COGSCI FINAL EXAM UPDATED ACTUAL Questions and
CORRECT Answers
What is the problem of reverse optics? Why is it so it is extremely underspecified (one to many mapping)
difficult?
What are two examples of "built-in laws of motion" or - straight line assumption
laws of physics that our visual system apparently uses? - rigidity assumption
Where does knowledge-about-how-the-world-works fit likelihood of a hypothesis P(h)
into Baye's rule? Why does a Bayesian approach easily
combine "nature" and "nurture"?
Why can this patient navigate around obstacles if they are - can see objects appear and disappear
cortically blind? What other unexpected capacity do - understand emotion
some blindsight patients have?
What is a counter-example to the view that innate means - sex cells
"present at birth"? - teeth
What is a counterexample to the view that innate means - language skills
"not learned"?
What is a counterexample to the view that innate traits are farming (not innate but highly heritable)
just those with high heritability... that is, where the
proportion of overall phenotypic links to an external site.
variation that is due to genetic variation is high.
What does Pinker mean when he says that psychology is When Pinker calls psychology "reverse engineering," he means that it seeks to
"reverse engineering"? figure out the internal mechanisms and design principles of the mind by analyzing
behavior and cognition, much as an engineer deduces how a machine works by
studying its outputs.
What is the difference between "computational theory of The computational theory of mind is a formal, scientific claim that cognition is
mind" and "the computer metaphor of mind"? computation over structured representations, whereas the computer metaphor of
mind is an informal analogy highlighting superficial similarities between minds and
digital computers.
What is wrong with saying that computers are "number Computers are not fundamentally number-crunching machines; they are symbol-
crunching" machines? manipulating systems, and their power comes from operating on structured
representations using formal rules, not from performing arithmetic on quantities.
What is computational power (hint: it's not mere speed or Computational power refers to the kinds of functions or problems a system can
efficiency!), and how can we increase it? compute in principle, and it is increased not by making computation faster, but by
enriching the system's memory, representations, control structures, or underlying
computational model.
, What is the difference between "impersonal" vs. Personal moral dilemmas trigger stronger emotional responses and cognitive
"personal" versions of the moral judgment task? Why did conflict, leading to longer reaction times, and the trolley problem puzzled
some versions of the task produce longer reactions times philosophers and psychologists because people reliably judge identical
that others? What was the "puzzle" about the Trolley outcomes differently depending on whether harm is direct and intentional or
Problem for psychologists and moral philosophers? indirect and foreseen.
What is the doctrine of double effect principle? - The Doctrine of Double Effect is a moral principle that distinguishes between
intended harms and foreseen but unintended harms.
Classic example
Diverting a trolley to save five people, foreseeing that one will die → often
judged permissible
Pushing a person to stop the trolley → judged impermissible
Even though the outcomes are similar, intention matters.
DDE captures a deep intuition about intention vs. side effects in moral judgment.
What is "universal moral grammar"? built in/tacit knowledge about language in humans
Why does Mikhail think that the cognitive science of - Mikhail argues that legal doctrine is a rich, explicit record of the implicit rules
morality should pay attention to legal theory? humans use in moral reasoning.
- Legal theory is to moral cognition what linguistics is to language:
a window into the hidden structure of competence.
TRUE OR FALSE? The brain's visual system is like a False
camera. What we see through our eyes is a direct window
onto an objective reality.
CORRECT Answers
What is the problem of reverse optics? Why is it so it is extremely underspecified (one to many mapping)
difficult?
What are two examples of "built-in laws of motion" or - straight line assumption
laws of physics that our visual system apparently uses? - rigidity assumption
Where does knowledge-about-how-the-world-works fit likelihood of a hypothesis P(h)
into Baye's rule? Why does a Bayesian approach easily
combine "nature" and "nurture"?
Why can this patient navigate around obstacles if they are - can see objects appear and disappear
cortically blind? What other unexpected capacity do - understand emotion
some blindsight patients have?
What is a counter-example to the view that innate means - sex cells
"present at birth"? - teeth
What is a counterexample to the view that innate means - language skills
"not learned"?
What is a counterexample to the view that innate traits are farming (not innate but highly heritable)
just those with high heritability... that is, where the
proportion of overall phenotypic links to an external site.
variation that is due to genetic variation is high.
What does Pinker mean when he says that psychology is When Pinker calls psychology "reverse engineering," he means that it seeks to
"reverse engineering"? figure out the internal mechanisms and design principles of the mind by analyzing
behavior and cognition, much as an engineer deduces how a machine works by
studying its outputs.
What is the difference between "computational theory of The computational theory of mind is a formal, scientific claim that cognition is
mind" and "the computer metaphor of mind"? computation over structured representations, whereas the computer metaphor of
mind is an informal analogy highlighting superficial similarities between minds and
digital computers.
What is wrong with saying that computers are "number Computers are not fundamentally number-crunching machines; they are symbol-
crunching" machines? manipulating systems, and their power comes from operating on structured
representations using formal rules, not from performing arithmetic on quantities.
What is computational power (hint: it's not mere speed or Computational power refers to the kinds of functions or problems a system can
efficiency!), and how can we increase it? compute in principle, and it is increased not by making computation faster, but by
enriching the system's memory, representations, control structures, or underlying
computational model.
, What is the difference between "impersonal" vs. Personal moral dilemmas trigger stronger emotional responses and cognitive
"personal" versions of the moral judgment task? Why did conflict, leading to longer reaction times, and the trolley problem puzzled
some versions of the task produce longer reactions times philosophers and psychologists because people reliably judge identical
that others? What was the "puzzle" about the Trolley outcomes differently depending on whether harm is direct and intentional or
Problem for psychologists and moral philosophers? indirect and foreseen.
What is the doctrine of double effect principle? - The Doctrine of Double Effect is a moral principle that distinguishes between
intended harms and foreseen but unintended harms.
Classic example
Diverting a trolley to save five people, foreseeing that one will die → often
judged permissible
Pushing a person to stop the trolley → judged impermissible
Even though the outcomes are similar, intention matters.
DDE captures a deep intuition about intention vs. side effects in moral judgment.
What is "universal moral grammar"? built in/tacit knowledge about language in humans
Why does Mikhail think that the cognitive science of - Mikhail argues that legal doctrine is a rich, explicit record of the implicit rules
morality should pay attention to legal theory? humans use in moral reasoning.
- Legal theory is to moral cognition what linguistics is to language:
a window into the hidden structure of competence.
TRUE OR FALSE? The brain's visual system is like a False
camera. What we see through our eyes is a direct window
onto an objective reality.
