cog chapter 8

what are the pros and cons of the prototype approach?

-can account for ability to form concepts for groups that are loosely structured -flexible and can be applied to social relationships, inanimate objects, and nonsocial categories BUT -concepts can be unstable and variable as prototype ratings shift over time and between people -we actually do store specific information about individual examples of a category

what are some advantages the network models have over the exemplar and prototype approach

-it explains how there are longer and shorter links between members of a category depending on prototypicality which accounts for prototypicality effects. -there is no hierarchical structure so it can explain why we are faster at verifying "dog is an animal" than "dog is a mammal" BUT -it can explain any result of categorization experiments so we can not falsify model

how do different levels of categorization activate the brain

-superordinate terms are more likely to activate parts of the prefrontal cortex than basic level terms -subordinate terms are more likely to activate parts of the parietal cortex than basic level terms

Compare and contrast the exemplar approach and the prototype approach. How might these two approaches coexist? Discuss possible advantages/disadvantages of each

-we make decisions about category membership by comparing to a stored representation (prototype approach), but the stored representation is a collection of numerous specific, good or bad members of the category, not just a typical example (exemplar approach) -exemplar approach may be more suitable for categories with relatively few members -prototype approach may be more suitable for categories with numerous members so we don't overwhelm semantic memory -both approaches may coexist: each approach contacts different hemispheres (left→prototypes, right→exemplars) and different categories may require different strategies for category formation since individual differences in representation may be substantial

what is special about basic level categorization

1.) basic level names are more likely to produce the semantic priming effect. 2.) basic level names are used to identify objects RESEARCH: Rosch et al. (1976) -participants looked at pictures and identified objects -people preferred to use basic level names, which were produced faster than superordinate or subordinate names -even when presented with superordinate or subordinate names, participants tended to remember the basic level categorization when later tested for recall

what tasks support network models of semantic memory

1.) lexical decision tasks: participants must judge as quickly as possible whether a string of letters is a word or not; this is made faster through priming 2.) mediated priming: maps how closely things are related in semantic structure based upon the amount of time priming aids in response (prime with "stripes": stripes→tiger→lion, etc) 3.) sentence verification tasks: participants are asked to decide as quickly as possible if a sentence is true or false; typicality effect is displayed here as typical facts were quickly marked as true

What are some important characteristics of prototypes?

1.) prototypes are supplied as examples of a category 2.) prototypes are judged more quickly after semantic priming 3.) prototypes share more attributes in family resemblance categories

summarize the effects of schemas on memory selection

1.) we remember schema consistent details accurately 2.) we do not remember insignificant schema inconsistent details accurately 3.) people seldom create a completely false memory for a lengthy event that did not occur 4.) when information describes a major event that is inconsistent with the schema, people are likely to remember it

Distinguish between a category and a concept. Explain how they are connected.

A category is a set of objects that belong together while a concept is your mental representation of a category. Concepts take abstract characteristics to create representations and apply our general knowledge to understand categories

inference

A conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning

describe a study that supports the exemplar approach

Heir and Barsalou (1996): -participants provided the first example that came to mind when presented seven basic level categories for the superordinate category of animal (e.g. frog as an example of amphibians) -a different group of participants rated the typicality of each category in relation to animal and of each example in relation to animal (e.g. how typical is amphibian to animal? how typical is frog to animal?) -researchers tried to create an equation to predict the typicality of the basic level categories in relation to the superordinate category of animal based on the frequency of exemplars provided for the basic category and the typicality ratings of those exemplars in relation to animal -FOUND that exemplar frequency and typicality did accurately predict which of the seven categories was most typical for the superordinate category "animal" -additionally, less typical exemplars increased this correlation, meaning that people don't just consider prototypes when forming a category, they also include less typical representations

superordinate level categories

Higher-level or more general categories EX: animal

distinguish between schemas and scripts. explain how the two are connected

Schemas are used to understand the interaction of the key factors affecting the comprehension process. Scripts are the event subtype of schema that describe features of an activity, and capture the order that things occur.

Differentiate between semantic memory and episodic memory.

Semantic memory is general knowledge about the world, so facts like "the sky is blue" or "a triangle has three sides." While episodic memory are events that happened specifically to you,for example "I remember what I had for breakfast." or "One Direction was my first concert."

verbatim memory

Word-for-word recall of material presented at an earlier time; the research shows that people usually have poor verbatim memory.

node

a concept or one unit located within a memory network

abstraction

a memory process that stores the meaning of a message, rather than the exact words

prototype

a mental image or idealized example of a category, can be abstract

concept

a mental representation of the category based off familiar characteristics; this is used to place objects into categories EX: a concept of fruit would be sweet, healthy, has seeds, etc

semantic memory

a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world. Semantic memory allows us to code objects, make inferences, and decide which objects are similar *theme 1: we have an enormous amount of information at our disposal that we use efficiently and accurately to navigate our world. Additionally, people can go beyond presented information to actively retrieve additional related information for a more comprehensive understanding

category

a physical category in which related objects are placed together EX: a category for fruit would include strawberries, bananas, raspberries, etc

heuristic

a simple, typically accurate thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

script

a simple, well structured sequence of events in a specified order that is associated with a highly familiar activity. we remember more information when a script identifier is given before event

typicality effect

ability to judge highly prototypical objects more rapidly RESEARCH: Mervis et al. (1976) -participants were given categories and were told to provide examples of items within that category -different participants then rated how prototypical each example was for the overall category -the items that were rated most prototypical were the same items that other people had supplied most often as examples of the category

differentiate between abstraction and verbatim memory. When might it be important to use each?

abstraction primarily focuses on memory of the meaning behind a message, while verbatim memory emphasizes word for word recall. abstraction is better when developing larger concepts to ease the process of making relevant connections. verbatim memory is better when the specific wording of a message is important to our goals

spreading activation

activity in one node in a memory network flows outward to other nodes through associative links; explains the "how the hell did I get to this idea?" feeling

describe research on gender stereotypes using implicit association test

an implicit association test is a technique for revealing non-conscious prejudices toward particular groups. it is based on the principle that people can mentally pair related words together much more easily than they can pair unrelated words Nosek and colleagues (2002) created this test which presents both stereotype consistent word pairings (male/math or female/arts) and stereotype inconsistent pairings (female/math or male/arts). Participants pushed buttons as fast as possible to match the word association to a gender -participants responded significantly faster to the stereotype consistent pairings

describe inference in connection with semantic memory

an inference refers to those conclusions and logical implications that people make, even when they were never directly stated in the original stimulus

exemplar approach

argues that we first learn information about some specific examples of a concept (exemplars); then we classify each new stimulus by deciding how closely it resembles all of those specific examples. these examples must exist, but can be good or bad representations of the concept. The exemplar approach does not require any kind of abstraction process for features of a prototype which would force you to discard useful, specific data about individual cases

describe research on gender stereotypes using explicit memory tasks

explicit memory tasks directly instruct participants to remember information. Dunning and Sherman (1997) had participants read sentences with gender stereotypes and perform a recognition test in which there were also new sentences presented that were consistence or inconsistent with the gender stereotypes -people were more likely to mistakenly remember a new sentence as old when it was consistent with a gender stereotype

family resemblance

features that appear to be characteristic of category members but may not be possessed by every member; no single attribute serves as the necessary and sufficient criterion for membership in the category; although no single attribute is shared by all members, each member has at least one attribute in common with other members RESEARCH: Rosch and Mervis (1975) -participants made prototypicality judgements about members of several categories and then they listed attributes of each item within the category -the most prototypical item possessed the largest number of attributes in common with other members in the category

proto-typicality

how closely an item matches the prototype for its category EX: A robin is a prototypical bird for most people, but a penguin is an aprototypical bird

describe research on gender stereotypes using implicit memory tasks

implicit memory tasks are an indirect measure of memory Osterhout and colleagues (1997) used ERP to measure electrical brain activity when reading stereotype consistent and inconsistent sentences -there were significant changes in ERPS for stereotype inconsistencies, but not for stereotype consistent material. this shows that we unconsciously resist and question when stereotype inconsistent material is presented

To avoid the social desirability bias and assess participants' true stereotypes, which memory task might be more useful? implicit or explicit? Why?

implicit memory tasks are better when measuring stereotypes since people can easily pick up on the purpose of explicit memory tasks and alter their answers for social desirability

what is an example of semantic priming's effect on prototypical responses

in the family feud demonstration, the response to uses for scope were space themed due to the prototypicality of telescope. however, scope as a mouthwash was not provided as a response

what is an example of semantic memory

knowing the definition of the word 'concept' since this falls under knowledge of the world

subordinate level categories

lower level or more specific categories EX: terrier

prototype approach

membership in a category is determined by comparing the object to a prototype that is a typical representation of the category EX: when thinking of what a bird is, you create a prototype, or an idealized version, of of what you think a bird would be, such as a robin

memory integration

memory is the complex interaction between people's prior knowledge and the material presented in which individual's unique interests and personal background often shape the content of memory by encouraging us to take in new information in a schema consistent fashion. RESEARCH: Bartlett (1932) -participants read a Native American story, "War of Ghosts," and were tested for recall -participants tended to omit material that didn't make sense from their own viewpoint, and instead shaped the story into a more familiar framework by adding extra material -participants tended to borrow more heavily from their previous knowledge when tested again after a delay. this shows that memory is pretty much biased all the time

boundary extension

our tendency to remember having viewed a greater portion of a scene than was actually shown due to activation of a perceptual schema RESEARCH: Intraub and colleagues had participants view a photo that was cut off and produce a replica of the image. They found that people consistently produced a sketch that extended the boundaries beyond the view presented in the original photo

how does schema inconsistent material affect memory selection

people are most likely to recall schema inconsistent material when that material is vivid or surprising RESEARCH: Davidson (1994) had participants read stories describing well known schemas and found that people are especially likely to recall schema inconsistent events that interrupted the normal expected story

schema theory

people encode generic information about a situation, then use this information to understand and remember new examples of the schema. They are especially helpful when psychologists try to explain how people process complex situations and events -uses top-down and bottom-up processing (theme 5), heuristics for efficiency and accuracy (theme 2), active processing (theme 1), but schemas can also lead to errors (theme 2)

constructive model of memory

people integrate information from individual sentences in order to construct larger ideas. This means we are actively combining and changing information into a schema, rather than passively remembering material verbatim (theme 1) , but false alarms often occur with more complexity (theme 2) RESEARCH: Bransford and Franks (1971) -participants listened to sentences from several different stories and took a recognition test that also included new items -people were convinced that they had seen those new items before (false alarms) -false alarms were particularly likely for complex sentences consistent with the original schema, but unlikely for sentences violating the meaning of earlier sentences

pragmatic view of memory

people pay attention to the aspect of a message that is most relevant to their current goals RESEARCH: Murphy and Shapiro (1994) -participants read letters from "Samantha" to either her cousin or boyfriend, which had a combination of bland and sarcastic comments (irelevant vs. relevant). Participants then took a recognition test on either the original letter, paraphrased letter, or the irrelevant sentences -correct recognition was higher for sarcastic comments than bland sentences. additionally, verbatim memory was more accurate for the sarcastic condition -more false alarms were made for the paraphrases of bland sentences

semantic priming effect

people respond faster to an item if it was preceded by an item with similar meaning; priming facilitates the responses to prototypes more than it facilitates the responses to nonprototypes. in fact, priming inhibits judgement of nonprototypes as examples of the category RESEARCH: Rosch color studies -participants looked at color swatches and were supposed to determine if they were the same color -some of the trials were primed by showing a prototypical shade of the color (e.g. cherry red) followed by other common shades of the color. priming improved accuracy and speed for the judgement of whether these swatches were the same -other trials were primed by showing a prototypical shade of the color (e.g. cherry red) followed by nonprototypical shades (e.g. burgundy). priming didn't help accuracy and even slowed judgement down

network models

propose a netlike organization of concepts in memory with many interconnections, the meaning of a concept depends on the concepts to which it is connected; this model combines neural and behavioral analysis of cognition

how do schemas help us encode new information

schemas provide us with a prior mental representation and/or categorization of a situation or concept that can make encoding more efficient by guiding our interpretation of new and relevant information so that we are able to make inferences and problem solve quickly

Provide an example of a subordinate-level category and superordinate category for each basic-level word: guitar, tree, car.

superordinate categories: instrument→guitar, plant→tree, vehicle→car subordinate categories: guitar→Fender, tree→willow, car→Nissan Rogue

episodic memory

the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place

graded structure

the fact that category members vary in how well they represent a category EX: a bachelor is a single male. someone in their mid-thirties would be a prototypical bachelor while a five year old or sixty year old priest would be less representative, but are still considered bachelors under the definition

basic level categories

the level in a category hierarchy that provides the most useful and predictive information; the basic level usually resides at an intermediate level in a category hierarchy EX: dog

what conclusions can be made on the constructive approach versus the pragmatic approach

the two approaches are quire compatible. in many cases, we integrate information into large schemas, but we also pay close attention to precise wording when relevant

suppose that a young child has just asked you whether a potato is a vegetable; you quickly answer "yes." Then the child ask whether eggplant is a vegetable and you answer "yes" more slowly. You have just demonstrated ...

the typicality effect since a potato is a more prototypical and common vegetable than eggplant

Why is it important for us to categorize things and make inferences in our daily lives?

the use of categories is important for our day-to-day functioning so that we can quickly and automatically process the world around us to make decisions

schema

used in semantic memory, generalized knowledge about a situation, event, or person to help us organize and interpret information

how does schema consistent material affect memory selection

we have an enhanced memory for schema consistent material RESEARCH -Brewer and Treyens (1981) had participants recall objects from a waiting room and found that they were highly likely to recall objects consistent with an office schema. participants even "remembered" items that were not in the room but were still consistent with office schema -Neuschatz et al. (2002) had people watch a lecture which they were tested on later. they found that people are likely to make schema consistent false alarms, but not likely to falsely remember schema inconsistent events

how might our life experiences, values, and culture create biased schemas? What implications might this have on our memory integration?`

we tend to shape information in a way that makes sense from our viewpoint, which sometimes involves adding or omitting material for consistency. our previous experiences are crucial to memory integration as our personal background and interests shape the content of our memories. this means that our memories are pretty much biased all the time

describe how family feud illustrates spreading of activation

when asked to name a type of scope, you will first mention a telescope, which then activates all of the information that is related to scope in that node. this spreads out to contact periscope, kaleidoscope, microscope, then eventually scope the mouthwash. this also illustrates the typicality effect because you have a central node "scope" that activates a network of related concepts until you reach a more distant node that connects mouthwash to "scope"

gender stereotypes

widely shared sets of beliefs about the characteristics of different genders. the effects of these stereotypes are widely supported through explicit and implicit memory tasks