Cognition Ines Ramadanovic Period 6 Cognition The four

Cognition Ines Ramadanovic Period 6

Cognition The four components of cognition are: n Memory n Language n Concepts and Thinking n Problem Solving and Creativity n

Memory Sensory Store- Gateway between perception and memory; its limited n The information in it is referred to as either Iconic-visual or Echoic-auditory n Items in it are being constantly replaced by new input. n

Short Term Memory It holds memory for a few seconds or up to one minute. n The information is primarily acoustically coded. n It can hold about 7 items of memory. n Items in Short term Memory are maintained there by rehearsal. n

Rehearsal Maintained rehearsal: simple repetition to keep an item in the short term memory until it can be used. n Elaborate rehearsal: Organizing and understanding the information that has been encoded so it can be transferred to Long term Memory. n

Short Term Continued n n n Items forgotten exit Short Term Memory by either Decay- passing of time or Interference- displaced by new information. The first and last items on a list are better memorized than the middle items because of the serial position effect. We remember the first items because there is no proactive interference acing on them and we remember the last items because there is no retroactive interference acting on them.

Long Term Memory It is the repository for all of our lasting memories and knowledge. n It is stored in different ways: n Episodic Memory- memory for events we ourselves have experienced. n Semantic Memory- compromises facts, figures and general world knowledge. n Procedural Memory- Consisting of skills and habits. n

Continued Recalling items in Long Term Memory is subject to encoding specificity principle- states the information is more likely to be recalled if the attempt to retrieve it occurs in a situation similar to the situation in which it was encoded. n Memory reconstruction- we attribute the event to a different source than it actually came from. n

Language n n n Has key points to it: It’s arbitrary- words rarely sound like the ideas they convey. It has a structure that’s additive in a certain sense. It has multiplicity of structure- analyzed in a number of ways. Its productive- it has endless meaningful combinations of words. Its dynamic- constantly changing.

Continued n n Language goes from Phonemes- speech sounds, to Morphemes- smallest meaningful parts of language, to Syntax- sentence structure, to Porsody- the tone and inflection added to language Infants first make noises or phonemes, at about 2 years they start combining words. After this vocabulary rapidly increases. At about 10 years old, a child's language is essentially the same as an adult’s.

Noam Chomsky Made a system for the organization of language based on the concept of: transformational grammar- differentiates between surface structure of language (superficial way in which words are arranged in a text/speech) and deep structure of language (underlying meaning of the words) n Language and thought are interactive process; language can influence thought and vise versa. n

Concepts n n n Concepts are a way of grouping or classifying the world around us. They can be small/large Superordinate Concept- Very broad and encompasses a large group of items. Example: food Basic Concept- Smaller and more specific. Example: bread Subordinate Concept- Even smaller and more specific. Example: Wheat bread

Thinking n n n Can be viewed in two different ways: Autistic: Daydreaming or fantasizing Directed: Reasoning, drawing, inferences and problem solving Reasoning is drawing of conclusions from evidence. Deductive Reasoning: Process of drawing logical conclusion from general statements. Inductive Reasoning: Process of drawing general inferences from specific observations.

Problem Solving and Creativity Problem Solving involves the removal of one or more impediments to the finding of a solution in a situation. n Can be solved either by being Well Structured: the paths to solution or they can be Ill Structured: there is no single, clear path to the solution. n

Continued There are two kinds of thinking used to solve problems: n Divergent Thinking: If many correct answers are possible. Example: Brainstorm n Convergent Thinking: If the problem can be solved by only one answer. n

Heuristics Problem Solving relies on Heuristics- intuitive rules of thumb that may or may not be useful in a given situation. n There are many heuristics and all may lead to incorrect conclusions. n Heuristics contrast with algorithmssystematic, mechanical approaches that guarantee an eventual answer to a problem. n

Creativity The process of producing something novel, yet worthwhile. n Creative people tend to be motivated to create, primarily for the joy of creation, rather than for financial or material gain. n Creative people seem to exhibit care and consideration when choosing a specific area of interest to pursue, and when they choose it, they immerse themselves into it. n