Cognitive Processes PSY 334 Chapter 5 MeaningBased Knowledge

Cognitive Processes PSY 334 Chapter 5 – Meaning-Based Knowledge Representation

Contribution of Behaviorism o “Behaviorism helped by setting up a preliminary model of what happens in the procedure of information processing and emphasized the importance of behavior as a clue to how the mind works. ” o “Preliminary model: n Input (stimulus) MIND (black box) output (behavior)”

Contribution of Behaviorism o “Behaviorists looked at stimuli coming from the world. They believed that the mind was a black box and so there was no way to know what was going on but to look at the external behavior or action of what a person would do in response to some external stimuli. Behaviorism helped to account for the idea that cognition can be studied by looking at one’s external behavior for cues. ”

Propositional Representations o Notation – a method for describing the meaning that remains once details have been abstracted away. o Propositional representation – uses concepts from logic and linguistics to describe meaning. o Proposition – the smallest unit of knowledge that can be judged as true or false.

Propositional Analysis o A complex sentence consists of smaller units of meaning (propositions). o If any of the propositions are untrue, the entire sentence cannot be true. o The meaning of primitive assertions is preserved, but not the exact wording.

Kintsch’s Notation Each proposition is a list containing a relation plus arguments: (relation, arguments) o Relation – organizes the arguments. n Verbs, adjectives, other relational terms. o Arguments – particular times, places, people, objects. n Nouns o Relations connect arguments.

Psychological Reality o Psychological reality -- do propositions really exist mentally? o Bransford & Franks: n n Presented 12 sentences with the same 2 sets of 4 propositions. Tested on 3 kinds of sentences. Old (previously viewed), new (containing same propositions), noncase (new and containing different propositions). o Able to identify noncase, but not old/new

Propositional Networks o Propositional network – another way of representing propositions (the structure of meaning). o Nodes – the propositions, including relations and arguments. o Links – labeled arrows connecting the nodes. o Spatial location of nodes is arbitrary. o Can show hierarchies of meaning.

Associations Between Ideas o Weisberg – demonstrated that ideas are associated in the ways shown in a propositional network. n n n Subjects memorized sentences. Given a word from the sentence, subjects were asked to say the first word that came to mind. Subjects cued with “slow” said “children” and almost never “bread”.