2. Cognition Mental activities involved in acquiring, retaining and using knowledge

3. History of the Study of Cognition  Aristotle proposed laws for learning and memory and emphasized the importance of mental imagery  Wilhelm Wundt used introspection to study conscious experience  Hermann Ebbinghaus studied human memory  Gestalt psychology studied how we organize what we see and hear - perception  Studied insight in problem solving  Sept. 11, 1956 symposium at MIT and the rejection of the behaviorist approach  George Miller  Noam Chomsky- Linguist  Jean Piaget- Swiss psychologist  Computer Science- information processing approach

4. Metacognition  Knowledge of and awareness about our own cognitive processes  You know what tasks are easier for you and what are easier for your friends  Knowledge about our cognitive processes can guide us in arranging circumstances and selecting strategies to improve future cognitive performance  It is important for us to understand how we think and why we think the way we do

5. Thinking  Changing and reorganizing information stored in memory in order to draw inferences and conclusions  Creates new information  Thinking involves two forms of mental representation  Mental Images  Concepts

6. Mental Images  Image: a mental visualization of an object or experience  Symbol: something that stands for or represents a specific object or event  $ or %  Analogy – analogy bet. the word and the image it creates

7. Mental Rotation  The ability to hold and manipulate mental images helps us with many cognitive tasks  Spatial abilities  Mental imaging can spark creativity

9. Conceptual Thinking  Concept: a mental category for classifying people, things, or events  Prototype: a representation of a concept  A prototype has most if not all characteristics of a concept  The robin is the prototypical bird while the penguin is not  Stereotypes  Overgeneralizations of characteristics of a group  Rule: a statement about relationships between concepts

10. Schemata (Schema)  Generalized ideas that represent generic concepts we store  Conceptual frameworks that a person uses to make sense of the world  Pigeon-holes that we put things in to help us organize our concepts  Leads to a set of expectations  When we discover a new idea that is different from our concept we either assimilate or accommodate the idea  Assimilate an idea is to change the idea to make it fit into our schema  Accommodate an idea is to change our schema to make it fit

11. Logical Reasoning  Deductive reasoning  Inductive reasoning

12. Deductive Reasoning  Reasoning from the general to the specific  For example, start with a general statement: All cars have tires.  You can apply this general statement to specific instances and deduce that a Ford Escort, a Toyota Camry, and a Mercedes Benz must have tires.

13. Common deductive reasoning problems  Series problems  Syllogisms

14. Series problems  review series of statements  arrive at a conclusion not contained in any single statement  For example:  Robin is funnier than Billy  Billy is funnier than Sinbad  Whoopi is funnier than Billy  Q: Is Whoopi funnier than Sinbad?  Q: Is Whoopi funnier than Robin?

15. Syllogisms  Present two general premises that must be combined to see if a particular conclusion is true

16. Syllogism Example  All Intro to Psychology students love their instructor.  You are all Intro to Psychology students.  Must you love your instructor?

17. Syllogism Example  All chefs are violinists.  Mary is a chef.  Is Mary a violinist?

18. Syllogism Questions  All of the scientists are professors  All of the professors are clever people  Therefore all scientists are clever people  All geologists are backpackers.  Some nature lovers are geologists.  Therefore, some of the nature lovers are backpackers  All ministers are gardeners.  No gardeners are English professors  No ministers are English professors

19. Ways to solve syllogisms  Mental model theories  Pragmatic reasoning theories

20. Mental models theories  To solve a syllogism,  you might visualize the statements  All Intro to Psychology students love their instructor. You are all Intro to Psychology students. Must you love your instructor? Psych- ology Psych- ology Psych- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology

21. Mental models theories  All Intro to Psychology students love their instructor. You are all Biology students. Must you love your instructor? Psych- ology Psych- ology Psych- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology

22. Mental models theories Syllogisms that are easy to visualize are more readily solved than more abstract syllogisms Psych- ology Psych- ology Psych- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology Bi- ology

23. Mental model theories  To solve a syllogism, you might visualize the statements  Syllogisms that are easy to visualize are more readily solved than more abstract syllogisms

24. Pragmatic reasoning theories  Solve syllogisms by applying information to pre-existing schemas  Problem difficulty related to importance of problem to our lives and survival as a species  More relevant = easier to solve

25. Inductive reasoning  Reasoning from the specific to the general

26. Inductive Reasoning  Sherlock Holmes is perhaps a better example of INDUCTIVE reasoning than deductive reasoning  He takes specific clues and comes up with a general theory

27. Inductive reasoning  18 16 14 ?? ?? 12 10 Rule? Decrease by 2 Q: Why inductive reasoning? Answer: Take SPECIFIC numbers (i.e. 18,16,14) and come up with a GENERAL rule (i.e. decrease by 2)

28. Inductive reasoning problems  7 8 16 17 ?? ?? 4 8 5 10 ?? ?? ?? 2526 11 7 14 720 120 24 ?? ?? ?? 621

29. Inductive reasoning problems  5 10 15 ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? 2520304045505535 Rule? Increase by five WRONG!!!!! What is the correct rule? Any increasing number - the next number could be 87 or 62 or 1,000,006 Why did everyone guess the wrong rule?

30. Word probabilities  Is the letter “k” most likely to occur in the first position of a word or the third position?  Answer: “k” is 2-3 times more likely to be in the third position  Why does this occur?

31. Class demonstration  Name words starting with “k”  Name words with the letter “k” in the third position

32. Finish the sequence problems  30 24 18 ?? ?? ?? 1260 1 3 2 4 ?? ?? ?? ?? Rule? Decrease by six Rule? Increase by two, decrease by 1 6453

33. Finish the sequence problems 2 3 10 12 Rule? Increasing numbers starting with the letter “t” 132131 39200 201 299300301 20293032 302 2000 399 22

34. Chess problem  Two grandmasters played five games of chess. Each won the same number of games and lost the same number of games. There were no draws in any of the games. How could this be so?  Solution: They didn’t play against each other.

35. Bar problem  A man walked into a bar and asked for a drink. The man behind the bar pulled out a gun and shot the man. Why should that be so?  Solution: The man behind the bar wasn’t a bartender. He was a robber.

36. Bar problem # 2  A man who wanted a drink walked into a bar. Before he could say a word he was knocked unconscious. Why?  Solution: He walked into an iron bar, not a drinking establishment.

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

38. Answer to nine dots problem

39. Mental Set  Q: Why couldn’t you solve the previous problems?  A: Mental set - a well-established habit of perception or thought

40. Obstacles in Problem Solving  Mental set  Functional fixedness

41. Nine dots mental set  Most people will not draw lines that extend from the square formed by the nine dots  To solve the problem, you have to break your mental set

42. Number problem mental set Most people get stuck in the same rhythm Only view problems in terms of math formulas Need to break out of this mental set to solve the problem  2 3 10 12 ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? 1321 31 39 200 201 299300301 202930 32 302 2000 399 22

43. Rigidity Can Be Overcome  Rigidity is less likely to occur with unusual problems

44. Functional fixedness  type of mental set  inability to see an object as having a function other than its usual one

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

46. Answer to candle problem  Most people do not think of using the box for anything other than it’s normal use (to hold the tacks)  To solve the problem, you have to overcome functional fixedness

47. Framing  To create a situation that causes people to draw conclusions that you want  Like a picture frame sets the boundaries of a picture limiting your vision to the framed picture

48. Confirmation bias  Only search for information confirming one’s hypothesis  Looking at only information that reaffirms your earlier beliefs  Often reaffirms stereotyped thinking  Example: reading newspaper columnists who agree with our point of view and avoiding those who don’t

49. Strategies for solving problems  1. Break mental sets  break functional fixedness  2. Find useful analogy

50. Strategies for solving problems  1. Break mental sets  2. Find useful analogy  3. Represent information efficiently  4. Find shortcuts (use heuristics)

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

52. Mnemonic Device to Solve Problems  IDEAL  I dentify problem  D efine problem  E xplore solutions  A ct upon  L ook back

53. Find useful analogy  Compare unknown problem to a situation you are more familiar with

54. Strategies for Problem Solving  Algorithm: a step- by-step technique used to solve a problem  Heuristic: a “rule of thumb” problem- solving technique

55. Two general classes of rules for problem solving  1. Algorithms  2. Heuristics

56. Two general classes of rules for problem solving  Algorithms - things the old vice- president might say  Algorithms - rules that, if followed correctly, will eventually solve the problem

57. An algorithm example  Problem: List all the words in the English language that start with the letter “q”  If using an algorithm, would have to go through every single possible letter combination and determine if it were a word  i.e. is “qa” a word; is “qb” a word etc.  This would take a very long time  Instead, what rule could you use to eliminate these steps?

58. Rules for “q” problem  Skip ahead and assume the second letter is a “u”  Assume the third letter has to be a vowel  These types of rules are called heuristics

59. Heuristics  Any rule that allows one to reduce the number of operations that are tried in problem solving  a.k.a rules of thumb or shortcuts  Faster to solve the problem (find the answer) but not guaranteed to find a solution  Two types of heuristics:  Available Heuristic  Representative Heuristic

60. Availability heuristic  Judge probability of an event by how easy you can recall previous occurrences of that event.  Most will overestimate deaths from natural disasters because disasters are frequently on TV  Most will underestimate deaths from asthma because they don’t make the local news

61. Representative Heuristic  Rule in which people and things are judged by the degree to which they represent a certain category  Prototype matching  Judging symptoms similarity to a disease

62.  Chris is 6’7”, 300 pounds, has 12 tattoos, was a champion pro wrestler, owns nine pit bulls and has been arrested for beating a man with a chain.  Is Chris more likely to be a man or a woman?  A motorcycle gang member or a priest?  How did you make your decision? Chris story

63. Steve story  Steve is meek and tidy, has a passion for detail, is helpful to people, but has little real interest in people or real-world issues.  Is Steve more likely to be a librarian or a salesperson?  How did you come to your answer?

64. Representativeness  Judge probability of an event based on how it matches a prototype  Can be good  But can also lead to errors  Most will overuse representativeness  i.e. Steve’s description fits our vision of a librarian

65. Most will underuse base rates  Base rate - probability that an event will occur or fall into a certain category  Did you stop to consider that there are a lot more salespeople in the world than librarians?  By sheer statistics, there is a greatly likelihood that Steve is a salesperson.  But very few take this into account

66. Guess the probabilities  How many people die each year from:  Heart disease?  Floods?  Plane crashes?  Asthma?  Tornados? Stop

67. Kinds of Thinking  Direct/convergent thinking  Non-directed/ divergent thinking  Insight

68. Convergent  A type of thinking that is based on knowledge and logic  Thinking inside of the box  Multiple choice test  Leads to the correct solution

69. Divergent Thinking  The ability to generate unusual but appropriate responses to problems or questions  Thinking outside of the box  Usually leads to many different solutions to solve one problem  Brainstorming  Come up with as many ideas as possible before choosing one  No idea is too stupid or silly

70. Creativity  The ability to use information in new and original ways  All problem solving requires creativity  Creativity includes flexibility  Recombination and insight

71. Insight  Aha!!!!!!!!!  Sudden awareness of the relationships among various elements that had previously appeared to be independent of one another  Anagrams and the string problem  Wolfgang Kohler’s multi- stick – Sultan solution

72. Memory and the Brain  How and where are memories stored in the brain?  The striatum (deep in the frontal cortex)  The hippocampus and the amygdala

73. Language  The systematic, meaningful arrangement of symbols

74. Linguistics  Study of language

75. Grammar  The system of rules that determine how our thoughts can be expressed

76. The Structure of Language  Four rules 1. Phonemes 2. Morphemes 3. Syntax 4. Semantics

77. Phonemes  Individual sounds that are basic structural elements of language  39 basic phonemes  100 different and recognizable sounds  Phonology  The study of the smallest unit of sounds

78. Morphemes  The smallest unit of meaning in a given language  Made up of one or more phonemes  Phonemes are units of sound, morphemes are units of meaning

79. Syntax  Language rules that govern how words can be combined to form meaningful phrases and sentences  Syntax varies from language to language

80. Semantics  The study of meaning in language  The same word can have different meanings  Prostitutes appeal to the Pope.  American sentenced to life in Scotland.

81. Language: Turning Thoughts into Words  Properties of Language  Symbolic  Semantic  Generative  Structured

82. Early Language Acquisition

83. Table 8.2 Overview of Typical Language Development

84. Language Development: Milestones Continued  18-24 months – vocabulary spurt  fast mapping  over and underextensions  End of second year – combine words  Telegraphic speech  Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)  End of third year – complex ideas, plural, past tense  Overregularization

85. Bilingualism: Learning More Than One Language  Research findings:  Smaller vocabularies in one language, combined vocabularies average  Higher scores for middle-class bilingual subjects on cognitive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective attention, and metalinguistic awareness  Slight disadvantage in terms of language processing speed  2nd languages more easily acquired early in life  Greater acculturation facilitates acquisition

86. Stages of Language Development  Birth/infancy: cries, distress  2 months: cooing  4 months: babble  9 months: babbling is refined

87. Can Animals Develop Language?  Dolphins, sea lions, parrots, chimpanzees  Vocal apparatus issue  American Sign Language  Allen and Beatrice Gardner (1969)  Chimpanzee - Washoe  160 word vocabulary  Sue Savage-Rumbaugh  Bonobo chimpanzee - Kanzi  Symbols  Receptive language – 72% of 660 requests

88. Theories of Language Acquisition  Behaviorist  Skinner  learning of specific verbal responses  Nativist  Chomsky  learning the rules of language  Language Acquisition Device (LAD)  Interactionist  Cognitive, social communication, and emergentist theories

89. Stages (continued)  By 1 year: single words are uttered  Holophrases  By 2 years: two words together (50– 100 words)  Telegraphic speech  By 4 years: complete sentences

90. How Do Children Learn Language?  Learning-theory approach  B.F. Skinner and operant conditioning  Behavior is reinforced with smiles and attention  Children understand before they speak  Children learn language through observation  Mimic speech

91. Noam Chomsky  Nativist Theory  Innate ability to learn a language  LAD  Language acquisition device  Mechanism or process that facilitates the learning of language  Infants possess an innate capacity for language  Transformational grammar  Surface structure  Sentence structure and word arrangement  Deep structure  Underlying meaning of the sentence

92. Critical Period Theory  Psycholinguist E. Lenneberg  Critical period or a window of opportunity to learn a language  Probably before the age of 5

93. Linguistic-Relativity Theory  Ben Whorf  Belief that language was the central force behind thought  How people think is determined by the context and complexity of their language  Language shapes and may determine the way people of a particular culture perceive and understand the world

94. The Biological Basis for Memory  The human brain has billions of neurons and trillions of synapses  How to track down specific networks of cells where memories are stored  Aplysia

95. Erik Kandel  A molecular biologist/Nobel Prize winner  Experiments with sea snails  Neurotransmitter released into synapse

96. Retrieval and Recognition Exercise  Look at the picture and name this dwarf from Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”  Write down or make a list of as many of the seven dwarfs that you can remember

97. Seven Dwarfs  The following list includes the names of all seven dwarfs. Which ones are correct?  Tubby, Grouchy, Gabby, Fearful, Sleepy, Smiley, Jumpy, Hopeful, Shy, Droopy, Dopey, Sniffy, Wishful, Puffy, Dumpy, Sneezy, Lazy, Pop, Grumpy, Bashful, Cheerful, Shorty, Nifty, Happy, Doc, Wheezy

98. Forgetting  Decay  Memory loss  Interference

99. Amnesia  Often caused by a traumatic injury to the brain, such as a concussion  Retrograde amnesia  Anterograde amnesia

100. Childhood Amnesia  A normal phase of development that accounts for the lack of memory before the ages of 3 or 4  Dissociative amnesia

101. A Heuristic Application