Cognitive Psychology

1
Cognitive Psychology Chapter 7 Knowledge
2
11/15/2009

• Knowing
• Semantic Memory
• TLC
• Feature Comparison
• Spreading Activation
• Neurophysiology I
• ERP

Study Questions. Describe four well
established findings from the sentence
verification task. Which of these findings are
predicted by TLC and which findings are not
handled well by TLC? Which findings can Feature
Comparison and Spreading Activation handle?
What is the N400 and why is it important?
3
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• The sentence verification task
• e.g., True or false
• A robin is a bat
• Findings from the sentence verification task
• The true/ false effect
• In general, our cognitive processes handle
  positive information better than negative
  information.
• E.g., He is honest vs. He is not dishonest

4
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Findings from the sentence verification task
• The true/ false effect
• How fast can you spot what is unusual
  about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that
  you might think nothing was wrong with it at all,
  and, in fact, nothing is. But it is atypical.
  Why? Study its various parts, think about its
  curious wording, and you may hit upon a solution.
  But you must do it without aid my plan is not to
  allow any scandalous misconduct in this
  psychological study. No doubt, if you work hard
  on this possibly frustrating task, its
  abnormality will soon dawn upon you. You cannot
  know until you try. But it is commonly a hard nut
  to crack. So, good luck!
• I trust a solution is conspicuous now.
  Was it dramatic and fair, although odd?

5
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Findings from the sentence verification task
• Category size effect
• It is easier to confirm membership in a small
  category

A poodle is a dog Versus A squirrel is an animal
6
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Findings from the sentence verification task
• Semantic distance effect
• A.K.A. The typicality effect

7
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Findings from the sentence verification task
• Semantic priming effect
• E.g., Loftus (1974)
• Fruit - a
• Fruit - b
• Furniture - s
• Etc.
• First item 1.53 secs.
• Two successive fruit - 1.21 secs.
• 1 intervening item - 1.28 secs
• 2 intervening items - 1.33

8
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Collins Quillians TLC

9
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Collins Quillians TLC

10
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Smith et al.s Feature Comparison Model
• The meaning of a concept is contained in a bundle
  of semantic features which are divided into two
  sets
• Characteristic features are not necessary to the
  meaning, but instead describe the concept and
  many of its members.
• Used to make fast confirmations or rejections.
• Birds -gt Fly
• Defining features are necessary to the meaning of
  the concept.
• Used to make slow, methodological confirmations
  or rejections.
• Birds -gt Wings

11
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Smith et al.s Feature Comparison Model

12
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Smith et al.s Feature Comparison Model
• Handling the sentence verification task
• The true/ false effect
• Thresholds, deadlines, list lengths, etc.
• Semantic distance (typicality) effect
• Function of featural overlap
• Semantic priming effect
• Pre-activating feature bundles?
• Category size effect
• May predict the opposite
• -gt Smaller categories have larger number of
  defining features

13
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Smith et al.s Feature Comparison Model
• Other Problems
• Non experts may not be guided by defining
  features
• What is the distinction between defining and
  characteristic features?
• Circularity Relies on subjects ratings of
  similarity to make predictions.

14
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Collins Loftus Spreading Activation

15
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Collins Loftus Spreading Activation
• Handling the sentence verification task
• The true/ false effect
• Semantic distance (typicality) effect
• Length of links
• Semantic priming effect
• Spreading Activation
• Category size effect
• The Fan Effect

16
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Neurophysiology
• EEGs and ERPs

17
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Neurophysiology
• Kutas Hillyard (1980)
• Compared the processing of the last word of a
  sentence
• Three types of sentences
• Normal It was his first day at work
• Semantically Anomalous He spread the warm bread
  with socks
• Physically Anomalous She put on her high-heeled
  shoes
• Noted a (-) spike 400 ms following Semantic
  anomalies.

18
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Neurophysiology
• Kutas Hillyard (1980)

19
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Neurophysiology
• Kounios Holcomb
• Sentence verification task
• Categories and exemplars
• Used quantifiers some, all, or none
• E.g., Some rubies are gems
• Four conditions
• Related or unrelated
• Exemplar first or category first
• C-E, related Some gems are rubies All gems
  are rubies.
• C-E, unrelated Some trees are rubies No trees
  are rubies.
• E-C, related All rubies are gems Some rubies
  are gems.
• E-C, unrelated No pines are gems Some pines
  are gems.

20
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Neurophysiology
• Kounios Holcomb
• Results

21
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Neurophysiology
• Kounios Holcomb
• Results

22
Knowing

• The N400

23
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Neurophysiology
• Kounios (1996)
• Paivios dual coding hypothesis, revisited
• Verbal -gt word based, left hemisphere
• Visual -gt image based, right hemisphere
• Lexical decision task for concrete and abstract
  words.
• Measured ERPs at five sites.
• Left and Right hemispheres
• Of interest Wernickes area

24
Knowing

• Semantic Memory
• Neurophysiology
• Kounios (1996)
• Paivios dual coding hypothesis, revisited