructor?

Psych-ology

Psych-ology

Psych-ology

Bi-ology

Bi-ology

Bi-ology

Bi-ology

Mental models theories

All Intro to Psychology students love their instructor.

You are allBiology students.

Must you love your instructor?

Psych-ology

Psych-ology

Psych-ology

Bi-ology

Bi-ology

Bi-ology

Bi-ology

Inductive reasoning

Reasoning from the specific to the general

Inductive Reasoning Sherlock Holmes is

perhaps a better example of INDUCTIVE reasoning than deductive reasoning

He takes specific clues and comes up with a general theory

Inductive reasoning18 16 14 ?? ??12 10

Rule? Decrease by 2Q: Why inductive reasoning? Answer: Take SPECIFIC numbers (i.e. 18,16,14) and come up with a GENERAL rule (i.e. decrease by 2)

Finish the sequence problems

30 24 18 ?? ?? ??12 6 0

1 3 2 4 ?? ?? ?? ??

Rule?Decrease by six

Rule?Increase by two, decrease by 1

6453

Finish the sequence problems 2 3 10 12

Rule?Increasing numbers starting with the letter “t”

13 21 31

39 200 201 299 300 301

20 29 30 32

302

2000 399

22

Chess problem

Two grandmasters played five games of chess. Each won the same number of games and lost the same number of games. There were no draws in any of the games. How could this be so?

Solution: They didn’t play against each other.

Nine dots problem

Without lifting your pencil or re-tracing any line, draw four straight lines that connect all nine dots

Answer to nine dots problem

Mental Set

Q: Why couldn’t you solve the previous problems?

A: Mental set - a well-established habit of perception or thought

Obstacles in Problem Solving

Mental set Functional fixedness

Nine dots mental set

Most people will not draw lines that extend from the square formed by the nine dots

To solve the problem, you have to break your mental set

Rigidity Can Be Overcome

Rigidity is less likely to occur with unusual problems

Functional fixedness

type of mental setinability to see an object as having a

function other than its usual one

Mounting candle problem

Using only the objects present on the right, attach the candle to the bulletin board in such a way that the candle can be lit and will burn properly

Answer to candle problem

Most people do not think of using the box for anything other than it’s normal use (to hold the tacks)

To solve the problem, you have to overcome functional fixedness

FramingTo create a situation that causes people

to draw conclusions that you wantLike a picture frame sets the boundaries

of a picture limiting your vision to the framed picture

Confirmation bias

Only search for information confirming one’s hypothesis

Looking at only information that reaffirms your earlier beliefs Often reaffirms stereotyped thinking

Example: reading newspaper columnists who agree with our point of view and avoiding those who don’t

1. Break mental sets and functional fixedness 2. Find useful analogy 3. Represent information efficiently 4. Find shortcuts (heuristics) 5. Establish subgoals 6. Turn ill-defined problems into well-defined

problems

Strategies for solving problems

Mnemonic Device to Solve Problems

IDEALIdentify problem

Define problem

Explore solutions

Act upon

Look back

Find useful analogyCompare unknown problem to a

situation you are more familiar with

Strategies for Problem Solving Algorithm: a step-

by-step technique used to solve a problem

Heuristic: a “rule of thumb” problem-solving technique

Two general classes of rules for problem solvingAlgorithms - things the old vice-

president might sayAlgorithms - rules that, if followed

correctly, will eventually solve the problem

An algorithm example

Problem: List all the words in the English language that start with the letter “q”

If using an algorithm, would have to go through every single possible letter combination and determine if it were a word i.e. is “qa” a word; is “qb” a word etc. This would take a very long time

Instead, what rule could you use to eliminate these steps?

Rules for “q” problemSkip ahead and assume the second

letter is a “u”Assume the third letter has to be a

vowelThese types of rules are called

heuristics

Heuristics Any rule that allows one to reduce the number of

operations that are tried in problem solving a.k.a rules of thumb or shortcuts Faster to solve the problem (find the answer) but not

guaranteed to find a solution Two types of heuristics:

Available Heuristic Representative Heuristic

Availability heuristic Judge probability of an event by how easy you

can recall previous occurrences of that event. Most will overestimate deaths from natural

disasters because disasters are frequently on TV

Most will underestimate deaths from asthma because they don’t make the local news

Representative HeuristicRule in which people and things are

judged by the degree to which they represent a certain category Prototype matching Judging symptoms similarity to a disease

Chris is 6’7”, 300 pounds, has 12 tattoos, was a champion pro wrestler, owns nine pit bulls and has been arrested for beating a man with a chain.

Is Chris more likely to be a man or a woman? A motorcycle gang member or a priest? How did you make your decision?

Chris story

Steve story

Steve is meek and tidy, has a passion for detail, is helpful to people, but has little real interest in people or real-world issues.

Is Steve more likely to be a librarian or a salesperson?

How did you come to your answer?

Representativeness

Judge probability of an event based on how it matches a prototype

Can be goodBut can also lead to errorsMost will overuse representativeness

i.e. Steve’s description fits our vision of a librarian

Most will underuse base rates

Base rate - probability that an event will occur or fall into a certain category Did you stop to consider that there are a lot

more salespeople in the world than librarians? By sheer statistics, there is a greatly likelihood

that Steve is a salesperson. But very few take this into account

Guess the probabilities

How many people die each year from:Heart disease?Floods?Plane crashes? Asthma?Tornados?

Stop

Kinds of Thinking Direct/convergent

thinking Non-directed/

divergent thinking Insight

ConvergentA type of thinking that is based on

knowledge and logicThinking inside of the boxMultiple choice testLeads to the correct solution

Divergent Thinking The ability to generate unusual but

appropriate responses to problems or questions

Thinking outside of the box Usually leads to many different solutions to

solve one problem Brainstorming

Come up with as many ideas as possible before choosing one

No idea is too stupid or silly

Creativity The ability to use

information in new and original ways

All problem solving requires creativity

Creativity includes flexibility

Recombination and insight

Insight Aha!!!!!!!!! Sudden awareness of the

relationships among various elements that had previously appeared to be independent of one another

Anagrams and the string problem

Wolfgang Kohler’s multi-stick – Sultan solution

LanguageThe systematic, meaningful arrangement

of symbols

LinguisticsStudy of language

GrammarThe system of rules that determine how

our thoughts can be expressed

The Structure of LanguageFour rules

1. Phonemes

2. Morphemes

3. Syntax

4. Semantics

Phonemes Individual sounds that

are basic structural elements of language

39 basic phonemes 100 different and

recognizable sounds Phonology

The study of the smallest unit of sounds

MorphemesThe smallest unit of meaning in a given

languageMade up of one or more phonemesPhonemes are units of sound,

morphemes are units of meaning

Syntax Language rules that

govern how words can be combined to form meaningful phrases and sentences

Syntax varies from language to language

SemanticsThe study of meaning in languageThe same word can have different

meanings Prostitutes appeal to the Pope. American sentenced to life in Scotland.

Language: Turning Thoughts into Words

Properties of Language Symbolic Semantic Generative Structured

Early Language Acquisition

Table 8.2 Overview of Typical Language Development

Language Development:Milestones Continued

18-24 months – vocabulary spurt fast mapping over and underextensions

End of second year – combine words Telegraphic speech Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

End of third year – complex ideas, plural, past tense Overregularization

Bilingualism: Learning More Than One Language

Research findings: Smaller vocabularies in one language,

combined vocabularies average Higher scores for middle-class bilingual

subjects on cognitive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective attention, and metalinguistic awareness

Slight disadvantage in terms of language processing speed

2nd languages more easily acquired early in life

Greater acculturation facilitates acquisition

Stages of Language Development

Birth/infancy: cries, distress

2 months: cooing 4 months: babble 9 months: babbling

is refined

Can Animals Develop Language?Dolphins, sea lions, parrots, chimpanzees

Vocal apparatus issue American Sign Language

Allen and Beatrice Gardner (1969) Chimpanzee - Washoe 160 word vocabulary

Sue Savage-Rumbaugh Bonobo chimpanzee - Kanzi Symbols Receptive language – 72% of 660 requests

Theories of Language Acquisition

Behaviorist Skinner

learning of specific verbal responses

Nativist Chomsky

learning the rules of language Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Interactionist Cognitive, social communication, and

emergentist theories

Stages (continued) By 1 year: single

words are uttered Holophrases

By 2 years: two words together (50–100 words) Telegraphic speech

By 4 years: complete sentences

How Do Children Learn Language? Learning-theory

approach B.F. Skinner and operant

conditioning Behavior is reinforced

with smiles and attention Children understand

before they speak Children learn language

through observation Mimic speech

Noam Chomsky

Nativist Theory Innate ability to learn a language

LAD Language acquisition device Mechanism or process that facilitates

the learning of language Infants possess an innate capacity for

language

Transformational grammar Surface structure

Sentence structure and word arrangement

Deep structure Underlying meaning of the sentence

Critical Period TheoryPsycholinguist E. Lenneberg

Critical period or a window of opportunity to learn a language

Probably before the age of 5

Linguistic-Relativity Theory Ben Whorf Belief that language was the central force

behind thought How people think is determined by the

context and complexity of their language Language shapes and may determine the

way people of a particular culture perceive and understand the world