Cognitive Exam #7 questions

Responses to sentences like "a canary is a canary" take approximately _______ second(s). This is presumably the time it takes just to read the sentence and to move your finger on the response button. Sentences like "a canary can sing" requires an additional step of crossing one link in memory and yield ___________ responses. Sentences like "a canary can fly" require the crossing of two links, from CANARY to BIRD and then from BIRD to CAN FLY, so they are correspondingly ___________.

1 (1,000 ms); slower; slower

Two clinicians are asked to diagnose a patient who shows symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The patient does not show any visible forms of depression. The first clinician believes that depression is an important cause of OCD and so does not diagnose the patient with OCD. The second clinician believes that depression is a by-product of OCD but not a root cause. Therefore, she diagnoses the patient as having OCD. This example illustrates that: A) our beliefs and background knowledge influence how we categorize things. B) clinicians are often mistaken in their diagnosis. C) theories are often fallible and so should not be depended on in many situations. D) theories are not involved when placing a test case into a particular category.

A) our beliefs and background knowledge influence how we categorize things.

According to prototype theory, the mental representation for each concept: A) represents an average or ideal for the category's members. B) specifies the necessary and sufficient conditions for category membership. C) is located on the boundary of the category. D) lists the perceptual features that are found only in that category.

A) represents an average or ideal for the category's members.

A mutilated lemon will still be categorized as a lemon, while a counterfeit $20 bill will not be categorized as money. What does this say about categorization? A) Psychologists will never understand categorization. B) Category membership cannot be based on resemblance alone. C) Category membership is based on previously encountered examples. D) Prototype theory is the most accurate theory of categorization.

B) Category membership cannot be based on resemblance alone.

A proposition is defined as: A) a node in a knowledge network. B) a unit of knowledge that can be true or false. C) a unit of knowledge that is stored. D) the organizational structure of semantic knowledge in memory.

B) a unit of knowledge that can be true or false.

One study found that if participants were told a new fact about robins, they would also believe that the new fact was true of ducks. However, if told a new fact about ducks, participants would not extrapolate this information to robins. This suggests that: A) participants treat each category member independently (on a case-by-case basis) when applying new beliefs. B) participants are willing to make inferences from a typical case within a category to the whole category but not vice versa. C) new knowledge about a member of a category is unstable, leading to a change in a person's belief system only on rare occasions. D) beliefs within a theory are less likely to affect typical category members than atypical ones.

B) participants are willing to make inferences from a typical case within a category to the whole category but not vice versa.

According to exemplar-based theories of mental categories, participants identify an object by comparing it to a: A) prototype. B) single remembered instance of the category. C) definition. D) mental image.

B) single remembered instance of the category.

In the TLC model of Collins and Quillian (1969), they suggested that information in memory is organized: A) vertically. B) randomly. C) hierarchically. D) chronologically.

C) hierarchically.

The text points out that plums and lawn mowers share many traits. This suggests that: A) there is a strong resemblance between plums and lawn mowers. B) resemblance is not influenced by shared traits. C) in judging resemblance, we must determine which traits matter and which do not. D) distinctive traits, and not shared traits, determine resemblance judgments.

C) in judging resemblance, we must determine which traits matter and which do not.

It seems unlikely that our conceptual knowledge is represented by mental definitions because: A) each person has his or her own idea about how concepts should be defined. B) many of our abstract concepts (e.g., justice, love, God) are difficult to define. C) it is easy to find exceptions to any proposed definition. D) most of our concepts are difficult to express in words.

C) it is easy to find exceptions to any proposed definition.

The term "basic-level category" refers to the: A) level of categorization regarded by most participants as indisputable. B) most general level of categorization participants can think of. C) most specific level of categorization participants can think of. D) most natural level of categorization, which is neither too specific nor too general.

D) most natural level of categorization, which is neither too specific nor too general.

Which of the following is NOT true about heuristics? a) One way to ensure error-free decisions is to use the typicality heuristic. b) One example of a heuristic is categorization via resemblance. c) The categorization heuristic emphasizes superficial characteristics. d) Using heuristics is an efficient way to get things done.

a) One way to ensure error-free decisions is to use the typicality heuristic.

Which of the following statements is FALSE? a) When asked to describe an object, people are likely to choose the most general term for that object first. b) People tend to remember more general terms ("pants") when they have heard very specific terms ("jeans"). c) People tend to remember more specific terms ("dog") when they have heard very general terms ("animal"). d) Basic-level terms can usually be referred to in English using a single word, whereas more specific terms often require two or three words.

a) When asked to describe an object, people are likely to choose the most general term for that object first.

Which approach best explains knowledge of variability and distinctions within a category? a) exemplars b) prototypes c) definitions d) theories

a) exemplars

In a production task, the _______ category members that a person mentions are also the category members that produce the fastest reaction times in a sentence-verification task. a) first b) last c) loudest d) slowest

a) first

Collins & Quillian proposed that the memory system __________ redundant storage of connections between CATS and HAVE HEARTS, and between DOGS and HAVE HEARTS, and so on for all the other animals. Instead, HAVE HEARTS is stored as a property for _________ animals. In other words, the property "has a heart" would be associated with the ___________ node rather than the nodes for each individual animal. According to this logic, we should expect relatively _______ responses to sentences like "cats have hearts" since, to choose a response, a participant must locate the linkage from CAT to ANIMAL and then a SECOND linkage from ANIMAL to HEART. We would expect a __________ response to "cats have claws," because here there would be a _________ connection between CAT and the node representing this property.

avoids; all; ANIMAL; slower; quicker; direct

Which of the following is NOT true about Rosch's prototype theory of category membership? a) Judgments about an item are made with reference to either the ideal or the average of that category. b) In this theory, the boundaries of the category are specified, rather than the center of the category. c) Items that more closely resemble the prototype are perceived to be "better" members of the category than other items. d) The prototype for a certain category may vary from person to person.

b) In this theory, the boundaries of the category are specified, rather than the center of the category.

Which of the following is true? a) People only use prototypes when there are no clear definitions to fall back on. b) Just because people use prototypes does not mean that is the only information available to them. c) People use exemplars rather than prototypes whenever possible. d) Clearly defined category boundaries are necessary for deciding category membership.

b) Just because people use prototypes does not mean that is the only information available to them.

Which of the following facts is explained equally well by prototype and exemplar-based theories? a) People are able to use information about a category's variability to help judge whether a novel object belongs to that category. b) Some items appear to be more typical of a category than others. c) When people change their perspective of a category (e.g., from American birds to Chinese birds), their idea of category membership changes. d) People seem to show typicality effects for an unlimited number of categories, as demonstrated by the typical effects for completely ad hoc categories.

b) Some items appear to be more typical of a category than others.

According to Wittgenstein, we a) have no real general concept for each category we know but instead learn each category member individually. b) assess category membership probabilistically by family resemblance. c) can find rigid features that define a category but only after intensive study. d) first encounter the prototypical member of a category, and then we compare all other potential members to it.

b) assess category membership probabilistically by family resemblance.

Research shows that children are willing to make suggestions about how to turn a toaster into a coffee pot but deny the possibility of turning a skunk into a raccoon. This is evidence that a) category membership and typicality ratings can diverge. b) category membership depends on decisions about which features are essential to the category. c) our use of categories is dictated by typicality. d) children and adults have radically different understandings of categorization.

b) category membership depends on decisions about which features are essential to the category.

Compared with nonexperts, experts in a particular field will a) pay less attention to the relationships between categories. b) have more complex explanatory theories. c) base categories solely on appearance. d) rely particularly strongly on exemplars.

b) have more complex explanatory theories.

_____________ is a level of categorization hypothesized as the "natural" and most informative level, neither too specific nor too general. People tend to use these terms (such as "chair," rather than the more general "furniture" or the more specific "armchair") in their ordinary conversation and their reasoning.

basic-level categorization

If asked to describe an object, you're likely to use the ____________ term. If asked to explain what members of a category have in common with one another, you have an easy time with ___________ categories ("what do all chairs have in common") but some difficulty with more-encompassing ("______________") categories ("what does all furniture have in common?").

basic-level; basic-level; superordinate

The organization of categories goes beyond just "more" or "less" typical members. Categories also seem to be organized in levels. The _____________ is the level that we tend to operate at the most. It is most inclusive and members share most of their features. The categories in this level are psychologically privileged and are the ones we use when we are thinking. These categories are also a function of ____________ . In contrast, the ____________ is one level MORE abstract. Finally, the ____________ is more SPECIFIC than basic-level.

basic-level; expertise; superordinate level; subordinate level

____________ categories are usually represented in our language via a single word, while more ___________ categories are identified only via a phrase.

basic-level; specific

In studies of children who are learning how to talk, __________ terms are often acquired earlier than either ___________ (more specific subcategories) or __________(more general/encompassing) categories. Thus, _________ categories do seem to reflect a natural way to categorize the objects in our world.

basic-level; subordinate; superordinate; basic-level

When shown a picture of a chair and asked, "What is this?", a _____________ description answer would be, "a chair," a ____________ description answer would be, "it's a piece of furniture," and a ____________ description answer would be "it's an upholstered armchair."

basic-level; superordinate level; subordinate level

Consider plums and lawn mowers. These two have many properties in common: Both weigh less than a ton, both are found on Earth, both have a detectable odor, both are used by people, both can be dropped, both cost less than a thousand dollars, both are bigger than a grain of sand. And on and on and on. Of course, you ignore most of these shared features in judging these two entities, and as a result, you regard plums and lawn mowers as rather different from each other. So, how do you decide which features are essential and which can be set aside? The answer: A decision about which features are important depends on your ___________ about the __________ in question. Thus, it seems clear that the importance of an attribute---cost, weight, etc.---varies from category to category, and it varies according to your ___________ about what matters for THAT category.

beliefs; concept; beliefs

Imagine that you saw someone at a party jump fully clothed into a pool. Odds are good that you would decide this person belongs in the category "drunk," even though jumping into a pool in this way is surely not part of the DEFINITION of being drunk, and it's also unlikely to be part of the PROTOTYPE. BUT each of us has certain __________ about how drunks behave; we have, in essence, a "____________" of drunkenness.

beliefs; theory

Which of the following examples illustrates how category typicality and judgments of category membership usually go together? a) A painted, sugar-infused lemon that has been run over by a truck is still considered a lemon. b) A perfect counterfeit bill that shares all the features of real money is rejected as payment. c) A German shepherd is recognized to have all of the features typical of a dog and is quickly recognized as such. d) Children accept the notion that a toaster can be changed into a coffeepot, but not that a skunk can be changed into a raccoon.

c) A German shepherd is recognized to have all of the features typical of a dog and is quickly recognized as such.

Which of the following claims is FALSE? a) Reliance on prototypes is likely to emerge gradually as a participant's experience with a category grows. b) People are likely to rely strongly on exemplars early in their exposure to a particular category. c) Once people rely on prototypes, they no longer use exemplars for judging category membership. d) With exposure to many instances of a particular category, it becomes more difficult to remember each particular instance, and this contributes to the emergence of a prototype.

c) Once people rely on prototypes, they no longer use exemplars for judging category membership.

Many people think of a drum as the prototypical percussion instrument. Given this, which of the following results is MOST likely? a) The statement, "chimes are percussion instruments," will be verified more quickly than "drums are percussion instruments." b) When asked to create sentences about percussion instruments, participants frequently say things like, "I heard a percussion instrument chiming." c) When people are asked which of two instruments is "more percussiony," they will choose the drum, if it is an option. d) When two types of instruments are within the category of percussion instruments, they will be treated equally.

c) When people are asked which of two instruments is "more percussiony," they will choose the drum, if it is an option.

Which of the following is MOST likely to cause you to draw an inference about a category of animal? a) information about an atypical member of that category b) information about a category of animal higher up in the food chain than one you are considering c) a theory about how a feature you have seen in one member of the category might be caused by a feature that all category members share d) information about a characteristic shared by two members of the category who are quite similar to each other

c) a theory about how a feature you have seen in one member of the category might be caused by a feature that all category members share

When people are asked to rate how much "oddness" different odd numbers have, they a) rate the numbers all the same, because there is a clearly defined category boundary for odd numbers. b) rate some odd numbers as more "odd" than others, but these ratings are quite inconsistent from one participant to the next. c) are consistent with each other in which odd numbers they consider more odd. d) refuse to do the task because it does not make any sense.

c) are consistent with each other in which odd numbers they consider more odd. REASON: People tend to rate single digit numbers as most odd and are very consistent at doing so.

All of the following are true about explanatory theories EXCEPT they a) provide a crucial knowledge base we rely on to think about a particular category. b) serve the same function as a scientist's theory, though they are less precise. c) are only useful in providing a cause-and-effect understanding if they are accurate. d) can increase the ease with which we can learn a new category.

c) are only useful in providing a cause-and-effect understanding if they are accurate. REASON: Explanatory theories can be inaccurate even though they make sense.

Which of the following is NOT an attribute of the prototype theory? a) fuzzy boundaries b) graded membership c) defining features d) inequality of category members

c) defining features

Research suggests that you usually rely on _______ to aid in categorization of an unfamiliar concept. In contrast, for a highly familiar concept, you are more likely to rely on _______ to aid in categorization. a) exemplars; prototypes b) prototypes; exemplars c) exemplars; both prototypes and exemplars d) both prototypes and exemplars; exemplars alone

c) exemplars; both prototypes and exemplars

All of the following are evidence that theories play an important role in conceptual knowledge EXCEPT a) people learn a new category more easily if the features are coherent. b) people learn a new category more easily if they are given a theme to explain category membership. c) once people have theories, they largely abandon the use of typicality heuristics. d) people use theories to help them stretch concepts to encompass new, atypical examples.

c) once people have theories, they largely abandon the use of typicality heuristics.

All of the following are problems for the prototype and exemplar accounts of categorization EXCEPT a) participants know that the definition of an even number is absolute, but they still give even numbers different ratings of evenness. b) an orange that has been flattened, painted with brown and red stripes, and covered with coconut flakes is still identified as an orange. c) participants' ratings of membership in a novel category change with experience. d) a counterfeit $20 bill can look identical to a real $20 bill but is not considered money.

c) participants' ratings of membership in a novel category change with experience.

Implicit "theories" about concepts influence you in many ways. These "theories" influence how you ____________ things---decisions about whether a test case is or is not in a particular category.

categorize

Prototype theory and exemplar theory are similar in that they both involve _____________ objects by comparing them to a mentally represented "standard." They are different, because for prototype theory, the standard is the __________---an average representing the entire category, whereas for exemplar theory, the standard is provided by whatever ____________ of the category comes to mind.

categorizing; prototype; example

In a particular research study, participants were given this peculiar instruction: "We all know that some numbers are even-er than others. What I want you to do is to rate each of the numbers on this list for how good an example it is for the category, 'even number.'" Participants were then given a list of numbers and had to rate "how even" each number was. Participants could judge category membership as easily as they could judge typicality, but these judgements were entirely independent of each other: Participants believed that 4 is a more typical even number than 7534, but also knew this has nothing to do with the fact that both are in the category "even number." Therefore, this demonstrates that there is some basis for judging ____________ that's SEPARATE from the assessment of ____________.

category membership; typicality

While people tend to assume that the category "woman" has relatively sharp boundaries and that membership in the category is involuntary and many of the category's observable features reflect deep, unchanging attributes, people make very different assumptions for "stamp collector"---the category has fuzzy boundaries, membership can be temporary, and so on. In both cases, people draw on their ______________ beliefs about how someone gets to be a woman or how someone gets to be a stamp collector, and they reason about each of these categories in a fashion guided by those beliefs.

cause-and-effect

The pattern of knowledge can _________ for a particular person. For example, when you're first learning about palm trees, you might only have seen a couple of these trees, so you will rely on this ____________ knowledge for ALL your thinking about this category. However, with more experience, you might start to lose track of which individual is which, so you'll rely more and more on ___________ knowledge.

change; exemplar; prototype

Even though there may be no features that are shared by everyone in your family, we can identify "_______________" for each category---features that many category members have. The more of these features an object/person has, the more likely you are to believe it is in the category. Family resemblance is a matter of _____________, not all-or-none.

characteristic features; degree

Since universal definitions of a category are NOT easy (there always seems to be exceptions), the __________ view (strict defining of features) fails.

classical

The _________ view of categorization states that a category representation is a LIST of necessary and sufficient features.

classical

In the ___________ view, features are NOT free to vary, whereas the ___________ view is a useful and fast way to determine BASIC similarity (doesn't require much memory search), and in the ___________ view, features ARE free to vary such as ad hoc categories (e.g., snacks, pile of clothes) and probably when categories are being LEARNED.

classical; prototype; exemplar

In the ___________ view, objects are either members of a category, or they are not. There is NO "sort-of" or "best-example of" option; it either IS a member or it is NOT a member. This involves the ______________ in which people rate SOME category members as MORE typical (representative) than others. The consequences are that it affects how we reason about categories (e.g., people tend to categorize more typical exemplars _________ than less typical ones). Also, more typical exemplars are the _________ to come to mind when participants get a category name. For example, participants are more likely to think "cardinals eat onions" when the question is presented after the statement "robins like to eat onions," than when the question is presented after the statement, "ostriches like to eat onions." This is because robins are more __________ than ostriches and are thus thought to be more ___________ of birds.

classical; typicality effect; faster; first; typical; representative

Overall, you have the option of __________ prototype and exemplar models, because the two types model are similar in crucial ways. In either case, an object before your eyes triggers some information in memory (either a specific instance, according to exemplar theory, or the prototype, according to prototype theory).

combining;

The five benefits of concepts/categories are that they (1) reduce ___________, (2) ____________ (we can know something even if it isn't a common or specific part of our day-to-day lives), (3) identification of _________ stimuli (we don't have to store trillions of templates of items), (4) appropriate _______________ (e.g., poisonous vs. non-poisonous mushrooms, and (5) ____________ of knowledge (allows us to "__________" information for better storage and retrieval).

complexity; recognition; novel; responses; organization; chunk

Even though different people may have different prototypes, the prototype will serve as the anchor for our ______________ knowledge. In other words, when you reason about a concept or use your ______________ knowledge, your reasoning is done with reference to a _____________.

conceptual; conceptual; prototype

Categorization allows you to apply your GENERAL knowledge (e.g., knowledge about dogs) to NEW cases you encounter (e.g., a dog named Boaz). Conversely, categorization allows you to draw broad ___________ from your experience (so that things you learn about Boaz can be applied to other dogs you meet). All of this is possible, though, only because you realize that Boaz IS a dog; without this simple realization, you wouldn't be able to use your ____________ in this way.

conclusions; knowledge

"Learning" must involve some sort of adjustments of the connections among nodes, so that after learning, activation will flow in a fashion that can represent the newly gained knowledge. Technically, we would say that learning involves the adjustment of ______________---the strength of the individual connections among nodes. Learning requires the adjustment of MANY __________: We need to adjust the connections so that thousands of nodes representing "Washington" manage together to activate the thousands of nodes representing "president." Thus, learning must be a _____________ involving thousands of changes across the network.

connection weights; connection weights; distributed process

In a standard sentence-verification task, which of the following sentences would produce the SLOWEST response time? a) A peach is a fruit. b) An apple is a fruit. c) A robin is a bird. d) A bat is a bird.

d) A bat is a bird.

Which of the following facts fits LEAST well with the claims of prototype theory? a) Pictures of items similar to the prototype are identified as category members more quickly than pictures of items less similar to the prototype. b) Items close to the prototype are the earliest (and most likely) to be mentioned in a production task. c) When making up sentences about a category, people tend to create sentences most appropriate for the prototype of that category, as opposed to a more peripheral member. d) Even when an item is quite different from a category's prototype, it is very easy for people to decide whether it is inside or outside the boundaries of the category.

d) Even when an item is quite different from a category's prototype, it is very easy for people to decide whether it is inside or outside the boundaries of the category.

Which of the following is NOT true of people's reasoning about natural kinds and artifacts? a) People tend to assume more homogeneity when reasoning about natural kinds than about artifacts. b) The way people reason about natural kinds will be influenced by their level of expertise regarding those kinds. c) People think that tables can be transformed into chairs but cats cannot be transformed into dogs. d) People tend to assume that the properties of artifacts are more predictable than properties of natural kinds.

d) People tend to assume that the properties of artifacts are more predictable than properties of natural kinds.

The idea that we categorize objects based on their similarity to previously stored instances is known as a) geometric theory. b) prototype theory. c) feature theory. d) exemplar theory.

d) exemplar theory. REASON: Exemplars are particular instances in which we have encountered an item.

Which of the following provide(s) us with an understanding of cause and effect? a) fuzzy boundaries b) prototype theory c) exemplar theory d) explanatory theories

d) explanatory theories

If people are asked why an abused lemon still counts as a lemon, they're likely to mention the fact that it grew on a lemon tree, is genetically a lemon, and so on. It's these ___________ features that matter, and not the lemon's ___________ properties.

deep; current

Wittgenstein argued that the simple terms we all use every day actually don't have ____________. In other words, for each clause of the __________, we can easily find an ___________: an activity that we call a game but that doesn't have the relevant characteristic.

definitions; definition; exception

CONNECTIONIST NETWORKS rely on _______________, so that any particular idea is represented only by a pattern of activation across the network. For example, the concept "birthday" might be represented by a pattern in which nodes "B" "F" "H" "N" "P" and "R" are firing, whereas the concept "computer" might be represented by a pattern in which nodes "C" "G" "H" "M" "O" and "S" are firing. Note that node "H" is part of both of these patterns and probably part of the pattern for many other concepts as well. Therefore, we can't attach any meaning or interpretation to this node by itself; we can only learn what is being represented by looking at many other nodes simultaneously to find out what pattern of activation exists across the ENTIRE network.

distributed representations

As opposed to prototype theory, categorization can also draw on knowledge about SPECIFIC category members rather than on more general information about the overall category. For example, when provided a wooden object and asked "is this a chair?" you might notice that this object is very similar to an object in your Uncle Jerry's living room. In other words, the categorization is supported by memories of a specific chair--Jerry's, rather than remembered knowledge about chairs in general. This is known as ____________, with an _________ being defined as a specific remembered instance--in essence, an example.

exemplar theory; exemplar

Wittgenstein's _______________ relies on some number of features being SHARED by any group of category members: No clear set of universally shared features, but a lot of SHARED OVERLAP. The basis for ____________ may SHIFT from one subset of the category to another.

family resemblance; family resemblance

Wittgenstein proposed that members of a category have a _______________ to each other. This is the notion that members of a category (e.g., all dogs, all games) resemble each other. In general, this relies on some number of FEATURES being ____________ by any group of category members, even though these features may NOT be ____________ by ALL members of the category. Therefore, the basis for ______________ may shift from one subset of the category to another.

family resemblance; shared; shared; family resemblance

One type of learning relies on _________: in this algorithm, nodes that led to an inappropriate response receive an _____________ from some external source, and this causes a ___________ in the node's connections to the other nodes that led it to the error. In addition, the node receiving the ___________ is able to transmit the ____________ to the nodes that misled it, allowing them to make their own adjustments. In this fashion, the ___________ is transmitted BACKWARD through the network---starting with the nodes that IMMEDIATELY triggered the incorrect response, but with each node then passing the ___________ back to the nodes that had caused it to fire. This process, called ____________, allows the ENTIRE network to make use of the ___________ even though each node is only being influenced by the nodes in its IMMEDIATE vicinity.

feedback; error signal; decrease; feedback; error signal; error signal; error signal; back propagation; feedback

The idea that some members of a category are "better" members and therefore are more firmly in the category than other members is called __________________.

graded membership

A strategy that is reasonably efficient and works most of the time is a _______________. In using this strategy, you are in effect choosing to accept some risk of ________ in order to gain efficiency.

heuristic; error

Categorization via resemblance is a ____________ strategy, a relatively efficient (even if imperfect) way to think about categories. In most cases, resemblance to a prototype or exemplar is judged on the basis of superficial features, and this is precisely what you want for a categorization ____________: Superficial traits can be judged swiftly, allowing comparisons that are quick and easy.

heuristic; heuristic

Early theorizing introduced different types of associative links, with some representing equivalence (or partial equivalence) relations and others representing possessive relations. These links were termed _______ links, as in "Sam _____ dog," and _________ links, as in "A bird _______ head" or "Sam _______ dog."

isa; isa; hasa; hasa; hasa

"____________" adjust connection weights through mechanisms governed entirely by "local" consideration---that is, activity in the IMMEDIATE vicinity of each connection. One type of __________, for example, is governed by whether neighboring nodes are activated at the same time. If so, the connection between them is ___________ ; but if they are activated at different times, the connection is ______________. This gives the network a means of learning what-goes-with-what in experience---learning, for example, that "Q" is usually followed by "U," that the taste of apples is usually accompanied by the sight of an apple, and so on. The biological version of this learning is called ____________ learning and the learning is sometimes described with the rule that "cells that ________ together ______ together."

learning algorithms; algorithm; strengthened; weakened; Hebbian learning; fire; wire

In a model like Anderson's Propositional Network Model, individual ideas are represented with ____________: Each node represents one idea, so that when the node is activated, you're thinking about that idea, and when you're thinking about that idea, that node is activated.

local representations

Over and over, in category after category, members of a category that are "privileged" on one task (e.g., yield the fastest response times) turn out ALSO to be privileged on other tasks (e.g., are most likely to be ____________). Various tasks ___________ in the sense that each task indicates the same category members as special.

mentioned; converge

In general, people tend to assume ___________ homogeneity when reasoning about biological kinds (like raccoons or skunks) than when reasoning about artifacts.

more

People may think about different concepts in different ways. For example, most people believe that ___________ (groups of objects that exist naturally in the world, like bushes or alligators or stones or mountains) are as they are because of forces of nature, forces that are consistent across the years. As a result, the properties of these objects are relatively predictable: There are certain properties that a bush MUST have in order to survive as a bush; certain properties that a stone must have because of its chemical composition. Things are DIFFERENT though, for _____________, objects made by human beings. If we wished to make a table with 15 legs rather than 4, or one made out of gold, we could. This leads to the proposal that people will reason differently about ___________ and ________---because they have different _________ about why categories of either sort are as they are.

natural kinds; artifacts; natural kinds; artifacts; beliefs

Variations from one concept to another (woman vs. stamp collector) or from one class of concepts to another (artifact vs. natural kind) can be detected in ____________ evidence. For example, fMRI scans tell us that, in healthy intact brains, different sites are activated when people are thinking about ________ things than when they are thinking about __________ things. Likewise, people who have suffered brain damage sometimes lose the ability to _________ certain objects, or to answer simple questions about these objects. Often the problem is specific to certain categories, so some patients lose the ability to name __________ things but not _______ things; other patients show the reverse.

neuroscience; living; nonliving; name; living; nonliving

The same proposition can be represented in various nonlinguistic forms, including a structure of ________ and _________, and that is exactly what Anderson's model does. In Anderson's model, propositions are represented by each proposition indicated by an __________. The _________ identify the propositions themselves. Associations connect an __________ to the ideas that are the proposition's constituents. These associations are labeled, but only in general terms---terms that specify the constituent's __________ within that proposition. This allows us to distinguish the proposition "dogs chase cats" from the proposition "cats chase dogs."

nodes; linkages; ellipse; ellipses; ellipse; role

The principle of "_____________" proposed by Collins & Quillian doesn't always hold: For example, the property of "having feathers" should be associated with the BIRD node rather than (redundantly) with the ROBIN node, the PIGEON node, and so forth. This fits with the fact that responses are relatively ________ to sentences like "Sparrows have feathers." However, it turns out that participants respond rather __________ to a sentence like "Peacocks have feathers" because in observing peacocks, you often think about their prominent tail feathers. Thus, even though it is informationally redundant, a ___________ association between PEACOCK and FEATHERS is likely to be established.

nonredundancy; slow; quickly; strong

According to many researchers, computers relying on parallel distributed processing have learned the rules of English grammar, have learned how to read, and have even learned how to play strategic games. Related, PDP models have an excellent capacity for detecting ____________ in the input they receive. Thus, the model can recognize a variety of different sentences as all having the same structure and a variety of game positions as all inviting the same next move. These models are impressively able to __________ what they have "___________" to new, never-seen-before variations on the pattern.

patterns; generalize; learned

Knowledge refers to a ___________ rather than to a _________. If you know that Washington was a president, then the connections are in place so that if the "Washington" pattern of activation occurs, this will lead to the "president" pattern of activations. And this state of readiness will remain even if you happen not to be thinking about Washington right now. In this way, "knowing" something, in network terms, corresponds to how the activation will flow IF there is activation on the scene. This is different from "thinking about" something, which corresponds to which nodes are active at a __________ moment, with no comment about where the activation will __________ next.

potential; state; particular; spread

The first approach to determine category membership is ____________: like Wittgenstein's approach; category membership is a matter of probability, NOT all-or-none (like the classical view was). The second approach to determine category membership is ___________: likelihood of membership is calculated by computing some similarity between an object and some category representation.

probabilistic; similarity

A network using distributed representations must use ___________ that are __________ distributed, so that one widespread activation pattern can have broad enough effects to evoke a __________ (but equally widespread) pattern. In addition, the steps bringing this about must all occur ___________---in parallel--- with each other, so that one entire representation can smoothly trigger the next. This is why connectionist models are said to involve _________________.

processes; similarly; different; simultaneously; parallel distributed processing (PDP)

An experimental procedure used in studying concepts, in which the person is asked to name as many examples (e.g., as many fruits) as possible, is called a ___________________. For example, the first fruits to be mentioned should be the fruits that yielded fast response times in the ________________; that's because what matters in both tasks is ____________ to the prototype.

production task; sentence-verification task; proximity

At the center of Anderson's conception is the idea of ____________, which are defined as the smallest units of knowledge that can be either true or false. They are easily represented as sentences. For example, "Children love candy" is a _____________, but "Children" is not; "Susan likes blue cars" is a ___________, but "blue cars" is not. The same ____________ can be represented in a variety of different sentences: For example, "Children love candy," "Candy is loved by children," and "Kinder lieben Bonbons" all express the same ____________.

propositions; proposition; proposition; proposition; proposition

When we categorize, we compare the object currently before our eyes with the _____________ in our memory. If there is no similarity between them, the object in front of you is probably not in the category. However, if there is considerable similarity, you draw the opposite conclusion.

prototype

________________ holds the claim that mental categories are represented by means of a single "best example," identifying the "center" of the category. In this view, decisions about category membership, and inferences about the category, are made with reference to this best example, often an _______________ of the examples of that category that you have actually encountered.

prototype theory; average

________________ specifies the "center" of a category rather than the boundaries. In other words, it is the IDEAL for the category and will be an AVERAGE of the various category members you've encountered. For example, the _____________ dog will be the average color of the dogs you've seen, the average size of the dogs you've seen, and so forth.

prototype theory; prototype

Membership in a category depends on resemblance to the ____________, and resemblance is a matter of __________. As a result, membership in the category is not a simple "yes or no" decision; instead, it's a matter of "more" or "less." In technical terms, we'd say that categories, on this view, have __________________, such that objects closer to the ______________ are "better" members of the category than objects farther from the ____________. Or, to put this concretely, some dogs are "doggier" than others, some books "bookier" than others, and so on.

prototype; degree; graded membership; prototype; prototype

For prototype theory to work, you must have a _________ for each category ALREADY stored in memory. BUT you get the same ______________ effects for categories that are much less common than "dog." These are ____________, which are classifications created to satisfy a particular qualification or need.

prototype; graded typicality; ad hoc categories

When people think about a category they are in fact thinking about the ____________ for that category. Therefore, in making up their sentences, participants will come up with statements appropriate for the _______________. The meaning of the sentence will be pretty much unchanged if we substitute a ______________ category member for the category name. However, substituting a _______________ member may yield a peculiar, even ridiculous proposition.

prototype; prototype; prototypical; nonprototypical

In one study, participants were asked to generate simple sentences about a category. If the category was "birds," for example, a participant might say, "I saw two birds in a tree" or "I like to feed birds in the park." Next, the experimenters rewrote these sentences, substituting for the category name either the name of a prototypical member of the category (e.g., robin) or a not-so-prototypical member (e.g., penguin). In our example, we would get "I like to feed robins in the park" and "I like to feed penguins in the park." Finally, these new, edited sentences were shown to a different group of participants; they were asked to rate how silly the sentences seemed. When the new group of participants rated these sentences, they rated as quite ordinary the sentences in which we placed a _______________ case and rejected as silly the sentences into which we placed a ________________ case.

prototypical; nonprototypical

Knowledge is stored via the memory network, so when you draw on your knowledge, you're retrieving information from the network. This retrieval uses the processes of activation spreading from one node to the next which leads to the following prediction: Activation spreads _________ through the network, but this spread does take time, and the further the activation must travel, the _________ time needed.

quickly; more

Imagine that you're given a group of objects and must decide whether each belongs in Category A or Category B. Category A, you are told, includes all the objects that are metal, have a regular surface, are of medium size, and are easy to grasp. Category B, on the other hand, includes objects that are not made of metal, have irregular surfaces, and are small and hard to grasp. This sorting task would be difficult---unless we give you another piece of information: namely, that Category A includes objects that could serve as substitutes for a hammer. With this clue, you immediately draw on your other knowledge about hammers, and in this way you can see WHY the features are as they are. This allows much more __________ learning of the new category. When research participants are given this "__________," they learn the category _________ rapidly and _______ accurately.

rapid; theme; more; more

A _________________ is a task in which research participants must evaluate some item or category with reference to some dimension, usually expressing their response in terms of some number. For example, participants might be asked to evaluate birds for how TYPICAL they are within the category of "birds," using a "1" response to indicate "very typical" and a "7" response to indicate "very atypical."

rating task

Associative links don't just TIE together the various bits of knowledge; they also help __________ the knowledge. You know, for example, "George Washington was an American president." As a first approximation, this simple idea can be ____________ as an associate link between a NODE representing WASHINGTON and a NODE representing AMERICAN PRESIDENT. In other words, the link itself is a constituent of the knowledge.

represent; represented

A counterfeit bill will bear a near-perfect resemblance to the prototype for legitimate money, but, despite this resemblance, you understand that a counterfeit bill is NOT in the category of legitimate money. So, your categorization doesn't depend on ______________ to the prototype. Instead, your categorization depends on a web of other ____________, including those about circumstances of printing, for example. In other words, you consider circumstances of printing only because your understanding tells you that the circumstances are _____________ here, and you won't consider circumstances of printing in a wide range of other cases.

resemblance; beliefs; relevant

The prototype and exemplar views BOTH depend, at their base, on judgements of _____________---to the prototype or to some remembered instance. Cases like the counterfeit bill and the mutilated lemon, however, suggest that _____________ may not be the key here. For example, the mutilated lemon DOES NOT resemble the lemon prototype, but it's still a lemon. A counterfeit bill DOES resemble the prototype for real money, but it still isn't legal. These observations suggest that we CANNOT base category membership on ______________ alone.

resemblance; resemblance; resemblance

The Teachable Language Comprehender (TLC) is an instance of a more general class of models known as _____________. In a ____________, each node is to be interpreted as representing a SPECIFIC concept, word, or feature. That is, each node is a symbol. Semantic networks generally do not employ distributed representations for concepts, as may be found in a neural network. The defining feature of a semantic network is that its links are almost always directed (that is, they only point in one direction, from a base to a target) and the links come in many different types, each one standing for a particular relationship that can hold between any two nodes. Processing in a semantic network often takes the form of ________________.

semantic networks; semantic network; spreading activation

Brain scans can reveal activation in _________ and _______ areas when people are thinking about various concepts---with a strong suggestion that __________ conceptual knowledge is intertwined with knowledge about what particular objects look like (or sound like or feel like) and also with knowledge about how one might interact with the object. This demonstrates that conceptual knowledge has many elements and CANNOT be reduced to just a representation of a ___________ or a ____________.

sensory; motor; abstract; prototype; defintion

A ___________________ is an experimental procedure used for studying memory in which participants are given simple sentences (e.g., "cats are animals") and must respond as quickly as possible whether that sentence is true or false.

sentence verification task

Collins & Quillan used the ______________ to show that people need ______ time to retrieve information involving closely related ideas but ______ time to retrieve knowledge involving more distant ideas. Their participants were shown sentences such as "A robin is a bird" or "Cats have claws" or "Cats have hearts." Mixed together with these obviously TRUE sentences were a variety of FALSE sentences (e.g., "A cat is a bird"). In response to each sentence, participants had to hit a "true" or "false" button as quickly as they could. Participants perform the task by "traveling" through the network, seeking a __________ between nodes. Thus, when the participant finds the _________, this confirms that there IS an ____________ linking these nodes, and this tells the participant that the sentence about these two concepts is ___________. This travel should require little time if the two nodes are _________ linked by an association, but the travel will require more time if the two nodes are connected only _____________ and so we'd expect __________ responses to sentences that require a "two-step" connection than to sentences that require a single connection.

sentence verification task; less; more; connection; connection; associative path; true; directly; indirectly; slower

The fact that some patients can lose the ability to answer questions about fruits and vegetables, but still be able to answer questions about other objects, living or not living, suggests that __________ brain systems are responsible for different types of __________ knowledge---and so damage to a ____________ brain area disrupts one type of knowledge but not others.

separate; conceptual; particular

In a sentence verification task, we are most interested in the ___________ in which participants can do the task, and it turns out that their speed of response varies from item to item within a category. When there is much _____________ between the test case and the prototype, participants can make their decisions quickly; judgements about items more __________ from the prototype take more time.

speed; similarity; distant

The more specific ("_____________") categories of "lawn chair" or "kitchen chair" are not basic level; neither is "Granny Smith apple" nor "Golden Delicious apple."

subordinate

In the ______________ model, each node is a word, representing a concept (like "Bird"). With each node is stored a set of properties (like "can fly" or "has wings") as well as pointers (i.e., links) to other nodes (like "Chicken"). A node is _________ linked to those nodes of which it is either a subclass or superclass (i.e., "Bird" would be connected to both "Chicken" and "Animal"). Thus, ________ is a ____________ knowledge representation in that high-level nodes representing _______ categories are connected (directly or indirectly, via the nodes of subclasses) to many instances of those categories, whereas nodes representing _________ instances are at a lower level, connected only to their superclasses. Furthermore, properties are stored at the highest category level to which they apply. For example, "is yellow" would be stored with "Canary", "has wings" would be stored with "Bird" (one level up), and "can move" would be stored with "Animal" (another level up). Nodes may also store negations of the properties of their superordinate nodes (i.e., "NOT-can fly" would be stored with "penguin"). This provides a ____________ of representation in that properties are only stored at the category level at which they become essential, that is, at which point they become critical features (see below).

teachable language comprehender (TLC); directly; TLC: hierarchical; large; specific; cognitive economy

Could an airplane be made out of wood? Made from ceramic? Made from whipped cream? You immediately reject the last possibility, because your IMPLICIT "_________" about airplanes tells you that planes can fly only because of their wings' shape, and whipped cream wouldn't maintain this shape.

theory

Many authors have suggested that each of us has something that we can think of as a "__________" about most concepts we hold. The _________ are less precise & less elaborate than a scientist's _______, but they serve the same function: They provide a crucial knowledge base that you rely on in most of your thinking about an object, event, or category; and they allow you to ____________ any new facts you might encounter about the relevant object or category.

theory; theories; theory; understand

In order to represent episodes, the propositional network includes _____ and ______ nodes. This fragment of a network represents two propositions: the proposition that Jacob fed pigeons last spring, and the proposition that the pigeons are in Trafalgar Square. Note that no ________ node is associated with the proposition about pigeons being in Trafalgar Square. Therefore, what is represented is that the feeding of the pigeons took place last spring but that the pigeons are always in the square.

time; location; time

A _______ node is an example of higher nodes whereas a _________ node is a SPECIFIC example of higher nodes. The part is called _________ and the characteristic is called __________.

type; token; isa; hasa

If asked to name fruits, you're more likely to name ________ fruits (like apples or oranges) than __________ fruits (figs, starfruit). According to a ___________ account, this result emerges because you start your memory search with the ____________ and "work outwards" from there. According to an ___________ account, the result emerges because you have many memories of apples and oranges, and these are well-____________; it's no surprise that these are the fruit memories that come easily to mind for you.

typical; atypical; prototype; prototype; exemplar; primed

Robins strike us as being closer to the TYPICAL bird than penguins do; even so, most of us are certain that both robins and penguins ARE birds. Also, Moby Dick was definitely not a TYPICAL whale, but he certainly WAS a whale. These observations drive a wedge between ____________ and _______________.

typicality; category membership

Like any other heuristic, the use of ___________ will occasionally lead to ________: If you rely on a bird prototype to categorize flying creatures, you may misidentify a bat.

typicality; error

Early research indicated that INFERENCES about categories were guided by _____________. In one study, participants who were told a new fact about robins were willing to infer that the new fact would ALSO be true for ducks. If they were told a new fact about ducks, however, they would NOT extrapolate to robins. Apparently, people were willing to make inferences from the _________ case to the _________ category, but NOT from an ____________ case to the category. However, your inferences are also guided by your _________ about cause and effect, and so your concept use is being guided by ______________ knowledge that accompanies each concept.

typicality; typical; whole; atypical; beliefs; background

We cannot equate ____________ with membership in a category. However, membership and __________ are clearly related to each other: Creatures closely resembling the prototype bird are not guaranteed to be birds, but they are highly LIKELY to be birds. This is what allows you to use ____________ as a fast and efficient basis for judging category membership.

typicality; typicality; typicality

Your judgements are guided by your sense of what's essential for a category and what's not. And what counts as "essential" depends on your ______________ of that category. This "_________________," guiding your judgement, seems to depend on a web of other ____________.

understanding; understanding; beliefs

In an early study, children were asked what makes something a "coffeepot," a "raccoon," and so on. As a way of probing their beliefs, the children were asked whether it would be possible to turn a toaster into a coffeepot. Children often acknowledged that this ____________ be possible. HOWEVER, when asked whether one could turn a skunk into a raccoon, the children ___________ that this was possible. In other words, a skunk that looks, sounds, and acts just like a raccoon might be a very peculiar skunk, but it is a skunk nonetheless. In the eyes of the child, the key to being a raccoon involves having a raccoon mommy and a raccoon daddy. Thus, a raccoon, just like a lemon, is defined in ways that refer to ___________ properties and not to mere ______________.

would; denied; deep; appearances

In a sentence verification task, participants' responses were fastest when the test required them to cross _________ links in memory ("A canary is a canary"), slower when the necessary ideas were separated by _______ link(s), and slower still if the ideas were separated by ________ link(s). Responses were also slower if participants had to take an additional step of crossing the link from a ________ label ("bird") to the node representing a _________ of the category ("can fly").

zero; one; two; category; property