HOW IMPORTANT ARE MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS IN COGNITIVE THEORIES?
How the world around us is represented mentally is the corner stone of cognitive architectures. It facilitates understanding of information received and perceived from our environment. The storage and retrieval of knowledge would be impossible without mental representations.
Mental representations are the way in which we create ‘copies’ of the real things around us, which we perceive. A description of a representation is a symbol, sign, image or a depiction that takes the place of a real object in the real world.
.
Representations were broadly categorised into three. The ‘analogue representation’ the ‘propositional representation’ and ‘procedural rules’. Analogue representations are those which have an image-like copy quality to them, whereas the propositional representation are based on language-like constructs. Since the arrival of connectionism another representation has been proposed that of sub-symbolic representation. Here mental representations, according to Eysenk and Keane (2002) are “distributed” patterns of activation in a connectivist network.
Historically, mental representations have been interpreted by analogy with physical representations, i.e. descriptions and classifications devised for physical representations have been applied to mental representations (Paivio, 1986). Physical representations can be picture-like or language-like (see Table).
Physical and mental representations physical representations picture-like language-like examples photographs drawings maps diagrams human-language formal systems: maths, symbolic logic computer programs properties analogue iconic continuous non-analogue non-iconic digital/discrete
Table: Types of physical representations (after Paivio, 1986)
The representations need then to be categorised for storage in long -term memory. These ‘packages’ of knowledge are classed as being either procedural knowledge or declarative knowledge. Procedural knowledge is knowing how to do something or precisely what to do. It is sets of rules or procedures and skills like playing the piano. Declarative knowledge is about facts.
Representations allow cognitive models to work as they are the ‘substance’ the models work on. The models for discussion share common features but are equally differentiated from each other at some level. Before looking at each of the theories mental representations it would be helpful to take a snapshot of the model structures and approaches to learning and processing to gain a fuller understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
The models compared here are Schema theory (Rummelhart and Norman 1983) ACT* Anderson) and PDP.
Schema theory is said to offers a unified theory of cognition as it umbrellas all areas of cognition. It is interactive and works on stored knowledge or long-term memory. It does not address any wider structural issues. Schema is about how our learning is influenced by our previous knowledge.
What is memory for and how does it work? Suppose that memory and conceptualization work in the service of perception and action. Conceptualization is the encoding of patterns of possible physical interaction with a three-dimensional world. These patterns are constrained by the structure of the environment, the structure of our bodies, and memory. Thus, how we perceive and conceive of the environment is determined by the types of bodies we have. Such ...
Discuss the need for an explanation of human memory, which proposes that memory is a set of stages, rather than a single process.
Sajda P. & Finkle, L.H. (1995) Intermediate Visual Representations and the Construction of Surface Perception. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7, 267-291.
Cognitive mapping are imaging of the attributes of our environment, according to Edward Tolman, (1948). Tolman, suggested that cognitive mapping are also a mental picture or image of a person’s physical environment. For example, my best friend moved away to Texas ten years ago. Nonetheless, we were college roommates back some twenty years ago. When, I decided to celebrate my 50th birthday five years ago, she decided to come back and celebrate my birthday with me. When, she got off the train, I gave her precise directions because of my cognitive mapping which were the images of the important streets that she should follow to be able to come directly to my house without getting lost. My cognitive mapping skills allowed me to create a mental
In “The Anatomy of Judgmen”t, M. L. J. Abercrombie discusses how information is gained through our perception. Abercrombie claims that interpretation is a very complicated task that people have been learning to exercise since birth. Each person has a different way of interpreting the objects or situations they see, because people often relate their own past experiences. She also explains two important concepts: schemata and context. She defines schemata as a way our mind functions by understanding new things perceived through sight, by relating it to an individual’s past experiences. Past experiences help interpret what is seen further, if the object fits one’s expectation or their schemata, and not something different from their past experiences. Her fundamental insight is that seeing is more complex than just passively registering what is seen, and consists of a form judgment for...
When an individual identifies themselves as transgender, it means that they feel that their biological gender does not match with their psychological gender. To put that into a simple man’s term, the individual feels they “were born in the wrong body”. For example, a man feels that he was meant to be born a woman and vise-versa. It does sound rather unusual, but why should that matter? An individual should be able to make his or her own decisions about how they live their life. Unfortunately though, not everyone feels the same way about this. That is how the controversy is created. This is why transgender rights should be strengthened in America not only because it is morally correct, but also because it would ease the lives of the people within this group, reduce the discrimination and harassment rates of transgender individuals, and help establish awareness.
Furthermore this article expands upon this subcategory of memory by describing the two types of tasks involved with it: verbal-production ta...
Merleau-Ponty distinguishes three aspects of the psychological process; basic sensations, perception, and the associations of memory (Merleau-Ponty, 1994). Basic sensations receive raw information from the world and transduce them for our perceptual processes. Perception unifies the infinite amount of information about our environment, from our environment, into a meaningful structure. Perception is interpretive, but its presentation of the world is as distal and objective. There are three central features of perception for Merleau-Ponty. First, perception is synthesized independently by the body and not by the mind (consciousness).
Schemes are individual mental representations of the world and one’s understanding of it. Through an organized set of related information stored in long-term memory, a schema arranges cognitive patterns developed from experience into
Keil, F. C. and Wilson, R. A. (1999) The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: The MIT Press
Legal discrimination and segregation is alive and well in the United States. All over the country, groups of people are being forced into situations that are converse to the very nature of their being, subject to extreme violence and hatred. The very narrow minded view of how the country sees sex and gender, as exhibited by the media and politics, is causing immense harm to many American citizens, as the idea of a binary gender system and long-standing sexist views has contributed to the segregation of bathrooms under the thin veil of protection. Bathroom facilities should no longer be segregated by gender to prevent discrimination against those in the transgender community, therefore decreasing the prominence of mental health issues associated
Mental Representation: In this stage, the infant is able internally to depict an object, which is drawn in his problem-solving techniques. Besides that, the child can locate an object when out of sight. Hence, in this stage, the infant has great object permanence (Berk, 2013).
It is still difficult to get a consistent estimate for the transgender population in the United States due to the majority of population surveys that ask about gender, only have the option to check male or female. These surveys not only exclude any one transgender or anyone who is under the LGBTQ umbrella, but any individual biologically intersex; meaning they very well could have both or neither biological sex at birth and identify with both, either or no gender at all. Once a person realizes that their biology and identity do not align, taking action to transition comes with many dangerous risks in a society that only acknowledges either male or female. Transgender women account for 50% of violent deaths related to hate crimes against the LGBT community based on a 2009 report. The other 50% were “gender nonconforming” (Responding to Transgender
Transgender people, as defined by the Encyclopedia of human services & diversity, are those who “identify with the gender roles of the opposite sex”. (Nance cite) Of course, acceptance is not the first stage of a new concept. As people did not accept them for a natural being, they suppressed their feelings and/or expressed them in private. The world has slowly become accepting, but there is still a ways to go.
Montesh, M. (n.d.). Conceptualizing Corruption: Forms, Causes, Types and Consequences. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from