Definitions chapters 10-12 PDF

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definitions from cognitive psychology chapters 10-12...

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Chapter 10 conceptual peg hypothesis - theory that concrete nouns create images that other words can hang onto degraded pictures task - exercise in which parts of a line drawing are omitted then obscured with visual noise depictive representation - depiction in which parts of the image correspond to parts of the object epiphenomenon - event that accompanies a mechanism but is not actually part of the mechanism imageless thought debate - discussion about whether contemplation is possible without pictures imagery debate - discussion about whether visual symbolism is based on spatial mechanisms or on propositional mechanisms imagery neuron - type of category-specific nerve cell that is activated by visual symbolism mental chronometry - determining the amount of time needed to carry out a cognitive task mental imagery - experiencing a sensory impression in the absence of sensory input mental rotation task - exercise in which a person judges whether two pictures are two views of the same object or mirror-image objects mental scanning - process in which a person scrutinizes an image in his or her mind mental walk task - assignment asking subjects to think of an image and imagine they are moving toward it method of loci - procedure whereby things to be remembered are placed at different places in a mental image object imagery - ability to perceive visual details, features, or things

Paper Folding Test (PFT) - task designed to measure imagery in terms of space, such as the layout of a garden pegword technique - method for remembering things whereby things to be remembered are associated with concrete words propositional representation - depiction in which relationships are represented by symbols spatial imagery - ability to visualize relationships in terms of space spatial representation - depiction whereby different parts of an image can be described as corresponding to specific locations topographic map - concept that specific locations on a visual stimulus cause activity at specific locations in the visual cortex unilateral neglect - problem in which the patient ignores objects in the left half of his/her visual field visual imagery - sensory impression that occurs when a person sees in his or her mind something that isn't physically present Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) - task in which people are asked to rate the sharpness of mental images they create Conceptual peg hypothesis - A hypothesis, associated with Paivio's dual coding theory, that states that concrete nouns create images that other words can hang onto, which enhances memory for these words. Depictive representation - Corresponds to spatial representation. Representations that are like realistic pictures that resemble an object, as that part of the representation correspond to parts of the object. Epiphenomenon - A phenomenon that accompanies a mechanism but is not actually part of the mechanism. An example of an epiphenomenon is lights that flash on a mainframe computer as it operates.

Imageless thought debate - The debate about whether thought is possible in the absence of images. Imagery debate - The debate about whether imagery is based on spatial mechanisms, such as those involved in perception, or on propositional mechanisms that are related to language. Imagery neuron - A type of category-specific neuron that is activated by imagery. Mental imagery - Experiencing a sensory impression in the absence of sensory input. Mental scanning - A process of mental imagery in which a person scans a mental image in his or her mind. Mental simulation - Models that people create about what will happen following different decisions. Mental walk task - A task used in imagery experiments in which participants are asked to form a mental image of an object and to imagine that they are walking toward this mental image. Method of loci - A method for remembering things in which the things to be remembered are placed at different locations in a mental image of a spatial layout. See also Pegword technique. Paired-associate learning - A learning task in which participants are first presented with pairs of words, then one word of each pair is presented and the task is to recall the other word. Pegword technique - A method for remembering things in which the things to be remembered are associated with concrete words. See also Method of loci. Propositional representation - A representation in which relationships are represented by symbols, as when the words of language represent objects and the relationships between objects. Rule-based approach - (to mechanical reasoning) Applying a rule to solve a mechanical reasoning problem. Contrasts with approaches that involve mental imagery.

Spatial representation - A representation in which different parts of an image can be described as corresponding to specific locations in space. Tacit knowledge explanation - An explanation proposed to account for the results of some imagery experiments that states that participants unconsciously use knowledge about the world in making their judgments. This explanation has been used as one of the arguments against describing imagery as a depictive or spatial representation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) - A procedure in which magnetic pulses are applied to the skull in order to temporarily disrupt the functioning of part of the brain. Unilateral neglect - A problem caused by brain damage, usually to the right parietal lobes, in which the patient ignores objects in the left half of his or her visual field Visual imagery - A type of mental imagery involving vision, in which an image is experienced in the absence of a visual stimulus.

Chapter 11 Anaphoric inference - An inference that connects an object or person in one sentence to an object or person in another sentence. See also Causal inference; Instrument inference. Causal inference - An inference that results in the conclusion that the events described in one clause or sentence were caused by events that occurred in a previous clause or sentence. See also Anaphoric inference; Instrument inference. Coherence - The representation of a text or story in a reader's mind so that information in one part of the text or story is related to information in another part. Garden path sentence - A sentence in which the meaning that seems to be implied at the beginning of the sentence turns out to be incorrect, based on information that is presented later in the sentence. Given-new contract - In a conversation, a speaker should construct sentences so that they contain both given information (information that the listener already knows) and new information (information that the listener is hearing for the first time). Inference - The process by which readers create information that is not explicitly stated in the text. Instrument inference - An inference about tools or methods that occurs while reading text or listening to speech. See also Anaphoric inference; Causal inference. Interactionist approach to parsing - The approach to parsing that takes into account all information—both semantic and syntactic—to determine parsing as a person reads a sentence. This approach assigns more weight to semantics than does the syntax-first approach to parsing. Language - A system of communication through which we code and express our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Late closure - In parsing, when a person encounters a new word, the parser assumes that this word is part of the current phrase.

Lexical ambiguity - When a word can have more than one meaning. For example, bug can mean an insect, a listening device, or to annoy. Lexical decision task - A procedure in which a person is asked to decide as quickly as possible whether a particular stimulus is a word or a nonword. Lexical priming - Priming that involves the meaning of words. Typically occurs when a word is followed by another word with a similar meaning—for example, when presenting the word ant before the word bug causes a person to respond faster to the word bug than if ant had not preceded it. Lexicon - All of the words that a person understands—the person's vocabulary. Morpheme - The smallest unit of language that has a definable meaning or a grammatical function. For example, truck consists of a number of phonemes but only one morpheme, because none of the components that create the word truck means anything. Parsing - The mental grouping of words in a sentence into phrases. The way a sentence is parsed determines its meaning. Phoneme - The shortest segment of speech that, if changed, changes the meaning of a word. Phonemic restoration effect - When a phoneme in a word is heard even though it is obscured by a noise, such as a cough. This typically occurs when the word is part of a sentence. Psycholinguistics - The field concerned with the psychological study of language. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - The idea that the nature of language in a particular culture can affect the way people in that culture think. Semantics - The meanings of words and sentences. Distinguished from Syntax. Situation model - A mental representation of what a text is about.

Speech segmentation - The process of perceiving individual words within the continuous flow of the speech signal. Syntactic priming - Hearing a statement with a particular syntactic construction increases the chances that a statement that follows will be produced with the same construction. Syntax - The rules for combining words into sentences. Distinguished from Semantics. Syntax-first approach to parsing - The approach to parsing that emphasizes the role of syntax. See also Interactionist approach to parsing. Temporary ambiguity - A situation in which the meaning of a sentence, based on its initial words, is ambiguous because a number of meanings are possible, depending on how the sentence unfolds. "Cast iron sinks quickly rust" is an example of a sentence that creates temporary ambiguity. Word frequency - The relative usage of words in a particular language. For example, in English, home has higher word frequency than hike. Word frequency effect - The phenomenon of faster reading time for high-frequency words than for low-frequency words. Word superiority effect - The idea that letters are easier to identify when they are part of a word than when they are seen in isolation or in a string of letters that do not form a word.

Chapter 12 Acrobat problem - A problem involving acrobats that is similar to the Tower of Hanoi problem. Used to illustrate how the way a problem is stated can influence its difficulty. See also Reverse acrobat problem. Analogical encoding - A technique in which people compare two problems that illustrate a principle. This technique is designed to help people discover similar structural features of cases or problems. Analogical paradox - Participants in psychological experiments tend to focus on surface features in analogy problems, whereas people in the real world frequently use deeper, more structural features. Analogical problem solving - The use of analogies as an aid to solving problems. Typically, a solution to one problem, the source problem, is presented that is analogous to the solution to another problem, the target problem. Analogical transfer - The application of problem-solving strategies experienced in solving one problem to the solution of another, similar problem. Analogy - Making a comparison in order to show a similarity between two different things. Candle problem - A problem, first described by Duncker, in which a person is given a number of objects and is given the task of mounting a candle on a wall so it can burn without dripping wax on the floor. This problem was used to study functional fixedness. Convergent thinking - Thinking that works toward finding a solution to a specific problem that usually has a correct answer. Can be contrasted with Divergent thinking. Creative cognition - A technique developed by Finke to train people to think creatively. Design fixation - Presenting a sample design influences the creation of new designs. Divergent thinking - Thinking that is open-ended, involving a large number of potential solutions. Can be contrasted with Convergent thinking. Expert - Person who, by devoting a large amount of time to learning about a field and practicing and applying that learning, has become acknowledged as being extremely skilled or knowledgeable in that field.

Fixation - In problem solving, people's tendency to focus on a specific characteristic of the problem that keeps them from arriving at a solution. See also Design fixation; Functional fixedness. Functional fixedness - An effect that occurs when the ideas a person has about an object's function inhibit the person's ability to use the object for a different function. See also Fixation (in problem solving). Goal state - In problem solving, the condition at the end of a problem. Ill-defined problem - A problem in which it is difficult to specify a clear goal state or specific operators. Many real-life problems are ill-defined problems. In vivo problem-solving research - Observing people to determine how they solve problems in real-world situations. This technique has been used to study the use of analogy in a number of different settings, including laboratory meetings of a university research group and design brainstorming sessions in an industrial research and development department. Initial state - In problem solving, the conditions at the beginning of a problem. Insight - Sudden realization of a problem's solution. Intermediate states - In problem solving, the various conditions that exist along the pathways between the initial and goal states. Means-end analysis - A problem-solving strategy that seeks to reduce the difference between the initial and goal states. This is achieved by creating subgoals, intermediate states that are closer to the goal. Mental set - A preconceived notion about how to approach a problem, which is determined by a person's experience or what has worked in the past. Mental simulation - Models that people create about what will happen following different decisions. Mutilated checkerboard problem - A problem that has been used to study how the statement of a problem influences a person's ability to reach a solution.

Operators - In problem solving, permissible moves that can be made toward a problem's solution. Problem - A situation in which there is an obstacle between a present state and a goal state and it is not immediately obvious how to get around the obstacle. Problem space - The initial state, goal state, and all the possible intermediate states for a particular problem. Radiation problem - A problem posed by Duncker that involves finding a way to destroy a tumor by radiation without damaging other organs in the body. This problem has been widely used to study the role of analogy in problem solving. Restructuring - The process of changing a problem's representation. According to the Gestalt psychologists, restructuring is the key mechanism of problem solving. Reverse acrobat problem - A modification of the acrobat problem that is used to show how the way a problem is stated can influence its difficulty. Source problem (or story) - A problem or story that is analogous to the target problem and which therefore provides information that can lead to a solution to the target problem. See also Target problem. Structural features (problems) - The underlying principle of a problem. For example, in the radiation problem, needing high intensity to fix something surrounded by material that could be damaged by high intensity. Contrast with Surface features. Subgoals - In the means-end analysis approach to problem solving, intermediate states that move the process of solution closer to the goal. Surface features - Specific elements that make up a problem. For example, in the radiation problem, the rays and the tumor are surface features. Contrast with Structural features. Target problem - A problem to be solved. In analogical problem solving, solution of this problem can become easier when the problem-solver is exposed to an analogous source problem or story. See also Source problem.

Think-aloud protocol - A procedure in which participants are asked to say out loud what they are thinking while doing a problem. This procedure is used to help determine people's thought processes as they are solving a problem. Tower of Hanoi problem - A problem involving moving discs from one set of pegs to another. It has been used to illustrate the process involved in means-end analysis. Two-string problem - A problem first described by Maier in which a person is given the task of attaching two strings together that are too far apart to be reached at the same time. This task was devised to illustrate the operation of functional fixedness. Water-jug problem - A problem, first described by Luchins, that illustrates how mental set can influence the strategies that people use to solve a problem. Well-defined problem - A problem that has a correct answer. There are usually procedures that, when applied correctly, will lead to a solution. See also Ill-defined problem....