Cogsci C100 Midterm 1-Questions with Correct Answers/Verified
Introduction - ✔✔
What is Cognitive Science? - ✔✔study of mind and cognition that integrates other academic
disciplines
What are the disciplines of cog sci and what tools do they use? - ✔✔1. Neuroscience: case
studies, lesioning, and brain imaging
2. Philosophy: rigorous argument and analysis/deductive reasoning
3. Psychology: experimental techniques and paradigms
4. Anthropology:
5. Computer science/AI: computer stimulations and models
6. Linguistics
Why was anthropology included? - ✔✔To reduce WEIRD: Western, educated, industrialized,
rich, and democratic focused research
What is cognition? - ✔✔Mental activity involved in the
1) acquisition,
2) storage,
3) transformation, and
4) use of information
History of cog sci - ✔✔1. Began as a province of philosophy - Ancient Greeks described
human thinking as the mechanical manipulation of symbols - and remained that way until
the 19th century
2. 1879: Wundt established the first psych laboratory and introduced introspection
3. 1900s = behaviorism: only studied the relation between observable stimuli and behavioral
responses (denied the existence of the mind)
,4. 1950s: the emergence of cognitive psychology and view that mental processes can be
understood as the flow of information through a series of stages much like a computer
5. 1990s: shift to parallel processing and neural networks rather than serial processing
(arose from face recognition studies)
6. 2000s: Emergence of AI and machine learning
Describe first computer/turing machine and what it revealed? - ✔✔1. Developed during
WWII to break enigma code
2. Revealed that cognition involves an algorithmic process of information processing
Artificial Intelligence - ✔✔computer models that accomplish the same cognitive tasks that
humans do
Machine learning - ✔✔allows computers to "learn" by creating new algorithms to produce a
desired output based on data that is provided
Deep learning/neural networks - ✔✔involves numerous layers of algorithms
What transformed cognitive science in the late 1980s and 1990s? - ✔✔Emergence of
neuroimaging techniques, which helped establish correlations between certain cognitive
processes and specific brain areas
- single cell recordings helped study brain activity at the level of a single neuron
Behaviors determined by brain function debate - ✔✔Penfield studies show that stimulating
parts of the brain induce specific cognitive and motor responses. However, this does not
mean that brain states CAUSE mental states.
Controversy of cognitive neuroscience - ✔✔- expensive
- doesn't provide direct practical benefits
- has not helped develop psychological theories
, Limitations of the experimental method - ✔✔1. lack of ecological validity when performed
in highly controlled environments
2. some things cannot be quantified (e.g. love, beauty, etc.)
3. Belief as a confounding variable
Pollack (supplemental reading) - ✔✔affective experiences such as child abuse can influence
perceptual categories and identification of basic emotions
- abused kids overidentified anger
Perception 1: Vision - ✔✔
sensation - ✔✔transformation of stimuli to neural impulses
perception - ✔✔process of interpreting and organizing sensory information through the
integration of previous knowledge
Early models of object recognition - ✔✔1. template matching model
2. feature analysis model
3. recognition-by-components model
4. prototype model
5. Alternative modes like mindfulness which allow us to see without conceptual filters
template matching model - ✔✔involves comparing stimulus to set of templates stored in
memory
Problem: doesn't account for complexity of object recognition (e.g. handwriting)
Feature analysis model - ✔✔We recognize objects by noticing the presence or absence of
important features
Problem: cannot account for movement or distortion
Introduction - ✔✔
What is Cognitive Science? - ✔✔study of mind and cognition that integrates other academic
disciplines
What are the disciplines of cog sci and what tools do they use? - ✔✔1. Neuroscience: case
studies, lesioning, and brain imaging
2. Philosophy: rigorous argument and analysis/deductive reasoning
3. Psychology: experimental techniques and paradigms
4. Anthropology:
5. Computer science/AI: computer stimulations and models
6. Linguistics
Why was anthropology included? - ✔✔To reduce WEIRD: Western, educated, industrialized,
rich, and democratic focused research
What is cognition? - ✔✔Mental activity involved in the
1) acquisition,
2) storage,
3) transformation, and
4) use of information
History of cog sci - ✔✔1. Began as a province of philosophy - Ancient Greeks described
human thinking as the mechanical manipulation of symbols - and remained that way until
the 19th century
2. 1879: Wundt established the first psych laboratory and introduced introspection
3. 1900s = behaviorism: only studied the relation between observable stimuli and behavioral
responses (denied the existence of the mind)
,4. 1950s: the emergence of cognitive psychology and view that mental processes can be
understood as the flow of information through a series of stages much like a computer
5. 1990s: shift to parallel processing and neural networks rather than serial processing
(arose from face recognition studies)
6. 2000s: Emergence of AI and machine learning
Describe first computer/turing machine and what it revealed? - ✔✔1. Developed during
WWII to break enigma code
2. Revealed that cognition involves an algorithmic process of information processing
Artificial Intelligence - ✔✔computer models that accomplish the same cognitive tasks that
humans do
Machine learning - ✔✔allows computers to "learn" by creating new algorithms to produce a
desired output based on data that is provided
Deep learning/neural networks - ✔✔involves numerous layers of algorithms
What transformed cognitive science in the late 1980s and 1990s? - ✔✔Emergence of
neuroimaging techniques, which helped establish correlations between certain cognitive
processes and specific brain areas
- single cell recordings helped study brain activity at the level of a single neuron
Behaviors determined by brain function debate - ✔✔Penfield studies show that stimulating
parts of the brain induce specific cognitive and motor responses. However, this does not
mean that brain states CAUSE mental states.
Controversy of cognitive neuroscience - ✔✔- expensive
- doesn't provide direct practical benefits
- has not helped develop psychological theories
, Limitations of the experimental method - ✔✔1. lack of ecological validity when performed
in highly controlled environments
2. some things cannot be quantified (e.g. love, beauty, etc.)
3. Belief as a confounding variable
Pollack (supplemental reading) - ✔✔affective experiences such as child abuse can influence
perceptual categories and identification of basic emotions
- abused kids overidentified anger
Perception 1: Vision - ✔✔
sensation - ✔✔transformation of stimuli to neural impulses
perception - ✔✔process of interpreting and organizing sensory information through the
integration of previous knowledge
Early models of object recognition - ✔✔1. template matching model
2. feature analysis model
3. recognition-by-components model
4. prototype model
5. Alternative modes like mindfulness which allow us to see without conceptual filters
template matching model - ✔✔involves comparing stimulus to set of templates stored in
memory
Problem: doesn't account for complexity of object recognition (e.g. handwriting)
Feature analysis model - ✔✔We recognize objects by noticing the presence or absence of
important features
Problem: cannot account for movement or distortion
