Cognition: The Thinking Animal (Pearson New International Edition)

579 Pages·2013·5.457 MB·English

by  Daniel T. Willingham

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Cognition
The Thinking Animal
Daniel T. Willingham
ISBN 978-1-29202-271-0
Third Edition
9 781292 022710
Cognition
The Thinking Animal
Daniel T. Willingham
Third Edition
ISBN 10: 1-292-02271-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-292-02271-0
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
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ISBN 10: 1-292-02271-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-292-02271-0
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed in the United States of America
1122233341593703614821991313591511
P E A R S O N C U S T O M L I B R AR Y
Table of Contents
Glossary
Daniel T. Willingham 1
1. Cognitive Psychologists' Approach to Research
Daniel T. Willingham 19
2. Methods of Cognitive Psychology
Daniel T. Willingham 59
3. Visual Perception
Daniel T. Willingham 91
4. Attention
Daniel T. Willingham 133
5. Sensory Memory and Primary Memory
Daniel T. Willingham 171
6. Memory Encoding
Daniel T. Willingham 203
7. Memory Retrieval
Daniel T. Willingham 235
8. Memory Storage
Daniel T. Willingham 269
9. Visual Imagery
Daniel T. Willingham 311
10. Motor Control
Daniel T. Willingham 345
11. Decision Making and Deductive Reasoning
Daniel T. Willingham 381
12. Problem Solving
Daniel T. Willingham 421
I
445569263795
13. Language Structure
Daniel T. Willingham 463
14. Language Processing
Daniel T. Willingham 497
References
Daniel T. Willingham 529
Index 565
II
Glossary
From Glossary of Cognition: The Thinking Animal, Third Edition. Daniel T. Willingham.
Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
1
Glossary
Abstract construct A theoretical set of pro- Algorithm A formula that can be applied to
cesses and representations that you think are choice situations. It has the advantage of pro-
useful in explaining some data. An example ducing consistent outcomes, but algorithms
would be the articulatory loop of working may be complex and difficult to compute.
memory. Algorithms often are compared with heuristics.
Abstract word One that does not refer to a Amygdala A collection of nuclei believed to
physical object. be especially important for processing emotion.
Accommodation A cue to distance in visual Analog Representation that has important
perception. It depends on sensing how much properties of pictures (e.g., that it occurs in a
the lens of the eye has changed shape in order spatial medium) but is not itself a picture.
to focus the image on the retina; the shape Mental images are usually referred to as ana-
change varies with the distance of the object. log representations.
Acoustic confusion effect Errors in primary Anatomic dissociation Evidence that two
memory based on sound (e.g., thinking one different tasks are supported by different parts
heard g instead of d). The presence of such of the brain.
errors indicates that participants use an Anchoring and adjustment A heuristic used
acoustic code in primary memory on the task. to estimate probabilities in which the person
Acquired dyslexia A reading problem caused starts with some initial probability value
by brain damage in adults who were normal (anchor) by doing a partial calculation of the
readers before the injury. problem or by using a probability statement in
Activation The level of energy or excitement the problem, and then adjusting that initial
of a node, indicating that the concept the node estimate upward or downward based on other
represents is more accessible for use by the information in the problem.
cognitive system. Anterior Toward the front of the head (syn-
Adaptation A type of motor skill learning in onym of “rostral”).
which a new motor response is learned to a Anticipatory postural adjustment Muscle con-
visual stimulus (e.g., learning to use a com- tractions that counteract changes in the center
puter mouse). The way that the stimulus of gravity that occur due to other movements
and response go together is systematic, (e.g., reaching movements).
which contrasts with arbitrary visual-motor Arbitrary visual-motor association An associa-
associations. tion that must be learned between a visual
Addressing system Scheme to organize stimulus and a motor response. The relation be-
memories in which each memory is given a tween the two is arbitrary (e.g., a red light signi-
unique address that can be used to look it up. fying that one should depress the brake pedal of
2
Glossary
the car). There is nothing inherent in redness Base rate The frequency of an event in the
that signifies this action. Arbitrary visual-motor general population. When judging the likeli-
associations can be contrasted with adaptation hood that an event occurred, people tend to ig-
tasks, in which the visual stimulus and motor nore the base rate if they are given any other
response go together in some systematic way. information about the event.
Articulatory control process The process that Behaviorism An approach to psychology that
allows one to enter information into the phono- claims that the appropriate subject matter of
logical store; it is literally the process of talking psychology is behavior, not mental processes. It
to yourself. also emphasizes that psychologists should fo-
Articulatory suppression Refers to demand- cus on that which is observable (i.e., stimuli in
ing that participants keep the articulatory sys- the environment and people’s overt behaviors).
tem busy with nonsense during encoding Bias In signal detection theory, a measure of
(usually by saying “thethethethe” or some- the participant’s bias to either report or not re-
thing similar), thereby ensuring that they will port the presence of a signal. Bias is measured
not code stimuli in the phonological store. independently of the participant’s actual abil-
Associationism The belief that knowledge ity to detect signals.
begins with sensory information and that sen- Bottom-up processing Processing that starts
sations may combine to form more complex with unprocessed sensory information and
ideas. builds toward more conceptual representations.
Atmosphere A situation in which two prem- Broca’s area An area in the left frontal lobe
ises of a syllogism are both either positive or that is important for language.
negative or use the same quantifier. People are
Brute force search A problem-solving strat-
biased to accept as valid a conclusion that
egy in which all possible answers are exam-
maintains the atmosphere.
ined until the correct solution is found.
Atmospheric perspective A cue to depth.
Case study A type of scientific research in
Objects in the distance look less distinct be-
which a single individual is observed on a
cause they are viewed through more dust and
number of occasions. Case studies are usually
water particles in the air that scatter light.
used only when there is a rather unusual indi-
Attention The mechanism for continued vidual to be studied.
cognitive processing. All sensory information
Categorical perception Refers to the fact that
receives some cognitive processing; attention
people do not perceive slight variations in how
ensures continued cognitive processing.
phonemes are pronounced. Phonemes can vary
Attentional blink In a rapid serial visual
along certain dimensions with no cost in their
presentation, observers have trouble identify-
perceivability.
ing the second target if it appears anywhere
Category A group of objects that have some-
between 100 to 600 ms after the first target.
thing in common.
Automatic A process that takes few or no
Caudal Toward the back of the head (syn-
attentional resources and that happens without
onym of “posterior”).
intention, given the right set of stimuli in the
environment. Caudate Subcortical structure closely related
to the putamen that is important in movement
Availability A heuristic in which the likeli-
and likely in some cognitive functions.
hood of an event is evaluated by the ease with
which examples of the event can be called to Central executive The cognitive supervisor
mind. and scheduler, which integrates information
Babbling The second stage of language devel- from different sources and decides on strate-
opment. It includes more consonant-vowel gies to be used in tasks and allocates attention.
combinations than cooing does, and repeti- Cerebellum A very large structure at the
tions (e.g., “dadadada”). back and toward the bottom of the brain, it
3
Glossary
contributes to movement, and some higher must do a lot of computation to derive the
forms of cognition. richness of environment.
Chunk A unit of knowledge that can be de- Computed tomography A technique using
composed into smaller units of knowledge. X-ray technology for showing the three-
Similarly, smaller units of knowledge can be dimensional structure of the brain, important
combined (“chunked”) into a single unit of for lesion studies. It does not show activation.
knowledge (e.g., chunking the numbers 1, 9, 0, Concept The mental representation that
and 0 into a unit to represent the year 1900). allows one to generalize about objects in a
Cingulate gyrus A gyrus in the medial part category.
of the brain. It’s function is not clear, but it Conclusion A statement of fact derived by
may contribute to attention and working logical processes. One may confidently pro-
memory. pose that a conclusion is true or false within a
Classical conditioning A training procedure problem based on its logical relation to the
that produces a conditioned reflex. premises. Whether the conclusion is true in
Classical view of categorization The view the real world depends on the truth or false-
that concepts are represented as lists of neces- ness of the premises.
sary and sufficient properties. Concrete word Concrete words refer to real
Coarticulation Making a movement in a objects in the word (e.g., pencil, train).
way that anticipates future movements. Conditional statements A logical form com-
Cognitive economy The principle of design- posed of three statements. The first premise
ing a cognitive system in a way that conserves states, “If condition p is met, then q follows.”
resources (e.g., memory storage space). The second premise states whether p or q is
true. The third is a conclusion about p or q.
College sophomore problem The concern
that findings from cognitive psychology may Conditioned reflex A reflex that is learned
not generalize well because most experiments (i.e., that is the product of experience).
are conducted on college sophomores. Conditioned response In classical condition-
Combinatorial explosion The phenomenon ing, the response elicited by a conditioned
in which the number of states in the problem stimulus after training. It is usually similar but
space increases very rapidly, even with modest not identical to the unconditioned stimulus.
increases in the number of attributes of the Conditioned stimulus In classical condition-
problem that might be changed. For example, ing, a stimulus that before training does not
if one tries to look four moves ahead in a chess elicit a consistent response. During training,
game instead of two moves ahead, the number its presentation is paired with the uncondi-
of states in the problem much more than tioned stimulus.
doubles. Conjunctive search In a visual search task, a
Competence People’s knowledge of gram- search in which the target differs from the dis-
mar, that is, the rules that they use to con- tractors on two features, for example, the tar-
struct sentences. Competence is contrasted get is large and red and although some of the
with performance, which refers to the way distractors are large and some are red, none of
that people actually talk. Performance is in- the distractors are both large and red. It re-
fluenced not only by the rules of grammar, quires a conjunction of two features (largeness
but also by lapses of memory and other and redness) to identify the target.
factors that make the sentences people utter Construction Similar to the idea of recon-
less grammatical than their competence struction. Reconstruction is the process by
indicates. which memories are recalled. Construction is
Computational approach It assumes that the a particular memory that feels to the partici-
information provided by the environment is pant like a real memory but has no basis in
impoverished and that the cognitive system fact.
4
Glossary
Content-addressable storage Scheme by be easy for the organism. If the critical period
which to organize memories in which the con- is missed, however, the learning will be diffi-
tent of the memory itself serves as the storage cult or even impossible.
address. CT See Computed tomography.
Context Information about the time and Cue Some information from the environ-
place in which a memory was encoded. ment (or that the participant is able to gener-
Context effect The idea that memory will ate) as a starting point for retrieval.
be better if the physical environment at en- Cued recall A way of testing memory in
coding matches the physical environment at which the experimenter provides the partici-
retrieval. pant the time and place in which the memory
Continuous task A task in which there is no was encoded, as well as some hint about the
obvious beginning and ending to each trial; content of the to-be-remembered material
there is a continuous stream of stimuli and re- (e.g., “Tell me the words I read to you an hour
sponses (e.g., a pursuit tracking task). Compare ago. One of them was something to eat.”).
with Discrete task. Cutaneous receptors Receptors in and under
Control nodes In a hierarchical sequencing the skin. Some of these respond when the skin
representation, the control nodes tell the is displaced by pressure. This is important in
movement nodes what to do. detecting the pressure exerted by muscle con-
Controlled retrieval When a person actively traction, as when you grip a glass.
tries not to retrieve a declarative memory. Decay Refers to the hypothesis that forget-
Convergence A cue to distance. As an object ting results (at least in part) from the sponta-
gets closer, an observer crosses his or her eyes neous decomposition of memories over time.
more to keep the image of the object on the Decision making A situation in which a per-
center of the fovea of each eye. The extent to son is presented with two or more explicit
which the eyes are crossed can be used as a courses of action, with the requirement that
cue to distance. he or she select just one.
Converging operations The strategy of using Declarative memory Memory for facts and
multiple techniques to address a single ques- events, often contrasted with procedural
tion, to make up for the fact that each tech- memory.
nique has some flaws.
Deductive reasoning Problems to which one
Conversational implicature The tendency can apply formal logic and derive an objec-
for people to treat the language of logic as tively correct solution.
though it has the same meaning as everyday
Deep processing Thinking about the mean-
language.
ing of stimulus materials at encoding.
Conversion error An error in dealing with a
Deep structure In language, the deep struc-
syllogism in which a person reverses one of
ture is the representation of a sentence con-
the premises. For example, the premise reads
structed according to a basic set of phrase
“All As are Bs,” and the participant believes
structure rules, without any transformations
that it is also true that “All Bs are As.”
applied to the resulting representation. If
Cooing The first stage of language in which transformations are applied, the sentence
the baby makes long drawn-out vowel sounds might be turned into a question or be phrased
(“oooooooh”) or consonant-vowel combina- in the passive voice, for example.
tions (“gaaaaah”).
Default value A characteristic that is a part
Critical features Features of objects that don’t of a schema that is assumed to be true in the
change as the object undergoes various trans- absence of other information. For example,
formations (e.g., gets larger or rotates in space). unless one is told otherwise, one assumes that
Critical period A window of opportunity a dog is furry; furriness is a default character-
during which a particular type of learning will istic for dogs.
5