Psychology Exam 3

FIB: Kosslyn, Ball & Reiser -map image scanning

If imagery is like perception, (spatial) then it should take longer for the subject to find objects that are located farther from the initial point of focus, bc they are scanning across the whole image initial point: anchor looking for: motor must scan entire boat results: scanning time was a function of distance

FIB: Rips et al. -Typicality effect

ability to judge highly prototypical objects more rapidly apple > pomegranate

Collins & Loftus' Spreading Activation Model

activity that spreads out along any link that is connected to an activated node. ex: to get from robin to bird, the bird node is activated -this activation also spreads to other nodes in the network (concepts connected to bird are also activated) -result = additional concepts that receive the activation become primes and are easily retrieved from memory

Anterior temporal lobe (ATL)

acts as "hub" to integrate information from other areas that process specific semantic knowledge (the "spokes")

category

all possible examples of a particular concept

Imagery tests:

image manipulation image acuity-good detail image accuracy image scanning

High Typicality vs. Low typicality

- category member closely resembles category prototype - category member doesn't closely resemble a typical member of the category

Collin's & Quillians Hierarchial Model

- the network consists of nodes that are connected by links. - Each node represents a category or concept - concepts placed in network so that related concepts are connected -properties are indicated for each concept

Family Resemblance - instead of definite criteria category members must meet, allows for variation

-Wittgenstein -things in a particular category resemble one another in a number of ways good members- share many attributes with other members

Farah- letter visualization experiment

-asked subject to imagine a letter -H & T were flashed on screen -results better if imaged letter was same as target letter

Exemplar approach

-concepts/ categories are represented by multiple examples not 1 prototype - examples are actual category members - more similar a specific exemplar is to a known category member, the faster it will be categorized

Support for Hub & Spoke Model

-damage to "spokes" = specific deficits -damage to "hub"= general deficits

Using both prototypes and exemplars

-early learning involves exemplars -experience involves averaging exemplars to get prototypes

exemplar approach

-explains typicality effect -takes into account atypical cases (flightless birds) - easily deals with variable categories

FIB: Standing -picture recognition study

-participants attempted to learn 10,000 pics in 5 days -5th day test--> given pics & had to indicate if they had seen them -recognized 6,000 pics

Category Neurons vs. Malleable neurons

-specific neurons are flexible enough to be assigned to different categories - category neurons are changeable, and constantly upgrade what's included in various concepts

FIB: Meyer & Schvaneveldt- Lexical decision

-subjects presented with words & non words and must differentiate as fast as possible -reaction time faster when 2 words are associated - this might occur because retrieving 1 word from memory triggered a spread of activation to other nearby locations in a network

Prototype characteristics

1. common example of a category 2. reference points 3. judged more quickly after priming 4. share common attributes w/ other category members

How do we categorize objects? Categories are based off of:

1. definitions 2. prototypes 3. examples

Differentiation of categories are measured by what 2 things

1. similarity 2. difference

Lexicon

A person's knowledge of what words mean, how they sound, and how they are used in relation to other words

Tacit Knowledge Explanation

An explanation proposed to account for the results of some imagery experiments that state that participants unconsciously use knowledge about the world in making their judgments. - been used as one of the arguments against describing imagery as a depictive or spatial representation

Conceptual Peg Hypothesis

Associated with Paivio's dual coding theory, that states that concrete nouns create images that other words can hang onto, which enhances memory for these words

Which level is most useful for differentiating one category from the next

Basic level- most important for differentiating categories

Paivio- word pair experiment

Participants learn pairs of word in each of 4 conditions High= concrete (high imagery ex: cow Low= abstract (low imagery) ex: love -subject is presented with pairs of words (boat-house) then during test given 1st word (boat) and must recall word it was paired with (house) results are better for concrete nouns

FIB: Pobric et al. -TMS experiment

Presented pictures of living things/ non- living things --> measured RT to name pictures -repeated procedure, TMS used on either ATL or inferior parietal lobe stimulating ATL= general effect; slower RT stimulating IPL=specific effect; slower RT to nonliving things

Rosch's levels of categories approach- subjects listed 3 features for global level & 9 features for basic level

Superordinate level (global)- most general: difficult to differentiate at this level ex: furniture Basic level: ex- table Subordinate level- most specific ex: kitchen table

T/F: When subjects are asked to list as many objects in a category as possible, they tend to list the most prototypical members of the category first

True- Mervis sparrow before penguin

T/F definitions do not include all members of a category

True- reason for family resemblance

T/F: Prototypes and typicality effects differ across individuals and countries

True

Method of Loci

a method for remembering things in which the things to be remembered are placed at different locations in a mental image of a spatial layout

FIB: Collins & Quillian- sentence verification experiment

a pig is a mammal: RT= 1.476 ms a pig is an animal: RT= 1,268 ms mammal is a basic level concept and should be verified more quickly -couldn't explain the typicality effect

Unilateral Neglect

a problem caused by brain damage, usually to the right parietal lobe, in which the patient ignores objects in the left half of their visual field

TMS- transcranial magnetic stimulation

a series of pulses presented to particular area of brain for seconds or minutes -interferes with brain functioning in that area for seconds or minutes -if particular

Cognitive Economy

a way of storing shared properties just once at a higher level node ex: putting "has feathers & can fly" at the node of birds instead of every node for each different type of bird

Typicality Effect

ability to judge highly prototypical objects more rapidly

Hub and Spoke Model

areas of the brain that are associated with specific functions are connected to the ATL (hub integrates info from these areas) -damage to a spoke causes specific damage -damage to the ATL causes general deficits

Bisiach & Luzzatti - unilateral neglect study

asked patient to describe piazza del duomo in Milan and when he imagined himself standing, he only reported the right side visual field

"typical" prototype

based on an average of members of a category that are commonly experienced -prototype is not an actual member of the category

Le Bihan et al.- stimulus/ imagined stimulus imagining experiment

both observing a visual stimulus (perception) and imagining a stimulus (imagery) activate visual cortex

semantic network approach

concepts are arranged in networks

Prototype

decide whether an item belongs to a category by comparing that item with a prototype (a "typical" member of a category)

Mental Chronometry

determining the amount of time needed to carry out a cognitive task

FIB: Gallese et. al -mirror neurons

discovered when examining response of pre-motor cortex in monkeys performed actions -picking up a toy/ piece of food -neurons firing while doing the task and while watching the task be done -neuron's response to doing task and watching task be done are similar

Conceptual Knowledge

enables to recognize objects and events and make inferences about their properties

Ganis et al- imagery vs. perception experiment

frontal lobe: complete overlap parietal lobe: high degree of overlap temporal: less overlap occipital: much more activation during perception most overlap in frontal and parietal lobes more difference in temporal & occipital (especially) -almost complete overlap of activation caused by perception & imagery in front of the brain

Semantic Dementia

general loss of knowledge for all concepts -causes patients to be equally deficient in identifying living things or artifacts -anterior temporal lobe damage often associated

FIB: Kosslyn- animal size experiment

image acuity should be function of the image's size -found participants answered questions faster for the larger image than for the smaller image -explained by general knowledge of the world

FIB: Miller & poggio "Cat-dog" experiment

individual neurons in monkey's brains became tuned to the concept of "cat" and dog" -when one these blended images was more than 1/2 cat or more than 1/2 dog, the monkeys' specific neurons for "Cat" or "dog" lit up appropriately

Pegboard Technique

involves imagery, as in the method of loci, but instead of visualizing items in different locations, you associate them with concrete words.

Hierarchical organization

larger more general categories are divided into smaller, more specific categories, creating a number of levels of categories

Dual-Coding Hypothesis: Paivio

maybe we store visuospatial information in 2 forms -verbal/propositional AND -image (pictorial)

Dual Code

maybe we store visuospatial information in two formats

Prototype approach

membership in a category determined by comparing the object to a prototype that represents a category

Mirror Neurons

neurons that fire when we perform a task or when we observe another doing that same task -most are specialized to respond to only 1 type of action.

Embodied Approach

our knowledge of concepts is based on reactivation of sensory and motor processes that occur when we interact with an object ex: when we use a hammer sensory areas are activated in response to the hammers shape size and color and then when we see the word hammer later, these sensory and motor areas are reactivated and this information represents what a hammer is

Epiphenomenon

phenomenon that accompanies a mechanism but isn't actually part of it. ex: lights that flash on a mainframe computers as it operates -something is happening in the brain but we aren't sure how it is happening

Priming

prime will facilitate the subjects response to a stimulus if it contains some of the information needed to respond to the stimulus -being primed with the word "green" and picking the highly prototypical green

Kosslyn et. al- TMS Visual Cortex imagery study

put TMS on the visual cortex while perception and imagery tasks were being performed -RT was measured with stimulation to visual area and then stimulation to another part of the brain as well. -stimulation caused subjects to respond more slowly for perception and imagery concluded: brain activation that occurs in response to imagery is not an epiphenomenon visual cortex plays causal role in both

Rosch Category Rating

rate category members from 1 (good example) to 7 (bad example) Birds: Sparrow= 1.18 Bat= 6.15

Kreiman et al. - imagery neurons

respond to both perceiving and imagining an object

Collin's & Quillian's Hierarchical Model

semantic memory is organized into a series of hierarchical networks -major concepts are represented as **nodes** -Properties/ **features** are associated w/ each concept ex: nodes: animal, bird, fish, canary features: has wings, can fly

Family resemblance score

strong correlation with prototypicality eg. good examples of furniture like chair and sofa share many attributes with other members of the category furniture. (high family resemblance)

FIB: Cooper & Shepard -mental rotation Rt increases as Mental rotation increases every 50 degrees= 1 second RT

this experiment showed that the time is took to decide that 2 views were of the same object was directly related to how different the angles of the 2 were -the result was interpreted as showing that subjects were mentally rotating 1 of the views to see whether it matched the other one

T/F Exemplars may work best for small categories

true

T/F: prototypes are unstable and can change over time

true

T/F Prototypes may work best for larger categories

true -birds automobiles

FIB: Smith et al.- Sentence verification experiment

used to determine how fast people could answer questions about an objects category. Judging prototypes - found that response was faster for objects that are high in pro typicality