Knowledge of correspondence between symbols and their meaning
Concept
An idea about something that provides a means of understanding the world
Concepts are not always stable but can change
Ad hoc categories
Described not in words but rather in phrases
Basic level (natural level) of specificity
A level within a hierarchy that is preferred to other levels
Category
A group of items into which different objects or concepts can be placed that belong together
Types of categories
Natural categories
Artifact categories
Feature-based categories
Defining features (necessary attributes): features uniquely define the category
Attractive because it makes categories appear so orderly and systematic
Classical concepts
Categories that can be readily defined through defining features
The feature-based approach does not work as well as it appears to at first glance, and a violation of those defining features does not seem to change the category we use to define them
Prototype theory
Grouping things together by their similarity to an averaged model of the category
Prototype
Abstract average of all the objects in the category we have encountered before
Characteristic features
Describe (characterize or typify) the prototype but are not necessary for it
Stereotypes of different groups of people consist of a conglomerate of average features that are typical examples of concepts, but they are not always present
Fuzzy concepts
Categories that cannot be so easily defined
Exemplars
Typical representatives of a category
The mind does not have enough resources to store all the exemplars
VAM (varying abstraction model)
Use a number of intermediate representations that represent subgroups within the category
Prototypes and exemplars are just the two extremes on a continuum of abstraction
Core
Defining features something must have to be considered an example of a category
Theory-Based View of Categorization (explanation-based view)
People understand and categorize concepts in terms of implicit theories, or general ideas they have regarding those concepts
It is difficult to capture the essence of the theory-based view in a word or two
There is a distinction between essential, incidental, or accidental features
Study about the sorp and the doon (Ripps, 1989)
When the sorp's features changed through an accident, it was still rated highly as belonging to the category of birds, although participants did not perceive them as very similar to birds
When the doon changed through a natural process, it was rated less highly as belonging to the category of birds although it seemed relatively similar to birds
Essentialism
Holds that certain categories, such as those of "lion" or "female," have an underlying reality that cannot be observed directly
Semantic-network models
Knowledge is represented in our minds in the form of concepts that are connected with each other in a web-like form
Semantic network
A web of elements of meaning (nodes) that are connected with each other through labeled relationships
Inheritance
Implies that lower-level items inherit the properties of higher-level items
Semantic feature comparison
Features of different concepts are compared directly, rather than serving as the basis for forming a category
Word stem completion
Participants are presented a prime for a very short amount of time and then given the first few letters of a word and told to complete the stem with the first word that comes to mind
Mind-mapping can indeed increase knowledge acquisition
Schemas
Mental frameworks of knowledge that encompass a number of interrelated concepts
Characteristics of schemas
Can include other schemas
Encompass typical, general facts that can vary slightly from one specific instance to another
Can vary in their degree of abstraction
A problem with schemas is that they can give rise to stereotypes
Script
Contains information about the particular order in which things occur
Scripts are less flexible than schemas
Scripts guide what people recall and recognize—ultimately, what people know
Jargon
Specialized vocabulary commonly used within a group, such as a profession or a trade
Frontal and parietal lobes involve in script generation