Cognition

1. Cognition Unit 7B

2. Cognition • All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating • Cognitive Psychologists study these activities

3. Concepts • Mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, people • Without concepts, we would need different words for everything

4. Concepts formed by • Hierarchies • Maps • Nation • State • County • City • Neighborhood • Street • Definition – • Shapes • Prototypes • Mental images

5. Mental Concept Challenge • Can you draw what is seen forming a mental prototype while it described?

6. Problem solving • Strategies • Algorithms • Step by step procedures that guarantee a solution • Heuristics • Making judgments • Faster, but error prone • Insight • Sudden realization of a solution • Eureka Moment

7. Creativity • The ability to produce ideas that are both novel and valuable • Cannot be measured on an intelligence test • Convergent thinking – one correct answer • Divergent thinking

8. 5 Components to Creativity • 1. Expertise • A well developed base of knowledge • Ideas • Phrases • Images • All serve as the building blocks to creativity

9. 5 Components to Creativity • 2. Imaginative thinking skills • Provides the ability to see things in novel ways • Recognize patterns • Make connections

10. 5 Components to Creativity • 3. A venturesome personality • Seeks new experiences • Tolerates risk • Exploring new cultures

11. 5 Components to Creativity • 4. Intrinsic motivation • Driven more by interest, satisfaction and challenge than by external pressures • Less deadlines for work and more pleasure from work

12. 5 Components to Creativity • 5. A creative environment • Sparks, supports and refines creative ideas • Support contemplation

13. Obstacles to problem solving • Confirmation Bias • We look for information that backs up our ideas more than info that goes against it • Watson • “People defend themselves against the threat of new information relevant to the issue” • WMD’s in Iraq

14. Obstacles to problem solving • Fixation • The inability to see a problem in a fresh perspective • MENTAL SET – • Approaching a problem in a way that has worked before • What comes next? • T-E-T-T-F-?-?-? • J-F-M-A-?-?-?

15. Fixation • Functional Fixedness • Thinking only in terms of objects usual functions • Inability to think outside the box to use tools available in a different way to solve a problem

16. Making Decisions and Forming Judgments • Using Heuristics • Making quick decisions – mental shortcuts • Instantaneous decisions • Sometimes bad judgments • Representative heuristics • Judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they fit in particular prototypes

17. Heuristics • Availability Heuristics • Judgments based on how much information is available • If it can be thought of quickly, vividly memorable • Casinos – attract gamblers with bright flashing lights • Easy to forget that there is a ton of $ being lost • Stereotypes – terrorists • Jaws

18. We often overfeel and underthink • Mother Theresa • “If I look at the masses, I will not act. If I look at one, I will” • Feed the Children • “This is________. For only a dollar a day, you can help”

19. Overconfidence • The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments • People who are 100% confident are often wrong about 15% of the time • How quickly can you turn out a quality paper/project • Procrastination • Valuable? • People who are more overconfident live happier lives • Easier time making tough decisions

20. Belief Perseverance • Clinging to initial beliefs, even after they have been proven wrong • The more we hold our beliefs to be true, the tighter we hold onto them • Learning disabilities • “consider the opposite” • A way to reduce the bias of groups

21. Intuition • Effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought • Stranger looks dangerous, we react to them • Which is larger – Frankfurt or Bremen • San Diego or San Antonio

22. Intuition • Thinking is always taking place • Intuition is adaptive • Being able to size up a situation in an instant • Nurses, firefighters, art critics, mechanics, athletes • All can make decisions in split seconds that can have immediate impacts

23. Framing • The way an issue is posed will have an impact on decisions and judgments • 10% of operations result in death • 90% of operations survive • 1 in 20 more surprising than 10 in 200 • Exposure to a virus will kill 10 out of 10 Million • Exposure to a virus will kill .000001%

24. Framing in Politics • Aiding the needy vs Welfare • SALE!!! • Mark up regular price, looks like a better deal • Cash price vs Credit at the gas pump

25. Framing with options • Used to push people in a certain direction when giving them options • Portion sizes at restaurants • Regular vs “small size” • Small size vs “Supersized” • Organ donations • If default is yes, nearly all will do it • If you have to opt out, less likely to say no

26. Language • Spoken, written, or signed ways of communicating • Phonemes • The smallest part of spoken language • In about 500 languages, there are 869 different phonemes • English uses about 40

27. Phonemes • Varying the vowel sounds between b and t • How many different words can you come up with? • Bait, bat, beat/beet, bet, bit, bite, boat, boot, bought, bout, but

28. Phonemes • Consonants carry more meaning when we speak • “The trerth ef thes stetement shed be evedent frem thes bref demenstretien”

29. I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.

30. Phonemes • Works in sign language too? • You can tell where a person is from by the different types of signing they do • More than 200 types of sign language

31. Morphemes • Smallest part of language that carries meaning • I • S, to understand a plural • Include prefixes (pre), suffixes (ed)

32. Grammar • System of rules that enables us to communicate with each other • Semantics – rules that allow us to derive meaning from morphemes, words and sentences • ed means it happened in the past

33. Grammar • Syntax • Rules we use to put words in order in a sentence • The English language has 616,500 words (in the dictionary) • How we put these words together, allows us to create an infinite number of sentences

34. Language Development • After 1 year old, you learn about 3500 words a year • Rarely do we form sentences in our minds before we speak them • They are put together as we are speaking

35. When do we start learning language? • Infants – In fantis “without language” • Babies can recognize speech • They look for the one speaking • Recognize ‘ah’ and ‘ee’ sounds and mouth position

36. Productive Language • Ability to produce words • Babbling stage – spontaneously start uttering sounds • Not imitating adult speech – • Nature allows speech, nurture cultures it • Receptive language • They can take words and start to break them into segments of each sound • 7 months

37. Language • By 10 mos, a trained ear may be able to pick up what a baby is saying • 1st Bday – one word stage • Using one word to convey meaning • 2 yrs. – telegraphic speech • 2 word phases

38. Skinner and Language • Operant Conditioning – • Learning principles can explain language acquisition • Association – seeing things and hearing words • Imitation – words and syntax used by others • Reinforcement – rewards for correct use

39. Chomsky • Kids learn way to fast to be explained by just Skinner’s rules • Language acquisition device • Language happens to a child • Universal grammar • Nouns, verbs, adjectives are similar in any language • Arrangement may be different • Start speaking in nouns in most languages

40. Statistical learning and critical periods • At 7 mos, babies can recognize syllable patterns through exposure and repetition • They come with built in programming? • Childhood seems to be the only time we can do this • Critical period for language development • The older you get, the harder it becomes to learn languages • Deaf children – born deaf vs becoming deaf

41. Linguistic determinism • Language determines the way we think – B. L. Whorf • “language itself shapes basic ideas” • The Hopi and the past • Bilingual people will respond to questions differently when taking a test in different languages • Influences how we think more than it determines our personality

42. Increased word power • Bilingual advantage • More aptly find the important information when communicating than those who speak one language • Students immersed in elementary school, were more creative, had higher aptitude scores, better English and more appreciation for other culture

43. Thinking in images • Implicit memory • Thinking with images, not words • Mental picture of how you do something • Chi Kung • Watching videos can activate the brain’s ability to simulate it • Sports, Music, Pain

44. Thinking in images • Outcome simulation vs process simulation • Which is better to imagine for 5 minutes a day? • Celebrating a good grade on a test • Visualizing good study habits • Language does affect our thinking, but thinking also affects language – that’s how we come up with new words