PSY 305 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Astrological Sign, Causal Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning
29 Jun 2018
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14 November Notes
Announcement: SGR #3 Due Nov 23rd Now, Go to office hours to review midterm
Notes:
Thinking
● Using representations
○ We rely on our REPRESENTATIONS to guide our responses
○ Reasoning or Making Judgments
○ Decision making
○ Problem Solving
● Using experiences with concepts and categories….
○ Distortions in representations can result in confusions and memory errors, as
also artifacts in reasoning and judgements
Representations
● We have knowledge in different forms
○ People describe their thoughts as being formulated in words, pictures, sounds, or
abstract
● A variety of day-to-day problems seem to require the use of visual imagery
● What is the nature of these mental images?
Visual imagery
● Image-scanning procedure
● The time it took to scan the image corresponded to the distance on the map
● Thus, mental images seem to preserve the spatial layout and geometry of the
represented scene
Visual Representations
● Long-term visual memory may be propositional
● Interpretation changes the reconstruction of the image
● Other evidence comes from studies showing that verbal labels influence later
re-creations of a studied figure
Visual Imagery
● Kosslyn asked participants to answer yes/no questions about their mental images
○ Imagined cat: people can confirm that cats have heads faster than confirming
that cats have claws
○ The reverse was true if the participants were asked to think about cats rather
than imagine them
● This suggests that as the mode of representation changes, so does the pattern of
information availability
Neural correlates or imagery
● Binocular rivalry occurs when two visual stimuli are presented - one to each eye
○ The visual system cannot combine inputs
○ People are aware of one image at a time
■ Visualization shapes this sequence so that one dominates: binocular
rivalry. FFA and PHA active when aware of faces or houses, respectively
● Occipital areas used for early visual processing are active during imagery
14 November Notes
○ More brain tissue is active when participants imagine larger objects
○ Face and motion regions are active while people images faces and motion
● Visualized images can be decoded based on brain activity from seeing objects
Long-term visual representations
● Visual long-term memory is based on propositional knowledge and shares many
representational principles with other forms of LTM
○ Primacy and regency
○ Encoding specificity
○ Schematic or generic knowledge (Boundary extension!)
■ Friedman (1976) found that participants failed to notice differences
between previously seen and new pics if both were consistent with a
schema (e.g. a kitchen or a barnyard)
■ Pictures that contained violations of a schema were readily notices (e.g.
kitchen with a fire place)
○ Spreading activation and priming
○ Familiarity and source memory
Thinking
● Using representations
○ We rely on our REPRESENTATIONS to guide our responses
○ Reasoning or making judgements
○ Decision making
○ Problem solving
Reasoning
● We will often be comparing rules people use to choose among alternatives
○ Normative models tell us how we “ought to” reason
■ Expected utility theory view humans as optimal decision makers
● Always selecting the outcome that yields the greatest reward
○ Descriptive models tell us how reasoning ordinarily proceeds (including the
errors) and highlight reasoning shortcomings
■ Mental shortcuts (i.e. heuristics) that sometimes lead to faulty decisions
● Algorithm vs. heuristic
Approaches in Cognition: Algorithms vs. Heuristics
● Algorithms: methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular
problem
● Contrasts with the usually speedier - but also more error-prone — use of heuristics
● Heuristics: simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgements and solve
problems efficiently
● Usually speedier than algorithms
● More error-prone than algorithms
● The speed-accuracy tradeoff
○ Accuracy is more important: planning budget, surgery
○ Speed is more important: typing term paper, buying lunch
Judgement Heuristics
Document Summary
Announcement: sgr #3 due nov 23rd now, go to office hours to review midterm. Distortions in representations can result in confusions and memory errors, as also artifacts in reasoning and judgements. People describe their thoughts as being formulated in words, pictures, sounds, or abstract. A variety of day-to-day problems seem to require the use of visual imagery. The time it took to scan the image corresponded to the distance on the map. Thus, mental images seem to preserve the spatial layout and geometry of the represented scene. Interpretation changes the reconstruction of the image. Other evidence comes from studies showing that verbal labels influence later re-creations of a studied figure. Kosslyn asked participants to answer yes/no questions about their mental images. Imagined cat: people can confirm that cats have heads faster than confirming that cats have claws. The reverse was true if the participants were asked to think about cats rather than imagine them.
