M1: Foundations of Cognitive PSYC

How is studying the mind similar to figuring out what is going on inside an alien factory that we can only view from far away? (Select the best answer.)

• The mind can feel alien when it is someone else's mind.

• We can only make inferences about what the factory does based on what goes into and comes out of it. The mind is the same way. We can see inside, but we make inferences based on what goes into and comes out of it.

• We know that both the factory and the mind have processing limits.

• The factory and the mind produce the same kinds of outputs.

Why is it important for cognitive psychologists to use carefully designed experiments when studying the human mind?

• Because people are not consciously aware of most of their own mental processes that give rise to their thoughts and behaviors, so we cannot just ask people.

• Because although people can consicously describe most of their own mental processes, we need a method to objectively confirm what they report.

• It is actually not important for cognitive psychologists to use carefully designed experiments when studying the mind. There are much easier method, such as asking people about their own mental processes.

A mental process is most analogous to a(n):

• recipe, because it is a set of steps for taking different components and transforming them to create some output

• musical composition, because every note -- or process -- must tick into place precisely for the whole thing to work

• architect's blueprint, because it lays out the big-picture view of the thing that it represents

What kind of representation is the word "dog"?

• symbolic

• analog

• propositional

• spatial

From what we have learned so far, why does the form or type of mental representation matter?

• It determines what kinds of processes can be used or employed to transform the representation.

• Representations need to be generalizeable in order to capture the broadest range of circumstances possible.

• The form or type of mental representation actually does not matter because different processes can be applied to most any mental representation.

True or false? Analog representations are almost always better than propositional representations, with respect to people's ability to learn and use them.

• true

• false

Which approach to studying the mind seeks to determine the mental representations that the mind uses and the processes that act on those representations? (Select the best answer.)

• Information processing approach

• Formal modeling approach

• Cognitive approach

• Cognitive neuroscience approach

In an information processing model, what is always the first internal step in the model?

• Translating the external stimulus into a representation that the mind uses.

• Recognizing the meaning of the external stimuli.

• Translating the external stimulus in a mental process that the mind can use.

• Making a decision on how to respond to the external stimulus.

True or false? Most information processing models are massively parallel, with many cognitive processes depicted as happening simultaneously and interacting.

• true

• false

Saying that we don't need to study the mind because we can just study the brain is similar to saying that:

• we don't need to study biology, because biology is reducible to physics, so we can just study physics.

• we can learn about how physics works by studying neuroscience.

• the mind is not dependent on the brain.

• we don't need to study physics, because we can just study chemistry.