10-21 cognitive.doc

Psych 320: Motivation 21 Oct. Cognition Hunt & Ellis Ch. 1 By the end of this lecture, you should be able to address the following: Describe what is meant by the term ?representation?, and give two examples What is meant by ?images?, ?plans?, and ?schemas? ? in your descriptions, make it clear how each is distinct Describe the methods and results of the Shettleworth studies of black-capped chickadees on spatial maps. What is meant by ?conceptual behavior?? Define ?prototypes? and ?exemplars? ? give an example of each. Discuss what is meant by ?incentive motivation? ? describe the Crespi 1942 study that illustrated this view. Briefly discuss the classis Tinkelpaugh study from 1928 on the important of expectations in chimps. 1. Representation ?Descriptions? of internal or external events (visual or verbal) Maybe the central idea on which cognitive view is based a. Images Internal description of some state or event Ex. Spatial maps (cognitive map) Following a map when trying to get to somewhere- representation of a goal you are trying to achieve. Sara Shettleworth 1983,1987 studies Marsh tits (species of bird) will hide food and they have to have a good spatial map of where they?ve hidden food in their environment. To test this experimentally, she would let these animals hide food wherever they wanted to. She would then capture these animals and remove these animals from this room. She wanted to test whether they could remember where they hid the food after 1 hour, 24 hours, 2 weeks, etc. They often count up the number of errors, so the higher the score, the worse your retention. If they are motivated to eat, they go straight to where they hid the food items. If you randomly put food into the environment, then it does take awhile for them to find it. This proves that spatial maps are important. Ex. Images of places, people, objects Pause for a moment and draw up a visual image Ex. Linguistic references Language is inherently representational b. Plans ?plan of action? Series of goal-directed actions ?future thinking/ fall back plans? Not specific movements, but specification of goals for Motivated Behavioral Systems? (MBS?s) Ex. Point A to Point B to get to a class. How to get around construction? Plan is the general goal-orientated behavior. c. Schemas Abstraction about some class of events/ objects ?Structures of general knowledge? ? abstract structure of knowledge Largely culture-driven Ex. Very hierarchical in how things are organized Can break things down. Ways of organizing information. Plant Animal ? mammal/ reptile ? wolf/human ? child/ math teacher 2. Conceptual behavior Perceptions and action under control of generalized/abstract stimulus properties rather than the specific stimulus attributes. Recognizing whether new event is similar enough with a category to justify placing it in that category. (Infant learning about their world: what category does this new event belong with?) Eimas (1994) earliest concepts that form when we?re kids ? sophisticated concept learning later in life. The early concepts are absolutely fundamental for later development. ACTION OF CATEGORIZING Use of Protoypes How we classify something new ?Abstract member? of category that exhibits most of the typical attributes Ex. ?vehicle? ?dog? Use of Exemplars ?Concrete member? of category used to represent it = a real/specific individual Link new thing that you see to a real entity. Compare it directly to something you know (concrete). Ex. Black-backed Jackal New stimulus For both prototype and exemplar strategies, comparing new stimulus to representation= familiar model of the category Dog prototype ? mutt, average dog Dog exemplar ? Dalmatian, your own dog (specific individual) Why use these strategies at all? Quicker/ more efficient way to classify massive amount of information, which means that you are able to work with it in an efficient way. Cognitive economy (very economical in terms of processing and brain power). Humans use all the time, and studies have been finding that animals do also to a point Limitations? How to account for atypical members of the category? (where do they fit) Ex. Vehicle Definition of vehicle = transportation and someone drives it What about escalator/ elevator? Ex. Birds Visit family somewhere else. You see a bird you?ve never seen before. What is it? Exemplars? (?example?) See this and think how closely aligned is it to a northern mocking bird Prototypes? (?general ideas?) See this and try to link it to a typical sparrow, finch, etc. Kinda small, 2 legs, covered in feathers, has a beak, kinda brownish. What about?? (atypical members of the bird category) Kiwi bird (looks a lot like a rodent/mammal) Ostrich (doesn?t fly, tall, run fast) Penguins (doesn?t fly, a lot of time underwater) 3. Incentive Motivation Goal/object that motivates us to reach it or avoid it. Can differ in value depending on context Ex. Food value depending on how hungry you are. Value is learned Representation ? thoughts as motivators Example: Crespi 1942 study with rats How much behavior will you perform and how quickly to gain food reward 3 groups of rats, which varied based on amount of the food goal at the end. Importance of incentive, which can lead to expectations and how things should work in the future. Day 21, Crespi switched up the rules. Changed they amount of food. The animals change their actions based on the amount. When their expectations are not met, it has a huge impact on subsequent behavior. Before: Stimuli?Response in conditioning Here: Stimuli?Mediator?Response Mediator = Expectation 4. Expectations We?re not just affected by past reinforcement (conditioning history) We can imagine the future (we have expectations for things) Expectancy = a kind of image for the future Classic example = Tinkelpaugh 1928 study with chimps The basic experiment involved a chimp sitting on the other side of a table and on that table there were 2 boxes, distinct in color/texture/pattern. Underneath 1 box is an apple that is hidden. Then the researcher covers it back up and puts it back in the original position. The chimp quickly learns that if I quickly point or tap the box, the researcher will reveal the apple and let him eat the apple. The chimp would be distracted and the researcher removes the apple and puts lettuce in there. The animal picks the right box and the lettuce is then revealed. The chimp realizes this is not how the game is supposed to work. He had an expectation for the apple and now that?s not the case. The chimp shows negative surprise, frustration, disappointment, anger responses. *If expectations are not met, it can really shift the response.* Expectations/representations can influence our behavior.