5. What are concepts?
“The elements from which propositional thought is
constructed, thus providing a means of
understanding the world, concepts are used to
interpret our current experience by classifying it
as being of a particular kind, and hence relating it
to prior knowledge.”
(Hampton, MITECS 1999)
Semantic features: simple, one-element properties
of the concept.
Exemplar: one of the set of things in the category
6. Collins & Quillian (1969)
A hierarchical network
representation of memory
7. General problems for the model
–People find it very difficult to give explicit
definitions of most concepts.
–Many domains do not have any obvious
taxonomy
–The model doesn’t explain why we have the
concepts that we do, and not others
9. The Feature Comparison
Model
• Features
– Defining
– Characteristic
• Typicality Effect
“A turkey is a bird.”
“A robin is a bird.”
10. Concepts
• Classical hierarchical model provides the basis for
logic and reasoning – but people are not very
good at logic and reasoning
• Prototypes capture the way that our minds adapt
to the similarity of things in the world
• Deeper structure is needed to allow us to use
concepts to explain the world, to go beyond
surface appearance of things and discover
underlying principles.
11. The Prototype Theory of
Categorization
• The main criticisms of the theory relate to its
failings to provide a rich enough
representation of conceptual knowledge
• Concepts as theories
12. Example: BIRD
• An object is a bird if it has a sufficient
similarity to the prototype of the class:
– flies
– has feathers
– has wings
– has two legs
– has a beak
– lays eggs
13. Concepts
• Classical hierarchical model provides the basis for
logic and reasoning – but people are not very
good at logic and reasoning
• Prototypes capture the way that our minds adapt
to the similarity of things in the world
• Deeper structure is needed to allow us to use
concepts to explain the world, to go beyond
surface appearance of things and discover
underlying principles.
18. Neely (1977)
• Lexical decision task
• What to expect following the prime:
– Same category (Bird: Robin)
– Different category (Bird: Chair)
• Varied the SOA: Time between presentation of
prime and presentation of target.
20. Embodied Semantics
• “Clean hands and a pure heart”
Conceptual metaphors help link the abstract to the concrete.
21. Bartlett’s “War of the Ghosts”
◼ Bartlett (1886-1969) – a critic
◼ How does prior knowledge influence memory
◼ Reconstruction is guided by schemas (concepts)
◼ Bartlett (1932) used multiple repetition of recalled
material to study distortions over time.
◼ Total recall declined.
◼ What was recalled was shaped by the need to form a coherent
understandable story in the context of their own cultural
knowledge (schemata – concepts).
◼ He considered memory an active process of construction.
Schema: a mental framework or body of knowledge
about some topic
26. Plasticity revisited
• taxi drivers had greater volume
in the posterior hippocampus
• but non taxi drivers had greater
volume in the anterior
hippocampus
32. Impact on Learning
• All of the things these patients could recall
have an automatic quality
– Do not require conscious recall
– Do not require complex cognitive skills such
as comparison
• If the patient practices a puzzle, they
improve their ability to solve it, but they
don’t remember how.
33. How can we improve memory?
• Elaboration
– linking information at the time
encoding
• Thinking of examples
35. Effective Studying
• Biggs’ (1987) Study Process Questionnaire
• The questionnaire assesses students’ dominant
approach to learning
Learning Style Emphasis Predicts
Surface • Rote learning of ideas and facts
• Little focus on content
• Little motivation to study
• Similar to shallow level of processing
Poor examination
performance
Deep • Learning to understand
• Relating ideas to evidence and
integrating information
• High motivation to understand
• Similar to deep level of processing
Good examination
performance
Strategic • Seeking the study techniques to get
the best grades
• Motivated to be efficient
Great examination
performance
36. Distributed vs. Massed Practice
Rate of learning a
typing skill for a range
of training schedules:
(1 × 1 equals one session of 1 hour per day,
2 × 1 equals two such sessions, 1 × 2 is one
session of 2 hours and 2 × 2 two 2-hour
sessions.)
Mirror tracing task
•20 trials of learning
• Massed
• 1 min between trials
• 1 day between trials
37. The Distributed Practice Effect:
best study practices
◼ Spaced presentation (i.e.
study) enhances memory
for a variety of materials
◼ Successfully testing yourself
strengthens memories more
than passively studying items
◼ Generating the answers
yourself – as in fill-in-the
blank or short answer
Spacing Effect Generation Effect
38. Importance of Testing
• Effortful retrieval
• What type of test is MOST effective?
Why do I ask you to post to the
discussion board or complete a
writing assignment?
• Higher-level questions
39. Study & Retrieval Match
• Encoding specificity
• Transfer-appropriate
processing
40. Retrieval
• Retrieval cues
– Information associated with stored information
that helps bring it to mind
• Interestingly, trying to remember looks
different from successfully remembering
41. Forgetting
If we remembered everything, we should on most
occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing.
William James
43. Baddeley
Clayton
Loftus
Recall – Coming up with an item from
scratch
Cue Dependent Recall – Coming up
with an item after a hint is given
Recognition – Identifying an item from
a list of items
Types of Retrieval
47. Types of Retrieval Failure
• Decay
– Memory traces erode with the passage of time
– No longer a valid theory of forgetting
• Interference
– Influenced by type of information
48. Interference theory
• Forgetting is a result of some memories
interfering with others
– Proactive interference
• Old memories interfere with ability to
remember new memories
– Retroactive interference
• New memories interfere with ability to
remember old memories
– Interference is stronger when material is
similar
If you call your new girlfriend
your old girlfriend’s name.
50. Memory Construction
• We sometimes alter
our memories as we
encode or retrieve
them.
• Your expectations,
schemas, environment
may alter your
memories.
51. False Memories
Anytime we identify something as previously
experienced, we note details of this
experience. A misidentification of any one of
these details can be considered a false
memory.
54. Bransford & Johnson (1972)
• Recollection of “washing” passage:
Told passage was about washing clothes:
–Recalled 5.8 ideas.
Not told what passage was about:
–Only recalled 2.8 ideas out of 18.
55. Schemas
• Organized cluster of knowledge about a
particular object or event from previous
experience
• Useful tool for understanding our world
– Quickly assess
– Fill in gaps
• Can lead to false insertions
56. Suggestibility
• Elizabeth Loftus (1974)
– Students viewed films
depicting vehicle accidents.
– Asked: “How fast were the
cars going when they ___
each other?”
“hit,” “smashed into,”
“collided with,”
“bumped,” “contacted”
58. Post-Event Information Integration
• “Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was
stopped at the stop [yield] sign?”
– Consistent sentence: falsely recognize photo 25%
– Inconsistent sentence: falsely recognize photo 60%
Loftus (1979)
59. Implanted Memory
• Titles of 2 events w/4 details
each
1 true & 1 false
3 interviews over 2 wks
• Guided imagery for false
event
• Nightly attempts to recall
60. Implanted Memory
• Guided imagery for false
event
– Imagination Inflation
• Requirements
– Plausible
– Personal
• Issue of therapy
63. Demonstration Implications
• Exemplifies how seeing a leading photo or person
in a line-up is enough to cause a misidentification
• A-MT: don’t recollect all of the details and fill in
the gaps
• Also, an example of remembering the
information correctly, but getting the source of
the remembered info wrong
64. Automatic Controlled
Activation Monitoring
• Activation of the information can be relatively
automatic
• Monitoring, or making decisions about that
information, requires controlled processing
