Thought and Language

(PS) 264-271

Discuss with your partner.

Someone leaves a beautiful puppy at your door. You don’t like

animals, but you know it would be a great birthday present for

your 7 year-old child. He loves animals and so does your

husband/wife. However, you know that your apartment is too

small and they aren’t careful enough to take care of the puppy

so you will probably end up taking care of and cleaning it.

What would you do?

•(PS) 264-271

BASIC FUNCTIONS OF THOUGHT:

INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM

Approach that studies human thought processes and compares them with the way computers process information. Thinking is defined as the manipulation of

mental representations.

Incoming stimulus

Stage 2PERCEPTION(description)(elaboration)

Stage 3DECISION

MAKING(Planning)

Stage 4RESPONSESELECTION

(Action)

Stage 5RESPONSE EXECUTION

(Action)

Stage 1SENSORY

PROCESSING

INFORMATION-PROCESSING SPEED: Reaction Time

• Mental chronometry: timing of mental events

• Reaction time: time elapsing between stimulus and response

- complexity: if you have a large number of possible responses, then your reaction time will be longer.

- stimulus-response compatibility: if the spatial relationship between your stimuli and possible response are not compatible, then your reaction time will be slower.

- expectancy: if you already expect some kind of stimulus, your reaction time will be faster.

- speed-accuracy tradeoff: your errors will increase in a task if you try to respond quickly. On the other hand, if you try for an error- free performance, your reaction time will increase.

INFORMATION-PROCESSING SPEED: Reaction Time

•complexity:

•stimulus-response compatibility:

•expectancy:

•speed-accuracy tradeoff:

MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS: The ingredients of thought.

– PROCESS OF THOUGHT MENTAL CHRONOMETY

» describe ( reaction time)» elaborate» decide» plan» act

WHAT?Information

1. Cognitivemaps 2. images

3. concept schemasand scripts

4. propositions.

1. COGNITIVE MAPS(conceptual, mind, sketch)

•Cognitive maps: mental

representations of familiar

parts of your world.

Experience shapes cognitive

maps.

•Maps are not accurate

copies of the environment;

they include systematic

distortions.

2. IMAGES

• Images are mental

representations of visual

information.

• Manipulations performed on

images of objects are very similar

to those that would be performed

on the objects themselves.

• The more and finer details in

question, the longer the response

time takes.

3. CONCEPT SCHEMAS and EVENT SCRIPTS.

• They’re a way of thinking about the world that encodes the meaning of

things.

•Through the manipulation of concepts, which are categories of objects,

events, or ideas with common properties.

– concrete and visual

– abstract

– artificial

– natural

•When you have a concept. You recognize the properties, relationships or

features that are shared by and define the members of a category

•Scripts: schemas about familiar sequences of events or activities

PROPOSITIONS

• Mental representations of relationships between and among concepts, the smallest units of knowledge that can stand as a separate assertion. •Spoken or unspoken•Describe relationships between concepts•Describe the relationship between a concept and its properties

• Verb “to be”• Simple present• Simple past• Past continuous• Present perfect

• Vocabulary

- Parts of the body

- Parts of the house

- Feelings

- Family relationships

- Verbs