Module 9 - Concept and Knowledge Representation

Neuropsychological studies

(1) they observe how the normal brain responds to various cognitive tasks involving knowledge representation, or (2) they observe the links between various deficits in knowledge representation and associated pathologies in the brain.

Standard laboratory experiments

In experimental work, researchers indirectly study knowledge representation because they cannot look into people's mind directly. They observe how people handle various cognitive tasks that require the manipulation of mentally represented knowledge

functional-equivalence hypothesis

It essentially suggests that we use images rather than propositions in knowledge representation for concrete objects that can be pictured in the mind Functionally equivalent things are strongly analogous to each other. They can accomplish the same goals

representational neglect

a person asked to imagine a scene and then describe it ignores half of the imagined scene.

Cognitive maps

are internal representations of our physical environment, particularly centering on spatial relationships. _________ seem to offer internal representations that stimulate particular spatial features of our external environment

Spatial cognition

deals with the acquisition, organization, and use of knowledge about objects and actions in two and three-dimensional space

Mental imagery

enables us to reactivate and manipulate internal representations when the corresponding stimuli are absent

left hemisphere only of the human brain

has the ability to manipulate imaginal components and symbols and to generate entirely new information

Mental rotations

involves rotationally transforming an object's visual mental image

Knowledge representation

is the form of what you know in your mind about things, ideas, events, and so on, in the outside world.

conceptual-propositional theory, or propositional theory

knowledge is represented only in underlying propositions, not in the form of images, words, or other symbols suggests that we do not store mental representations in the form of images or mere words our mental representations (sometimes called mentalese) more closely resemble the abstract form of a proposition

right hemisphere of the human brain

represents knowledge in a manner that is analogous to our physical environment

epiphenomena

secondary and derivative phenomena that occur as a result of other more basic cognitive processes

symbolic representation

the word cat is an example of this, meaning that the relationship between the word and what it represents is simply arbitrary. There is nothing inherently catlike about the word.

dual-code theory

we use both pictorial and verbal codes for representing information in our minds