Psychology 318 > Marshall > Flashcards > Final Exam - Ch. 9 & 10

Verbal Protocal

The main dependent variable in problem solving research

Functional Fixedness

The tendency to use objects and concepts in the problem environment in only their customary and usual way

Negative Set

Refers to a bias to solve problems in a particular way, using a single specific approach, even when a different approach might be more productive

Insight

A deep understanding of a situation or problem often occuring suddenly and w/o warning

Multiconstraint Theory

attempts to explain how we solve problems using analogy

There are 3 important factors

1. Similarity - the two problems must be somewhat alike for us to see/use the analogy

2. Structure - we must establish a parallel structure btwn the two problems so that we can map elements of one onto the other we are trying to solve

3. Purpose/goal - the goal described in the problem determines the likelihood we will use the analogy and how we develop it to solve the problem.

Characteristics of Problem Solving

Goal directednesss - solving a problem is working toward some end outcome

Sequence of operations - problem solving involves a series of steps that are separate.

T/F: Neuroimaging research suggests that the L hemisphere is involved with solving probs by analogy and R hem. is associated with solving probs by insight.

TRUE

Means-end analysis

Problem solving heuristic that uses repeated determination of the difference btwn the current state and the goal or subgoal state and then applies an operator that reduces that difference

T/F: Automating component of problem-solving solution cam improve problem solving by freeing up some WM capacity

TRUE

T/F: Problem solving is not something can be improved by practice

FALSE

Arbitrariness

The linguistic principle that there is no inherent connection btwn a symbol and the concept or object to which it refers

What linguistic feature do we share with animals?

Semanticity

Chomsky identified an important distinction btwn what?

Competence and performance

Syntax

The level of language structure that deals with the analysis of word order and grammaticality

Coarticulation

More than one sound produced at the same time

T/F: In Chomsky's theory of language the deep structure represents the words that make up the sentence and the surface structure represents the underlying meaning of the sentence

FALSE

Linguistic Flexibility

the connection btwn symbol and meaning is arbitrary, we can change those connections and invent new ones.

Naming

we assign names to all the objects in our environment, to all the feelings and emotions we experience, to all the ideas and concepts we conceive of.

Displacement

the ability to talk about something other than the present moment

Productivity

language is a productive and inherently novel activity, that we generate utterances rather than repeat them.

We create sentences we do not repeat them.

Semanticity

language conveys meaning

EX: the sounds of human language carry meaning, whereas other sounds that we make, say coughing or clearing our throats, are not part of our language b/c they do not usually convey meaning in the normal sense of the word

grammar

the complete set of rules that will generate all acceptable utterances and will not generate an y unacceptable, ill-formed ones.

Grammar: Syntax

A "theory" of language that specifies the structure and organization, allows us to deduce the sentences we use. ie: language has infinite set of sentences, grammar is a finite set of rules that generate those sentences.

S: Sentence

NP: Noun phrase

VP: Verb phrase

N: Noun (boy, girl, dog)

D: Determiner (an article such as the or a)

V: verb (chassed, kissed, bit)

The boy chased a girl - sentence.

Det: The

N: Boy

V: Chased

2nd NP: a girl where D: a and N; girl

Another way to do the tree

Problems with P-S rules alone

Difficulty with some kinds of ambiguity

Lanaguage

a shared, structured, symbolic system of communication. Rule-governed, rules are implicit, and has infinite ends from finite means.

Characteristics of Language

Semanticity- has meaning, Abritrariness - Symbol/sound but NO concept, Flexibility: Symbol/sound can be changed, Naming: We assign names to everything, Displacement: Out of sight, (not) out of mind, PRoductivity: Infinite output from finite means

Similarities and Differences: Animal Communication

Similarities: Semanticity, Arbitrariness

Differences: Flexibility & Naming, Productivity, Displacement

Cognitive Psychology

academic discipline that is interested in human cognition (memory, attention, etc. )

Psycholinguistics

the study of language as it is learned and used by ppl

ex: language as a means of communication

Phonolgy

sound structure of language

IE: units of speech sound

Morphology

word formation

ie: units of meaningful speech

Free Morphemes: can stand on their own and serves as words ie: Book, tie

Bound morphemes: morphemes that need to belinked to another morpheme ie: -s(books), un-(untie)

Implicit Knowledge

The rules for combining phonemes into permissible morphemes/words. We know it from experience, our parents teach it to us and we just "know" it.

ie: /b/ + /a

syntax define

sentence structure/grammar, or the arrangements of words in a sentence to show their relationship to one another.

Word order (S_V_O in English) The boy chased a girl

Sub = performing the action

verb=the action

object= receiving the action

Syntax: Word order

Word order (S_V_O in English) The boy chased a girl

Sub = performing the action

verb=the action

object= receiving the action

Syntax: phase order

also used to convey meaning

Bill told the men to deliver the piano on

Syntax: Number Agreement

match subject and verb, also a clue to meaning

The mother of the girls who were...

The mother of the girls who was... gramma

semantics

word and sentence meaning

Phones (phonology)

The smallest unit of speech

Allophones

two sounds that are physically disctinct, but not distinguished by the language (eg: the [p] in "spin" vs. the [p] in "pin"

Phonemes

The smallest unit of speech sound that makes a difference to meaning

eeg: /p/ in "pin" vs. /b/ in "bin"

English has approximately 40 phonemes- Consonants differ on 3 dimensions: place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing

Vowels differ on 2 dimensions: placement in the mouth and tongue position in the mouth

Spectrogram

Categorical Perception

all the sounds falling within a set of boundaries are perceived as the same, despite phyiscal differences among them.

ie: In English speakers discern no real difference btwn the hard /k/ sounds in cool and keep the are perceived categorically, that is, perceived as belonging to the same category, the /k/ phoneme.

Speech Perception

Context (top-down processing) is very important for speech perception. Words outside of a context are hard to identify when bottom-up processing is difficult (background noise during shadowing task)

Examples of Speech perception

Ungrammaticial: Around accidents country honey the shoot. (NO CONTEXT)

Grammatical but meaningless: Accidents carry honey btwn the house (SOME CONTEXT)

Grammatical and meaningful: Accidents kill motorists on the highways. (Good context)

Phonemic Restoration

perceiving phonemes that are consistent with the context

ie: It was found that the *eel was on the axle

It was found that the *eel was on the shoe.

It was found that the *eel was on the orange.

It was found that the *eel was on the table.

Speech perception: Context

both visual and auditory contexts can contribute to perception

McGurk Effect

a perceptual phenomenon which demonstrates an interaction btwn hearing and vision in speech perception. It suggests that speech perception is multimodal, that is that is involves info from more than one sensory modality.

example of McGurk effect

experienced when a video of one phoneme's production is dubbed with a sound recording of a different phoneme being spoken. Oft. the perceived phoneme is a 3rd intermed. phoneme.

EX: a visual /ga/ combined with a audio /ba/ is often heard as /da/.

Transformational Grammar (Chomsky)

Transformational rule: Operating btwn deep and surface structures

Deep structure:underlying "meaning":underlying syntactic rep. of a sentence with bare-bones lexical entries (words)

Surface structure:words you hear or read:syntactic relations of sentence elements as expressed in the sentence

Problems with the Transformational Grammar approach

Did not put much emphasis on meaning

Major comp. were viewed to be the syntactic rules, as if we: 1st decide what phrase constituents to use, then decide what we want to talk about

Psych's became dissat. with Chomsky's approach and lack of emphasis on language use.

Cognition and Syntax: Automatic Processing

Children use reg word order: By relying repeatedly on the same syntax, they can reduce processing load which makes language production easier for them as they are learning.

Adults tend to use the same synactic structures with reg as well: The same syntax can be called into service easily and automatically, reducing WM load. Also evid. of 1 syntx priming another.

Cognition and Syntax: Linguistic Planning

We tailor the syntax of our sentences to the aviliabilty of info as we are planning what to say.

More accesible info tends to occur earlier

info that is wellknown/recent discussed is easier to find and integreate into our utterances

less accessible info occurs later, to give us time to retrieve it from the lexicon

C&S: Linguistic Planning cont

We begin speaking when the first part of our utterance is planned out

the end has yet to be planned and we do it on-line as we are speaking. This can lead to false starts, hesitations, and re-starts. Can also result in a burden on WM

Mental Lexicon

our mental dicitionary of words and their meanings

After rapidly pattern rec/identifying a word, we automatically access it meaning (ie: stroop effect, Lexical decision task, and priming)

Also more than meaning:

part(s) of speech

how a word can be used in a sent

other words that can be used w/it and in what way, in what sorts of relationships

Lexical Ambiguity

some words have more than one meaning

Neutral: We had trouble keeping track of the count.

Dominant meaning: My dog wasn't included in the final count.

subordinate meaning: The vampire was disguised as a handsome count.

context helps us determine which meaning is intended.

Lexical Ambiguity resolution

Context helps us resolve ambi. (neut. dom, and sub contexts) Which meanings are activated/suppressed?)

Some ppl are better at suppressing inappr. meanings than others

good readers suppress inapp. meanings faster than poor readers

poor readers may have comp prob's b/c mult. meanins stay activated longer.

Garden Path sentences

the early part of the sentence sets you up so that the later phrases in the sentence don't make sense given the way you assigned case roles in the first part. As we comprehend language, we assign words to syntactic categories (or case roles) based on their meaning.

EX: Garden Path sentences

After the musician has bowed the piano was quickly taken off the stage. (No GP)

After the musician has played the piano was quickly taken off the stage.

The (V) played suggests that the piano is the semantic recipient of play. When you read played, your semantic role assign. for piano was recipient. But then you read was quickly and realized you had made a mistake in interp.

GP sentences cont

Eye fixation can be used to determine how ppl are parsing and processing words in GP sentences

Language in Normal Brains - Syntax

ERP patterns show differing activation patterns for words that are semantically anomalous (John buttered his bread with socks) vs. ones that are syntacally anomalous (John hoped the man to leave).

Syntax is process sepearately during lang. comp.

Lang. in Norm Brains - Acquisition

Ss were taught a new, artificial lang

Early in training, ERP patterns to the new words were sim to what is observed with nonsense material

after 5 wks of training, ERPs looked like those obtained with Eng. words

Lang in Norm. Brain - Individual Differences

Ss were asked to verify sentence-picture stimuli using either verbal or visual strategies (the star is above the plus).

Verbal strategies activated lang areas.

visual strategies activated parietal areas

Activation was reduced when Ss were high in either verbal or visual ability

Indv. diffs/strengths resulted in reduced work for the brain

Broca's Aphasia

Speech production difficulties AKA: expressive or productive aphasia

less impairment for lang. comprehension

brain area affected is toward the rear of the left frontal lobe (Broc's area) adjacent to the motor cortex.

Wernicke's Aphasia

Speech commp difficulties, including reptition, naming, reading, and writing

AKA: receptive or comprehension aphasia

speech is fluent and syntactically correct with intact inflection and pauses

content words are unintelligible, incorrect subs, or invented nonsense words

brain area affected is toward the rear of the left temporal lobe (wernicke's area)

Conduction Aphasia

unable to repeat what is heard

Can understand and produce speech (Broca and Wern are intact)

Brain area affected seems to be the main connection btwn BRoca and Wern. areas - the arcuate fasciculus

the connection btwn comp and prodcution is disrupted

Circle: Broca's Aphasiah

Oval: Wernicke's Aphasia

Bridge: Conduction Aphasia; arcuate fasciculu

Labor-in-vain effect

When ppl spend large amts of time trying to learn info that is too far beyond their current level of knowledge, but end up with little to no new learning

Mental Structure-building framework

Comprehension is the process of building mental structures

1. Laying a foundation

Dave was stuying hard for his stat's midterm (about: Dave, studying)

2. mapping info - additional word and concept meanings ar eadded as they are encountered (spec: he's studying for stat test, inferences added eg: enrolled in a clas)

3. Shifting to a new structure - when a different idea is encountered, we shift to a new structure

Mental Structure Building - enhancement/suppression - like spreading activation

Dave was studying hard for his statistics midterm. Because the professor had a reputation for giving difficult exams, the students knew they’d have to be well prepared. Dave wanted an A on that test.

Concepts that are encountered again are enhanced

Concepts that are not encountered are suppressed

Comprehension - Overview

Comprehension is a very vague term for our ability to make sense of written and spoken language

Compreension - Tasks

Recall/accruacy vs/ online tasks

early studies focused on reading a passage and then measuring what is remembered (eg: sach, 1967 - verbatim vs. gist info)

Online tasks attempt to measure an underlying cognitive process as it occurs

see how performance changes depending on the conditions under whic hSs are req. to perform

draw conclusions abt the underlying process in the various conditions

Comprehension - taks - Reading times

eye tracking/ gaze duration, moving window

Assumptions: Reading times reflect an underlying process, aspects of comp thatS is prepared for take less time (and read more quickly), If an aspect of comp requires a lg involvement of mental resources reading times are longer

Comp. - tasks- Probe tasks-RT

Ss read some text and are asked to make a decision about a word presented later (Y/N recog., LDT or Naming)

Assumptions:

RT is assumed to measure some aspect of the underlying cog process

inferences are drawn abt what aspects of the task affect cog

Comp. Tasks - Think alound proceedure

Ss verbalize their thoughts as they read a passage of text

Ss tell what is "going through their minds"

this info can be used to find interesting passages or parts of the text

Can indicate what might be useful to investigate further using other tasks

Comp. Tasks - Neural Imaging

Techniques that have good temporal resolution are usefule (fMRI & ERP)

Can determine what parts of the brain are active during certain types of processing

Meta- Comprehension

monitoring how well we are understanding something and wherhter we will remember it later

Usefule for increasing accuracy of meta-comp judgment:

JOLs - wait b/4 making the judmnt

Re-read info for mult. exposures (or read b/4 attending lecture)

Generate a summary to reveal what you know or don't know

Reading

Online measures of comprehension have become increasingly common in the study of reading processes

Memory tests after reading a passage arent sensitive enough

Eye trackinb Methodology

1. Recovrd eye movenments and durations as ppl read a passage on the screen

2. Moving window shows one word at a time as eyes move across the screen.

Gaze Duration

how long eye fixate on a word

Typically the dependent variable in reading tests

Measure: Fixations and saccades

Assumptions of eye-tracking

Immediacy assumption - we interpret each content word of a text as its encountered

Eye-mind assumption - pattern of eye movements and gaze durations reflects the complexity of underlying cognitive processes

Basic effects from eye tracking research on reading- 1

people use regressive eye movements to find referents and determine case roles

Ex: The tenant complained to his landlord about the leaky roof. The next day, he went to the attic to get his luggage.

Ex: The tenant complained to his landlord about the leaky roof. The next day, he went to the attic to repair the damage.

Basic effects from eye tracking research on reading- 2

People do not fixate on every content word

Only about 85% of content words are fixated

Basic effects from eye tracking research on reading- 3

Function words (of, the) not usually fixated

Function words fixated about 35% of the time

Readers will often skip content words when

1. The text is simple for them to read

2. Skimming or speed reading

3. If the word is very predictable based on the context

Saccades and gaze durations facts

Saccades take about 30ms

Gaze durations can vary greatly depending on the reader and the complexity of the text

A word fixation may be breif but ppl often fixate repeatedly on the same word

mental processing prbly cont during saccades as well

Important variables in reading

1. Word frequency, syntactic structure, context

2. Topic, plausibility, theme

Relatedness of par. and infomative intro par.

3. Discourse Structure

understanding of reference and the resolution of ambiguity

4. Phonology (especially in lower-skill readers)

Reference

finding connections btwn elements in a passage & finding the words that refer to other concepts in a sentence

Anaphoric Referencee

relating a current word or expression to something earlier

Antecedent

what comes first

Anaphor

referring item

Dave was studying hard for his midterm

Dave = antecedent

His = anaphor

Does reference help reduce redundancy

Yes

3 Types of direct reference

Identity- using the same word

I saw a dog outside. The dog was digging in my yard.

Synonymy-using a synonym

i saw a dog outside. The mutt was digging in my yard.

Pronoun-using a pronoun

I was a dog outside. It was digging in my yard.

2 more types of direct reference

Advantage of 1st mention-characters/ideas mentioned 1st retain a special sig.

more pronounced when character is mentioned by proper name (e.g.; Jim) that when unnamed (e.g.; The janitor cleaned Beth's office.)

Advantage of clause recency-later mentioned items also show an advantage briefly, but it fades quickly

1 typs of direct reference

Definite (the) vs. Indefeinte (a, some) articles

Definite articles convey given info (something we already know or has already been mentioned)
Definite articles make sentences more coherent and sensible
We can more easily map later info onto what was mentioned previously

Situation Models

When ppl combine info from the text with their prior semantic and episodic knowledge, they create a mental simulation of what is being described

comp is a search for meaning
we do activate semantic/episodic memories
but we also actively build a mental model in order to understand the causal nature of what is being described in a text

Situation Models have 2 processes:

1. We draw inferences to elaborate on the info presented in the text

2. we update our situation model as the events/circumstances change

Implications vs. Inferences in Situation Models

Implication-something a speaker/writer doese that is an intended conclusion or connection (but is not mentioned explicitly)

Inference -something a listener/reader does to draw a conclusion or make a connection

EX: a professor says "the next exam is on Wed. and it covers a lot of material

Bridging inference

constructing a connection btwn concepts in order to achieve coherence in text (to make sense of it)

Binds two units of language together

EX: I dropped an egg on the floor. It was my last one so I had to go to the store.

Inference: the egg broke

In constructing a situation mode we include:

Events/descriptions/etc/ as described by the text

Also infrences we draw

Proved by experiment by Zwaan, Stanfield, Yawley (2002)

Zwaan, Stanfield and Yawley 2002 experiment

Ppl read short descriptions of situations, and then were presented pics of objects.

Their task was to indicate whether pictured objt had been in the description they read.

The critical manipulation was whether the pic either matched or mismatched the perceptual characteristics of the objt in the description

Zwaan, Stanfield and Yawley 2002 experiment example

The critical sentence could be either the ranger saw the eagle in the sky or The ranger saw the eagle in its nest followed by a picture of either an eagle with its wings outstretched or perched.

Results of Zwaan, Stanfield, and Yawley 2002 exp. results

Found that ppl responded faster when the pic matched the description.

That is, even though they saw an eagle in both pics the eagle with its wings out stretched "match the "eagle in the sky" description better so ppl responded faster in that condition.

Thus, ppl seemed to be activating perceptual qualities of objts during the comp process itself

Updating our situation Model

As we comprehend something we must constantly update our model to reflect our current understanding of the situation

5 deminsion to our models

space
time
entity
intentionality (goals)
Causality

When disruption occurs along one of the 5 deminsios we must update what?

Our situation model

This updating process takes time

we can manipulate dimensions of a sit and measure the time it takes ppl to respond to something in memory that relates to the model

Do we take into account what is plausible when constructing and updating our model?

Yes

EX: While chopping wood with his lg axe, he painted the fence white

While whistling a lively folk meoldy, he painted the fence white.

Slower reading times for the first sentence

Conversations are Joint Actions

They are carried out by two or more ppl

The results is more than the sum of the individual contributions

EX: Imagine 2 ppl paddling a boat or dancing together

what they do together is diff than if they were each doing their part alone

Joint actions have Adjaceny Pairs

Conversations typically occur as a pair of turns taken by each participant

Speaker Listener

Complains Apologizes

greets Greets

questions answer

invites Accepts/declines

Rules for turn-taking

1. The speaker picks the next speaker

2. if the speaker doesn't pick, someone else may speak

3. the speaker may continue but doesn't have to

Turn-yeilding signals:

1. Long pause at the end of a sentence

2. Comment directed to another person

3. Drop in pitch or loudness of utterance

4. Establishing direct eye contact with another person

A way of selecting the next speaker

Ateempt-suppressing signals

1. looking away, no direct eye contact during a pause

2. trailing off mid-sentence without completing thought

3. Withholding endings such as "you know'

Grice's Maxims - Conversational Rules 1-4

Relevance: make contribution relevant/related to topic
quantity: be as informative as required, but no more so
Quality: Be truthful/accurate (do not mislead, exaggerate)
Manner and Tone: Be clear; avoid obscurity, ambigutiy, =vagueness; be breif; be polit; don't interrupt

2 additional Grice's maxins - conversational rules 5&6

5. Relations with partner: Infer and rspond to partner's knowledge and beliefs (tailor contribution to their level)

6. Rule violations: Signal or mark intentional violations of rules (signal the reason for the violation)

Audience design

we tailor our speech to the charactieristics of our audience; constuct a mental model of what they know and what they are interested in

talking to a young child vs. adult

telling a story to a friend vs. acquaintance

Gesture

used to faciltate communication to listeners

Augments the words we are using

Can refer to an utterance

help to clarify ambiguity

Facilitates language production

important social component

aid to cognition

What is the DV in eye-tacking research

gaze duration

What is likely to decrease reaction time in a reading study?

high frequency word

T/F: When you repeate a direct reference instead of using a pronoun, reading time increases

TRUE

What is a mental representation that serves as a simulation of a real or possible word as described by a text?

Situation Model

If I ask my friend "Do you have the time?" my friend dsnt reply with a "y/n" but inst tells me what time it is. My friend's response is:

A speech act - the intended consequences of an utterance

Do ppl still use gestures to facilitate communication even when the person can't see them? (talking on the phone?)

Yes

Final Exam - Ch. 9 & 10

Psychology 318 with Marshall at University of Kansas

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