Technology in today's society is rapidly evolving and advancing. However, the question remains can a computer successfully process a task which requires a high level of cognitive function when completed by humans? There are many factors which can influence on the completion of a task including, cognition, performance and optimization but to what extent can we control these factors. However, we cannot always control internal factors which make it difficult to focus and cognitive ability has specific outcomes on particular tasks.
The Travelling Sales Person Task (TSP) identifies strengths and weaknesses in human cognition, performance and optimization by the use of visual patterns on a computer screen. Participants of the TSP are asked to connect
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The APM-SF relies largely on cognitive processing in order to complete the task and was designed to measure Spearman's general ability using the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model of intelligence, using visuo-spatial ability to generate visual patterns (McGrew, 2009). Comparatively, CAB-I relies less on visuo-spatial reasoning and more on cognitive ability to measure mental abilities (Hakstian & Cattell, 1975) and lastly the MRT primarily relies on visuo-spatial in order to complete the task. This mental rotation task requires at least five cognitive processes; visual, perception, rotation, judgment and decision. Highlighting, that participants use visuo-spatial and cognitive processes in order to solve the problem (Booth et al., 2000). With these tasks relying more on either visual or cognitive processing they assist in determining what processing the TSP uses. This study focuses whether perceptual/visuospatial or cognitive abilities are related to performance on the TSP to a greater extent. Hypothesising that the closer a person's TSP solution is to the optimal solution the higher they will score on the APM-SF, CAB-I and/or MRT. The strength of correlation differs between tasks and provides information into how visual and cognitive …show more content…
Whilst participants showed an average of 0.62 on the APM-SF, 0.76 on the CAB-I and 0.63 on the MRT. It was hypothesised that the lower participants scored on the TSP and the higher they would score on the other three tasks. With a negative correlation determining the impact of perceptual and cognitive processing on the TSP.
The hypothesis predicted that there would be a negative correlation between the results on the TSP and the CAB-I would be supported. As indicated by Figure 1, the data indicates that there was a negative relationship between the variables. Pearson's correlation coefficient indicated that there is an insignificant negative relationship between the two (r= -0.32, p=1.39), not supporting the hypothesis. Figure 1. Relationship between Travelling Sales Person (TSP) and (Comprehensive Ability Battery-Inductive Reasoning
Another aspect of the results that I would like to point out is that our experiment only used 10 subjects, who were not randomly picked. Only 20 subjects were used in the experiment conducted by Desrocher, smith & Taylor (1995). I don’t feel that these numbers of subjects (20 and 10) are enough to have conclusive results. In order to get an accurate sample of the population more participants should have been used in both experiments. This one fact may have been the reason why part of the results of Desrocher, smith & Taylor (1995) were not concurrent with other findings.
Throughout our everyday lives whether we think about it or not. Computers and technology are and have been an integral part of our lives. Computers and technology assist us with so much, such as the way we drive and the way we learn. We no longer have to deal with the hassle of driving stick and we no longer have to be in a physical classroom with the advent of online education. In Clive Thompsons’ essay “Smarter than you think how technology is changing our minds for the better,” he discusses how the ever changing capacity of technology improves the mental cognition of human beings.
Jansari, A. (2010). Cognitive neuropsychology In H. Kaye (Ed.), Cognitive Psychology Methods Companion (2nd ed., pp.59-101), Milton Keynes: The Open University.
In the mental rotation task, subjects are pre- sented with pairs of 2-D or 3-D shapes, and asked whether they are mirrored or non- mirrored.
As our world expands through the growing abilities and applications of computers in our everyday lives, it seems that the role of the computer has been reversed. Before we knew that the computer only understood what we programmed it to understand; however, now the majority of our society is learning more from computers than they are able to input into it. Dumm (1986 p.69)
New advancements make it possible to not only program computers to do what people tell them to, but to think for themselves.
According to the guidelines, our p-value falls in between the intervals of 0.01< 0.0442 < 0.05. Therefore, we conclude that we have very strong evidence against the null hypothesis. Our calculated t-statistic came out to -2.07 so it means that our sample statistics of -7.03 is 2.07 standard deviations above and below the hypothesized parameter value of 0. Because |t| > 2, we can conclude again that we there is very strong evidence against the null hypothesis.
The traditional notion that seeks to compare human minds, with all its intricacies and biochemical functions, to that of artificially programmed digital computers, is self-defeating and it should be discredited in dialogs regarding the theory of artificial intelligence. This traditional notion is akin to comparing, in crude terms, cars and aeroplanes or ice cream and cream cheese. Human mental states are caused by various behaviours of elements in the brain, and these behaviours in are adjudged by the biochemical composition of our brains, which are responsible for our thoughts and functions. When we discuss mental states of systems it is important to distinguish between human brains and that of any natural or artificial organisms which is said to have central processing systems (i.e. brains of chimpanzees, microchips etc.). Although various similarities may exist between those systems in terms of functions and behaviourism, the intrinsic intentionality within those systems differ extensively. Although it may not be possible to prove that whether or not mental states exist at all in systems other than our own, in this paper I will strive to present arguments that a machine that computes and responds to inputs does indeed have a state of mind, but one that does not necessarily result in a form of mentality. This paper will discuss how the states and intentionality of digital computers are different from the states of human brains and yet they are indeed states of a mind resulting from various functions in their central processing systems.
In order to see how artificial intelligence plays a role on today’s society, I believe it is important to dispel any misconceptions about what artificial intelligence is. Artificial intelligence has been defined many different ways, but the commonality between all of them is that artificial intelligence theory and development of computer systems that are able to perform tasks that would normally require a human intelligence such as decision making, visual recognition, or speech recognition. However, human intelligence is a very ambiguous term. I believe there are three main attributes an artificial intelligence system has that makes it representative of human intelligence (Source 1). The first is problem solving, the ability to look ahead several steps in the decision making process and being able to choose the best solution (Source 1). The second is the representation of knowledge (Source 1). While knowledge is usually gained through experience or education, intelligent agents could very well possibly have a different form of knowledge. Access to the internet, the la...
Anderson proposed a model ACT (Adaptive Control of Thought) which explains how human behavior is formed based on prior knowledge. According to this model, knowledge is divided in to two types: declarative and procedural knowledge and spreading activation occurs when there is a match in active part of the declarative knowledge. Time taken for the activation to spread to the prior related knowledge in order to match the signal detected and generate a human behavior is called the reaction time (RT)(John R. Anderson & Pirolli, 1984). This factor plays a crucial role is verifying how easy the product is to use based on users prior knowledge.
The 'Standard'. Cognition (8th ed.). Geneseo, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Qinglin, Z., Jiang, Q., & Guikang, C. (2004).
Most of the day the human mind is taking in information, analyzing it, storing it accordingly, and recalling past knowledge to solve problems logically. This is similar to the life of any computer. Humans gain information through the senses. Computers gain similar information through a video camera, a microphone, a touch pad or screen, and it is even possible for computers to analyze scent and chemicals. Humans also gain information through books, other people, and even computers, all of which computers can access through software, interfacing, and modems. For the past year speech recognition software products have become mainstream(Lyons,176). All of the ways that humans gain information are mimicked by computers. Humans then proceed to analyze and store the information accordingly. This is a computer's main function in today's society. Humans then take all of this information and solve problems logically. This is where things get complex. There are expert systems that can solve complex problems that humans train their whole lives for. In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue defeated the world champion in a game of chess(Karlgaard, p43). Expert systems design buildings, configure airplanes, and diagnose breathing problems. NASA's Deep Space One probe left with software that lets the probe diagnose problems and fix itself(Lyons).
It has been commonly said that the computer can never replace the human brain, for it is humans that created them. Is this a good reason why the computer must be inferior to humans? Even if we just focus on a single creation of man, say the subject of this essay, the computer, there are many ways in which the computer has the edge over man. The computer has the capability to evaluate problems that man can hardly even imagine, let alone approach. Even if a man can calculate the same problems as a computer, the computer can do it faster than he can possibly accomplish. Say this man can calculate as fast as a computer, but can he achieve a 100% rate of accuracy in his calculation? Why do we now go over the human data entry into a computer when a mistake is noticed instead of checking the computer? It is because computers now possess the ability to hold no error in its operation, where mankind has not advanced in this area at all.
In the past few decades we have seen how computers are becoming more and more advance, challenging the abilities of the human brain. We have seen computers doing complex assignments like launching of a rocket or analysis from outer space. But the human brain is responsible for, thought, feelings, creativity, and other qualities that make us humans. So the brain has to be more complex and more complete than any computer. Besides if the brain created the computer, the computer cannot be better than the brain. There are many differences between the human brain and the computer, for example, the capacity to learn new things. Even the most advance computer can never learn like a human does. While we might be able to install new information onto a computer it can never learn new material by itself. Also computers are limited to what they “learn”, depending on the memory left or space in the hard disk not like the human brain which is constantly learning everyday. Computers can neither make judgments on what they are “learning” or disagree with the new material. They must accept into their memory what it’s being programmed onto them. Besides everything that is found in a computer is based on what the human brain has acquired though experience.
Khaneman (1973) devised model of attention as he believed a limited amount of attention is allocated to tasks by a central processor. Many factors determine how much attentional capacity can be allocated and how much is needed to carry out a task, as the central processor has variable but limited capacity which is dependent on motivation and arousal. The central processor engages a variety of tasks such as motor, visual, auditory, memory and so on. The central processor evaluates the amount of concentration necessary to meet task demands, which forms the basis of allocation of capacity.